MICHAEL STARR On STEEL PANTHER's 'America's Got Talent' Appearance: 'It Was Really, Really Scary'
October 30, 2023In a new interview with Brazil's A Rádio Rock, STEEL PANTHER singer Michael Starr spoke about the band's participation in the "America's Got Talent" reality television and talent competition series. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It was really, really scary. Our brand is very dirty and raunchy and heavy metal rock and roll, right? It's all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. So to go on 'America's Got Talent', which is really super straight and has to be very super clean, it was scary. I didn't wanna say 'fuck' while I was singing… But the experience was great. Unfortunately, we didn't win, but we made it to the second round, and that was pretty cool. And now we get noticed by old ladies and shopping malls. It's pretty cool."
Asked if he and his bandmates would play the "America's Got Talent" again, Michael said: "Yeah, of course. We're thinking about doing 'Canada's Got Talent' or maybe 'Brazil's Got Talent'. Why not? We'll do 'em all… We can just do a tour of talent shows and just try and win."
This past August, STEEL PANTHER failed to make it through to the Top 10 of season 18 of "America's Got Talent".
Night two of "America's Got Talent" season 18 featured performances from 11 artists, including the California glam metal jokesters, all of whom were hoping to make it through to the finale.
Only 55 acts continued on to "America's Got Talent" live shows after thousands of hopefuls from around the world auditioned for Season 18 judges Simon Cowell, Heidi Klum, Sofia Vergara and Howie Mandel.
The remaining acts were split into groups of 11 and were competing weekly over five nights and from each night, only two made it through to the finale.
STEEL PANTHER performed on the August 29 episode of the "America's Got Talent". They played their classic song "Death To All But Metal", from 2009's "Feel the Steel" album, although they admittedly had to tweak some of the provocative lyrics in order to appear on NBC during primetime.
During its "America's Got Talent" audition in May, STEEL PANTHER promised to give Heidi and Sofia lifetime backstage passes and concert tickets ahead of the band's performance of the song "Eyes Of A Panther". At that time, Starr informed Cowell and Mandel that STEEL PANTHER actually has six studio albums, as well as several live records.
"I've seen these guys," Vergara said in May. "My husband Joe hired them for his 40th birthday and it was the best birthday he ever had. You guys are amazing!"
STEEL PANTHER's Stix Zadinia told Parade about how his band ended up appearing on the show: "We got a phone call from somebody that said, 'Hey, you guys should go audition for 'America's Got Talent'. Our first reaction was we’re professionals and we didn't think that you're allowed to be on that show if you're professionals, but apparently somewhere along the way, they opened the competition to people who are professionals. We had to weigh it out and say, 'Hey, the type of band that we are, the things that we say and sing about don't necessarily mesh with network television rules.' We did bring that up and they said, 'We know. We're cool with that.'"
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