TORONTO - In the end they sounded a lot like vintage Poison, Motley Crue, Def Leppard and Bon Jovi, perhaps even nailing that '80s hair metal sound better than those aforementioned aging rockers do now.

But let's hope that Los Angeles hard rock parody, Spinal Tap-leaning band Steel Panther aren't still around 20 years from now.

The quartet - consisting of singer Michael Starr, guitarist Satchel, bassist Lexxi Foxxx and drummer Stix Zadinia (all stage names) - certainly have the chops to perform strongly as they did before a sizable crowd Thursday night at Toronto's Sound Academy. And their songs more often than not had the audience singing along loudly to Starr's surprise.

Yet by the homestretch of their gig which tied into Canadian Music Week, the same bawdy, bathroom, between-song schtick was beginning to wear a tad thin. Think if Jack Back's School of Rock was overthrown by Andrew Dice Clay and the picture should become a bit clearer and cruder.

Touring behind their 2009 debut album Feel The Steel, Steel Panther opened the show with Eyes Of A Panther as Starr nailed all the hair band posing while each member looked as if they came out of a 1987 time capsule style-wise with bandanas, teased hair, ripped tops and makeup. Fortunately, the gimmick was well received by the crowd, some of whom dressed similarly for the occasion.

"Put the lights on the singer," Starr said as Satchel did the first of several scissor kicks in a row prior to Asian Hooker, a rather humorous song notable for rhyming South Korea with a sexually transmitted disease.

Mr. Dylan or Mr. Lightfoot, you have nothing to worry about.

What makes the songs like The Shocker and Turn Out The Lights work though, however ridiculous they are lyrically, is the band's ability to perform and perform well, the result of being together for a decade under other names such as Danger Kitty and Metal Skool. Whether Satchel's nifty playing and over-the-top guitar solo or the band's Bon Jovi-ish intro to Party All Day (F--- All Night), the group certainly has those '80s nuances down pat.

After a Foxxx "hair solo" - and the first of a handful of times he either took out a makeup compact or hairspray - Steel Panther had the crowd pumping their fists for The Shocked as Satchel and Foxxx pushed each other for control of a lone microphone.

Quickly following that well-received ditty, the band played sides of the crowd off each other with each side repeating caustic barbs shouted by Foxxx and Satchel. Foxxx's retort of "Your side can take a big fat pooh!" however stopped the proceedings.

Other numbers such as the slower, power ballads Community Property and Girl From Oklahoma caused cigarette lighters to flicker overhead, both dealing with certain sex acts.

And while they tossed out another fan favorite in Eatin' Ain't Cheatin', Steel Panther also nailed Guns N' Roses' Welcome To The Jungle, complete with MTV personality Aliya-Jasmine Sovani coming onstage to channel her inner Axl.