Mighty Joe Young (band)

Mighty Joe Young (band): Back in 1989-1991, four young musicians - Scott Weiland, Eric Kretz and the brothers Dean and Robert DeLeo- recorded various songs which are now known as the Mighty Joe Young Demo. Little is known about this period in the career of the musicians who later changed their band name to 'Stone Temple Pilots'. Only two photos are available on the web (Look for a short video clip of a MJY-gig in the MTV 'Stone Temple Pilots' Rockumentary Remix) but fortunately we still have the sound recordings with us.

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"Why did they change their band name 'Mighty Joe Young' to 'Stone Temple Pilots'?," you might want to know. Well, the band actually signed a major record deal with Atlantic Records on April 1, 1992 under the name 'Mighty Joe Young'. Before that time the core of the band had already changed their name a couple of times. When Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo met in 1986, they teamed up in a new outfit called 'Swing', with Corey Hicock on guitar. The idea solidified with the arrival of drummer Eric Kretz ('The Kretzel') and after a couple of months they asked Robert's older brother Dean to audition to replace Hicock. The DeLeo brothers had been in a band together before: it was called 'Tyrus'.

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Dean DeLeo became the new guitarist of the band and they decided to change their name again: this time they chose 'Mighty Joe Young', a name taken from a low-budget 1949 Hollywood monster movie inspired by King Kong.

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The band played their first gig supporting Henry Rollins in August 1990 at the Whisky in Los Angeles and before too long the band had built a sizeable local following for themselves and they signed to Atlantic Records on April Fool's day 1992.

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But to the group's amazement they received a letter from an octogenerian Chicago bluesman also named Mighty Joe Young. He had last made music in the early-Seventies, but he'd been invited to join a package of blues singers who were mounting a tour right across the United States. Mighty Joe Young was making a comeback and, not unreasonably, he wanted his name back.

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Young's claim was a totally legitimate one which the band didn't contest. The truth was that they were almost pleased. They'd felt for awhile that Mighty Joe Young was too similar to Ugly Kid Joe, an MTV-friendly heavy metal band with whom they had no wish whatsoever to be confused.

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So they had to change their band name again. This time they decided to do something with the S-T-P acronym they knew and loved from the 'STP' Motor Oil company. Rumour has it that they first used the name 'Shirley Temple's Pussy' and playfully joked around with names like 'Stinky Toilet Paper' and 'Stereo Temple Pirates' before picking the definitive 'Stone Temple Pilots'.

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Link

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http://www.belowempty.com

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Magda

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