Mighty Joe Young Demo

The Mighty Joe Young Demo is a demo tape recorded by the popular rock band Stone Temple Pilots. The record, which was not officially released and is considered a rare find, contains 11 tracks, some of which would go on to be re-recorded for STP's debut album Core. The demo was recorded around 1990 in San Diego, California.

Band Name
Mighty Joe Young was forced to change its name after finding out that the name had already been taken. Basing their name on the STP Motor Oil logo, the band settled on the controversial "Shirley Temple's Pussy." After intense pressure from their label, the band once again changed their name to Stone Temple Pilots. STP would go on to become a Grammy Award winning band, releasing five albums with Atlantic Records and selling over 17 million copies in the United States alone.

Track listing
# "Wicked Garden" (4:01) (Re-recorded for Core)
# "Only Dying" (5:26)
# "Naked Sunday" (3:42) (Re-recorded for Core)
# "Fast As I Can" (3:15)
# "Spanish Flies" (4:22) (Partially became "Lounge Fly" on Purple)
# "Scary Area" (3:46)
# "Piece of Pie" (2:42) (Parts of this version were re-recorded for the Core version)
# "Love Machine" (3:42)
# "Dirty Dog" (2:50)
# "Old Dixie" (0:31)
# "Where the River Goes" (7:03) (Re-recorded for Core)

Trivia
*The versions of "Wicked Garden", "Naked Sunday", and "Where the River Goes" are extremely similar to the re-recorded versions that appear on Core. However, "Piece of Pie" has entirely different lyrics and melody (although the bass line during the verses is similar to the melody of the chorus in the recording on Core), but the same guitar solo as the version on Core. The line "she said she'd be my woman, she said she'd be my man" from the song "Spanish Flies" is also in the chorus of the song "Lounge Fly", featured on STP's second album Purple.
*"Only Dying" was re-recorded for the 1994 film The Crow but was pulled from the soundtrack because of the death of the film's star, Brandon Lee. However, "Big Empty" from Purple appeared on the soundtrack instead.
*Some of the songs on the demo contain unique music styles compared to the alternative rock STP is famous for, such as the funk sounds of "Love Machine" and "Dirty Dog" and the yodeling in "Old Dixie."
*The demo is available for download online, such as the Stone Temple Pilots fan site BelowEmpty.com.

Personnel
*Scott Weiland: vocals
*Dean DeLeo: guitars
*Robert DeLeo: bass
*Eric Kretz: drums
 
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