"Mighty Joe Young" Demo Confusion

[Tyrant]

As you probably missed, it was confirmed by both Dean and Eric that the songs "Love Machine" and "Dirty Dog" that appeared on what we know as "Mighty Joe Young" demo are NOT actually MJY songs. According to their interviews with AltNation, they are actually Swing songs and Dean never played on any of them. It was Corey Hickok.

Here are the interviews: Click | Click

Here's a quick summary...

Confirmed by Dean

Love Machine - Swing
Dirty Dog - Swing

Session
Where The River Goes - Mighty Joe Young
Fast As I Can - Mighty Joe Young
Scary Area - Mighty Joe Young

Different session
Wicked Garden - Mighty Joe Young
Naked Sunday - Mighty Joe Young

Different session
Only Dying - Stone Temple Pilots

According to Dean, "Only Dying" comes from the sessions the band did for "The Crow" soundtrack. He didn't remember if the band ever had the song during MJY days.
However, Eric do remember that during "The Crow" sessions they were definitely working on the old song, so

Confirmed by Eric:

Love Machine - Swing
Dirty Dog - Swing

Wicked Garden - Mighty Joe Young
Where The River Goes - Mighty Joe Young
Naked Sunday - Mighty Joe Young
Only Dying - Mighty Joe Young

As we can see, there are no contradictions in Dean and Eric's words, aside from "Only Dying" confusion.

Also, there's a short video of MJY performing "Spanish Flies" from MTV Rockumentary, so this one is kinda confirmed to be their song as well.

It means,

Swing - Love Machine
Swing - Dirty Dog

Mighty Joe Young - Wicked Garden
Mighty Joe Young - Only Dying
Mighty Joe Young - Naked Sunday
Mighty Joe Young - Scary Area
Mighty Joe Young - Where The River Goes
Mighty Joe Young - Spanish Flies
Mighty Joe Young - Fast As I Can

? - Piece Of Pie
? - Old Dixie

So what's up with this MJY demo album that was floating around for years? It looks like someone just combined some demos from different sessions from both Swing and MJY and it's not an actual album. It is pretty evident, because the songs are not only confirmed to be from different bands, but because both the overall style and sound quality differs from track to track.
Does anyone remember how and when was it initially posted? Who was the one who leaked it? It is possible that the songs were already combined on the actual cassette tape and the tracks were not labeled properly. Is it even the right order of songs?

Mighty Joe Young - Wicked Garden (3:49)
Mighty Joe Young - Only Dying (5:26)
Mighty Joe Young - Naked Sunday (3:43)
Mighty Joe Young - Fast As I Can (3:16)
Mighty Joe Young - Spanish Flies (4:23)
Mighty Joe Young - Scary Area (3:46)
Mighty Joe Young - Piece Of Pie (2:52)
Mighty Joe Young - Love Machine (3:42)
Mighty Joe Young - Dirty Dog (2:50)
Mighty Joe Young - Old Dixie (0:31)
Mighty Joe Young - Where The River Goes (7:04)

I saw a different order of songs in the Internet:

 Piece of Pie / Love Machine / Dirty Dog / Old Dixie / Fast As I Can / Spanish Flies / Scary Area / Where The River Goes / Wicked Garden / Only Dying / Naked Sunday

This one looks more reasonable, because it looks like the first four songs are Swing songs and the rest are MJY, plain and simple.

Also, does it all actually mean that the following 4-track tape is fake, because it lists songs that are definitely not MJY songs according to the actual band members?
http://www.belowempty.com/discography.php?do=showrelease&type=albums&id=16

Would be very helpful if someone who still has any MJY tapes would post their tracklistings and photos/scans.

[Rik]

The first tape
In 1998 or 1999 I got my first copy of these recordings. It was a nondescript cassette tape, certainly a copy of a copy of a copy if not a lesser generation.

The recording was of not-so-great quality, but it had all songs in their entirety, in this order:
01. Wicked Garden
02. Only Dying
03. Naked Sunday
04. Fast As I Can
05. Spanish Flies
06. Scary Area
07. Piece Of Pie
08. Love Machine
09. Dirty Dog
10. Old Dixie
11. Where The River Goes

The second tape
In 2000, I received a second tape, 'STP-Complete Demos' it was labeled. It was a second generation, a copy from the original cassettes, I was told. I recorded the tape to PC, split the tracks and encoded them at 256kbps.

**here is where I made a mistake. I kept the track listing of the tape mentioned above and re-ordered the song files to fit the original tape that I had received previously.

Track list:
01. Wicked Garden (unfortunately incomplete, intro is cut)
02. Only Dying
03. Naked Sunday
04. Fast As I Can
05. Spanish Flies
06. Scary Area
07. Piece Of Pie
08. Love Machine
09. Dirty Dog
10. Old Dixie
11. Where The River Goes

http://www.belowempty.com/discography.php?do=showrelease&type=albums&id=15

**Update May 10th, 2015: I unearthed this cassette from my collection. It's a nondescript TDK cassette tape. But! Upon closer inspection, I lists the following on the *inside* of the track listing paper:

Piece Of Pie / Love Machine / Dirty Dog / Old Dixie: 1989/1990
Fast As I Can / Spanish Flies / Scary Area / Where The River Goes: 1991
Wicked Garden / Only Dying / Naked Sunday: 1992

This makes total sense now and fits with the description Dean and Eric gave. My assumption is that 'Piece Of Pie' from the 1989/1990 demo is the (only) song they had Dean come in on, since the guitar solo on there is signature Dean and if you ask me, the rest of the guitar work is as well, it sounds so different than the other Swing songs.

2003 Tape:
In 2003, I got a copy of a 4-track demo that sounded slightly better than the 2000 version. It only had 4 songs, in order:

1. Piece Of Pie
2. Love Machine
3. Dirty Dog
4. Old Dixie

With the information of today, this appears to be a copy of a Swing demo tape.

The images of this 4-track cassette come from eBay, I don't have it:
http://www.belowempty.com/discography.php?do=showrelease&type=albums&id=16


2010 Tape: Original 'Mighty Joe Young' 1992 Demo
Then in 2010, I received what I was told to be a genuine copy of the demo that got the band signed to Atlantic in 1992. Even though it doesn't look like an 'official' demo, this is what Scott apparently gave to the guy who sold it to me. The seller in question is a Los Angeles musician and photographer with a more than OK career, whose name I won't mention here until I get an OK to do so.

Track list:
1. Where The River Goes
2. Wicked Garden
3. Piece Of Pie
4. Naked Sunday

This is it: http://www.belowempty.com/discography.php?do=showrelease&type=albums&id=17


Swing information from the Copyrights Database


Additional information from the Copyrights database:

Swing
Type of Work: Musical work
Registration Number / Date: PAu001084835 / 1988-04-29
Date of Creation: 1988
Title: Swing.
Description: 1 sound cassette + lyrics.
Copyright Claimant:
Scott Weiland, Corey Hickok & Robert DeLeo
Notes: Collection.
Authorship on Application:
music & arr.: Corey Hickok & Robert DeLeo.
Names: Robert DeLeo 1966- / Corey Hickok 1967- /Scott Weiland 1967-
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&SC=Author&SA=Hickok%2C%20Corey%2C%201967-&PID=vsHogf4Gvp0gofFkMlgKT6L9IVyDl6u&SEQ=20150510102514&SID=2

Swing (tape II)
Type of Work:  Musical work
Registration Number / Date: PAu001239017 / 1989-06-05
Date of Creation: 1989
Title: Swing (tape II)
Description: 1 sound cassette + lyrics sheets.
Other Title: Swing (tape 2)
Copyright Claimant: Robert DeLeo, Scott Weiland & Corey Hickok
Notes: Collection of words & music. Title on lyrics sheet: Swing (tape 2)
Authorship on Application: Robert DeLeo, Scott Weiland & Corey Hickok.
Names: Corey Hickok 1967- / Scott Weiland 1967- /Robert DeLeo 1966-
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&Search_Arg=Swing%20%28tape%202%29&Search_Code=FT%2A&CNT=25&PID=XsO3RR9CQA_fSEblQHH3y8CEHWKi4KN&SEQ=20150510102432&SID=1

Piece of pie
Type of Work: Musical work
Registration Number / Date: PAu001442002 / 1990-08-06
Date of Creation: 1989
Title: Piece of pie / DeLeo, Weiland.
Copyright Note: C.O. correspondence.
Copyright Claimant: Robert DeLeo, Scott Weiland
Authorship on Application: music & arr.: Robert DeLeo.
Names: Scott Weiland 1967- Robert DeLeo 1966-
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=2&ti=1,2&SC=Author&SA=DeLeo%2C%20Robert%2C%201966-&PID=6FG4lx-KE9RBe8EO-3hoYLsX_-QZnzw&SEQ=20150510102540&SID=3

Love machine
Type of Work: Music
Registration Number / Date: PAu001442003 / 1990-08-06
Title:   Love machine.
Copyright Claimant: Robert DeLeo, Scott Weiland
Date of Creation: 1989
Authorship on Application: words & music: Scott Weiland; music & arr.: Robert DeLeo; music: Eric Kretz.
Copyright Note:   C.O. correspondence.
Names:   Weiland, Scott, 1967- / DeLeo, Robert, 1966- / Kretz, Eric, 1966-
http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&SC=Author&SA=DeLeo%2C%20Robert%2C%201966-&PID=6FG4lx-KE9RBe8EO-3hoYLsX_-QZnzw&SEQ=20150510102540&SID=3

Summary
Thanks to Tyrant for bringing this subject up. With all the information combined, it is my assessment that the timeline is as follows:

1989/1990: (in all likelihood 'Swing (tape 2)')
Swing - Piece of Pie (ft. Dean DeLeo)
Swing - Love Machine
Swing - Dirty Dog
Swing - Old Dixie

1991
Mighty Joe Young - Where The River Goes
Mighty Joe Young - Fast As I Can
Mighty Joe Young - Scary Area
Mighty Joe Young - Spanish Flies

1992:
Mighty Joe Young - Wicked Garden
Mighty Joe Young - Naked Sunday
Mighty Joe Young - Only Dying

Conclusion: Two bands, three sessions, three demo tapes. The original tape that surfaced online was a combination of the three demos and because of the wrong track order, it seeped subsequently into Below Empty's archives. I have some updates to do and changes to make in the discography.

[Tyrant]

Thank you very much, Rik. It all makes sense now and I agree with all the conclusions.
Whoever doubts Dean was involved in recording the Swing tape: it seems like a common knowledge that once he joined the band it was renamed to MJY, but there's a picture of Swing with Dean in Scott's book, so he definitely was in the band for a while before it was finally renamed to MJY.

[Tyrant]

The only little correction I would make is that I would mark the last tape as "1991/1992". I think the cassette was made in 1991 (as printed on the paper cover), but it is possible the last song was added around the time the band was signed (early 1992), so its title was handwritten below the printed tracklist.
So it turns out the only thing we're missing is Swing's first tape. It probably had "Drop The Funk" on it that was mentioned in Scott's book.

[Sklashboombash]

Private detectives.
You guys are awesome! Haha!

[Nathantok7]

awesome post

[IMJ]

Oh wow. I just saw this thread. This was great Rik....

[Molecule76]

Is it possible to get this demo in it's entirety on a CD from anyone?
I'd really love to get a copy.

[Plushman]

Well this is cool.....


https://twitter.com/K_n_B_Archive?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor


Also, I messaged this guy. He says he has a 3 song demo cassette of Swing. Would that be the same tape as MJY, just labeled different?

[foou33]

Well this is cool.....


https://twitter.com/K_n_B_Archive?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor


Also, I messaged this guy. He says he has a 3 song demo cassette of Swing. Would that be the same tape as MJY, just labeled different?

That would be cool to hear his GEN of it.