Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

Stone Temple Pilots Reverse-Engineered An Acronym

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Sometimes it’s not the name that comes first, but an acronym. The grunge-rock band signed to their first record deal under the name Mighty Joe Young but the record label wanted them to change it. According to the band members, they were inspired by STP Motor Oil and loved the initials, but needed to attach some words to it.

They played around with a bunch of options including “Shirley Temple’s [expletive]” and “Stereo Temple Pirates” and Stinky Toilet Paper” until they finally landed on Stone Temple Pilots. To add some more fun, STP is also a slang term for a psychedelic drug.