Porno for Pyros took off in the ’90s as Perry Farrell‘s post-Jane’s Addiction project, enjoying their greatest success with the single “Pets.” Though the track has a memorable and upbeat vibe, guitarist Peter DiStefano reveals that the origins of the song have a much darker and tragic story behind it.
Speaking with Peter Litvin (as seen in the video below), DiStefano recalls writing the guitar part that eventually became the base of the song. “When I wrote the song eight years or more before I met Perry [Farrell] it was different,” explains DiStefano revealing the slowed-down more solemn structure. As we know it now, the guitar part pacing was sped up to deliver the catchy vibe that frames the song.
DiStefano says the more solemn original vibe was inspired by a youthful relationship with a classmate named Briana Dean. “It was a song written for a girl that I was in love with. I was in the seventh grade at Lincoln Jr. High in Santa Monica and she was in my cooking class. Still when I think about her the love that I feel, you can call it puppy love or whatever, but my heart feels and my stomach drops,” he recalls.
The guitarist reveals that he was excited about having his first girlfriend, but tragedy soon struck. “One day she didn’t show up in cooking class. The teacher was nervous and everything,” says DiStefano. “Then the next day we heard in the news, and nothing ever happened in Santa Monica … but she had been murdered. There had been a Charles Manson type couple that were robbing the house and her and her brother and they came in, they tied them up, raped them and cut them up in pieces … It was traumatizing and we didn’t talk about it.”
“The song, it comes from a very dark place. So when I played it, Perry goes ‘Pick it up’ so I did and he wrote lyrics to it. I never told the band or anybody where it came from, so I feel like the reason it went to No. 1 and was my biggest hit is because it was Briana’s ghost giving me success,” says the musician.
While the pacing changed, there is a bit at the end of the track that nods to his original vibe and he reveals that every time he plays that part it reminds him of his first love.
“Pets” was the second single released from Porno for Pyros’ self-titled 1993 debut album. The track hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart and the video was an MTV hit as well. From a lyrical standpoint, Farrell penned the track about the destructive nature of the human race and viewing them as potential future “pets” for invading aliens.
Peter DiStefano Speaks With Peter Litvin About “Pets” + More
Porno for Pyros, “Pets”