The Palpatones

The Palpatones was a band formed following 4 ABY's Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon. Following the battle, Joh Yowza, who had performed with the Max Rebo Band, fled to a small passenger liner in the planet Tatooine's city of Mos Eisley. Aboard the liner, Yowza started The Palpatones with two other former Max Rebo Band members, Rystáll Sant and Greeata Jendowanian, the latter of whom became the lead singer. A rival to the Max Rebo Band, The Palpatones enjoyed limited success in the Outer Rim Territories with their hit single "Kick the Ranat," which also helped them become an intergalactic sensation. In time, Sant would leave the group to seek clues to her father's identity.

History[]

Joh Yowza, who started The Palpatones with Rystáll Sant and Greeata Jendowanian

In 4 ABY, the planet Tatooine's crime lord Jabba the Hutt was killed in the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon.^[5] Following Jabba's death, the Yuzzum Joh Yowza, a musician who had worked for the Hutt, fled to a small passenger liner in Tatooine's city of Mos Eisley.^[3] Yowza, along with the half-Theelin Rystáll Sant and Rodian Greeata Jendowanian,^[1] formed The Palpatones,^[2] a house band aboard the liner.^[3] The Palpatones were a rival band to the members' previous group, the Max Rebo Band.^[1]

With The Palpatones, Yowza sang in exchange for transportation to new, exotic locales.^[1] Furthermore, Yowza was given free berth and specific passage to the Outer Rim Territories,^[3] where the band enjoyed limited success with their hit single "Kick the Ranat."^[2] Jendowanian, who became the band's lead singer, helped the band become an intergalactic sensation through her beautiful voice in performing "Kick the Ranat" and became the band's biggest breakout star. At some point during Sant's time with The Palpatones, she met fellow half-Theelin Shug Ninx. With the thought of her unknown father also being among the last of her species, Sant left The Palpatones to further seek clues to her father's identity.^[1]

Behind the scenes[]

PalpatineGuards-NEGTC — Emperor Palpatine, on whose name The Palpatones was a pun

The Palpatones was introduced, unnamed, in 1997's Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook, Special Edition, a supplement for West End Games' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.^[3] The band received its name in "Who's Who in the Max Rebo Band," an article Rich Handley wrote for the sixty-seventh issue of the Star Wars Insider magazine,^[1] which was published on April 15, 2003.^[6] He had previously tried to introduce the name, a pun on Emperor Palpatine, in writings for West End Games, but editors there completely refused. Dave Gross, an editor at Star Wars Insider, found the pun to be less objectionable and, to Handley's surprise, allowed the reference to make the final cut.^[7]

While "Who's Who in the Max Rebo Band"^[1] and 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia refer to the band as "the Palpatones,"^[8] Edward M. Erdelac's January 21, 2014 StarWars.com article "Slugthrowers: An Overview of Popular Music and Musicians in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Part 2" refers to them as "The Palpatones," which is the capitalization used by this article.^[2] Further, while "Who's Who in the Max Rebo Band"^[1] and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia claim that the members joined the band,^[8] "Slugthrowers: An Overview of Popular Music and Musicians in a Galaxy Far, Far Away, Part 2" claims that they formed the band, which this article assumes to be correct.^[2]