Dinosaur Jr.: Brilliant or crap?

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Closer to Dud. J. Mascis could do one thing not too badly, and just kept doing it over again. Pick any one of his albums (my choice is Where You Been) and you won't really need any of the others. Or pick none of them, you won't be missing all that much. But maybe I'm just embarrassed for once giving them more attention than they deserved.

Patrick, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

They are one of my all time favourite bands, a classic beyond any doubt. Hearing "where you been" when I was 16 was such a change from the boring thrash metal and grunge by numbers I listened to back then. Maybe there last few albums weren't so great, but "bug" and "you're living all over me" don't seemed to have aged that much, bands still try to copy "freakscene" today. And, I'd also agree that "Take a run at the sun" shows how cool J MAscis is. Poison are a classic band too, by the way! Oh and given a choice between Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr, I'm sorry Lou but J wins!

jel, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

I don't think Dino Jr is a band that has worn that well over the years, mainly because they tended to play out their act over the latter part of their career. But I would say that everything up through WHERE YOU BEEN is damn good. Some being higher than others. After that, they kinda treaded through the same water to be interesting. You owe it to yourself to at least get YOU'RE LIVING ALL OVER ME. An essential, I'd say.

Tim Baier, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago) link

five months pass...
I wouldn't all bands to be Dino Jr., I'm glad they exist. We don't have to like everything about them.....but it's nice to appreciate them in parts and pieces.. Lighten up, eh? You don't have to be a rock messiah to contribute.

Mik-L-Pop, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sorry for all the typos; it's late. I guess you don't have to be an editor to contribute either right? Thanks.

Mik-L-Pop, Friday, 17 August 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

five months pass...
J Mascis is a geeeenius. Sure, he's done some forgettable stuff over the years but for his schtick to still be interesting after all this time shows him up to be a pretty fine songwriter. It's worth noting that "More Light" is better than most of the Dino Jr albums. Despite the fact that most of the latterday Dino albums were essentially J solo anyway.

electric sound of jim, Thursday, 31 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I actually liked More Light better than anything since Where You Been, which was the high point without a doubt. But my fondness for parts of More Light may also have something to do with a certain producer, too.

Sean Carruthers, Thursday, 31 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

INDEED. ;-)

Ned Raggett, Thursday, 31 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Yeaaaaaaah, I agree with Sean.
Where You Been is a diffent high point for the slacker genre. Even Crooked Rain Crooked Rani doesnt measure up (despite being an excellent album itself). Im not a fan of Green Mind, it being too scattered in my mind. I do liek the earlier stuff and can only ponder what that Dinosaur would have put out with Jay's use of power and Lou's sense, of well, I guess hurt descirbes it well enough.

Mr Noodles, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

'More Light' is what got me back into Dinosaur Jr. I like it better than 'Where You Been' (though that's still good). It always boggles my mind how J.Mascis can produce something so good so late in his career, just when he's been written off by most.

alex in montreal, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

J Mascis and the guitar player from the Stooges (and Mike Watt!) played at the now (thankfully) defunct Wetlands; ensuing guitar battle at some points resembled Shredder v Quine but I ended up liking the shredder (insert Stooges guitar player's name here) bedder

I like "Bulbs of Passion". but my instinct is DJr = crap.

Tracer Hand, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I mean he still lives with his mom for chrissakes! (present company etc)

Tracer Hand, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The first Dinsoaur LP is still THE shit, for me. When J started that double-tracked tenor/falsetto vocal bullshit, he lost me. When Dinoswar were just another (i.e. the only) Husker-Du/Neil-Young band, those guitar solos weren't yet tiresome. So - Classic, Up to Green Mind (which I only recently started to listen to.) I was a Dinosaur fan from the git-go (and still refuse to recognize the "Jr.") - but stopped caring after 'Bug", which didn't measure up to the first two.

J & Watt & Ron Asheton are also playing the first night of All Tomorrow's Parties - probably all Stooges covers again....

And I don't really care for J's overbearing contribution to 'Mr. Machinery Operator'

Dave225, Friday, 1 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two weeks pass...
I think Dinosaur Jr. is a fantastic band. They are either my favorite or close to favorite band. There best albums in my opinion are Your Living all over Me, Where You Been?, and of course there new "best of" cd called Ear Bleeding Country. Check out there other stuff if you like those records starting with either Bug or Green Mind. That J Mascis dude is a helluva guitar player and writes some great songs, my favorites of his being 'In a Jar', 'Get Me', and 'Thumb'.

Mark Stephen Willcox, Sunday, 17 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

one year passes...
Revive!

adaml (adaml), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:29 (twenty years ago) link

Also...who are all the people at the top of this thread (except jel, obv.)? Is this the "Old ILM" of such repute???

adaml (adaml), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:30 (twenty years ago) link

omigod my first thread revived! i have since cooled to this band but they still have a special place in me heart.

gfdsjkl, Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:45 (twenty years ago) link

Omar's still around also. (Well, I think that's him, anyway.)

Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:48 (twenty years ago) link

More Light was ok but GODDAMN was the follow-up, Free So Free painful. I bought it cuz it was supposedly a concept album about skydiving but all he did was say the word free a lot. embarassing.

I've got You're Living All Over Me and the best of. Not under the impression I need any more. But there's brilliance in that stuff.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 01:15 (twenty years ago) link

Don't insult "Green Mind." Please!

cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 01:49 (twenty years ago) link

dinojr -- great up through Bug. lou barlow's departure was the end (because mascis needs the friction and because dino jr was greater than its individual parts). Green Mind has some interesting moments due to don fleming and the rummager. after that, mascis loses the plot completely. a fog, indeed.

jack cole (jackcole), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 02:07 (twenty years ago) link

Don't know.

I can't listen to anything J. Mascis has done without falling asleep, and it's not just me; I have a friend who went to see him and she fell asleep at the concert.

In summary: BORING

Sasha (sgh), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:06 (twenty years ago) link

How do you pronounce J. Mascis' name?

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:08 (twenty years ago) link

i've always pronounced it "mashis" but i've never actually heard it spoken by anyone.

the surface noise (electricsound), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:10 (twenty years ago) link

Jack OTM. 1st three = great; rest = teh suck.

I've always pronounced it (and heard it pronounced) Mass-Kiss, but I have no idea if that is correct.

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:15 (twenty years ago) link

Aaanyway, Dinosaur Jr. invented indie rock before there was a term for it. I really really like them. It's amazing they're not seen as the pioneers they really were. Look, I don't know to break this to you, so I'm just gonna say it: NIRVANA DID NOT INVENT INDIE-ROCK!!! There, I said it.

Of course, you could also say that Neil Young was doing the same damn thing twenty years earlier, so forget everything I just said.

Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:21 (twenty years ago) link

who are you talking to?

Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:22 (twenty years ago) link

I've been minorly obsessed with their first album ever since I "discovered" it for myself a few years ago. (I remember, back in high school, my friend playing the tape in her car over and over when she gave me a ride in the mornings, but I obviously wasn't listening.)

I've never heard such great suburban-basement teenage four-track rickety-proggy music (even if it wasn't really recorded under those conditions). The songs are just fantastic; each one has four or five distinct, individual instrumental parts that just kill. And wonderful melodies, lyrics, atmosphere - the works.

If anyone can suggest any other albums that approach the "feel" of this one in any way, please, lay 'em on me!

Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:46 (twenty years ago) link

(Albums by other bands, I mean. I've heard the next few Dinosaur Jr. albums, and they don't do much for me....)

Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 04:55 (twenty years ago) link

You're Living All Over Me is just so much genius... the warm and somnambulant production, the songs that warp from alt_byrdsy prettiness to absolute sabbath heaviness, for seemingly no reason; the songs about bugs and moths that are immediately smothered by avalanches of feedback... ah. yes.

stevie (stevie), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 07:52 (twenty years ago) link

I vote for brilliant crap!

st tremaine, Wednesday, 15 October 2003 09:15 (twenty years ago) link

The chorus of "Get me" is a classic "scarves in the air" moment...

mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 09:20 (twenty years ago) link

the cover of 'hot burrito #2' on the flipside of the get me single is awesome too... not to mention the bleak acoustic reading of 'qwest'

stevie (stevie), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 10:03 (twenty years ago) link

Soon, this will come back big time and be in vogue. We'll have shredding indie rockers everywhere.

scott m (mcd), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 13:22 (twenty years ago) link

i've always pronounced it "mashis" but i've never actually heard it spoken by anyone.

We've called him Mas kis in the past and he didn't complain, if its not right Im sure he's used to it.

Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 16:41 (twenty years ago) link

I've always said "mass iss" like kiss rather than is (which sounds like iz, ya know?)

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:21 (twenty years ago) link

rhymes with "stasis."

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:22 (twenty years ago) link

"mass kiss" = straight from the horse's mouth.

gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:53 (twenty years ago) link

haha. of COURSE he'd prefer "mass kiss" but I'll continue to think he rhymes with "stasis." hyuk hyuk.

Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:58 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...
CD80 "portable" Dinosaur Jr. go!

Repulsion
Little Fury Things
Kracked
The Lung
In a Jar
Freak Scene
No Bones
They Always Come
Yeah We Know
Pond Song
Just Like Heaven
The Wagon
Thumb
Out There
Start Choppin'
Get Me
Feel the Pain
I Don't Think
Never Bought It

(78:46 - weighted towards 2nd and 3rd LPs, I hope there will be many who disagree and post other ones!)

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 6 November 2003 10:07 (twenty years ago) link

one year passes...
bump.

Also, I have an instrumentation question. On "They Always Come" there's a change at about 30 seconds in, and there's this high pitched repeating sound which is almost like a really high register clav or bells or something. What is that??

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:13 (nineteen years ago) link

I'm a huge fan and don't mind saying it. I always remember a bit of a stigma around them.

Green Mind is where its at for me, whilst the others are more timely and easily placeable, Green Mind has a bit of a uniqueness about it that I like. I find it very similar to "Goo" by Sonic Youth in that it's the album-before-the-commercial-one where you can see some of the experiments with gloss coming through, but still with enough rough to make it a hearty meal.

Bernard the Butler (Lynskey), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:27 (nineteen years ago) link

In the US, Goo and Green Mind were huge commercial ventures.

Spencer, I will take a listen tonight.

gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:35 (nineteen years ago) link

It was a real trip to see/hear Mascis this weekend at All Tomorrow's Parties. He played a song off Green Mind ("The Wagon" maybe?). He still shreds* and is loud as shit. He was shuffling around the fairgrounds the whole time mostly unbothered, in track jacket and stringy long grey hair.
Anyway, brilliant.


*I don't mind using "shreds" here as I think it's damned appropriate.

Nostalgia for the Old Cineramadome (Ben Boyer), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:47 (nineteen years ago) link

No qualification necessary. One of the very few guitarists to ever make "shredding" truly appealing.

Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Free So Free was a bit of a disappointment, although "Freedom" is a lovely tune.

the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Monday, 8 November 2004 23:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Sometime after Green Mind/Whatever's Cool With Me, J. began suffering from debilitating tendonitis in his left (chording) hand. His sets were limited to like 45 minutes. I haven't seen him since then but I'm wondering if he ever recovered from the tendonitis.

gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link

The reissues of the first three albums should be coming out sometime soon. I remember reading about them coming out a while ago. My copies of the first record and Bug are long gone and I was looking forward to checking them out when they came back into print.

Earl Nash (earlnash), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 01:18 (nineteen years ago) link

Merge is putting those out, no?
My early-to-mid-90s indie rock nostalgia orgy rages on...

Nostalgia for the Old Cineramadome (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 01:44 (nineteen years ago) link

Merge is all over that shit. Early 2005, according to label dispatches. Obviously YLAOM and Bug are super-classic...Dinosaur is OK, everything else is diminishing returns and fine if you're a big fan but otherwise pretty unnecessary.

Zack Richardson (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 9 November 2004 02:25 (nineteen years ago) link

beautiful

an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Friday, 6 March 2020 01:10 (four years ago) link

xps no I meant that's my fave Dino Jr song!!! so perfect. as an album yeah Living... is better

sleeve, Friday, 6 March 2020 02:28 (four years ago) link

Ahhh, yeah I'm with you haha.

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 6 March 2020 02:43 (four years ago) link

(Col. Poo, extremely sorry to hear of your loss, not trying to glance over that...)

Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 6 March 2020 02:44 (four years ago) link

awww & \m/ Col. Poo

Fantastic. Great move. Well done (sic), Friday, 6 March 2020 06:33 (four years ago) link

Brilliant

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 6 March 2020 06:44 (four years ago) link

<3 Col Poo. Freak Scene is such an immense, personal song

i will FP you and your entire family (rip van wanko), Friday, 6 March 2020 09:55 (four years ago) link

yeah CP I shoulda commented on that as well, so excellent

sleeve, Friday, 6 March 2020 15:54 (four years ago) link

Was kinda hoping this revive was for some concrete news on the new album. But glad to see it nonetheless.

I was listening to the Day of the Dead comp last night and the Kurt Vile cover of "Box of Rain" that features a Mascis solo came on and I realize that I can't think of many rock songs that wouldn't be immediately improved by a J solo. Hell, if Aerosmith wanted to re-record Just Push Play with Mascis playing every solo I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 6 March 2020 16:12 (four years ago) link

if they hadn't stopped playing 'i don't wanna go there' i'd still be listening to it

mookieproof, Saturday, 7 March 2020 06:15 (four years ago) link

ten months pass...

^^^

mookieproof, Monday, 18 January 2021 03:00 (three years ago) link

That is rad.

DJI, Monday, 18 January 2021 16:57 (three years ago) link

That is awesome. I remember Head coming out with Motorhead skis a while ago, I'm still kicking myself I didn't get those. Bands should do this a lot more.

Siegbran, Monday, 18 January 2021 17:28 (three years ago) link

three months pass...

still such an amazing lead guitarist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_IS9RUpv40

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 23 April 2021 17:44 (two years ago) link

This is their best LP in a few.

Legalize Suburban Benches (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 24 April 2021 01:32 (two years ago) link

Can't think of another band who phone in their best music like they do

PaulTMA, Saturday, 24 April 2021 01:40 (two years ago) link

I like the new album but fuck this wasn't I thread I expected to open and burst out crying.

It's still on the wall though:

https://i.ibb.co/JmmLsfv/IMG-20210424-030210461.jpg

CP Radio Gorgeous (Colonel Poo), Saturday, 24 April 2021 02:05 (two years ago) link

I love this damn band so much, this new one is great.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 4 May 2021 16:36 (two years ago) link

what can i say besides this is the perfect rock band and everything they do kicks ass, new album no exception

the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:37 (two years ago) link

otm

I was inspired enough to finally pick up those 2019 Cherry Red reissues of the post-Jayloumurph lineup albums, mainly for all the B-side cleaning up and live shows.

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:46 (two years ago) link

i like this band whenever i hear them but do they have more than one song

Free Palestine (Left), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:54 (two years ago) link

that's not an insult the consistency is impressive & inspiring but do they ever go proggy or anything

Free Palestine (Left), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:55 (two years ago) link

they don't go "proggy" per se, but they do loosen up and jam a lot on farm. the early albums have a fair amount of weirdness, especially in the lou barlow contributions. recent albums have a few barlow contributions but his sensibility has grown closer to j's.

the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Friday, 14 May 2021 17:59 (two years ago) link

thx i remember enjoying farm when it came out but i only listened to it once i think. amazing cover

Free Palestine (Left), Friday, 14 May 2021 18:04 (two years ago) link

that's not an insult the consistency is impressive & inspiring but do they ever go proggy or anything

lol, I was going to say, that's not fair, between 1985 and 1988 and since 2007 they've had two, with the Lou songs

soaring skrrrtpeggios (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 14 May 2021 20:34 (two years ago) link

I heard “Little Fury Things” on my return commute today, and I was reminded of how beautiful and wistful it is. Also, nothing on their post-reunion albums approach its greatness or the highs on You’re Living/Bug/Green Mind

beamish13, Saturday, 15 May 2021 00:10 (two years ago) link

they just became a more conventional rock band, an excellent one but not quite the same i agree

the mai tai quinn (voodoo chili), Saturday, 15 May 2021 02:00 (two years ago) link

Seems crazy that the beginning of this thread was 20 years ago!

Michael F Gill, Saturday, 15 May 2021 02:31 (two years ago) link

J’s guitar tone may be the most comforting sound I know.

Mule, Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:31 (two years ago) link

one month passes...

I saw them in a small club in 1987. You're Living All Over Me held up well last time I checked, but I don't know much after that except "Freak Scene." I think I'd see this, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5w28bJKmxY

clemenza, Sunday, 20 June 2021 01:18 (two years ago) link

I hope Dave Grohl's in it lots.

clemenza, Sunday, 20 June 2021 01:20 (two years ago) link

Nice. Will definitely seek this out. They're *still* strangely enigmatic to me.

Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 22 June 2021 00:40 (two years ago) link

five months pass...

Jamming the 1991 Hollywood show that came with the Green Mind reissue from a few years back, I love this band.

a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 16 December 2021 21:51 (two years ago) link

Mascis does some stellar guitar work on Sunburned Hand of Man's "Prix Fixe" from this year that's definitely worth seeking out.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 17 December 2021 00:39 (two years ago) link

one year passes...

+ Kevin Shields last night in London doing "Just Like Heaven" and "Tarpit:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=130nIZQ1iXA

Bee OK, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 18:14 (five months ago) link

Wow

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:16 (five months ago) link

Didn’t like as much as I expected to though

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:16 (five months ago) link

Nope. Sounds like Guitar Center.

Cow_Art, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:28 (five months ago) link

Agree, it was just sort of cool they played a MBV song and then the Cure cover but the performance was just sort of there.

Bee OK, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:50 (five months ago) link

I read about Richard Aoyade guesting with the band this morning. But not sure when was that the same London show.
Hadn't known he played guitar before that. Think it was Lou's feed on FB.

Stevo, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 21:59 (five months ago) link

They should have got Graham Linehan to sing Don't

PaulTMA, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 22:17 (five months ago) link

Nope. Sounds like Guitar Center.

Lol

Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 22:52 (five months ago) link

His new single is pretty much out there. Music that makes me happy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOgibRJxp8g

walking towards the sun since 2007 (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 16 November 2023 15:55 (five months ago) link


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