Bulbs, Bugs, and Little Fury Things: Revisiting Dinosaur Jr.
By: Adrien Begrand |
Saturday September 10, 2005 |
| Born out of the ashes of the hardcore band Deep Wound, bandmates J. Mascis and Lou Barlow, with drummer Murph in tow, decided to try to take their music in a different direction. The resulting sound of their new band, was hard to pin down early on. The band's sound was equal parts hardcore, metal, jam band, goth, and UK post punk, but what made this band stand out, and what would eventually become their calling card, was the lead guitar playing of Mascis. |
Dinosaur 
You're Living All Over Me 
Bug
When considering which bands from the 1980s indie rock underground influenced the alt-rock explosion during the 1990s, many names spring to mind, but four American bands stick out above the rest: Husker Du, Sonic Youth, The Pixies, and Dinosaur Jr. Like The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr. hailed from Massachusetts (Amherst, to be specific), but it was the great Minneapolis trio Husker Du whom they most closely resembled. Both bands were trios who emerged from the early 80s hardcore punk scene, specializing in a sound that placed heavy emphasis on huge-sounding guitars, which translated into excruciatingly loud live performances. Most importantly, though, both Husker Du and Dinosaur Jr. excelled at underscoring all the noise with ingenious pop hooks that lurked underneath the din. As brilliant and well-loved as both bands were at the time, they turned out to be sadly ahead of their time, as that formula would not be fully appreciated until Nirvana's ubiquitous three chords of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" dive-bombed into the collective consciousness of college students and school kids alike. While Husker Du's early albums for the SST label remain in desperate need of remastering, Dinosaur Jr.'s important first three albums, two of which were also on the SST label, have been given the reissue treatment by Merge Records. While it's great news for the older crowd who remember hearing those albums on college radio, it's an even better opportunity for a new generation of kids to get to know one of the most influential bands in the 1980s. Born out of the ashes of the hardcore band Deep Wound, bandmates J. Mascis and Lou Barlow, with drummer Murph in tow, decided to try to take their music in a different direction. The resulting sound of their new band, dubbed Dinosaur (the "Jr." would be tacked on when the name conflicted with a bunch of West Coast folkies called The Dinosaurs), was hard to pin down early on. The band's sound was equal parts hardcore, metal, jam band, goth, and UK post punk, but what made this band stand out, and what would eventually become their calling card, was the lead guitar playing of Mascis. At the time, guitar solos were usually reserved for the flashy, poofy-haired metal axemen, where the emphasis was on speed and technical ability, instead of emotion, but it was Mascis who masterfully put the emotion back into the guitar solo. One of the most expressive lead guitarists in the history of rock, Mascis drew heavily from the immense guitar sound of Neil Young, and did so brilliantly, his deft, yet economical licks speaking more loudly than his trademark laconic drawl. Dinosaur Jr.'s self-titled 1985 debut, originally recorded for New York label Homestead (the early home of legends Sonic Youth and Big Black), is the sound of a band all over the stylistic map, as if tentatively dipping into as many genres as they can think of, but despite the often jarring lack of focus (check out the blatant metal rip-off on "Mountain Man"), Dinosaur is still loaded with gems, several of the seminal variety. At the top of the heap is the great single "Revulsion", which predates the Seattle grunge sound by a good four years, possessing the kind of sly pop sense that only Nirvana would be able to equal out in the Pacific Northwest. Alternating between fuzzed-out chords and jangly choruses, and between Mascis's endearing slacker-dude vocals and his impassioned guitar fills, the song sets the template that Dinosaur Jr. would follow for the next decade. The lovely "Severed Lips" builds on that formula even further, serving as a bit of a preview of the more refined direction the band would head in as the 90s rolled around, but it's the understated epic "Forget the Swan" that really sticks out, an overly ambitious blend of New Order style guitar and bass melodies, the impassioned lead vocals of Barlow, his extremely esoteric lyrics ("It's foraging through the abyss/Under the brig, my head swings down"), and a surreal, loping bridge that features Mascis singing. It's 1987's You're Living All over Me, though, that has the band coming into their own. Widely regarded as one of the most influential albums of the post punk era, it is an unbelievably loud piece of work, but unlike their peers in Sonic Youth, who would take noise rock to lofty, arty heights on 1987's Sister and the classic Daydream Nation a year later, Dinosaur Jr. injected a heavy dose of emotion and melody into the cacophony, and the result is still jarring today. The chief reason behind the album's charming quality is Mascis, who is all over the album: his lyrics are desperate, often gutwrenching ("I'll be grazing by your window, please come pat me on the head/I just wanna find out what you're nice to me for"), but like a clumsy introvert, he struggles to find the right words, and when words fail, that's where his guitar does the talking, to stunning effect. "Little Fury Things", "Tarpit", and "Raisans" boast the most memorable melodies, but the aptly titled "Sludgefeast" provides the most revelatory moment on the record, continuing where "Repulsion" left off a year earlier, marrying a sweet melody with turgid, brutally heavy, proto-grunge/stoner rock riffs and a very unconventional arrangement, concluding with a startling, very effective tempo change. Barlow's presence was obviously being phased out during this period, but his influence is undeniable; not only does he contribute two quality songs in "Lose" and "Poledo", but his heavily distorted basslines, which were modeled directly after Motorhead's Lemmy Kilminster, offset Mascis's effects-laden guitars perfectly. The following year, Bug would have Mascis settling into a groove he'd languish in during the mid-90s, that of comfy, listener-friendly tunes that, while never wavering from the loud, distorted tones of his guitar, would increasingly boast melodies that sound more folk rock than anything cutting-edge. While the influential You're Living All over Me gets the majority of the praise, Bug is the superior album: Mascis's songwriting is at its most nuanced and focused, the production is slightly cleaner, and the balance between noise and hooks is much more even, making for a much more accessible record. Songs such as "No Bones", "Let it Ride", and the lovely "Pond Song" all serve as perfect examples of the band's streamlined sound, while the more ferocious "Yeah We Know" has the trio pulling off yet another one of their trademark, beastly riff showcases. Conversely, the emotional "The Post" packs a wallop with its sluggish, downtempo pace and Mascis's country-tinged chorus of, "She's my post to lean on/And I just cut her down." It also helps that Bug has the greatest Dinosaur Jr. song of all time, that being the timeless indie rock anthem "Freak Scene", which skillfully dips into punk, metal, country, and pop with astonishing ease, and as always, is bolstered by yet another great guitar solo. The song's sweet, lackadaisical quality, not to mention its endearing, puppydog-eyed lyrics ("Just don't let me fuck up will you?/Cause when I need a friend it's still you") would set the stage for the slacker sounds that would dominate indie rock during the first half of the 1990s. By the time alternative rock was in full swing in 1994, Dinosaur Jr. managed to garner some of the attention they sought in the late 80s, but despite the airplay on 120 Minutes and Alternative Nation, the band was a shadow of its former self. After much internal strife, Barlow left the band after the release of Bug, and went on to form Sebadoh, whose 1991 album Sebadoh III would help pioneer the lo-fi rock trend that Pavement, Beck, Guided By Voices, and Neutral Milk Hotel would employ during that decade. Mascis, on the other hand, kept plugging away with Dinosaur Jr., putting out such solid, yet formulaic albums as Green Mind, Where You Been, and Without a Sound. Following The Pixies lead, however, Mascis, Murph, and Barlow have now mended fences, and are back touring, to the great delight of old fans in their thirties and forties. All three re-releases, while claiming to be fully remastered, are only marginal improvements on the originals, and aside from one muddy live track and the lovably sloppy cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven", the CDs are devoid of any bonus tracks. These neatly packaged discs, which contain well-written liner notes by Byron Coley and filmmaker Allison Anders, not to mention a tone of photos, are still a must, despite the complaints of some purists. Considering it's been such a long time since these albums have been easily available, all three are well worth rediscovering, and new listeners might be surprised at how fresh and original this music still sounds nearly two decades later. |
