Dinosaur Jr.
Dinosaur / You're Living All Over Me / Bug
Bug


In the annals of music history, Dinosaur Jr.'s legacy has been oversimplified into a few reductive buzzwords. Sure, you can try to blame them for grunge or slackers or Neil Young's '90s resurgence. But all of that obscures the fact that the original trio—guitarist/singer J Mascis, bassist/singer Lou Barlow and drummer Murph—was one of the most vital, inventive and singular groups of all time, helping expand the vocabulary of punk rock and inspiring countless other bands.

Now, we have a perfect opportunity to reevaluate the Dinosaur Jr. legacy. The first three Dinosaur Jr. albums—Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me and Bug—have long been out of print. But now Merge has released new remastered versions that sound far superior to the original Homestead and SST versions. And, despite a viciously bitter breakup in 1989, the original lineup has reunited and will be touring this summer.

Dinosaur (without the Jr.) was hatched in Amherst, Mass. in 1984 from the ashes of a hardcore punk band called Deep Wound. Like many contemporaries in other parts of the country, a sense of boredom with hardcore's limitations led to a more experimental mindset.

The band's self-titled 1985 debut is a compelling (if flawed) effort by a trio still finding its way. Dinosaur sounds closer to Hüsker Dü than the folk band of the apocalypse that it became. Barlow handles an equal share of the vocal duties (and after all these years, I'm still not sure who sings a couple of things).

Dinosaur does feature three songs—"Repulsion," "Quest" and "Severed Lips"—that remained staples of the Dinosaur live set long after the Barlow era ended (and even after the Murph era ended). Right off the bat, Dinosaur was chronicling how weird it was to be growing up in Reagan's America. There's a combination of vulnerability, paranoia, cynicism and humor here that would later become a parody of itself when the concept of "slackers" was discovered by Madison Avenue. But it was a pretty powerful combination here.

"Quest" features an early example of Mascis' bent take on life, when he sings "I love the caterpillars munching on the leaves / Pitter patter makes me forget my disease / Bugs have feelers just like me / And I'm feelin' oh so lonely." Feeling diseased is a theme Mascis returns to frequently—both "Severed Lips" and "The Leper" contain similar references.

The next album, 1987's You're Living All Over Me, is widely (and deservedly) regarded as a work of genius. By this time, the Dinosaur sound had gelled. Mascis's fiery soloing and use of rockasaurus guitar effects such as a wah-wah pedal and a phase shifter found its perfect counterpoint in Barlow's full arm Marshall-stack bass strumming and Murph's propulsive stomp.

From the first explosion of "Little Fury Things" and the crack precision of "Kracked," Dinosaur had clearly perfected its layered sonic assault that juxtaposed varities of feedback, distortion and clean tones in a manner that presaged My Bloody Valentine.

Lyrically, the songs continue to mine relationships—mainly the intense desire to have them, the difficulty in finding them, and the pain of losing them. In "Sludgefeast," Mascis sings "Got to connect with you girl before I forget how." In "Raisans," he drawls "She stood burning in front of me / She ripped my heart out and gave it to me / My eyes wouldn't open, cemented to her face / Have I begun a feeble chase?"

But if You're Living All Over Me is the band's masterpiece, 1988's Bug is the overlooked gem that gets wrongfully slighted. Recorded amidst rising tensions within the band, Bug is remarkable in that it is extremely loud and noisy, but pretty and delicate at the same time. One of the reasons Bug gets dismissed is that the band was in the midst of complete dysfunction. But that dramatic tension is palpable on the record—Barlow's playing in particular has a ferocious attitude to it.

It is on Bug that Mascis truly began to perfect his concept of "ear-bleeding country." "No Bones" could have been a Gram Parsons song, while the Cowboy Junkies later stripped down "The Post." And "Pond Song" is flat-out one of the most gorgeous songs Mascis has ever written.

The album kicks off with "Freak Scene," a song that was way more of a slacker manifesto than Beck's "Loser" ever was. Few rock 'n' roll songs have captured the terminal heebie jeebies that accompany many relationships better. And the feedback-drenched tag at the end: "Sometimes I don't thrill you / Sometimes I think I'll kill you / Just don't let me fuck up will you / 'cause when I need a friend it's still you."

The album ends with the five-and-a-half-minute freakout "Don't," a song that is perhaps the greatest musical representation of a feeling of all time. Over an end-of-the-world wall of noise, Barlow screams "Why don't you like me" as though his skin has been ripped off and he's being lowered into a saltwater bath. Ah, but who among us can't relate to that feeling? I can (and if I wanted to be mean, I could even assign a name to that feeling).

Sadly, that song also aptly captures the feeling within Dinosaur Jr. at the time. Barlow was dismissed soon after Bug and waged a very public and painful war against Mascis with his band Sebadoh. The hatred inspired songs like "The Freed Pig" and "Asshole," although a more apt Barlow composition was "Punching Myself In The Face Repeatedly, Publicly."

Mascis recorded a series of Dinosaur Jr. albums after dismissing Barlow. Sometimes he recorded with Murph and bassist Mike Johnson, while others times Mascis played all the instruments himself. He became a critical darling whose work was featured on Beverly Hills 90210. One particular magazine cover contained the headline "J Mascis is God."

Both Mascis and Barlow went on to record much vital music apart. But (and I'm sure they'll both bristle at this notion) neither has made music anywhere near this original since. One doesn't dare hope that this rekindled partnership will yield more fruit in the future, but then again, who dared hope we'd even get to see these three guys playing live together again?