Dinosaur Jr.: Brilliant or crap?

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I cast my vote for brilliant, but I want to hear others. Whenever I ask this question in real life I get blank expressions.

― Jake Becker, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I honestly don't know how I feel about them. I like the following albums: "Green Mind", "Bug", "Little Fury Things" & "Whatever's Cool With Me". I don't like anything after "Green Mind". I also listened to "Bug" just about a week ago out of sheer nostalgia and I couldn't believe how poorly produced it was! Damn, I record clearer songs on my digital 4 track with ease. I guess things were much different before the advent of cheap personal home studio devices. Anyway, listening to the stuff wasn't as fun as I remembered. And he really only does one thing, which is whine, basically, and then rip into a flaming guitar solo, all of which start to sound the same at some point, right? It's kind of like that band Poison. Remember them? Every guitar solo ended the same, regardless of the supposed "mood" of the song: "diddly-diddly-diddly-diddly- deeeeeeeeeeee" and then back into the next verse.

I like them. I have a really fond spot in my heart for them. But, it might kind of be like old friends when you finally get back together and realise you don't have much to talk about anymore. Maybe I outgrew them? Or maybe I just have to wait until summertime or something when the mood strikes.

They were good and original, though.

Here's a related question:

Who's better: Dinosaur Jr. or Sebadoh*?

(*just because Lou was originally in Dinosaur, if you didn't know that.)

― , Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Neither. Just pretty good. Take a run at the sun is a classic song.

― John Smith, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i only know them from the few videos i saw on 120 minutes and the alternateen singles they released and all of those were crap really. i can't imagine ever buying a record with j mascis on it. i liked lou barlow on sex in the 90s, he is so sensitive. bob wratten should have been on instead of him.

― keith, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Classic. "Bug", "Youre living all over me" and "Where you been" are all fantasic...rest of their stuff is patchy.."Green mind" is rubbish....if there is a bad point about Dinosaur Jr. its that there is maybe too many needless solos...sometimes they work and other times u just wish he'd put a sock in it..

― Michael Bourke, Thursday, 1 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

i'm with Michael: "Your Living All Over Me", "Bug" and "Where You've Been" = pure genius. The Crazy Horse that's actually good and hard. My favorite still is the "Your Living...", that shit burns. As for Dinosaur vs. Sebadoh? No contest: stargazers vs. self-absorbed bastards.

― Omar, Friday, 2 March 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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-four years ago)

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-four years ago)

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-four years ago)

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-four years ago)

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-four years ago)

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-three years ago)

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-three years ago)

INDEED. ;-)

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

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-three years ago)

'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-three years ago)

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-three years ago)

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

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

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-three years ago)

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-three years ago)

one year passes...

Revive!

― adaml (adaml), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:29 (twenty-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 00:48 (twenty-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

Don't insult "Green Mind." Please!

― cybele (cybele), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

How do you pronounce J. Mascis' name?

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

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

who are you talking to?

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

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-two years ago)

(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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

I vote for brilliant crap!

― st tremaine, Wednesday, 15 October 2003 09:15 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 09:20 (twenty-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

rhymes with "stasis."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

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

― gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 15 October 2003 21:53 (twenty-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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-two years ago)

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 (twenty-one years ago)

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 (twenty-one years ago)

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 (twenty-one years ago)

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 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 291 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

^^^

― mookieproof, Monday, 18 January 2021 03:00 (four years ago)

woooo! https://www.dinosaurjr.com/news-blog/2021/1/15/custom-dinosaur-jr-collaboration-with-j-skis

― StanM, Monday, 18 January 2021 15:42 (four years ago)

That is rad.

― DJI, Monday, 18 January 2021 16:57 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

This is their best LP in a few.

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

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

― PaulTMA, Saturday, 24 April 2021 01:40 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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

― Michael F Gill, Saturday, 15 May 2021 02:31 (four years ago)

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

― Mule, Saturday, 15 May 2021 10:31 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

I hope Dave Grohl's in it lots.

― clemenza, Sunday, 20 June 2021 01:20 (four years ago)

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

― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Tuesday, 22 June 2021 00:40 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (four years ago)

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 (two years ago)

Wow

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:16 (two years ago)

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 (two years ago)

Nope. Sounds like Guitar Center.

― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 20:28 (two years ago)

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 (two years ago)

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 (two years ago)

They should have got Graham Linehan to sing Don't

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 15 November 2023 22:17 (two years ago)

Nope. Sounds like Guitar Center.

Lol

― Shifty Henry’s Swing Club (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 22:52 (two years ago)

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 (two years ago)

one year passes...

get me is just the best
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI-1t-PcaL8

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Wednesday, 22 January 2025 22:38 (eleven months ago)

Great bass solo by Mike after the first verse, that's wild!

― Mrs. Ippei (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 22 January 2025 22:55 (eleven months ago)

yeah wish the studio version had that :(

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Wednesday, 22 January 2025 23:42 (eleven months ago)

Great version!

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, 23 January 2025 00:58 (eleven months ago)

So so

― LightUserSyndrome, Thursday, 23 January 2025 01:20 (eleven months ago)

six months pass...

Sending good vibes to the boys, had to cancel the last three shows of their current tour due to "a medical issue with J".

― better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 6 August 2025 19:47 (four months ago)

hopefully just an overuse injury for his pedal stomping forefoot

― Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Wednesday, 6 August 2025 21:20 (four months ago)

fingers crossed!

― better than ezra collective soul asylum (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 6 August 2025 21:44 (four months ago)

three months pass...

Someone should do an arist poll. I think “not you again” could be my number one

― Heez, Thursday, 4 December 2025 17:02 (two weeks ago)

Could be mine too, really.

― husked, tonal wails (irrational), Friday, 5 December 2025 15:11 (two weeks ago)

That and Green Mind was when I got into them. That EP is so good. Green Mind might be my most listened to album of the 91-94 period.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 5 December 2025 15:29 (two weeks ago)

would love to do a poll, so i can vote for all the awesome overlooked post-reunion stuff

― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 December 2025 15:47 (two weeks ago)

yeh farm has become my favourite of their albums

― nxd, Friday, 5 December 2025 16:14 (two weeks ago)

Farm and Beyond rule, and are my go-to listens after You're Living and Bug

― . (jamiesummerz), Friday, 5 December 2025 16:48 (two weeks ago)

i bet on sky is also really great

― harper valley paul thomas anderson (voodoo chili), Friday, 5 December 2025 16:59 (two weeks ago)

They sure are, but I still cant see past the ones I grew up with.

― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Friday, 5 December 2025 17:03 (two weeks ago)

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