Dinosaur Jr.

Dinosaur Jr. was both a core band of the '80s American underground scene and a crucial precursor to the grunge sound that exploded in the early '90s. Singer/guitarist J Mascis formed the band in 1984 with bassist/singer Lou Barlow and drummer Emmett Patrick Murphy, better known as Murph. Mascis and Barlow had previously played together in hardcore band Deep Wound, and gone on to an abortive project called Mogo before evolving into Dinosaur (initially without the "Jr"). They released their self-titled debut album on Homestead Records in 1985, but the album didn't earn much attention. They fared far better with 1987's You're Living All Over Me, for which they shifted to the SST label. The album solidified the band's blend of '70s hard rock influences, '60s psychedelia, and noisy, distortion-laden post-punk. By this time, legal action from the band The Dinosaurs caused Mascis and company to alter their name. The single "Freak Scene" helped make Dinosaur Jr.'s 1988 album Bug a success in the U.K. and a 1989 cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" upped their indie profile on both sides of the Atlantic. After Bug, Barlow was booted out of the band by the controlling Mascis, but he went on to success with his own project Sebadoh. Moving to Sire Records, Dinosaur Jr. (now nearly a solo project with occasional drumming from Murph) made its first appearance on the U.S. and U.K. album charts with 1991's Green Mind. With new bassist Mike Johnson they released Where You Been in 1993, just in time to benefit from the alt-friendly environment they'd helped create by laying the groundwork for grunge. Murph departed by the release of the similarly successful Without a Sound the following year, leaving just Mascis and Johnson in the band. 1997's Hand It Over was the final album until the reunion that resulted in 2007's Beyond, finally bringing the original trio back together. Further albums with the founding lineup followed, turning the group into an unlikely indie rock legacy act.