J Mascis is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr. The band began as Dinosaur, not Dinosaur Jr. in Amherst, Massachusetts. After Mascis' previous band, the hardcore punks Deep Wound, broke up in 1983, Mascis started jamming with high school classmate Lou Barlow. Mascis drummed for the band at that point, but moved to...More
J Mascis is the singer, guitarist, and songwriter for Dinosaur Jr. The band began as Dinosaur, not Dinosaur Jr. in Amherst, Massachusetts. After Mascis' previous band, the hardcore punks Deep Wound, broke up in 1983, Mascis started jamming with high school classmate Lou Barlow. Mascis drummed for the band at that point, but moved to guitar once drummer Murph joined the band. In 1986, they changed their name to Dinosaur Jr. after being sued by a psychedelic group also called Dinosaur. They released their debut, Dinosaur (Homestead Records), in 1985 and built up a reputation of consistently delivering bombastically loud live shows. Their second album, You're Living All Over Me (SST, 1987) was released to rave reviews and became an underground hit for them. Their third album, Bug (SST, 1988), was an even bigger success for Dinosaur Jr. In 1989, Mascis broke up the band and reformed it a day later without Lou Barlow. He continued to release albums as Dinosaur Jr. until the late 1990s when he officially broke up the band. In 2000, he released a solo record under the name J Mascis + The Fog called More Light (Ultimatum). In April 2005, Mascis, Barlow, and Murph reunited to tour in support of the reissues of their first three albums. The original trio also began recording together again, releasing Beyond (Fat Possum, 2007) and Farm (Jagjaguwar, 2009) to much critical and fan praise.
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