Dinosaur Jr are an alt rock band that formed in the 80s, out of Amherst, Mass. Loud, noisy, and with lots of distortion, they also had some great tunes. I had a couple of their albums.
This one, their fourth, was something of a solo effort by frontman J Mascis. He pretty much played everything on it except for the drums on a couple of songs. Indeed, Mascis was pretty much the whole band. An incredible guitarist, he was also the group’s songwriter and vocalist.
He was also a control freak and famously non-communicative. He and bassist Lou Barlow had a years-long period of not talking each other, resulting in Barlow’s leaving and forming Sebadoh (another great band), and Dinosaur Jr disbanding in 1997. The original band got back together in 2005, though, and seem to be doing fine.
Then and now
The cover photo is from Joseph Szabo’s book Almost Grown. He specialized in shots of teens and preteens takes back in the 70s. Like the cover photo, titled “Priscilla,” they’re a fascinating combination of innocence and bravado.
He has four other credits, three by a band I never heard of called Golden Republic (who actually sound really good - surprised I never heard of them).
Dinosaur Jr did some great album covers, some of which could easily have made it onto this list.
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