Dinosaur Jr is back - Oh My Rockness

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Dinosaur Jr is back

July 7, 2005
The band that played so loud it sort of pissed you off is back. In keeping with the "legendary indie band reunited" theme of the past 12 months (Gang of Four, Slint, Pixies, etc...), Dinosaur Jr has temporarily put aside their differences (Lou: I hate your Mass-hole face, J! J: Sebadoh sucks!) in order to blast your eardrums once more, albeit in a serene park setting.

Dinosaur Jr was one of the first lo-fi "college" bands, was one of the first indie bands to bring back the guitar solo, and was even one of the first bands (along with Sonic Youth) to use walls of noise, a sound that ultimately led to the whole UK shoegazing movement. So essentially without Dinosaur Jr, there may have been no Pavement, Built to Spill, or My Bloody Valentine. Damn, now THAT'S something impressive.

It's no secret that during Dinosaur Jr's relatively brief existence, Lou Barlow, J Mascis and Murph didn't particularly like each other. In fact, they pretty much hated each other. And extra-special discord existed between Barlow and Mascis (count how many times Barlow calls J. an "asshole" in interviews). Whether the strife was based on dictatorship (it was pretty much Mascis' show), jealousy (Barlow started writing more and more Sebadoh songs), or just plain incompatibility (they all stunk together in a small van), no one may ever be sure. One thing that is for sure is once the three got on stage, magic happened; noisy, writhing, dangerous guitar magic. They played so loud it hurt. If you don't own their 3 albums (the ones that included Barlow before they fired him), now is the time to make that purchase. Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me, and Bug have just been reissued by Merge and they sound just as exciting today as they did 15-20 years ago. This band killed and could've been like Nirvana. But then again, Nirvana's gone, and they're still here... for now.

Broken Social Scene is also playing this show. Lots of people seriously love this sprawling Canadian collective. I had the unfortunately experience of seeing them play with Pretty Girls Make Graves awhile back and thought they sounded remarkably like the Gin Blossoms. But the show was at a pier on the Hudson, I was drunk, and I was distracted by the view of New Jersey. So take that critique for what it's worth.

Dinosaur Jr, Broken Social Scene, Radio 4 and Magik Markers play Central Park Summerstage, Thursday, July 14th.

Click here for show details.

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