Indie Band Guru

  For this week’s Indie Flashback, we will go back to the mid-to-late 80′s.  The scene is Amherst, Massachusetts, famous for being a college town but about to get a very influential band in Dinosaur Jr.

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  Dinosaur Jr wanted nothing to do with making a scene or indie credibility, they just wanted to make good rock music.  Guitarist J Mascis was a strange one, alienating himself from fans and even bandmates but he single-handedly brought back the extended guitar solo to underground rock.  This very ‘slacker’ attitude probably held them back from major fame but did manage to motivate other ‘slackers’ to make music the way they wanted to.  Kurt Cobain of Nirvana declared himself a huge Dinosaur Jr fan. 

  After introducing large amounts of feedback, distortion and extreme volume to the underground scene, Dinosaur Jr moved to major label, Sire, in 1991 to release Green Mind, but made their statement to the indie world by then.  Just make music that makes you feel good, no matter if other people like it or not.

Today we are launching a new weekly installment to Indie Band Guru.  Welcome to Indie Flashback.  Here we will go back in time to find songs that you may never even have heard of, but their influence can be heard in much of the independent music that you listen to today.

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Today’s Indie Flashback is the song Kerosene by Big Black.  They were an American noise punk band from the mid 80′s.  You may never have heard of them due to the fact that they sought little mainstream success.  A true indie band that made no compromises.  The groups slashing guitars, provocative lyrics, and use of a drum machine instead of an actual drummer, were huge influences in punk and especially industrial music.

Although you may not remember the band, you should know their lead singer/guitarist, Steve Albini.  After Big Black, Albini went on to be an extremely successful recording engineer, producing albums by Nirvana, The Pixies, PJ Harvey, and more recently Joanna Newsom. 

Sit back and enjoy your Indie Flashback to 1986 with Kerosene by Big Black.  Now discuss!

Included below is a video we found of a live performance of the song.