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.
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.
