Dinosaur Jr.

History

Mascis and Barlow formed their first band together, Deep Wound, while still attending high school. They went through a few more name changes before settling on "Dinosaur" in 1984. In 1987, they were forced to change the name to "Dinosaur Jr." after a band called The Dinosaurs, made up of ex-members of Jefferson Airplane, threatened to sue them over the name.

Debut album Dinosaur was in a home studio and self-released, earning the band little mainstream attention. After being invited to tour with Sonic Youth in 1986, they recorded their follow-up, You're Living All Over Me. Around this time, Mascis moved to New York City, and tensions began forming within the core trio over control over the band's career and direction. Bug followed in 1998, which featured the band's first hit single, "Freak Scene".

After a contentious tour in support of Bug, Mascis kicked Barlow out of the band and started working on Dinosaur Jr. albums essentially by himself. (Barlow went on to front his own successful indie rock trio, Sebadoh.) After a string of successful records released by the major label Sire, Mascis retired the Dinosaur Jr. name in 1997, continuing to record under the name J Mascis and the Fog.

Dinosaur Jr. reunited on April 15, 2005 on The Late Late Show, and have since embarked on a tour and released an album of new songs, 2007's Beyond.

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