Where to start with...Welcome to Kerrang!'s essential guide to the greatest bands rocking our world. Discover new acts or re-acquaint yourselves with the legends... it all starts here.dinosaur jrTHEY FORMED in the mid-80s, three profoundly dysfunctional souls from Massachusetts who - when they weren't being insanely passive-aggressive - played a roaring, beautiful mutation of Sabbath heft, hardcore volume, and ear-bleeding country. J Mascis was their laconic guitar-hero leader, Lou Barlow their sensitive bassist, while Murph pounded the skins. Sonic Youth took the band on the road and assisted their sublime second album, 'You're Living All Over Me', but Barlow was fired from the group shortly after 1988's 'Bug' hit the shelves, going on to form heartfelt lo-fi mavericks Sebadoh. Mascis considered taking the Nirvana drumstool shortly before Dave Grohl arrived, choosing instead to continue with Dinosaur Jr, enjoying unlikely commercial success as 'grunge' broke with a series of albums skewed heavily towards his glorious, erudite guitar playing, before splitting the group after 1997's 'Hand It Over', to form The Fog. However, the reissue of their first three albums in 2005 led to a reunion of the 'classic' line-up for international tours and a strong new album, 'Beyond'. Their hazy brilliance is often mistaken for slackness, but the Dinosaur catalogue speaks - loudly - for itself. 
Name: You're Living All Over Me
Label: SWEET NOTHING
Year: 1987
Review: THE TITLE told of the tensions soon to rip the band apart, but for these 40-or-so minutes they only fuelled the ecstatic guitar fury. Blending heavy riffs and delicate melodies, often in the same song, the album raged and sighed like the true psychedelic rock classic it was, a seductive, sprawling album that was adventurous and bold. 
Name: Where You Been
Label: BLANCO Y NEGRO
Year: 1993
Review: AS GRUNGE exploded, Dinosaur delivered this searing classic rock set awash with Mascis's endlessly inspired soloing, opener 'Out There' the dream soundtrack for plaid-shirted air guitarists across the globe. Equal parts Crazy Horse smoulder and Zeppelin flair, Mascis's woozy croak turned off the MTV multitudes, but 'Where You Been?''s tender hurricane was of a timeless quality. 
Name: Dinosaur
Label: SWEET NOTHING
Year: 1985
Review: "MASCIS HAD yet to truly find his voice on guitar, so their debut is light on his thundercrack soloing. Still, 'Dinosaur' pulls familiar reference points into weird and wonderful new shapes, as twisted and as fresh an Americana as contemporaries the Meat Puppets offered. Their hardcore roots showed in the thrashing rockers, while Mascis's budding gift for melody and songcraft flourishes. " 
Name: Hand It Over
Label: BLANCO Y NEGRO
Year: 1997
Review: GRUNGE HAVING wilted by 1997, the final Dinosaur album went mostly unnoticed on release; a shame, as its weird, subterranean pop and profound heaviosity is worth searching out. Equal parts heavy-lidded sludge and eloquent riffage, it peaked with the mournful, searing 'Alone'. Elsewhere, left-handed pop and squalling country abound, finding Mascis at his most playful and creative. 
Name: Bug
Label: SWEET NOTHING
Year: 1988
Review: "THERE ARE no bad Dinosaur albums, but 'Bug' is Mascis's least-favourite, intra-band arguments souring the sessions. Recorded mostly by Mascis on his own, 'Bug' was less ambitious than what came before, coining a blueprint indie rock would proceed to ape to death. The brilliantly anthemic 'Freak Scene' aside, this is a sturdy record, just lacking the spark of its brethren."
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