The Dinosaurs are Not Extinct

I had a bit of a time warp experience this past week. I went to see Dinosaur Jr. at the Abart club in Zurich. Dinosaur Jr. was one of a handful of very influential bands who are credited with establishing the alternative or indie rock music genre that we know today. Indie rock refers to the independent record labels that helped to spawn and support this movement. If you are interested the roots of indie rock, I highly recommend a book called Our Band Could be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground (1981-1991). The book chronicles several influential bands, leading up to 1991- the year that indie music really broke into the mainstream with the release of Nirvana's Nevermind. Unfortunately, I missed the early era of Dinosaur Jr., because where they formed (Amherst, MA) is just a stone's throw from where I grew up. When I started college in 1991, I quickly discovered Dinosaur Jr., among a host of other indie bands when I began working at the college radio station. Green Mind was released just a few weeks after I started college and would become one of the soundtrack albums for my college years. By this time, the original lineup of Dinosaur has disbanded and J. Mascis (Singer/ Guitarist) wrote and recorded almost the entire album himself (including drums! he was a drummer before picking up guitar and starting Dinosaur). Cassette copies of Dinosaur's previous albums (with the original lineup), Bug and You're Living All Over Me, lived in the Blue Camaro during those years and were staple road trip tunes.
Although I saw Dinosaur Jr. live in the 90s, it was always more of a one man show, since J. was basically the band and drummers and bass players came and went. Lou Barlow, the original bass player, and J. had an acrimonious relationship and after leaving the band Lou came into his own as a songwriter, heading up another band called Sebadoh. Dinosaur Jr./J. continued to produce albums in the 90s but slowly started to fade. I never really expected the band to ever return to its former days of glory, much less reform with the original lineup. In 2005, they got together and played some reunion shows. They must have rediscovered some of that energy that made them great because they released a new album in 2007. Here it is now in 2008, 20+ years after the band formed, and 10 years since I last saw them, and I finally get to see them in the original lineup. The cynics among you are probably thinking that they just reformed for the money, as so many washed-up has-been bands will do. Maybe that has something to do with it, but not only are they putting on spectacular shows, but they are also creating some powerful new music.
Enough with the history lesson, on to the show. Let me preface this by returning to how I started this post, which was to say the whole night felt like a bit of a trip back in time. I met one of the guys from my language class at the train station. He produced a couple of cans of beer from his backpack, which we drank on the train on the way to Zurich (you can do that here). Since he is about 10 years my junior, I also gave him a bit of a history lesson and we talked about indie rock of the 90s and the current state of music. When we arrived we packed into a crowded club and caught most of the opening band. The local opening band was nothing special, derivative and unoriginal. The difference between the two bands was even more obvious when Dinosaur launched into their first song with a tightness and power that was well above even what I expected. You could feel the energy erupt in room. (Someone there shot a short video. Not the best representation but you can see a short clip anyway. The sound was much better live). The combination of the old songs, of which they played many, and the atmosphere there brought me right back to college house parties. People crowded together, sweating from every pore of my body, drinking warm beer from plastic cups, thick, thick air. After the show, we poured out onto the street with the rest of the fans and headed to catch the last train home. Once we arrived at the destination station, I still had a 40 minute bike ride home since the local train to our town had already stopped running for the night. All the way home, the songs ran in my mind, mixed with thoughts and memories from my college days. The strength of the effect of music on the brain and its ability to link so closely to memory is a beautiful thing.