Michael Azzerad's Our Band Could Be Your Life-- a book of profiles of 1980s bands who grew up and out of hardcore punk-- makes the polemical decision to cut each chapter off at the moment if and when each band signed to a major label. On the one hand, this is understandable. Between roughly 1986 and 1991, American indie bands began being sucked into the maw of WEA/Sony/Megahyperglobochemcorp at quick clip. But before Nirvanania found CEOs courting such obvious hit makers as Daniel Johnston and the Jesus Lizard, this was less a cultural given than a leap into the dark for both band and label alike. Azzerad's decision is problematic, however, because it ignores the thorny realities of what happened when each band engaged with the major label machinery-- whether it imploded (like Hüsker Dü) or thrived (like Sonic Youth).
Dinosaur Jr.-- featured in one of Our Band's most entertaining chapters-- imploded when they were still on an indie. And now majorhyperglobochemcorp Rhino reissues Dino's first two albums after they signed to Sire/Warner Bros. at the turn of the 90s-- Green Mind and Where You Been?-- as well as a previously unreleased acoustic solo set from the same period by Dino frontman J Mascis. (The preceding records, Dinosaur, You're Living All Over Me and Bug, were reissued last year by Merge.) The two reissues add a handful of bonus tracks-- singles, live takes, stuff from the vault, none particularly revelatory-- as well as typically erudite liner notes from Byron Coley. Green Mind was recorded mostly by Mascis after the original Dinosaur Jr. shook itself fitfully apart following Bug and he had played through a series of temporary lineups. Original bassist Lou Barlow had already formed Sebadoh and would spend the next decade or so badmouthing Mascis in print. Original drummer Murph only plays on three songs. But the music is just a step on from where Dino had arrived at on Bug: ripcord solos, waves of feedback, jetties of New Order/Cure-style jangle, and Mascis' slack yowl delivering lyrics utterly bewildered by human contact. Opener "The Wagon" snarls with nearly as much pop hookcraft and gnarly guitar spizz as Bug's opener "Freak Scene". But throughout the album, Mascis' solos become more controlled bursts of classic rock, less spirals off the dirt track into the ditch of fuzz and mud. Inspirational verse: "There's a way I feel right now/ Wish you'd help me, don't know how/ We're all nuts, so who helps who/ Some help when no one's got a clue." Inspirational song title: "Puke + Cry".