Dinosaur Jr. is finally getting the documentary treatment in the recently released Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr. The noisy trio of J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and Murph influenced Nirvana, among others. The fast-paced film moves quickly from their hardcore roots in the ’80s through their major label days to their current child-rearing, Whole Foods-shopping lives now. Here are five freaky takeaways from Freakscene.
Cover Photo: Cara Totman
Freaky Takeaways From the New Dinosaur Jr Documentary Freakscene
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An Idaho Incident Pushed Lou Out of the Band
Well, not the Gem State itself, but more specifically a hotel room in Mountain Home, Idaho. Dinosaur Jr. was on tour supporting their second record, Bug, when their van broke down. Basically trapped in a hotel room for a week, the Massachusetts-based trio quickly turned on each other. Mascis picked on Barlow incessantly (who hasn’t taken issue with the way a friend eats KFC?) and Murph couldn’t take the constant bickering. Murph flipped a mattress in a rage. Barlow soon launched his solo career, where he could presumably eat chicken in peace.
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Kurt Cobain Asked J. Mascis to Join Nirvana
A lil’ grunge outfit named Nirvana was starting to get noticed in the late '80s, particularly by veteran tastemakers such as Sonic Youth. Aware of Dinosaur Jr.’s personnel problems, Kurt Cobain suggested Mascis just join Nirvana instead. Mascis passed, saying in the documentary, “I think we were much bigger than them at the time.” Dinosaur Jr. eventually toured Europe with Nirvana right as Nevermind dominated the music scene. Still, Mascis wasn’t jealous: “Luckily we weren’t like Nirvana’s success.”
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Matt Dillon Does a Good Impression of J. Mascis
Dillon, a longtime Dinosaur Jr. fan, directed their music video for “Not Gonna Get Me.” As he recounts the story, Dillon said Mascis asked his dentist father if he knew of any abandoned local houses they could burn down for the video. Papa Mascis was apparently disappointed in his son’s career path. No domiciles were torched in the video, just some kids throwing rocks through windows. Dillon also said Mascis’ dad’s business cards said “Dinosaur Sr.”
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Frank Black of The Pixies Compares Dinosaur Jr. to a Three-legged, Two-headed Beast (Or Something)
Frank Black—sorry, Black Francis—is a fan and compatriot of Dinosaur Jr., having come up through the same punk and indie circles in the Northeast back in the day. From an art studio surrounded by Picasso-esque pieces, Black sums up Dinosaur Jr.’s distinctive sound like this:
“It's way more like like an entity, like this creature that's like this [making creature-like move]…It's got a big leg. Murph is the leg or whatever, and then J. is one arm and Lou’s the other arm and I suppose the head is just kind of a double head, more J. probably than Lou, I suppose. But there's this head up here too, but the main musical body of it is this and this and this. It's like that. I mean, it's like, whatever it is that they're doing, it's way more like [creature sound] it's like really together. Like it's really, it's not like that. It's like [another creature sound].”
Right on, Frank. Maybe the paint fumes got to him.
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‘Freakscene’ Doesn’t Dig Deep Into the Enigmatic Mascis
Maybe it’s because the documentary was directed by Mascis’ brother-in-law, or maybe it’s the less-than-90-minute runtime. One big takeaway from Freakscene is there aren’t many takeaways about the man behind the music. Mascis has never been much of an open book, letting his croaky voice and ear-blistering solos do the talking. Still, Freakscene skims over elements of his life that could’ve used more attention. A friend says Mascis really opened up after his father passed away, with nary an example or elaboration from Mascis. His wife, Luisa Reichenheim, a German woman, has one line in the film.
When Dinosaur Jr. broke up the first time, Mascis followed a Hindu spiritual leader and even recorded an EP about her. This begs several questions, none of which are asked in the documentary. Still, Freakscene is well worth watching for Dinosaur Jr. fans and gives a basic overview of their long and noisy career, even if the takeaways don’t run too deep.
