How did Dinosaur Jr re-form after the nastiest split in rock history?
If there are 50 ways to leave your lover, there must be just as many ways to sack your bass player. J. Mascis chose one of the worst. In 1989, the Dinosaur Jr guitarist lied to Lou Barlow, whom he’d formed the band with alongside drummer Emmett “Murph” Murphy in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984. “They sorta told me the band had broken up,” Barlow says. “Then, within two or three weeks, they were playing a show in Australia. I found out fairly quickly that they hadn’t broken up. That did kinda hurt at the time.” Now there’s an understatement. “You guys f—ing suck!” is what he said at the time. “I carried that grudge for a long time and resorted to small-minded revenge tactics,” Barlow says. “I sued J, wrote songs about him, shit-talked him any opportunity I got.” Mascis forged ahead with Dinosaur Jr until 1997 with albums such as Green Mind and Where You Been. Barlow enjoyed success with Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion. Neither artist struck commercial gold, but both established formida
