Dinosaur Jr.
Bug

“Seen enough to eye you, but I’ve seen too much to try you...”

This is how one of the most unique chapters in Rock begins: “Bug”. Even today, what continues to strike me about this album is the surgical and formal precision of the bass lines, in my opinion, the true essence of all the tracks it comprises. Lending a hand is Lou Barlow, who back in 1988 (the year "Bug" was released) enjoyed maneuvering behind the scenes of an album mostly composed of arrogant guitars, songs hidden within songs, underground, subliminal perspectives. The strength of the album lies entirely here, as episodes like “No Bones,” the exhausting “Yeah We Know,” or the evergreen “Freak Scene,” which opens the dance, sending an important signal about the health of American rock (while in Italy, the calvary of the lambada was about to begin...).

“Bug” remains a memorable album, especially because it hides within these two parallel lives the vast discomfort existing between Masics and Barlow, who entered the recording studio turning their backs on each other. Divided at home, in short, a bit like Litfiba (!). A story with a bitter end (Barlow's expulsion), the consequence of which will be precisely the album in question, and which the little dinosaur will come out of diminished - this is widely testified by the gap between “Bug” and the following “Green mind,” a record of significantly lesser depth - while Barlow will decide to pick up the guitar to embark on the Sebadoh adventure - just a year later, the debut album “Magic Ribbons” will be released. Despite this, the result remains one of the most important records of the early Indie Rock production, an album still very listenable, full of energy and fervor, simply a bit too enslaved to its formula and the sometimes whining voice of Masics. The rest remains underground. Focusing on the essence and paraphrasing Barlow himself: “Just gimme Indie Rock!” …and here there's plenty of it. Bread and cheese for everyone.

P.S. In fact, Lou Barlow wasn’t expelled. Following "Bug," J. Mascics merely dissolved the group and then reformed it with a new bassist. The new group was called Dinosaur Jr. How coincidental.