There Can Only Be One...

Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene

Dinosaur Jr. - 'Reak Scene
(Live 1988 in NYC, taken from "Jayloumurph")

J Mascis - Freak Scene (Peel Session 20.11.02)

I reckon J Mascis and Kev Shields have got a whole Highlander Alternative Guitar Hero thing going on. They prowl around the world's great cities with dirty great Samurai swords trying to behead each other.
I could be wrong.

Anyway, the two things I clock as being contenders for the Anthem Of My Generation Before We All Got Jobs and Tried To Settle Down are as follows:

"You Made Me Realise" by My Bloody Valentine

"Freak Scene" by Dinosaur Jr.

It has to Freak Scene, doesn't it. MBV are utterly glorious and I have always loved them, but the lyrics on Freak Scene are just perfect. They're all about finding a little something to feel part of, something worth being part of and it was palpably there prior to the IF IT MOVES BUY IT WE'VE JUST CO-OPTED YOUR REALLY NEATO SUBCULTURE KIDDIES WELCOME TO BIG BUCKS CORPORATE GRUNGE.

Sorry. I get a little angry about this. Nirvana's "Teen Spirit" was foisted upon us as "the song" , but it isn't. Kurt knew it. The real culture was right there in the film "Slacker", not in the slo-mo cheerleaders still shaking it on MTV aeons after the event.

It was there in the royal dementia of The Butthole Surfers. It was really, really there in Mudhoney. It was even there in Kurt chucking himself into the drum kit at Reading all those years ago. But it wasn't there in "Teen Spirit".

Like J says: "What a mess".

Anyway, back to the Highlander riff - if Mr Mascis is doing Christopher Lambert, is Kev the evil cackling one freaking out people in the Cathedral? Who's doing Sean Connery? Keef? Over to you.

Buy - Dinosaur Jr. - Bug
Buy - Dinosaur Jr. - Ear-Bleeding Country: The Best of...
Buy - J Mascis - BBC Sessions
Buy - Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff Plus Early Singles
Buy - My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything
Buy - The Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
Buy - Slacker
Don't Buy - Anything by Pearl Jam (obviously this is a personal opinion, I have the greatest respect for them as artistes).
Visit - J Mascis
Visit - Free So Free, massive amount of Dinosaur Jr. gigs and videos to download.... yum!

Mike.