Nirvana are the most important alternative rock band of all time, and the only outfit to have come close to The Beatles in sheer cultural impact. Fusing pop melodies with the wrath of 1980s underground punk, their formula proved profound. Frontman Kurt Cobain’s songwriting instinct, guitar playing and lyrical precision combined to create a body of work that continues to inspire more than 30 years after his death in 1994.
Genius is a term too readily applied, but Cobain earned it. One aspect of his brilliance that has endured above almost any other is his guitar playing. Drawing on heroes ranging from John Lennon to Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore and Melvins’ Buzz Osborne, he blended his influences into a gritty, melodic palette built on impactful riffs, crunching bar chords, dissonance, and colouring effects such as chorus.
After Nirvana became the world’s biggest band with 1991’s Nevermind, Cobain asked former Germs member Pat Smear to join as second guitarist. It proved a masterstroke, upping the muscle of their live shows, with Smear a natural foil for the frontman’s raucous approach.
Smear, it turns out, was not the only alternative luminary who could have joined Nirvana. Years before they reached the summit, Cobain had approached an even more respected guitarist: Dinosaur Jr mastermind J Mascis, one of the most singular players rock has produced.
Fusing hardcore, noise-rock and shoegaze, Dinosaur Jr first came to wider attention with their second album You’re Living All Over Me in 1987. Before that, they had been among America’s most lauded underground acts under the name Dinosaur. Ever since their 1985 debut Dinosaur permeated the scene, Cobain had admired the Massachusetts outfit and viewed Mascis as a formative influence on his playing.
The story is told in the 2021 documentary Freakscene: The Story of Dinosaur Jr. Among the contemporaries interviewed – Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Pixies – it is Thurston Moore who recalls the moment Cobain made his approach.
At the time, Mascis was searching for a new bass player following the acrimonious departure of Lou Barlow in 1989. “Bleach wasn’t out yet,” Moore recalled. “It was just the single [‘Love Buzz’]. And I remember Kurt saying [to Mascis]: ‘Why don’t you join us?'”
“I didn’t think much about it,” Mascis said. “I think we were much bigger than them at the time, so…”
Speaking to Spin in 2012, Mascis had already offered more detail. “I think [Kurt] was sick of the guy Jason [Everman] who was in the band at the time, and thought I should play guitar. I didn’t think much about it. Later, there was also talk of playing drums on a single they were doing [1990’s ‘Sliver’], but it ended up being [Mudhoney drummer] Dan Peters.”
It never happened. But Mascis continued writing Dinosaur Jr’s name into the alternative canon after Barlow’s departure, and Nirvana eventually recruited Pat Smear – a decision that defined their final chapter.
Editors’ Picks
- Alternative Rock
- Dinosaur Jr
- Grunge
- J Mascis
- Kurt Cobain
- Lou Barlow
- Music History
- Nirvana
- Pat Smear
- Thurston Moore
