Dinosaur Jr. is one of the first bands to successfully harmonize heavy melodic riptides with vulnerable lyricism.
The first musical "project" Maskisa and Barlow became a hardcore team of «Deep Wound», in which they both played more students. In 1984, «Deep Wound» ceased to exist, and Jay and Lou organize a new ensemble - «Dinosaur», combines a dirty garage sound and pop melody. For the first album, and named - «Dinosaur» (1985), attracted the attention of critics; a few months later, during a tour of New York musicians met up with Sonic Youth, who were called "dinosaurs" by fans and invited them to the concert tour. 2nd album, Dinosaur, «You're Living All Over Me», was recorded with audio engineers Sonic Youth Wharton Tyers. Shortly after its release (greeted by critics with great approval, he is considered one of the most important records in the history of alternative rock) began judicial debate with supergroup «The Dinosaurs» (it included musicians from the Big Brother and the Holding Company, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and t. d.) about the name of the ensemble. As a result, Dinosaur had to change the name to Dinosaur Jr.