Dinosaur

Mascis wrote the songs alone after Deep Wound broke up in 1984 and asked Barlow to play bass. Homestead boss Gerard Cosloy had promised that if Mascis made a record, Homestead would release it. Mascis described the idea as ear-bleeding country. The band started with the vocalist Charlie Nakajima, but after a gig at UMass Amherst Mascis fired him and sang most of the lead vocals. Murph drums and sings on Mountain Man, and Barlow and Murph both play Casio.

The record was made for about five hundred dollars at a home studio outside Northampton, and the engineers were Chris Dixon and Glen. It came out in July 1985 under the name Dinosaur, before the lawsuit added Jr., and sold only about fifteen hundred copies in its first year. Does It Float, Mountain Man and Bulbs of Passion are its heavier, hardcore-based songs. AllMusic called it impressive but uneven, while Pitchfork called it a mess. Bulbs of Passion was a B-side to the Repulsion single and was added to later editions. On the 2005 Merge reissue Mascis had it moved to the start of the album.