Sebadoh

A home-recording outlet

Lou Barlow started Sebadoh in 1986 as an outlet for his songwriting while he was the bass player in Dinosaur Jr., where J Mascis dominated; the name is a nonsense word Barlow often muttered. He was removed from Dinosaur Jr. soon after the cassette release of The Freed Man (1988). Eric Gaffney was the other founder, and Jason Loewenstein joined in the summer of 1989. They played only about ten shows before Sebadoh III (1991), toured with Firehose that year and signed to Sub Pop in 1992, the lo-fi counterparts of Pavement, Beat Happening and Guided by Voices. Gaffney quit three times between 1990 and 1993 and left after Bubble and Scrape (1993); Bob Fay became the drummer in 1994.

Bakesale came out on August 23, 1994, reached 40 in the UK, and is often called the band's most consistent album: Stereogum's Michael Nelson ranked it fourth of eight. Harmacy (August 20, 1996) was their first US-charting album, at 126, with "Ocean" at 23 on Modern Rock. In 1996 Barlow's side project the Folk Implosion had a top 20 hit with "Natural One" from the Kids soundtrack. The Sebadoh followed in 1999 and then a hiatus, with Loewenstein's solo debut in 2002 and reunion shows from late 2003. The Barlow, Gaffney and Loewenstein line-up toured in 2007 with reissues of III, The Freed Man and Bubble and Scrape. A 2011 Bakesale deluxe edition toured and added Bob D'Amico on drums; they played Bubble and Scrape in full at the ATP Don't Look Back at Koko in London in May 2008 and were chosen by Jeff Mangum for ATP Minehead in March 2012.

Defend Yourself came out on September 17, 2013 (Joyful Noise) and Act Surprised on May 24, 2019 (Dangerbird). Sub Pop lists a Harmacy 30th anniversary expanded edition with 16 bonus tracks for November 20, 2026, remastered by JJ Golden, which contradicts earlier statements that it would never be reissued. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described their records as raw home recording combined with sentimental pop and experimental noise. They appear in Michael Azerrad's Our Band Could Be Your Life (2001).