Dinosaur Jr. were largely responsible for returning lead guitar to indie rock and, along with their peers the Pixies, they injected late-'80s alternative rock with monumental levels of pure guitar noise. As the group's career progressed, it turned into a vehicle for J Mascis' songwriting and playing, which had the ultimate result of turning... [+] Read More

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More than any other hardcore band, the Minutemen epitomized the free-thinking independent ideals that formed the core of punk/alternative music. Wildy eclectic and politically revolutionary, the Minutemen never stayed in one place too long; they moved from punk to free jazz to funk to folk at a blinding speed. And they toured and recorded at... [+] Read More

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Although Greg Ginn's record label SST was, early on, associated with the angry, overamped guitar rant of SoCal hardcore (some of which came courtesy of Ginn's own band Black Flag), SST was also recording bands that pushed the limits of hardcore. Bands like the Minutemen, Universal Congress Of, and especially Saccharine Trust gleefully tossed in... [+] Read More

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Guitarist Scott Henderson moved from his native South Florida to Los Angeles in 1980, and formed the group Tribal Tech in the mid-'80s with bassist Gary Willis. Their jazz fusion output grew increasingly harder-edged, especially with the additions of keyboardist Scott Kinsey and drummer Kirk Covington in the early '90s, but Henderson still had a... [+] Read More

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Led by ex-Saccharine Trust axewielder Joe Baiza, Universal Congress Of began as the title for Baiza's 1987 solo record later becoming the name of his fine, funky backing band. Although on his debut solo LP he was still playing semi-improvised, avant-garde jazz-rock similar to what he was exploring in Saccharine Trust, Baiza/UCO's later (and for... [+] Read More

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