Project 1000: Bug by Dinosaur Jr.; June 23, 2024
Seen enough to eye you / But I've seen to much to try you
Before getting into today’s selection, I want to pass along a very heartwarming story that is in the music-related world.
Dinosaur Jr. is one of those bands I meant to sample contemporaneously, but never quite got around to it.
I hear some elements that would become staples of the upcoming grunge movement. And a tiny bit of death metal! I actually liked this album a lot; Freak Scene and Keep the Glove being the highlights for me.
Some hold Dinosaur Jr. as “one of the key DNA strands of…Alternative Rock” and that Freak Scene is “probably indie rock's greatest guitar performance and the band's greatest pop song.”1
Dinosaur Jr. “paved the way for the forgettable alternative rock revolution known as grunge,” and “Bug remains essential American underground rock.”2
My Rating:
Charts
Bug did not appear on any Billboard charts.
Released on October 31, 1988. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins3
• Number one album: New Jersey by Bon Jovi4
• Number one movie: Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers5
• Most watched TV program: The Cosby Show6
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice7
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking8
Other albums released that month
• Flying Colours by Chris de Burgh
• Talk Is Cheap by Keith Richards
• Critical Beatdown by Ultramagnetic MCs
• Silhouette by Kenny G
• Blood Fire Death by Bathory
• Introspective by Pet Shop Boys
• Barcelona by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé
• Imagine: John Lennon by John Lennon et al.
• Rattle and Hum by U2
• The Land of Rape and Honey by Ministry
• Touch by Sarah McLachlan
• Broadway the Hard Way by Frank Zappa
• Money for Nothing by Dire Straits
• Big Thing by Duran Duran
• Eponymous by R.E.M.
• Copperhead Road by Steve Earle
• Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth
• Everything by The Bangles
• Giving You the Best That I Got by Anita Baker
• Negotiations and Love Songs by Paul Simon
• Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 by Traveling Wilburys
• Look Sharp! by Roxette
• QR by Quiet Riot
• Living Years by Mike + The Mechanics
• Rage by T'Pau
• You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore, Vol. 2 by Frank Zappa
• Ultramega OK by Soundgarden
• Choba B CCCP by Paul McCartney
• Nö Sleep at All by Motörhead9
Sport
• Oct 1 American sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner wins her third gold medal of the Seoul Olympics anchoring the victorious US 4 x 100m relay team.
• Oct 1 Lowest batting avg for NL champion (Tony Gwynn .313).
• Oct 1 Steffi Graf beats Gabriela Sabatini 6-3, 6-3 to win the women's singles tennis gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; clinches first and only Golden Slam in history (Grand Slam & Olympics).
• Oct 2 Future world heavyweight boxing champion Lennox Lewis, representing Canada, wins super-heavyweight gold medal at the Seoul Olympics; beats another future world heavyweight boxing champion American, Riddick Bowe, by 2nd round TKO.
• Oct 2 Minnesota Twins total 3,030,672 in attendance at Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome; first AL club ever to break 3 million in a MLB season.
• Oct 2 South Korean light middleweight boxer Park Si-hun is controversially awarded the Seoul Olympic gold medal after appearing well beaten by future 4 weight class world champion Roy Jones Jr.
• Oct 9 Dennis Eckersley, 1st to save all 4 games in a championship series as the A’s sweep the Red Sox.
• Oct 15 With 2 outs in bottom of 9th, an injured Kirk Gibson hits dramatic 2 run HR to give Dodgers a 5-4 win in 1st game of World Series.
• Oct 16 Orel Hershiser, 1st to pitch shutout in playoff & World Series.
Oct 20 Baseball World Series: LA Dodgers beat Oakland A's, 5-2 to clinch 4-1 series win: MVP: pitcher Orel Hershiser.
• Oct 20 Reggie Rogers, Det Lion's # 1 pick, kills 3 by driving intoxicated.
• Oct 24 New York Islanders and NHL high scorer, Mike Bossy (31) retires.
• Oct 30 Brazilian McLaren driver Ayrton Senna wins Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, his record 8th GP win of the season; clinches first Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.10
Historical Events
• Oct 1 Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, effectively head of state of the Soviet Union.
• Oct 2 Pakistan's Supreme Court orders free elections.
• Oct 5 Chile votes in a referendum 56-44 against extending Augusto Pinochet's regime by 8 years thus ending the dictator's 16½ years in power.
• Oct 7 Latvian flag raised in Riga for first time since annexation by USSR.
• Oct 12 George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis meet in their second presidential debate.
• Oct 13 Shroud of Turin, revered by many Christians as Christ's burial cloth, is shown by carbon-dating tests to be a fake from the Middle Ages.
• Oct 20 Britain ends suspects' right to remain silent in crackdown on IRA.
• Oct 21 Philippine's former president Ferdinand Marcos and first lady Imelda Marcos indicted on racketeering charges.
• Oct 22 "Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground" TV special hosted by Geraldo Rivera screens on NBC.11
Notable Births
• Oct 2 Brittany Howard, American rock singer-songwriter and guitarist (Alabama Shakes), born in Athens, Alabama.
Oct 3 Alicia Vikander, Oscar-winning actress (The Danish Girl), born in Gothenburg, Sweden.
• Oct 4 Derrick Rose, American basketball, NBA MVP 2011, born in Chicago, Illinois.
• Oct 4 Melissa Benoist, American actress and singer (Glee, Supergirl), born in Littleton, Colorado.
• Oct 12 Calum Scott, British pop singer-songwriter ("You Are The Reason"; "Dancing on My Own"), born in Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
• Oct 30 Janel Parrish, American actress (Pretty Little Liars), born in Oahu, Hawaii.12
Notable Deaths
• Oct 2 Alec Issigonis Greek-British automotive designer who designed the Mini, dies at 81.
• Oct 3 Generoso Pope Jr., American media mogul, created "The National Enquirer", dies of a heart attack at 61.
• Oct 7 Billy Daniels, African-American jazz singer ("That Old Black Magic") and television pioneer (The Billy Daniels Show), dies of cancer at 73.
Oct 10 Juan Pujol Garcia, Spanish double agent (spied for Britain, codename Garbo, pretended to spy for Nazi Germany codename Arabel), dies at 76.
• Oct 11 Wayland Flowers, American ventriloquist (Madame), dies of AIDS at 48.
• Oct 14 Vic Raschi, American baseball pitcher (4 × MLB All-Star; 6 × World Series; AL strikeout leader 1951; NY Yankees), dies of a heart attack at 69.
• Oct 19 Edward "Son" House, American delta blues singer-songwriter and guitarist ("Walking Blues"; "Preachin' The Blues"), dies of larynx cancer at 86.
• Oct 20 Sheila Scott, English aviator who completed the 1st round-the-world solo flight by a woman, dies of cancer at 66.
• Oct 24 Henry Armstrong, American boxer (world featherweight, lightweight, welterweight [19 x title defences] champion), dies at 75.
• Oct 25 Johnnie Richardson, American R&B musician (Johnnie & Joe), dies at 53.
• Oct 27 S B Fuller, founder (Fuller products), dies at 83.
• Oct 31 John Houseman, Romanian-born British-American Academy Award winning actor (The Paper Chase, Rollerball, The Fog), dies of spinal cancer at 86.13
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
All the videos on this playlist: You're Welcome 106; Bug by Dinosaur Jr.
Prime: 106. Bug by Dinosaur Jr.
Ibid.