Project 1001: You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr.
I tried to think what's over me, it makes me crawl / I'll let you run away from me / Faster than I crawl
Dinosaur Jr. are one of those ands I heard a lot about in my college years. The kind of band that college radio played a lot, and the too-cool-for-popular-music types humble-bragged about liking when they caught you playing some Prince or Madonna or Phil Collins on your stereo. Although I don’t recall hearing Dinosaur Jr. emanating from too many of their dorm rooms…In any event, I missed out on Dinosaur Jr. in their heyday, which is unfortunate because this album rocks.
I love the energy and the crunchy, raw-at-times guitar work. Lots of cooking and burning on this record. Most of the songs are tight, quick hitters with lots of interesting sounding chord changes and some cool drum fills sprinkled in.
The vocals don’t strike me as anything special, but J. Mascis uses his expressive voice effectively to convey the pain and confusion of the lyrics.
Lyrically there is lots of confusion and longing for the love and companionship and lamentation of unrequited love. At times the singer pleads with the girl to be join him before it’s too late and he forgets how to make a connection, how to love. At one point he even sings, “So afraid to be alone”. All in all, a formidable example of 80s indie rock including an amazing cover of “Just Like Heaven.” My rating:
Dinosaur Jr. influenced later bands including Nirvana,1 Death Cab for Cutie,2 and My Bloody Valentine.3 The band also influenced “the bands who would basically create grindcore and death metal.”4
Pitchfork referred to Dinosaur Jr. as “one of the key DNA strands of what we once unironically referred to as Alternative Rock.”5
Stephen Thomas Erlewine asserts for AllMusic that, “You're Living All Over Me was a turning point in American underground rock & roll… (sounding) positively menacing and edgy…and it's possible to hear the record's influence throughout alternative rock.”6
Further underscoring Dino’s influence, Jon Dale wrote for Stylus, “You’re Living All Over Me is the birth of Mascis as underground guitar hero, his solos wiggling out of the songs like polychromatic snakes chewing their way out of a box, wah-wah and fuzz pedals used as intensifiers, notching up the sheer splattered excess of the playing. “Kracked” and “Sludge Feast” slot these moments into songs that created a template for a new cross-breed of pop and metal that was all but ignored (to the detriment of the genre’s development, natch).”7
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Stevie Chick wrote:
“Named after the line which J. Mascis spat out during one of his frustrated tour bus tantrums, You’re Living All Over Me captured the turbulent, dysfunctional beast that was Dinosaur Jr. at their flammable creative peak. Driven by intense clashes between aloof, withdrawn guitarist Mascis and emotional bassist Lour Barlow, Dinosaur Jr.’s impassioned fusion of heavy rock riffs, countrified melodies, and post-punk noise was as volatile as the lineup itself.”8
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime Playlist:
If you’re new here, welcome! Please consider subscribing and sharing with friends.
For details about this project, read this: Project 1001 Albums
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: n/a
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: n/a
• RIAA certification: n/a
Released on December 14, 1987. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “Faith” by George Michael9
• Number one album: Dirty Dancing Soundtrack10
• Number one movie: Throw Momma from the Train by Danny DeVito11
• Most watched TV programs: The Cosby Show, A Different World, Cheers, Golden Girls, Growing Pains12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Tommyknockers by Stephen King13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: Time Flies by Bill Cosby14
Some other albums released that month
• Inside Information by Foreigner
• I'm the Man by Anthrax
• The Initial Command by Front Line Assembly
• One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism by Aretha Franklin 15
Sport
• Dec 19 NHL Boston Bruins Ken Linseman & St. Louis Blues Doug Gilmore set a record for the fastest two goals in league history, scoring 2 seconds apart.
• Dec 20 76th Davis Cup: Sweden beats India in Gothenburg (5-0).
• Dec 27 Steve Largent sets all-time NFL record for career catches when he catches his 752nd pass.
• Dec 29 Ballon d'Or: Milan's Dutch midfielder Ruud Gullit wins best football player in Europe award ahead of Paulo Futre (Porto/Atlético Madrid) and Real Madrid striker Emilio Butragueño.16
Notable Births
• Dec 19 Karim Benzema(36 years old), French soccer striker (97 caps; FIFA Ballon d'Or 2022; Lyon, Real Madrid), born in Lyon, France.
• Dec 19 Ronan Farrow, American journalist (The New Yorker), born in New York City.
• Dec 28 Thomas Dekker, American actor, born in Las Vegas, Nevada.17
Historical Events
• Dec 20 Doña Paz Ferry Disaster: On December 20, 1987, the passenger ferry Doña Paz collided with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, resulting in the worst peacetime maritime disaster in modern history. The catastrophic collision and subsequent fire led to an estimated 4,000 deaths, with official records listing 1,749 confirmed fatalities. The tragedy exposed significant maritime safety failures and led to international maritime safety reforms.
• Dec 23 First Non-Stop Global Aircraft Flight: Pioneering aviators Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager completed a historic global circumnavigation in the Voyager aircraft, landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Their groundbreaking flight marked the first time an aircraft circumnavigated the globe without aerial or ground refueling, pushing the boundaries of aviation technology and human endurance.
• Dec 28 R. Gene Simmons Mass Murder in Arkansas: A horrific mass murder occurred in Dover, Arkansas, where R. Gene Simmons killed two individuals, with subsequent investigations revealing the bodies of 14 additional relatives at his home, marking one of the most shocking criminal cases of 1987.18
Notable Deaths
• Dec 1 James Baldwin, American novelist (Go Tell it on the Mountain; Another Country) and playwright (The Amen Corner; Blues for Mister Charlie), dies of stomach cancer at 63.
• Dec 5 "Fat" Larry James, American funk and R&B vocalist, drummer, and bandleader (Fat Larry's Band - "Zoom"), dies of a heart attack at 38.
• Dec 21 John Spence, founding No Doubt member, suicide (b. 1969).19
Ibid.
Chick, Stevie, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Fifth printing, ed. by Robert Dimmery p. 564.
Ibid.