1985. Dinosaur, still without the Jr. Not hardcore anymore, but not yet anything else either. First live shows: fearsomely loud. First record, a fearsome mess: a raw miscellany thrown together from small-town ennui, the apathy of the middle classes, and all the things teenage boys are obsessed with.

1987. Dinosaur Jr. A new record, You’re Living All Over Me, the result of a move into a college dorm, encounters with Sonic Youth in the big city, and a hell of a lot of practice. Searing guitar riffs smash into mountainous solos; gnarly pedal effects light up twisted song structures; tight punk drumfills wade through distorted bass sludge. Contradictions are everywhere, but with opposite poles forced together, a fixating spark is created – one that, pre-Nirvana, ignites the idea of how the alternative might also become the mainstream.

All things, as this book explores through in