DINOSAUR JR. - Bug LP

Plenty of people would insist that this is the best Dinosaur Jr. album, and it's probably the most well-balanced between the noisier, more solo-driven route of You're Living All Over Me and the more melodic approach their later albums took. Of course, a lot of this album's reputation has a lot to do with the flawless opener "Freak Scene," where you get a sense of Mascis' ridiculous, infectious enthusiasm for guitar playing. There are plenty of more technical players than J, but more than any other guitarist, I get the sense that he'd rather be doing nothing than peel off a loud, overdriven, gloriously sloppy, raw solo, which allows them to fit in perfectly even when they don't - the speedy, punk-informed "They Always Come" slows down for no reason except to allow the guy his Guitar Hero Moment, but his playing is so infectious and so ear-catching that I really don't care.