Ongoing History Daily: The almost-merger of Nirvana and Dinosaur Jr.

The cool thing about music history is that we can always learn something new about what happened in the past. J Mascis heads up indie darlings Dinosaur Jr.

They were heroes to so many up-and-coming bands in the late 80s. That includes Kurt Cobain. He was such a fan of what J was doing that he asked him to join Nirvana not once but twice. J was flattered but turned Kurt down. And why not? Dinosaur Jr was a much bigger indie band than Nirvana at the time. However, this turned out to be a good thing for Nirvana. It’s suggested by some that since Kurt couldn’t have J in the band, he’d try to start writing more like him. And when Dinosaur Jr signed to a major label, it made Kurt feel better about eventually doing the same thing.

It does, however, make you wonder what Nirvana would have become if J Mascis had joined the band.

Friday’s Ongoing History Daily post talked about some weird ancient censorship ideas.