After more than a decade's worth of distortion-driven performances and a string of albums that anticipated grunge like lightning foretells thunder, Dinosaur Jr. has quietly called it quits. Though the group had been dropped several weeks ago from its contract with Reprise Records, members of the band said they would not be commenting on their break-up, except to express thanks to "all of their fans for their years of support."

\\"I didn't expect this at all," said the band's spokesperson, Julie Underwood. "I guess for them it just seemed like a good time to close the chapter on this particular book, with the record contract being up and the tour ending."

\\The band was probably dropped by Reprise because their most recent album, "Hand it Over," sold poorly compared to previous releases. The label had no immediate comment on the break-up and declined to discuss whether flagging album sales contributed to its decision to drop the group. "At this point, we're just confirming that they're no longer with us and letting the matter go," said Reprise publicist Kim Blum. "And it's not so much that the band was dropped as that their contract was up."

\\Dinosaur Jr. reached their commercial high-water mark in 1993, when "Where You Been" sold 244,000 copies, according to SoundScan. But the band's recent efforts considerably less well, and "Hand it Over" sold a mere 27,000 copies.

\\Nevertheless, Underwood said the band's members will continue to make music, separately. Frontman J Mascis, who has several film soundtracks and acting cameos to his credit, "is writing new songs right now," she said. Bassist Mike Johnson is reportedly preparing to record another solo album, while drummer George Benz (who replaced original drummer Murph) "will be accepting lucrative offers to drum for rock bands," according to the band's press release.

\\When Mascis started the band in 1984 with bassist Lou Barlow (later of Sebadoh) and drummer Patrick Murphy (a k a Murph) and released "Dinosaur" on Homestead Records, the band set a blueprint for the scores of alternative heavy guitar bands that would follow. Combining punk's raw energy with the guilty pleasure of Crazy Horse-style guitar indulgence, Mascis first won fans in his native Amherst, Mass., where copies of the band's seminal release "You're Living All Over Me" started showing up in underground record stores, and eventually a wider following exemplified by a magazine headline that read "J Mascis Is God."

\\Mascis' music was the perfect foil for his lyrics, which generally li