Dylan said it best: The times they are a-changin'. A pillar of the early American indie rock scene and patron saint of the alternative music boom, Dinosaur Jr., is no more.|

After wrapping up a lengthy North American tour, riding out mediocre sales for their latest release, Hand It Over, and being released from their longtime home at Reprise Records, the band has decided to call it quits.

The band members are remaining flexible about their future plans, according to an official statement from Nasty Little Man Public Relations. However, lead singer/guitarist J. Mascis is already writing new songs, bassist Mike Johnson is preparing to enter the studio to record his third solo album and drummer George Berz will be accepting "lucrative" offers to drum for rock bands.

Dinosaur Jr. erupted out of the Amherst, Mass., hardcore scene in the late '80s with a deafening lo-fi guitar sound that, over the course of 14 albums, came to define the bombastic apathy that became the calling card of such notable descendants as Nirvana, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden and Buffalo Tom.

Though the band's roster (which at various times included Lou Barlow, Emmet "Murph" Murphy, Don Flemming and Van Connor) was in constant flux throughout its 12-year career, Mascis has remained a constant.

A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter and producer, Mascis used the band as a vehicle for his feedback-drenched post-punk masterpieces and almost single-handedly led the American "Freak Scene" from the garage to the waiting arms of the major labels. With a huge base of devoted fans and legions of bands who were inspired to action by Mascis' ground-breaking artistry, Dinosaur Jr. will be sorely missed.

A recent interview with the band can be found here. (Brandon Barber)