100 Greatest Guitarists: J Mascis

100 Greatest Guitarists

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J Mascis

Ebet Roberts/Redferns

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The massive slabs of rock-candy noise that J Mascis heaved from his Fender Jazzmaster in Dinosaur Jr. contained multitudes: Black Sabbath savagery, melodic Neil Young soul, punk-rock pig slop. As his recent solo set, Several Shades of Why, showed, he can get shamelessly pretty with an acoustic, too. "I remember seeing Dinosaur play this soft, plaintive song – and then it was just completely detonated by this ravaging solo that J did," says Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. "The whole room was incinerated."

Key Tracks: "Feel the Pain," "Little Fury Things"