Page 14
The Battalion
Thursday, September 7,1989
he
Dinosaur Jr. LP has bite
By John Righter
Of The Battalion Staff
For those of you who already have
heard Dinosaur Jr. you might as well
go ahead and sneer now.
Yes, I know Bug, the band’s third
release for SST Records, has been
out for a year now. In fact, they have
since released an EP with a cover of
The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven,” a
song they say was made in order to
meet “death-rock girls.”
So sneer — go ahead you enlight
ened few — and while you are at it,
give yourself a well-deserved pat on
the back.
Now the rest of you, listen up, be
cause you won’t ever hear Dinosaur
Jr. on the radio. In fact you may
have to go to more than one record
store to Find one of their albums.
But do so, at all costs. As both Spin
and Rolling Stone confirm, Dino
saur Jr. is the best independent band
in America, and Bug is the best inde
pendent release since Husker Du’s
Flip Your VFigback in 1985.
Three members of Dinosaur Jr.,
vocalist and guitarist J. Mascis, bas
sist Lou Barlow, and drummer
Murph (just Murph, you know, like
just Sting), started out thrashing
around their hometown of Amherst,
Mass., as a group called Deep
Wound. They have since fine-tuned
and mellowed into a cross between
The Rolling Stones and Sonic Youth
(who claim the Jr.’s as their favorite
band), with the feedback of The Je
sus and Mary Chain.
Opening Bug" with “Freak Scene,”
the Jr.’s display their flair for sur
rounding Mascis’ lyrics with a bar
rage of noise, smothering his voice,
from which he surfaces to wail, “So
metimes I don’t thrill you/Some-
S/. !
feast,” “The Leper” and “The Lung”
are just gross symbolisms for a mes
sage of despair, loneliness and be
trayal, which is what Dinosaur Jr. is
all about, along with some cynical
humor thrown in. They are you and
me with a dark, Jeckylesque side, a
tumor that hides their hurt and hon
esty behind a wall of sound and con
fusing song titles.
The last two songs on the album
serve as examples. “Don’t” is an in
tense barrage of feedback and
thrash, with Mascis screaming, “Why
don’t you like me,” throughout the
entire song with every ounce of lung
power he has. Almost demonic in
sheer effect, it is guaranteed to
touch or arouse you in some way.
times I think I’ll kill you/just don’t
let me f— up will you/’Cause when I
need a friend it’s still you.” Remi
niscent of early REM, Mascis grants
us only glimpses of himself and his
thoughts, hidden behind his mur-
murings and guitar feedback.
The song titles also are mislead
ing, allowing one to miss the depth
and intense feeling within this al
bum. The titles display the band’s
commitment to non-commercialism
and its preoccupation with shock va
lue “yuckiness.” “Tarpit,” “Sludge-
Before it is the album’s best song,
a number called “The Post,” in
which Mascis exclaims, “Well, she
was my post to lean on/And I just cut
her down/So I’m out to land on
something/Hopefully a girl will
come and put me in the ground.” It’s
a love song — an intelligent and in
novative twist on all the garbage
played on the radio.
For that matter, the whole album
is unique and innovative in its pre
sentation of love, hurt and betrayal.
In fact, when you purchase your
copy, pick up an extra one and send
it to Phil Collins. You both need to
listen to it.
Aggiefish invade CoHege Station,
enjoy campus iife despite lines, food
By Katsy Pittman
Of The Battalion Staff
They’re everywhere! They’re everywhere!
No, they are not the desperate drivers racing
around blue lots or even the campus ants crawling
up someone’s leg when they stand in place for over
40 seconds.
They are members of the latest freshman class,
and they are back bigger and stronger than ever.
According to Dr. Jerry Gaston, associate provost
for Texas A&M, the number is higher than Univer
sity officials had expected.
“About 58 percent of those admitted to A&M last
year actually enrolled,” said Gaston. “This year that
number increased to about 62 percent.”
This means about 370 more freshmen than the
University had initially expected.
These freshmen were packing Kyle Field at All
University Night to the point that the speakers were
inaudible. And they were crowding the Howdy
Dance at the Hall of Fame to the point that many of
them had to be turned away.
Will this surge of students create shortages in the
system? Gaston says the problems created will not be
insurmountable.
“There are opportunities for these students,” he
said. “Classes have just been opened for about all of
the incoming freshmen. The problem may be that
these classes are not necessarily the time of day they
want.”
Gaston also said that although many dorms are
crowded with freshmen, all undergraduates who re
quested on-campus housing eventually will get a
Foreign students are making their yearly trek
back to A&M as well. On the first day of registration,
70 foreign students had enrolled, but Gaston said
this is not an official number and the number of for
eign students is likely to increase.
Perhaps the best number news goes to the fresh
man females. The male-female ratio is standing at
approximatly 56 to 44, which mirrors the under
graduate ratio as a whole.
Better luck next year, guys.
Freshman Kevin Judd is not particularly con
cerned with underrepresentation of females at this
point. Judd, a Fort Worth native, is more concerned
about facing the challenges of the Corps of Cadets
and Squadron 12.
So what is his first impression of Corps life?
“I guess you can say it’s motivational and challeng
ing,” Judd said. “The classes didn’t overwhelm me,
They were pretty much what I expected. Actually!
was a little surprised. I’m an environmental design
major and someone told me all the environmental
design females were old and ugly. But I’d say that80
percent of my classmates were female. This could be
interesting.”
Judd’s roommate, Pat Seiber of Amarillo, a politi
cal science major, plans to be studying all semester,
His only surprise so far was the college food.
“Duncan chow — now that’s an experience,” said
Seiber, who admits the food doesn’t taste quite like
good of mom’s.
Dining halls were a surprising event to Fort Worth
freshman Georgina Comin, too,
“Sbisa was huge,” the general studies major said,
“I never thought the lines would be that long — but
they did go fast.
See Fish/Page 16
Looking for a good time? Don’t call Mickey, Minnie or Goofy
Cray
Pixley
Asst. Lifestyles Editor
So Mickey Mouse bought Kermit
the Frog.
The earth-shattering news that
the Walt Disney Co. purchased the
famous Muppet characters, created
by Jim Hensen, to appear as cohorts
of Mickey at the Disneyworld/Dis-
neyland attractions brought newly
buried memories back to gnaw at
me.
While most A&M students were
tucked safely away at summer school
or summer jobs, I was experiencing
a nightmare vacation at the fabled
Disneyworld in Orlando, Fla.
Does this sound like a strange hol
iday for a 22-year-old student? It
was.
My mother and I were lured into
the trip by the assurances of family
and friends that Disneyworld was a
monumental shrine to fun and edu
cation. We were told that, regardless
of the fact that we were both over
the age of 10, we would have a blast.
Some of these Disneyworld ad
mirers actually had visited the
amusement mecca twice in the past
two summers and salivated with
envy at the thought of the ecstasy my
mother and I would encounter
should we choose Florida as our va
cation destination.
“Oh, do go to Disneyworld,” they
said. “It’s impossible to imagine the
fun of the Magic Kingdom and the
educational experience of Epcot
Center.”
After batting around the idea of
the Virgin Islands or Washington
and Canada as holiday possibilities,
we chose Disneyworld. After all, how
could all those friends and other
tourists be wrong. It must be some
place, we thought — a virtual enter
tainment paradise.
We really didn’t need tans that
badly, and Canada could wait. We
reasoned that staying within the 50
states would save some money and
that the islands and Canada would
be a bit pricey.
So off we flew to the Magic King
dom without any children chaper
ones, and without a clue as to how
far the Mouse’s paw would reach
into our wallets.
We found out.
The essential four-day passes to
the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center
and Disney/MGM Studios that ev
eryone advised us would be nec
essary cost a whopping $230 for the
two of us. That’s a lot of money for
Mickey. If we had been smart we
would have paid for one day at one
park and been pleased.
But this was Disneyworld, the
wholesome home of Mickey and
Minnie, where Waifs men wouldn’t
let us be ripped off, would they?
Our first stop was Epcot Center,
site of the famous Earth Station golf-
ball that everyone sees when Disney
world is advertised. Epcot Center
proved to be interesting because of
the 10 miniature replicas of famous
countries. Each country’s architec
ture is semi-faithful to the real thing
and the food places are great. We
spent many a happy minute chatting
with the French waiters at the Bistro
de Paris.
The stinkers at Epcot were va
rious hokey “educational” exhibits
that were nothing more than traps
that try to fake out visitors with
pseudo undersea exploration and
moving puppets. These were the
very places we were assured were so
“educational.”
The next disappointment was the
Magic Kingdom with the kiddie
rides, not to mention the second
largest parking lot in the world. Yes,
the second largest parking lot. Dis
ney personnel must be rather im
pressed with this fact because they
reminded us of it five times as we
were being driven by trolley, and
then by monorail, to the front gates.
I don’t know about the other tour
ists, but I didn’t need to be told it was
a huge parking lot when it took 15
minutes to drive from my car to the
entrance.
Maybe we could get the third larg
est parking lot in the world right
here at A&M. Now that would be an
long before we headed back to
parking lot.
The only saving grace for
place was the new Disney/MGM Sn
dios. Perhaps we enjoyed it so mm
because it was geared for adults ii
stead of children. There actual:
were attractions we could view am
in that didn’t make
participate
feel we were crashing a tiny toi
birthday bash.
Sometimes Disneyworld isn’t eves
for kids.
K
(Cor
ate 1
The
mad
calle
scrik
that
wall]
“I
glue
said,
A
the
her
four
beai
won
tinct
atth
0
dim
view
attraction.
We didn’t last too long at the
Magic Kingdom — about half an
hour, actually. This place should be
prohibited to persons over 42 inches
tall and unaccompanied by a child.
One Florida friend has childn
who despise Disneyworld. Wtie
they misbehave, he addresses thei
with the mock threat, “If you
behave I’ll take you to Disneyworld
They usually pop to attention.
The place was dull. I even heard
several kids begging their parents to
take them home, and it wasn’t too
After visiting Disneyworld ai
getting a firsthand look at its
tions, I have to admit that the sai
threat would work on me
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