J Mascis

Best known as the guitar-playing frontman of Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis was born as "Joseph Donald Mascis Jr." on December 10, 1965. A native of Amherst, Massachusetts, he formed Dinosaur Jr. in 1984 and quickly developed a reputation as a modern-day guitar hero. The band debuted with 1985's Dinosaur and earned a handful of Top 40 hits on Billboard's Alternative Airplay chart during the early 1990s, including 1991's "The Wagon" (number 22), "Start Choppin'" (number 3), and "Feel the Pain" (number 4). Martin + Me, an acoustic album recorded during Mascis' solo tour in 1995, effectively marked the start of his solo career in 1996, although it wasn't until 2011 that he recorded a studio album on his own. Featuring contributions from musicians like Kurt Vile and Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell, Several Shades of Why was released that same year by Sub Pop. The record arrived on the heels of side projects like Witch, J Mascis + The Fog, and Sweet Apple, and it was followed by subsequent solo releases like 2014's Tied to a Star, 2018's Elastic Days (which reached number 63 on the Billboard 200, number 10 on the US Vinyl Albums chart, and number 78 in Germany), and 2024's What Do We Do Now (which enjoyed Top 40 success in several international countries, hitting number 6 in Scotland and number 37 in Germany).