Look, I absolutely adore Dinosaur Jr. Their music is custom tailored to my taste in music with me having an interest in both their technical sonic elements (based on mutual influences) and an emotional, sometimes cathartic attachment to their songs. In particular, as a guitarist, I have an exceptional love for J Mascis (despite his hopeless interview chops). His guitar work has a healthy love of noise and feedback but he writes probably the most melodic solos by any guitarist and is far worthy of more attention.
Let me make it clear, however; J Mascis is a prick. So is Kevin Shields. So is pretty much anyone who plays a 100 watt amplifier.
Among guitarists there's a reverence for the 100 watt valve or tube guitar amplifier, especially Marshall Lead Series amps. Brian Bakker of Minor Threat and Bad Religion put as one of his "Ten Commandments of Punk Guitar" that the "holy grail" of guitar amps is the Marshall JMP 100 Watt. Jay Jay French of Twisted Sister once spoke in an interview for VH1's "Heavy: The Story of Metal" about how he turned his Marshall to 10 and was shortly after confronted by a woman working on her dissertation...four blocks down.
I sympathize with the woman.
In 2012 there's little to no reason to have a 100 watt valve amp. It's about this whole "yeah I'm a badass rockstar" mentality that really has no purpose. If you want to be heavy, you don't need volume; I'm in agreement with Roger Glover's statement "Heavy is attitude, not volume." Of course Deep Purple were one of the most notorious abusers, but they were from a different era.
In Deep Purple's era, there was a need for loud amps; as venues began to grow, there grew a need to develop stupidly loud amps like the Marshall 100W Lead or retroactively referred to the Marshall 1959, as well as other amps from Sound City (later Hiwatt) and Sunn 0))). Thing is, PA systems weren't as plentiful as they are now. How lacking were they? Well a subpar vocalist named Ozzy Osbourne who was batshit crazy was given the opportunity to sing in Black Sabbath (nee Earth) purely on the fact that he owned a PA system. Under any other circumstances he'd never be a vocalist for anyone on the level of Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler, but as Tony Iommi would recall the band couldn't get gigs unless they had a PA system. Iommi of course played a Laney 100W.
If you look at some of the old concert clips in the late 1960s and 1970s, you'll see that many bands didn't have mics on the amps, simply because that wasn't something that was done. That sort of stuff was expensive back then. Now, that's not the case. Most venues in 2012 have their own PA systems, and can mic amps. Having a stack of amps is consequently overkill, just an overindulgence reflecting this "I'm a badass rockstar" mentality. As someone who worked in mixing, I think anyone who uses a 100 Watt valve amp is a prick. I mean really?
For those who don't geek out over amps like I do, tube amps are loud. How loud? Fucking loud. A 100 watt solid state amp is not as near as loud as a 30 watt tube amp (watch me be wrong on that). Tonally, I totally get a tube amp's value; because of vacuum tubes' natural impedance on high frequencies, they have a very nice soft sound, with overdrive or soft clipping. It truly makes a difference. Guitarists, however, don't need 100 watts of tube sound. For one, 100 watts is not that much louder than 50 watts. Secondly, watts doesn't equal tone. Jimmy Page rarely used Marshalls in the studio for Led Zeppelin recordings; he used smaller amps, like Valco which was an amp sold in hardware stores. Likewise Brian May of Queen didn't get his tone from his Vox AC30's; he used a homemade 1 watt amp that he plugged into larger amps. Two highly revered figures of heavy music, who created "Whole Lotta Love" and "Tie Your Mother Down," used small amps to get their tone.
That's where J Mascis and Kevin Shields come in. Many guitarists do use only one stack, and there are some like Jack White who merely frustrate their audio mixers because they turn it up. J Mascis and Kevin Shields believe in extremes and share a love of noise. Both of them choose to be sadists, and use not one but three stacks. The sound:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0GZH-lw_P4
I've never seen MBV live, but I have seen Dinosaur Jr live and was front row center. For a day, I did not have clear hearing. That was my fault. Even without being up front, it is an assault. J Mascis use three stacks fully mic'd, as well as a Fender amp. He even uses a Marshall Major, which is a 200 watt Lead Series model. When he put on distortion for "Severed Lips" it was like a pin striking your ear drum. Is it necessary? No, not to me at least.
I understand that a lot of people like loud, and that has lead to some unfortunate circumstances like the ridiculous loud wars in sound recording ('Death Magnetic' anyone?). What I wish is that people would come to understand that while volume counts, dynamic music counts just as much. From a mixer's point of view, and even a guitarist's point of view, it's a much better concert experience to be able to hear all the instruments and vocals rather than just sludgy sludge.
Wanna be a rockstar? Don't fork out $1500 for a 100W amp. Get a 30 watt amp, and learn to play your instrument well and how to get the right tone. A mixer will help you get the right volume.
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