The Dinosaurs, formed in 1982, was a Bay Area

San Francisco Bay Area

The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...

 supergroup

Supergroup (music)

In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....

 to emerge from the psychedelic music

Psychedelic music

Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...

 era of San Francisco. The group consisted of Peter Albin of Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Big Brother and the Holding Company is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965 as part of the same psychedelic music scene that produced the Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Airplane. They are best known as the band that featured Janis Joplin as their...

, John Cipollina

John Cipollina

John Cipollina was a guitarist best known for his role as a founder and the lead guitarist of the prominent San Francisco rock band Quicksilver Messenger Service...

 of Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver Messenger Service

Quicksilver Messenger Service is an American psychedelic rock band, formed in 1965 in San Francisco.-Introduction:Quicksilver Messenger Service gained wide popularity in the Bay Area and, through their recordings, with psychedelic rock enthusiasts around the globe and several of their albums ranked...

, Papa John Creach

Papa John Creach

Papa John Creach played for Jefferson Airplane , Hot Tuna, Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Starship - The Next Generation, the San Francisco All-Stars , The Dinosaurs , and Steve Taylor...

 of Hot Tuna

Hot Tuna

Hot Tuna is an American blues-rock band formed by bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen as a spin-off of Jefferson Airplane. It plays acoustic and electric versions of original and traditional blues songs.- Jefferson Airplane side project :...

, Spencer Dryden

Spencer Dryden

Spencer Dryden was an American musician best known as the longest-serving drummer for Jefferson Airplane. He also played with New Riders of the Purple Sage, The Dinosaurs, and The Peanut Butter Conspiracy.-Early life:...

 of Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1965. A pioneer of the psychedelic rock movement, Jefferson Airplane was the first band from the San Francisco scene to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success....

, Robert Hunter

Robert Hunter (lyricist)

Robert C. Hunter is an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his association with Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead.-Biography:He was born Robert Burns in San Luis Obispo, California...

 of the Grateful Dead

Grateful Dead

The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The band was known for its unique and eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, folk, bluegrass, blues, reggae, country, improvisational jazz, psychedelia, and space rock, and for live performances of long...

, Barry Melton

Barry Melton

Barry "The Fish" Melton was the co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and The Fish. Barry appears on all the Country Joe and The Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band recorded...

 of Country Joe and The Fish

Country Joe and the Fish

Country Joe and the Fish was a rock band most widely known for musical protests against the Vietnam War, from 1966 to 1971, and also regarded as a seminal influence to psychedelic rock.-History:...

 and keyboardist Merl Saunders

Merl Saunders

Merl Saunders, was an American multi-genre musician who played piano and keyboards, favoring the Hammond B-3 console organ.-Biography:...

 from the Saunders-Garcia Band. In the 1990s David LaFlamme

David LaFlamme

David LaFlamme is a virtuoso violinist in both classical and rock music.David's mother was from a Mormon family in Salt Lake City, and when he was eight years old, the family moved there to be near her family...

 of It's A Beautiful Day

It's a Beautiful Day

It's a Beautiful Day is a band formed in San Francisco, California in 1967, the brainchild of violinist David LaFlamme.LaFlamme, a former soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, had previously been in the band Orkustra, and unusually, played a five-string violin...

 and Jerry Miller

Jerry Miller

Jerry Miller is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues to perform occasionally...

 of Moby Grape

Moby Grape

Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music...

 also toured with this group.

In 1988, the band released its only studio album, Dinosaurs. In 2005 the band released a retrospective album on the Evangeline label, entitled Friends of Extinction.

They were the band that forced Dinosaur Jr

Dinosaur Jr

Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...

 to add on the "Jr." in 1987, shortly after that band released You're Living All Over Me

You're Living All Over Me

You're Living All Over Me is the second album by the American alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr., released in 1987 on SST Records. The album was named after a line uttered by frontman J Mascis while on tour with the band....

.

External links

• The Dinosaurs Official Website
• [ The Dinosaurs on Allmusic]
• The Dinosaurs: Recording sessions featuring members of the band
• Live Music Archive - The Dinosaur's section of archive.org's free live concert recordings.