Editing Mercury Rev (section)

===Formation (1989–1990)===
Mercury Rev was formed in 1989 by students at the [[University at Buffalo]], partially inspired by the [[drone music]] of composer/[[media studies]] professor [[Tony Conrad]] (then working as a teacher at the university, and a strong artistic influence on co-founder Grasshopper).<ref name="conrad">{{cite news |last1=Miers |first1=Jeff |title=Mercury Rev found magic in UB professor Tony Conrad's alchemy |url=https://buffalonews.com/entertainment/mercury-rev-found-magic-in-ub-professor-tony-conrads-alchemy/article_554f2fc9-f5e8-566e-a309-6b44958c5294.html |access-date=23 July 2021 |work=[[The Buffalo News]] |date=April 23, 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The line-up gradually coalesced around Donahue, Grasshopper, vocalist/keyboard player [[David Baker (singer)|David Baker]] and flute/French horn player Suzanne Thorpe; subsequent additions were bass guitarist/in-house producer [[Dave Fridmann]] (a music production student at SUNY Fredonia, who began by recording the band and subsequently added enough bass guitar and sonic effect parts to make himself a full band member), and a late addition in the form of drummer Jimy Chambers (who joined towards the end of initial recording sessions to "effectively serve as the frame around Mercury Rev's musical splatter").<ref name=pitchfork-yis>[https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/mercury-rev-yerself-is-steam/ ''Yerself is Steam - Mercury Rev - 1991''] - retrospective review by Stuart Berman in ''Pitchfork'', 11 February 2024</ref>

The band was initially formed to score its members' student films,<ref name="sisario" /> and had a loose playing and recording existence. The band's initial music was a blend of [[experimental rock|experimental]], [[psychedelic rock]], drone and [[noise rock]]. David Baker recalls "we were in Buffalo, sitting there thinking, there's no hope of us being a band, we're not going to be [[Guns N' Roses]]. What we did wasn't considered real, because it wasn't being covered by ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'' or ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', so we could just be whatever we wanted to be. We'd take the microphone and record pots and pans or guitar and make our own little world. I mean, we knew the context, we knew who Bowie was, we knew who all the bands were, but we didn't put them with us. We were just making music. It was, 'Us? Are we in a band?' Well, none of us live in the same town, we just meet in the studio and have a great time together doing stuff."<ref name=quietusbaker2013>[https://thequietus.com/interviews/david-baker-mercury-rev-interview/ "From Mercury Rev to Variety Lights: David Baker Interviewed"] - interview with David Baker by Stuart Huggett in ''The Quietus'', 12 June 2013</ref>

At this early stage, several members also had other musical interests which prevented consistent Mercury Rev activity. Donahue worked as a gig promoter for other bands' concerts in Buffalo, which brought him into contact with [[The Flaming Lips]] in 1989: he then toured with them as guitar technician before formally joining as lead guitarist in time to play on their 1990 album ''[[In a Priest Driven Ambulance]]''. The latter album was co-produced by Dave Fridmann, who went on to co-produce every Flaming Lips studio album to date with the exception of 1993's ''[[Transmissions from the Satellite Heart]]''.<ref name="Trouser Press" /><ref>{{cite news|first1=Ben|last1=Hewitt|access-date=2019-08-08|title=The Flaming Lips – 10 of the best|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/mar/24/the-flaming-lips-10-of-the-best|newspaper=The Guardian|date=24 March 2016|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>