Trivia / Godspeed You! Black Emperor

• Bury Your Art: The band refused to re-release All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling for the better part of three decades thanks to its major Early-Installment Weirdness, being a de-facto Efrim Menuck solo album done in a noise-folk style rather than their more distinctive brand of Post-Rock. Because the album only had one print run, consisting of just 33 cassette tapes, the album was widely thought to be lost altogether before being leaked on 4chan in 2022, after which Menuck officially reissued it via the group's Bandcamp page.
• Creator Backlash: For a long time, fans believed All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling would never be released due to this trope. Its run was in fact so limited (only 33 copies were made) that fans couldn't even Keep Circulating the Tapes because almost nobody had a copy to circulate. Whenever he was asked about it, Efrim Menuck would say it didn't sound like their later work; he mentioned that there's actual singing, and the demo is less of a post-rock record and more of a weird experimental release compared to anything the band had released since. Menuck mentioned he was still in possession of the masters of the demo, but didn't show any interest in releasing it; nonetheless, he still figured the tape would show up online someday. Indeed, two genuine songs from the tape surfaced in 2013, and in 2022, the full tape finally surfaced online and was suggested to be legitimate by the band's Discord; while Constellation refused to comment about it, the band ultimately put it up on their Bandcamp as a charity fundraiser, officially confirming it as legitimate.
  • Contrary to a common impression, an interview with Efrim indicated that he didn't really have any hard feelings towards the demo, but rather feels it just doesn't sound like a Godspeed album more than anything else. However, Pezzente's feelings about the demo remain unknown. Efrim stated:
    "I don't feel like the cassette was a mistake, I don't feel embarrassed by it [...] If I was younger than I am [...], I would have just put it on SoundCloud. [...] I'm not confused about any of that, you know? It's just [that] you've brought up another point, which is it's not Godspeed, and it feels disrespectful to my friends who I've played music with for almost 30 years to be presenting this thing that was just me and a tiny room, you know?"
• Flip-Flop of God: While the band were identified as anarchists several times in the media, the band pointed out at various points that none of them had ever ascribed the label to themselves. Then, in a 2014 interview, Efrim Menuck did so without fanfare.
  • In 2017 the band released an album titled Luciferian Towers, which features songs with titles such as "Bosses Hang" and "Anthem for No State", which has pretty much made it clear in no uncertain terms what the band's political positions are.
• Follow the Leader: They're one of the most frequently copied Post-Rock bands in the world at this point. Even bands in theoretically completely unrelated genres, such as Screamo and Black Metal, frequently bear unmistakable influence from them. The subgenre they inspired has been nicknamed "crescendocore", and includes bands such as Explosions in the Sky and Mono.
• God Never Said That: One big argument about All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling was that the band didn't want fans to hear the demo simply because they were that ashamed of it, with some users even arguing over whether or not the 2022 (alleged) leak was against their wishes. However, if one looks at any interview where Efrim speaks about the demo, he speaks matter the fact about it and doesn't give any indication he doesn't want people to hear it, but rather he was simply surprised he hasn't been put online at all. However it's unknown that applies to Mauro Pezzente, who is also on the demo.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The only way the band's composition "Steve Reich" is available is on bootleg recordings (the band played it once for radio station VPRO and once for late British DJ John Peel). The reason why is probably that it is loosely based on the eponymous composer's Violin Phase. The band also has a habit of introducing new songs live before performing them on record; in fact, over half the songs on all the band's albums dating back to at least Yanqui U.X.O. were available as concert recordings years before the albums appeared.
  • For over 27 years, this was the case for All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling. While it was released on tape, only 33 copies were made, so it seemed like a pipe dream for fans to be able to listen to it... that is, until February 2022, when a user on /mu/ leaked the entire album. Even Efrim Menuck had expressed genuine shock that it hadn't been put online. See Old Shame for more information.
• No-Hit Wonder: GYBE have only ever released one single, and it was distributed with a fan magazine. Despite this, they have a large fanbase and receive heaps of critical acclaim.

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