The Dinner

This post was written by MJ on 24th Mar, 2003

They’ll be dining out on this anecdote for years.
Last Thursday night, godspeed you! black emperor, a Mile-End art-rock 10-piece, were stopped and searched somewheres in Middle America on suspicion of being terrorists. A rep for the band told pitchforkmedia.com that “the band pulled their two vans and white-panel truck, which they use for toting equipment, into an area gas station to refuel. Upon seeing the motley crew of nine musicians, the station’s attendant phoned the police, reporting the possibility that the band might be terrorists.”

gy!be (no, that’s not a typo; they’re like that) are probably the biggest band in terms of mainstream — read: American — critical attention right now; Rolling Stone and Spin have both published glowing reviews. (Which pisses the band off no end, I’m sure, as they work hard at making sure their hair shirts are as uncomfortable as possible.) Godspeed are the darlings of the sort of music fan that look down their nose at anything that’s sold more than a couple dozen copies, the type of fundamentalist so deliciously skewered in the movie High Fidelity. Along with their 20-min-plus orchestral movements — they’re an instrumental band, except for occasional soundbites — are the types of politics that would make Michael Moore blush. So they’ll be glorying in their brush with the tyrannical jackboots of patriarchal American hegemony for ages, if you catch my meaning.

Or, in other words: “They get hassled by The Man regularly,” said a rep at their label. Right.