GAOTW: Tenacious D

Tenacious D is a cult American rock band composed of musician/actors Kyle Gass (a.k.a. "KG", "Kage","Rage Kage") and Jack Black (a.k.a. "JB", "Jables"). Their style fuses rock with other musical styles such as comedy rock and country rock and also vocal harmonies. They are known for their upbeat classic rock style and vulgar comedy. The band first gained popularity in 1999 when they starred in a self-titled HBO television series, in which JB and Kage tried to establish themselves as "The D" and the "Greatest Band in the World." The series is occasionally aired on Comedy Central and is available on the The Complete Masterworks.

Jack Black met 24-year-old Kyle Gass when he was 16 in Los Angeles in 1985 when they were members of the "The Actors' Gang" theater troupe. Ironically, Black and Gass didn't get along at first, but eventually worked out their differences. Later, Gass taught Black to play the guitar in exchange for Black helping him with his acting. They eventually formed the band which played their first gig in Al's Bar. While they can both sing and play the guitar, Black is billed as lead singer and Gass as lead guitar. The band's name is derived from a term used by sportscaster Marv Albert about the tenacious defense of the NBA's New York Knicks.

In 1997, HBO aired two episodes of the Tenacious D T.V. series, right after Mr. Show for two weeks. The other 4 episodes were not aired until 1999. The show was about the trials and tribulations of a band trying to make it in the music business. The show's six episodes featured many songs that went on to be re-recorded and put on the band's first album, but also featured songs that remain unreleased to this day. These shows were as follows: The Search for Inspirado, Angel in Disguise, Death of the Dream, The Greatest Song in the World, The Fan and Road Gig.

Tenacious D released Tenacious D (#38 UK), in 2001. For their first album, they enlisted the help of Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl on drums, keyboardist Page McConnell of Phish, guitarist Warren Fitzgerald of the Vandals, and bassist Steve McDonald. The Dust Brothers produced the album. The majority of the songs on the album are based on their short-lived HBO television series.

Several songs on this album are preceded by "skits" where Jack and Kyle go through some sort of rudimentary creative process or argument which immediately precedes the next song. Most of these skits are adapted from episodes of their show and showcase the band's absurdist humor.

The first single off of the album was the band's signature song Tribute a tribute to the "greatest and best song in the world", which, as the song describes, they once played to outwit a demon, but which they have now forgotten. Celebrity Ben Stiller has a cameo in the music video, as Black grabs his arm while passing by. Also appearing is Dave Grohl, as the Demon. Early versions of the song incorporated guitar riffs borrowed from Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", suggesting comically that the so-called "greatest song" was in fact that song, but this was minimized in the album version. The ending of the studio version is the words "and we played the greatest song in the world" to the tune of Stairway to Heaven's "and she's buying a stairway to heaven", which are the last words of the song.

The second single was Wonderboy, which has since become popular on both college radio and modern rock stations.

Two more singles would be released for the album. Dio, a tribute to rock singer Ronnie James Dio, asked for Dio to stop playing rock music and allow them to fill his shoes. Dio liked the song enough to let the band appear in the music video for his song, "Push." And the last single was Fuck Her Gently, which had a music video that featured animations by Spümcø, the studio behind Ren and Stimpy.

In 2003, they released a DVD entitled The Complete Masterworks, which features the entire run of their TV series, videos, and a live performance from London's Brixton Academy (recorded on November 3, 2002).

In July 2004, the band started production on their film, Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. Filming then started in April 2005 with director Liam Lynch, who also directed the band's "Tribute" music video. A month later, in May, 2005, the band started recording songs for the soundtrack of the movie, which will also be their second studio album, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.

The film portrays the fictional beginnings of the band and their rise to super-stardom and was released on November 22, 2006. The soundtrack was released just over a week earlier, on November 14 and reached number #10 in the UK charts.

To coincide with the release of their new movie and album, they embarked on a tour of the USA and United Kingdom.

The first appearance of Black and Gass performing together came about in Bio-Dome (1996), and they later both appeared in The Cable Guy (1996) and Saving Silverman and Shallow Hal, both released in 2001, although none of these appearances were officially by Tenacious D. Bongwater (1997) featured Black, as his character Devlin, performing "Jesus Ranch", which would later be featured in an episode of their TV series. Black also starred in a number of films himself.

Black and Gass were featured as puppets performing "Friendship" from their first album on an episode of Crank Yankers. Later, the duo made an appearance in the first episode of Tom Goes to the Mayor to be televised on Adult Swim. In the episode, the duo were known as "The Bear Trap Brothers," two competitive brothers who ran bear trap shops that were located side-by-side. At the 2006 American Music Awards (11/21/06) the duo performed the title song of their album and movie "The Pick of Destiny".

Guitarist Kyle Gass also plays guitar and sings vocals for the band Trainwreck, under the pseudonym "Klip Calhoun". Also in Trainwreck is JR "Lee" Reed, who is the lead roadie and sometimes vocalist of Tenacious D. Reed performs under the pseudonym "Darryl Donald". They are also the musical guest on Saturday Night Live's 12/2/06 show. They previously appeared as a special guest in the show's 23rd season.

Also, the duo have appeared on music videos by other bands, including "Push" by Dio and "Learn to Fly" by the Foo Fighters.