Tenacious D Biography

Tenacious D is a rock band comprised of musicians and actors Kyle Gass and Jack Black. They are known for their upbeat classic rock style, infused with vulgar comedy. The band first gained reputation in 1999, starring in a self-titled HBO tv series, during which Black and Gass tried to establish themselves as The D and the "Greatest Band in the World".

16 year old Jack Black and 24 year old Kyle Gass met in Los Angeles in 1985 when they were both in the The Actors' Gang theatre troup.
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Ironically, Jack and Kyle actually didn't like each other very much at first, but the two eventually worked out their differences. Later on, Kyle taught Jack how to play the guitar, and eventually asked him to form a band. While they both sing and play the guitar, Jack is noted as the lead singer while Kyle is the lead guitarist.

The band started out as a stage act and, after being noticed in an LA nightclub by comedian David Cross, were given a series of comedy shorts on HBO which aired in 1999.

"The D" released Tenacious D (#38 UK), in 2001. For their first album, they enlisted the help of drummer Dave Grohl; keyboardist Page McConnell of Phish; guitarist Warren Fitzgerald; and bass player Steve McDonald. The Dust Brothers produced the album. The majority of the songs on their debut album stem from early versions as seen on their HBO tv series.

The band's signature song is "Tribute", a tribute to the "greatest song in the world", which - according to the duo - was once created by themselves and has now unfortunately been forgotten. Early versions of the song incorporated guitar riffs borrowed from Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", suggesting that the so-called "greatest song" was in fact a rip-off or a cover of "Stairway to Heaven".

Their song "Wonderboy" (#34 UK, #48 Australia) and its video were also well-received, as a parody of and tribute to both the fantasy genre and epic metal. "Wonderboy" was a tale of an unlikely superhero, portrayed by Black in the video, as he formed an alliance with a fellow adventurer Young Nasty Man (Gass) and attempted to destroy a fire-breathing hydra. ("Wonder Boy" is also the name of a video game series.)

Their song "Dio" was a tribute of some sorts to the rock singer Ronnie James Dio. In the song they ask that Dio stop playing rock music and allow them to fill his shoes. Dio himself liked the song enough that he let the band appear in his next music video "Push".

The third single from the album, "Fuck Her Gently," was released in May 2004. The video was animated by John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren and Stimpy, and features Jack and Kyle as nude cherubs on the shoulders of Satan.

Several songs are preceded by "skits" where Jack and Kyle go through some sort of rudimentary creative process immediately preceding the introduction of the next song. An example of this can be found in the song/skit "Karate" in which Kyle talks to Florna, whom Jack is obviously in love with. The careful presentation of the music as spontaneously generated belies the craft of the music involved, as well as the complex and absurdist humor of the lyrics.

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TENACIOUS D BIOGRAPHY