Tenacious D is an American comedy rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1994 by Jack Black and Kyle Gass.
The band started performing on the Los Angeles music scene, eventually befriending David Cross who invited them to open for the live version of Mr. Show on HBO. This led the band to have their own variety television series on HBO, produced by Cross and Bob Odenkirk. Towards the end of the 1990s, the duo supported large rock acts such as Tool, Pearl Jam and Beck. The band also befriended Dave Grohl, later appearing in Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" music video.
In 2000, they signed with Epic Records and the year after they released Tenacious D, their debut album featuring a full band that included Grohl on drums. Their second single, "Tribute", achieved cult status, contributing to their popularity in the UK, Sweden and Australia. In 2003, the band released The Complete Master Works, a live concert DVD, later certified platinum. In 2006, the duo starred in their own motion-picture, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, and released the soundtrack as their second album, The Pick of Destiny. The film was a box office failure and received mixed reviews, but its supporting tour was successful with performances at major arenas, such as Madison Square Garden.
Following years of sporadic festival dates and special appearances, the band released their third album, Rize of the Fenix, in 2012, making light of The Pick of Destiny's commercial failure. In 2013, Tenacious D hosted the comedy music festival Festival Supreme in LA, which would host three more additions. In 2014, the band featured on Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life, a compilation album to raise funds for cancer awareness. Their cover of "The Last in Line" won the Grammy Award for best heavy metal performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2018, the band began independently releasing an animated hand-drawn web series, Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto, and released the soundtrack as their fourth album Post-Apocalypto. In July 2024, the band cancelled the remainder of their tour and put all creative work on hold following backlash from a controversial improvised joke from Gass about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania during a show in Sydney, Australia. The duo went on an indefinite hiatus as a result.
The music of Tenacious D showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass's acoustic guitar playing. Critics have described their fusion of vulgar absurdist comedy with rock music as "mock rock". Their songs discuss the duo's purported musical and sexual prowess, their friendship and cannabis usage, in a style critics have compared with the storyteller-style lyrics of rock opera.
History Formation and early years Jack Black and Kyle Gass met in Los Angeles in 1986 as members of the Actors' Gang theater troupe. They were initially not friendly, as Gass was the main musician for the Actor's Gang and "felt threatened" by Black. The Actor's Gang travelled to Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1989 to perform Tim Robbins' and Adam Simon's play Carnage. The two became friends during the trip and climbed Arthur's Seat on a day off. Following the trip, Black and Gass bonded over music. Black did not learn guitar until he was around 23, so would regularly visit Gass' Cochran Avenue studio apartment in the deal that Gass would teach Black to play guitar in return for food, mainly from fast-food chain Jack in the Box. They worked together professionally at the Actor's Gang and collaborated in productions.
Black and Gass eventually wrote their first song after Black was dumped by a girlfriend, a non-comedic song. They later said they felt embarrassed about the song, though they occasionally sing it during interviews when telling their story. Their second song came about when Black was listening to the Metallica song "One" and told Gass that it was "the best song in the world". Gass told Black that they could not write the best song in the world, but Black put a twist on it and said they could "write a tribute". Gass played an A-minor chord on his guitar at the apartment and the two spent three days crafting the song. When it was done, Gass said they "knew they had something". The song made the duo realize their comedic potential. The duo briefly called themselves Responsive Chord while rehearsing the comedy act.
Rise to popularity The band's first on-stage appearance was at Highland Grounds in Los Angeles, a coffee shop, where they performed as The Axe Lords Featuring Gorgazon's Mischief, though the production was technically part of a variety event for the Actor's Gang. In the audience was the actor and comedian Harry Shearer.
The band's first performance at an actual music event was a short appearance at Al's Bar in 1994, opening for The Abe Lincoln Story. They performed "Tribute", still their only song at the time, and asked the audience to vote for their name. Black and Gass gave them the choice between Pets or Meat, Balboa's Biblical Theater and the Axe Lords Featuring Gorgazon's Mischief (Gass's favorite). "Tenacious D"—a basketball term used by commentators to describe robust defensive positioning in basketball — did not get the majority of votes, but according to Black "we forced it through". The venue had become a hotbed for upcoming bands, so much so that in attendance was David Cross, who invited Black and Gass to open for the live version of Mr. Show. Black was cast on Mr. Show in 1995.
Tenacious D continued to generate momentum on the Los Angeles music scene, notably performing headline shows at Al's Bar, Pedro's, Largo and The Actors' Gang studio. Maynard James Keenan, lead vocalist of the band Tool, had also met Cross on the Los Angeles scene, and therefore had also become involved in Mr. Show. Keenan invited Black and Gass to support three Californian Tool concerts in December 1995. Tool was the first large act that Tenacious D were a support act for. Black had previously attended UCLA with director Jason Bloom; therefore, when Bloom was made the director of 1996's Bio-Dome, Black and Gass were invited to perform a short song in the film. The two wrote the song "5 Needs", and this was their first on-screen appearance as Tenacious D.
In 1997, Tenacious D had become a popular act on the Los Angeles music scene and would perform residencies at The Viper Room. Pete Stahl, the vocalist of the band Scream, worked at The Viper Room at the time and became a fan of Black and Gass. Stahl invited friend Dave Grohl to come and visit The Viper Room to see Tenacious D, though Grohl initially did not want to go. Grohl changed his stance and went to see the band perform a couple of weeks later and thoroughly enjoyed it. This would start a relationship between Grohl, Black and Gass.
Tenacious D recorded their songs "Tribute", "Kyle Quit the Band", "Krishna" and "History" and released them in a demo tape called Tenacious Demo in the late 1990s with Andrew Gross. They distributed it to various record companies until HBO offered them a TV show based on the tape and Black's work on Mr. Show.
Television series and Tenacious D (1997–2002)
Cross and his Mr. Show co-writer Bob Odenkirk continued his involvement with Tenacious D by producing three half-hour shows based on the band. The series, entitled Tenacious D, premiered on HBO in 1997, immediately following an episode of Mr. Show. While a total of three episodes consisting of two shorts each, ten to twelve minutes in length, were produced, only the first was aired that year; the final two episodes did not air until 2000. According to Gass, the series was cancelled after HBO requested ten episodes with the stipulation that he and Black would have to relinquish their role as executive producers, and only write songs.
After the series aired, the band continued to perform live. At a show at the Viper Room in Los Angeles, they met Dave Grohl, who remarked that he was impressed with their performance; this led to their cameo in the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" music video. They began to open for high-profile acts including Beck, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters.
In May 2000, Tenacious D signed to Epic Records. As Black's profile increased due to his roles in films such as High Fidelity, the band recorded their first album, Tenacious D, with the producers the Dust Brothers. It was backed by a full band, consisting of Grohl on drums and guitar, keyboardist Page McConnell of Phish, guitarist Warren Fitzgerald of The Vandals, and bassist Steven Shane McDonald of Redd Kross. According to Black, they chose to use a band because "no one's ever heard us with a band". The majority of songs on the album were performed previously on their short-lived television series.
Tenacious D reached No. 33 on the Billboard 200 on October 13, 2001. Although it received mixed reviews, it went on to garner acclaim and by November 2005 had been certified platinum in the US. Entertainment Weekly described it "hilarious", and "no mere comedy record". AllMusic wrote that it "rocks so damn hard", but lamented the absence of some of the songs from the television show. Flak Magazine criticised the skits between songs, describing them as "distracting" and a "nuisance".The Independent found the album was full of "swearing and scatology" and was "bereft of even the slightest skidmark of humor".
The first single, "Tribute", is a tribute to the "greatest song in the world", which Tenacious D claim they performed to save their souls from a demon. The music video, directed by Liam Lynch, achieved success and was voted the fifth best music video ever by Kerrang! readers. This was followed by the second single, "Wonderboy", with a video directed by Spike Jonze. A third video, an animation depicting Black and Gass as cherubs, was made for "Fuck Her Gently", directed by the Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi.
The album also included "Dio", a song written as a tribute to rock singer Ronnie James Dio, which mocked him somewhat for being too old. Dio liked the song enough to ask the band to appear in the music video for his song, "Push". An EP entitled D Fun Pak was released in 2002. It featured a skit and acoustic versions of "Jesus Ranch" and "Kyle Quit The Band", as well as a megamix by Mocean Worker. The Complete Master Works, a music DVD featuring the entire run of their TV series, music videos, and a live performance from London's Brixton Academy recorded in 2002, was released on November 9, 2003.
Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and the album (2003–2007)
Black and Gass had dreamt of producing a Tenacious D motion-picture since forming the band; archived footage of banter at an early Tenacious D show records Black as saying "a movie - that would be the pinnacle".
The duo conceptualized numerous ideas for a film, though the first actual known draft of a script was published on November 7, 2000. The script was based on many songs that would later be released on the duo's eponymous debut album that would be released the following year. There is little known about the script, other than it being based around the band playing coffee shops and Black becoming fascinated by Atlantis. Black and Gass both fall in love with a girl called Simmeon who has written books about the fictional island. They later meet Ronnie James Dio, and are sent on a road trip to Miami. This concept was later scrapped.