Tenacious D -Tenacious D Review
Posted by Brendan Johnston on 09.06.2002
The band they call Tenacious D reviewed by the man they call Loquacious B... Okay, no one calls me that. But they could!
I have seen novelty music's future, and it's name is Tenacious D. (Little Bruce reference for those of you who dug my last review and are wondering why I've moved on to the album by the guy from High Fidelity.)
That's right. "Weird" Al Yankovic, your days are numbered! Adam Sandler, you are on notice! Jimmy Fallon, get your affairs in order! "The D" has arrived to take all of y'all to school!
If you're wondering, Tenacious D is a band featuring actors/writers/ comics/musicians Jack Black (JB) and Kyle Gass (KG). The self-proclaimed "Greatest Band on Earth" became popular primarily through TV appearances on SNL, Mad TV (where I first encountered them) and Mr. Show with Bob and David, and through the magic of the Internet music-sharing boom (where I second encountered them.)
Their story is a simple one. In 1994, Black and Gass met, Gass taught Black how to play guitar and they started performing in comedy clubs, catching the eye of David Cross (Men In Black, Mr. Show with Bob and David) and doing some spots on his aforementioned HBO series. "The D"- as their fans refer to them and as they refer to themselves- eventually landed a 1999 HBO series of their own that was cancelled after four episodes. In the intervening years, Black has become a bona fide movie star on the basis of roles in High Fidelity (my favorite movie), Shallow Hal and the watchable-only-for-him Orange County.
Here's the thing about Tenacious D, and a big reason why I and a lot of people are picking up what they're putting down: their entire existence is a wry, vulgar, self-referential joke, a potshot at themselves. Two men who are in their thirties writing and singing songs that sound like they were conceived by a stoned and horny fifteen year old. The D are two clearly average (possibly even below average) dudes who claim to be the Greatest Band in the World. In fact, most of their songs are about how great they are, and how they're classically trained to rock our f***in' socks off. It's a big joke that everyone is in on.
Anyway. The album…
This self-titled disc is Tenacious D's first album- studio or otherwise- ever. One of my beefs with this album, right off the bat, is that it doesn't contain the D's hilarious rendition of the "Spider-Man" theme song. Maybe they couldn't get the rights, maybe it was deemed too vulgar, maybe they don't like it as much as I do. Whatever. But seriously, the album loses a point on principle, just for that.
The album's a mix of songs and skits. Some of the skits stand alone (the long but average "Drive-Thru" and the brief but hilarious "Cock Pushups"). Some lead into songs ("Inward Singing", "Karate Schnitzel"). Some straddle the line between skit and song ("City Hall") and some take that line, douse it in gasoline, light it on fire and sweep the ashes into a flaming bottomless pit of weirdness and sophomore locker room humor ("Double Team").
Tenacious D opens with "Kielbasa Sausage," the setup bit of which is KG and JB talking about how they have to write something new. They come up with "Kielbasa Sausage," an odd quasi-love song that transfigures midway through into a exultant, vulgar rap about how it's "Tenacious D time." It's the perfect title track for the album, as the opening bit is just short enough to grab your attention before outdoing itself humorously with the song. It's a funny and catchy little number.
"One Note Song" follows and is one of numerous skit/songs on the album. JB teaches Kyle his newest song, which consists of playing one note on the guitar, mixing it up by bending the note on occasion. The hilarity of the song is really the bookending dialogue between Kage (KG) and JB when JB convinces his partner that it's an actual song.
"Tribute" and "Wonder Boy" follow, and I think if I were a more rabid fan of the D, I'd consider these songs selling out. If Jack Black and Kyle Gass are ever on radio rotation, it'll be with one of these two songs. Both are paeans to geek culture, demons and superheroes and hydra abounding. I like both songs, but hey… I'm a geek.
(Trivia time: "Wonder Boy", like a third of the songs on the album, features drums by ex-Nirvana drummer/Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl.)
The next skit, "Hard F***ing" sets up the song "F*** Her Gently," the song so vulgar it's almost sweet. Then there's "Dio," which is actually an almost touching song about how Ronnie James Dio- late of Black Sabbath- has to pass the "cape and scepter" of rock to the D.
Then the skit "Inward Singing," which I defy anyone with a soul not to laugh at, which leads into "Kyle Quit the Band," about KG's brief exodus and return to espouse the basics of the D's philosophies on life; rocking the house, kicking some ass and partaking of mild hallucinogens. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention; the D seems to be all about the pot.) As a song it's good, and stands as a testament to the joke/message of Tenacious D.
"Friendship Test" is the skit that sets up "Friendship," the next really good song on the album. It features with possibly the best chorus I've heard in a while: "As long as there's a record deal, we'll always be friends."
"Karate Schnitzel" and "Karate" is the next song/skit tandem, and again: If you have a soul, I defy you not to laugh at this stuff. Frankly, I'm not a good enough writer to talk about how good it is. Every review I've read of the album thus far has been "in" on the joke, writing about the D as if they really were the Greatest Band on Earth. I've tried to stay away from that, but seriously, the "Karate" series is some of the funniest stuff I have ever, ever heard. The same can be said of the skit "Cock Pushups." (Figure it out yourself, dirty mind.) Funny as all hell.
"Rock Your Socks" follows and is really, in my opinion, where the album should end. It's an honest to god rock song with a catchy chorus and a hilarious and disturbing interlude when JB starts talking about how hard it is to be Tenacious D.
The next ten minutes is sorely lacking. Maybe it's because "Rock Your Socks" does just what the title promises, but the skit and songs that close out the album just don't do it for me. The skit "Drive-Thru" sounds like something from the bad days of SNL. "Double-Team" is about JB and KG having a threesome with some woman in a hot tub. Talk about stuff you don't want to picture. It's not even funny, and is the only song on the album I consistently skip. "City Hall" closes out the album with the story of the D leading a revolution from a subterranean bunker and eventually doing the time honored super-villain thing and betraying each other. It's not funny-weird. It's "shut the hell up, you freak" weird.
There's some other stuff on the album I didn't mention just because I didn't find it worth mentioning in the body of the review, which is largely positive. "Explosivo" and "Lee" seem to be exercises in using the rhyming dictionary (see also: Lavaigne, Avril). "The Road" is a Grand Funk Railroad/Lynrd Skynrd parody/homage about dalliances with groupies while on tour. I know it's meant to be a joke, but it's a joke played straight, and it sounds too much like what it's parodying (a genre of music I could do without) to really do anything for me.
Tenacious D, the self-titled debut album from the comedy rock duo of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, delivers serious laughs and some serious disappointment, but not enough to discourage buying the album. But if you can, seriously, find their version of "Spider-Man" on the 'net. Then write me an e-mail to thank me... and don't play it in front of your parents.
As an aside… in researching this article (Yeah, that's right. I do research. What do you people think, I sit on my ass drooling into a cup and do nothing all day, then just pull a four page album review out of my armpit? Pff.) I found several versions of KG's name: Kyle Gates, Kyle Gassman, Kyle Gass. Kyle Gass is how the IMDb has him listed, so there you go. So unless you're actually him, don't e-mail me telling me I got his name wrong.
Thanks to www.fugitivealien.com for info on the D.
The 411: For fans and like-minded friends of fans only, Tenacious D mixes laugh out loud skits and tongue-in-cheek rocking with a healthy amount of unfunny stuff that's just enough to prove these guys aren't the Greatest Band on Earth. Recommended, but only until Track Eighteen.
