Who Needs Bach and Beethoven When You Have The Complete Master Works By Tenacious D?

25 Million New & Used CDs / Vinyl Records

Who Needs Bach and Beethoven When You Have The Complete Master Works By Tenacious D?
by Nick Law - December 24, 2008

During a ride down to the ol Alma Mater recently, I was sitting shotgun in my friend’s Nissan Altima and, thus, in charge of the music. It’s nearly a 4-hour drive and we had already gone through countless albums. We were nearly there and the decision was made to change up the music to reflect the extremely good mood we were both in. After all, in less than 50 minutes, we would be back in college. A place that offered $1 pints, old friends and all the ensuing debauchery you could handle. The decision was made to crank up the D!

Tenacious D is and always will be a college classic. It seems that everyone below the age of 18 doesn’t get them and everyone older than 30 can’t stand them. I personally love their work and have continued to pay homage well after college. But it was during my years in school that I discovered their unique brand of comedic rock both through frequent visits to the used record store and HBO.

The duo got its start when actor Tim Robbins recruited both Jack Black and Kyle Gass to be in his ensemble known as “The Actors Gang” (don’t say Tim Robbins never did anything worthwhile). The two initially didn’t hit it off well, as Gass immediately felt threatened by Black’s on stage presence. Luckily, the duo came to terms and formed one of the most talented comedic acts to ever play.

The two started out by playing Bobby McFerrin covers without a name, until one night at the now extinct Al’s Bar, Black and Gass asked the audience if they could come up with a name for the band. Thanks to the sports commentary of Dick Vitale, the duo was and forever shall be known as “Tenacious D” (a phrase used frequently by Vitale to describe a team’s dominating style of defensive play).

Jack Black would go on to quickly catch the eye of fellow comedian/actor David Cross (Arrested Development) who decided to cast Black in his new HBO sketch comedy series, Mr. Show. Although the series was short lived, it would lead to other great ventures by Cross and Black, including another HBO miniseries about the band, simply named Tenacious D.

Only six episodes would be released by HBO before the untimely end of the series. The six shorts were titled “The Search For Inspirado”, “Angel in Disguise”, “Death of a Dream”, “The Greatest Song in the World”, “The Fan”, and “The Road Gig”. Most are available on Youtube and are definitely worth watching if you’re a true fan of the D and haven’t seen any yet. The rest of the ideas that Black and Gass had for the series but never got to see the light of day were put into their 2006 movie Tenacious D In The Pick of Destiny.

In between the HBO series and the full-length feature film, Tenacious D has managed to not only write some of the funniest music ever, but perform it with amazing talent as well. Kyle Gass is excellent on the guitar and Jack Black, though no slouch on the strings himself, has an amazing singing voice as can be demonstrated in various movies of his such as Saving Silverman and School of Rock.

If you’re looking for the definitive, be all end all of Tenacious D albums, however, look no further than 2003’s The Complete Master Works. The name just says it all.

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