Tenacious D

Tenacious D Artistfacts

  • 1999-
    Jack Black
    Kyle Gass
  • Tenacious D is the very hard-rocking acoustic duo of Kyle Gass and Jack Black; Gass is the group's lead acoustic guitar player. Much of their act is a satire of rock and roll tropes.
  • The D, who bill themselves as "The greatest band in the world," had a very short-lived TV series on HBO called Tenacious D, from which most of their early songs originated.
  • Gass is also know as "KG," "Kage" and "Rage Kage" Jack Black goes by "JB" or "Jables."
  • Their first (self-titled) album, released in 2001, featured 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 band name comes from a saying popular with basketball announcers to describe an effective, aggressive defense.
  • The 2010 tour rider of Tenacious D warns promoters that moshing and crowd surfing may occur at a gig and that those audience activities are "not solely grounds for a patron's ejection." The rider also includes a stage scheme where sidemen musicians are referred to as guitarist "Anti-Jesus," drummer "Colonel Sanders," and bassist "Charlie Chaplan."
  • In 2018 they released an intentionally puerile album and animated YouTube series called Post-Apocalypto, which they described as "our bid to save the world."
  • In the years after the band was formed, Jack Black became a bona fide movie star, best known for his starring role in School Of Rock (2003). He also stars in Shallow Hal (2001), Tropic Thunder (2008) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). He's a popular voice actor as well, starring in the Kung Fu Panda franchise.

    Gass shows up in a lot of films, but mostly as a character actor. Look for him in The New Guy (2002) and Elf (2003).

Comments: 2

  • Tom from Marble Falls, Ar"Tribute" is the greatest song in the world, or I'll eat your souls.
  • Beef from Carlson, Quia, Mathere comedy rock
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