Tenacious D

Tenacious D is an American rock duo that was formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. Composed of lead vocalist and guitarist Jack Black and lead guitarist and vocalist Kyle Gass, the band has released three albums – Tenacious D (2001), The Pick of Destiny (2006) and Rize of the Fenix (2012). Tenacious D's studio releases, and (as of 2006) its live performances, feature a full band lineup, including such musicians as guitarist John Konesky and bassist John Spiker. Drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) has played on every studio release.

The band first gained popularity in 1997 when they starred in their eponymous television series and began to support large rock acts. In 2001, they released Tenacious D, their debut album featuring a full band. The first single, "Tribute," was the band's most successful achieving their only Top 10 in any chart, until they released "The Metal", which was shown on Saturday Night Live. In 2006, they starred in, and recorded the soundtrack for, the film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. In support of the film, the band went on a world tour, appearing for the first time with a full band. They released their newest album Rize of the Fenix on May 15, 2012.

Tenacious D (TV series)

Tenacious D: The Greatest Band on Earth is a TV series that ran on HBO in 1997, 1999 and 2000. It featured the fictional accounts of the real band Tenacious D, which is composed of members Jack Black and Kyle Gass. All of the episodes of the show are available on Tenacious D's The Complete Masterworks DVD.

The show included many songs that would later be recorded for the band's studio albums Tenacious D and The Pick of Destiny.

Dispute with HBO

According to Kyle Gass, HBO offered Tenacious D a deal to make ten episodes, but in doing so, they would have to relinquish their role as executive producers. Gass and Jack Black decided to make a movie instead of giving HBO creative control of Tenacious D, and they made The Pick of Destiny.

Episodes

There were three episodes total in the season; episodes consisted of two shorts, shown back-to-back. Altogether, the duration was 23 minutes. All the episodes combined can be viewed on The Complete Masterworks, the full runtime is 70 minutes.

Tenacious D (album)

Tenacious D is the first studio album by American comedy rock band Tenacious D, released on September 25, 2001 by Epic Records. The album's polished production was a departure from the band's acoustic origins, due in part to the production of the Dust Brothers.

"Tribute" was the first single released from the album, followed by "Wonderboy". Both singles had music videos filmed for them, with the Liam Lynch–directed Tribute video achieving cult status. While Tenacious D did not achieve chart success after its release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America by the end of 2005. Despite only peaking at #38 in the UK, it had sold 426,000 copies countrywide by 2006.

Conception

For their first album, they enlisted the help of drummer Dave Grohl, keyboardist Page McConnell of Phish, guitarist Warren Fitzgerald, and bass player Steven Shane 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, Tenacious D. The record itself does not list the song titles on the back cover as is the convention but instead on the back cover of the jacket; therefore one must open the CD (after presumably buying it) to read them. This is perhaps to allow songs with expletives or words otherwise deemed offensive to escape censorship or omission.