User:EdwardBloxy/Pewds' Filthy Drafts n' shtuff/Tenacious D

Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were part of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "tenacious defense", a phrase used by NBA basketball sportscaster Marv Albert.

Prior to the release of Tenacious D's 2001 debut album Tenacious D, the duo had a three-episode TV series released on HBO, with the episodes broadcasting between 1997 and 2000. These episodes came about after the band had met David Cross and Bob Odenkirk on the Los Angeles music scene—and Black featuring in episodes of Mr. Show with Bob and David. The band also befriended former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, and this would begin a working relationship between Foo Fighters and Tenacious D. Towards the end of the 1990s, the duo supported large rock acts such as Pearl Jam, Tool and Beck.

In 2000 they signed with Epic Records, and the year after released Tenacious D, their debut album featuring a full band, including Grohl on the drums. The first single "Tribute" has since achieved cult-status, and made the band popular overseas, this being mainly the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland and Australia. In 2003, the band released The Complete Master Works, their first live concert DVD which achieved gold and platinum status by the RIAA.

In November 2006, they starred in their own film Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, released by New Line Cinema, with Epic Records releasing the soundtrack as their second album, The Pick of Destiny. The film cost $20 million to produce, though only grossed $13.9 million at the box office and suffered mixed reviews from critics. Despite the poor receivership of the actual film, the band would near sell-out arenas on its respective tour, notably Madison Square Garden in New York and Manchester Arena in England. Following several years of sporadic festival dates and special appearances, the band released their third album Rize of the Fenix on May 15, 2012 through Columbia Records, the album making light of The Pick of Destiny's commercial failure.

In 2013, the band hosted comedy music festival, Festival Supreme in Los Angeles, which hosted three more editions. In 2014, the band were invited to feature on Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life, a compilation album where various artists cover Ronnie James Dio songs to raise funds for cancer. Their cover of "The Last in Line" won a Grammy for best heavy metal performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2018, the band would begin independently releasing an animatic hand-drawn web series titled, Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto, each of the six episodes uploading exclusively to YouTube every week starting from the 28th of September. Columbia Records released the album Post-Apocalypto on November 2, 2018, just after the release of the sixth episode.

Tenacious D's music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar playing abilities. 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, as well as their friendship and cannabis usage in a style that music critics have compared with the storyteller-style lyrics of rock opera.

Beginnings
Jack Black and Kyle Gass initially met in Los Angeles in 1986, both members of The Actors' Gang theater troupe. Black admits due to animosity, he and Gass didn't initially see eye-to-eye, as Gass was the main musician for the Actor's Gang and "felt threatened by Black". The Actor's Gang travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1989. They were performing Tim Robbins' and Adam Simon's play Carnage. The two befriended during the trip and eventually became best friends. Black states he didn't learn guitar until he was "around twenty-three years old", 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.

The two would work at The Actor's Gang together, and would collaborate in productions. Gass and Black wrote their first song after Black had been dumped by a girlfriend, a non-comedic song. The two have since admitted to feeling embarrassed about the song, though 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 couldn't 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 full days crafting the song. When it was done Gass mentioned they "knew they had something". The song made the duo realize their comedic potential.

At their first concert, at Al's Bar in the summer of 1994, the band performed the live debut of "Tribute", their only song at the time, and the duo also gave the audience the chance 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' personal favorite). "Tenacious D"—a basketball term used by commentators to describe robust defensive positioning in basketball — did not get the majority of votes, however, but according to Black "we forced it through". The venue had become a hotbed for upcoming bands due to the success of Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, so much so that in attendance was David Cross who invited Black and Gass to attend productions of his. Black would later be cast in his sketch comedy television series on HBO, Mr. Show in 1995.

The band would continue 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. Peter 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 didn't 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, distributing it to various record companies until HBO offered them a TV show based upon the tape and Black's work on Mr. Show.

Television series (1997–2000)
Cross, with Mr. Show 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 the summer of 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. The popularity of Tenacious D further increased as they began to open for high-profile acts, including Beck, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters.