Tenacious D is not the greatest band in the world. But the mock-rock duo might be the most bombastic.
The D makes music that is heavy on drama, tension, smack-talking, mistaken identities and an overarching good-versus-evil conflict. While actor-singers Jack Black and Kyle Gass’ antics are as sophomoric and lewd as those of any junior-high punk, the portraits in their narrative-heavy songs also portray the duo as overprivileged soap opera characters.
Tenacious D, which brings its comic hard-rock road show to Denver’s Fillmore Auditorium on Wednesday, is basically one big soap opera for men and women alike – and some children too, but the language and content here is dirtier than that of the band’s hero, veteran metal singer Ronnie James Dio.
Tenacious D claims to be greatest band in the world – or at least the second-greatest, depending on what interview you’re reading. (In one recent feature, the band claims the world’s No.1 band as Rock Star Supernova, which was assembled specifically for a CBS reality show of the same name.)
But without giving in to their penchant for comically self-important hyperbole, it is fair to say The D is the only band in the game transforming soap into rock.
Black and Gass are making a soap opera that doubles as a rock opera, as the new film “Tenacious D in ‘The Pick of Destiny,”‘ which opens in theaters Wednesday, documents. Black and Gass have only recently become ubiquitous outside the microcosm of joke-rock and indie comedy, hot on the heels of like-minded comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, whose controversial film, “Borat,” is both a hot pop-culture topic and a fitting companion piece for Tenacious D’s satirical humor.
The film purports to follow the band’s rocky formation and tumultuous expansion as the pair search for a magical guitar pick. And while this is delivered via the cleverly juvenile lyrics the band has made famous in songs such as “Kielbasa,” “Rock Your Socks” and “Double Team,” the movie solidifies The D as an important musical act.
That sounds like something JB and KG would spew. But it’s also true. Which is not to say The D’s “Pick of Destiny” is comparable to The Who’s “Tommy,” Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” or David Bowie’s “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars” as rock opera. It’s more the weird offspring of Meat Loaf’s “Bat Out of Hell” and Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.”
Tenacious D’s music throws down the gauntlet of overwrought epic-rock, only it does so with a humor that is cruel and obscene. Yet the comedy is also naively humane and intimate, as the band proves on its new record, the soundtrack to “Pick of Destiny.”
Most people were introduced to The D by the 2001 eponymous album that followed their short-lived HBO show. The record was home to the single “Tribute,” a mini-opera of sorts that tells of Black and Gass meeting a demon who announces, “Play the best song in the world, or I’ll eat your soul.”
The duo didn’t lay into “Stairway to Heaven” or “Purple Haze.” Instead they made up a song on the spot, beguiling the demon with their improvised opus that was, of course, the greatest song in the world. But then they forgot that song entirely, and so “Tribute” is just that, an homage to the greatest song in the world, which they can’t remember for the life of them.
As sung in Black’s wickedly wide-ranging tenor:
“This is not the greatest song in the world, no/This is just a tribute/Couldn’t remember the greatest song in the world … And the peculiar thing is this, my friends/The song we sang on that fateful night/It didn’t actually sound anything like this song.”
With “Pick of Destiny,” the band expands the simplistic approach to songwriting that is its trademark. There seem to be even more needless obscenities, but there’s a greater stylistic depth on this record, which tells the decidedly unsubtle story of JB and KG. “Kikapoo” sets the stage with Black’s melodic grace and tongue-
tripping storytelling. “Classico” is an ode to madrigals, classical music and the F-bomb in 58 seconds.
“POD (Pick of Destiny)” is righteous rock that is also unapologetically self-promotional. And you get the aptly named “The Metal” and the beautifully composed Queen homage, “Beezleboss (The Final Showdown).”
The latter is the ultimate supernatural battle of the bands, pitting The Demon against The D. The duo challenges their fiery, guitar-solo-loving opponent to a rock-off. The demon’s reply:
“The demon code prevents me/From declining a rock-off challenge/What are your terms?”
It’s this absurdity that makes Tenacious D such a musical and comic force. The music is potent. It’s impossible to not feel the guttural guitar digging deep in your shaking lungs. And the comedy is undeniable. Witness such songs as “Dude (I Totally Miss You),” the next logical step from the previous record’s “Kyle Quit the Band.”
Their tongues aren’t necessarily planted in their cheeks. Rather, they are brazenly pffft-ing between their lips. And dare I say their absurd – and absurdist – rock ‘n’ roll could quite possibly save the world from evil, if required.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Tenacious D
JOKE-ROCK|Fillmore Auditorium, 8 p.m. Wednesday with Neil Hamburger opening|$45|ticketmaster.com, 303-830-8497
