Let me declare my beliefs: I love Tenacious D. Lots of people don't, and that's fine, because I feel safe in the knowledge that my ego is bigger than theirs, so that makes me right. Tenacious D are the band with the biggest egos in history, and I think not unjustly. There's no question that Tenacious D are the greatest rock band in the world, because they say they are, and with egos that big, how can they be wrong?

The Pick of Destiny

This album is the soundtrack (of sorts) from the film of the same name. I'll give you a brief explanation of the film so I can explain everything in more detail. Tenacious D is Jack Black (JB), the vocalist, and Kyle Gass (KG), the guitarist. In the beginning, JB runs away from home and his overly religious father (played by none other than Meat Loaf) because he'll never rock there. He goes to Hollywood, meets KG and after some faffing around they form Tenacious D. They then embark on a quest to find the "Pick of Destiny" which is made from the Devil's tooth. With it so far? They then have a "rock off" with the Devil, who loses, and everyone's happy.

The music reflects the events in the story, but the album can be listened to with no knowledge of the film. In fact I knew the words to most of the songs before I even saw the film. This edition of the album is a "Deluxe Edition", the contents of which I will go through at the end. For now, let me go through the songs for you. Normally I put an except of the lyrics in, but the language is so rude (read: cool) that it'd just contain lots of asterisks, so I won't be doing that.

Kickapoo

Kickapoo is the name of the town JB runs away from, in case you were wondering. The song starts off with solo acoustic guitar from KG. It's a strong song to open the album, that describes young JB performing "intimate acts" with a dragon before slaying it. In the film, young JB is singing this to his family at the dinner table, which prompts his father to take him to his room and beat him with his belt, singing about how evil he is and that he's going to hell. Once he's left, young JB "prays" to a poster of Dio (Ronnie James Dio) about how he's stuck at home and will never be able to rock. The poster of Dio comes to life, and Dio tells him to go to Hollywood. JB does so.
The music is very strong, with each segment having of a slightly different feel. The vocals are exceptionally strong (well, Jack Black, Ronnie James Dio, and Meat Loaf are hardly vocal slackers) and the guitar drives the song on, changing from acoustic to electric as the song goes on.

Classico

This song was partly written by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Tenacious D. Yes, really. It's an excellent combination of classical guitar and strong rock vocals. It starts with KG playing Bourée in E minor (Bach) then it switches to Fur Elise by Beethoven. After this it switches to "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic" by Mozart. The lyrics consist of JB proclaiming to anyone who'll listen about how great a guitarist KG is.

Baby

Not a great song in itself, it describes how JB feels all alone away from home with nowhere to turn. It's essentially a gentle lullaby with acoustic guitar and simple vocals, where JB describes how he can't get to sleep in this strange place. KG provides backing harmony vocals, and it ends with JB crying like a baby.

Destiny

Starting with their realisation that they both have "ass mark" which, when put together, is the name of their band. The song is very short, and consists of a heavily distorted electric guitar and JB singing about paying the rent.

History

Now this is an excellent song, which tells the story of Tenacious D (an entirely fictitious history, I should point out). This song shows how big their egos really are, when they say what they've done. They "walked with Jesus and his cross", "climbed K2", and travelled through space and time, my friends, to rock this house again". The musical support comes entirely from acoustic guitar, and when you listen to it, this is absolutely incredible, as it is very fast and very complicated. This is one of those songs that really shows of KG's amazing guitar skills.

The Government Totally Sucks

They have a go at the government, basically. That's pretty much all I have to say about the content. The music is slower than previous songs, and more relaxed, and consists of only vocals and acoustic guitar.

Master Exploder

My favourite song. I should mention that I sing Opera now and then, being a bass baritone, and I am absolutely staggered by JB's range in this song. Assuming it isn't computer assisted in any way, and it doesn't sound like it is, then JB deserves his ego. The song is about JB telling an imaginary audience about how strong his voice is, "I do not need a microphone, my voice is ******* powerful!". This is a heavy song, starting with acoustic guitar then building with solo electric guitar, and drums. Both JB and KG sing in this one, and make as much noise as they can. This song is all about JB, and a voice that demands respect. In the film, the two of them look more and more like rock stars as the song progresses.

The Divide

Not a song, but an except from the film, where KG tells JB he prefers the female body to his destiny. It's only 22 seconds long.

Papagenu (He's my Sassafrass)

JB and KG have had an argument about their destiny and go on alone. JB gets hungry and sits down in some wooded area, and he's so hungry he eats some mushrooms he finds in the area. Needless to say these aren't the kind of mushrooms you can buy in a supermarket. JB has hallucinations about the Sasquatch being his father, and they go flying together. The song reflects this rather strange mood. It's not one of my favourites, but it is still very good.

Dude I Totally Miss You

A very slow and an deep acoustic guitar supports JB as he sings of how much he misses KG. The guitar riff is very simple, but that doesn't stop JB making it complicated in his treble range. KG comes in providing harmonies and the second half of the song consists of both of them singing the tune with heavy electric guitar and drums.

Break-In City (Storm The Gate)

I don't like this song, to be honest. It describes how JB breaks into the Rock and Roll History Museum, and the power of the music is contrasted with the shocking job he makes of it in the film. This song is heavy with electric guitar and drums in a metal style.

Car Chase City

The two of them made up inside the Rock and Roll History Museum, and now they have the pick they're running away. This song is essentially the same as the previous one; it is the same level of heaviness, the same kind of crazy lyrics and as it's part of the same scene on the film, this makes sense. I don't much like this one either, but it's still not bad!

Beezleboss (The Final Showdown)

The Devil (Dave Grohl) makes his appearing in this song, telling Tenacious D how they're going to hell, because they brought him the pick (inadvertently). JB challenges him to a "Rock Off", and they sing it out. The song is done quite cleverly, as a kind of musical conversation between Tenacious D and the Devil, as they establish terms. The Devil's riffs are very heavy (and very good), and make Tenacious D's seem quite inadequate. The Devil's music is heavy metal, telling of how he's the Devil, so he's obviously going to win. The electric guitar is heavy, the drums are heavy, and the vocals are heavy. Tenacious D start their performances gently as they seem very nervous of whether they can win. JB tells KG they can and will, and they produce an amazing performance. The Devil tells them they're rubbish, but in a resulting "fight", the Devil loses. You'll just have to watch it to see how that happened!

POD (Pick of Destiny)

This is essentially a summary of the album, telling the story of what they've done. This is one of the most well known songs from the album. The chorus is heavy, but the support eases off for the verses to allow JB to explain what's going. The tempo is fast and the electric guitar comes in now and then to really show off!

The Metal

This song plays over the end credits of the film, and is a very heavy metal song. JB lists all kinds of different musical genres and then that metal beat them. The electric guitar is the real focus of this song, as it's really a solo guitar tune that's being sung over. In the middle of the song, the guitar stops and Tenacious D sing high and quietly, taking the role of the beaten musical genres, saying how Metal cannot be beaten. It's a very strong song to end on.

Deluxe Edition

In the deluxe edition, you get a special "making of" DVD all about the film, which also contains some music videos to popular songs. You also get 8 Tenacious D tarot cards which feature in the film. You even get the POD! It's large, quite heavy, and green. It's also completely unsuitable as a guitar pick unless you just intend to make lots of noise. I've done this, it is fun, but it's not ideal really! There's a poster, and also the cd case has a holographic cover.

Conclusion

It's an excellent album worth getting, if you're a Tenacious D fan. If you're not then you'll get quite confused. The film itself isn't overly good, you have to really like Tenacious D to be interested, and in that respect it might not have been too sensible to base this album on the film. As long as you don't try to follow the storyline of the album without having seen the film, you'll be fine.

Be warned: pretty much every song contains a gargantuan amount of rude words, hence it has a Parental Advisory warning.

Thanks for reading

Michael

www.tenaciousd.com