Tenacious D: self-titled

Man, it is finally here! The long-awaited, most triumphant release of what could possibly be the most important album of the year! Nay, the decade! Perhaps, the millennium even! My friends, I give to you the fabulous Tenacious D featuring Jack Black and Kyle Gass! Exclamation point!

For those of you who are not in the know (and if you’re not, get in there now), the D has been wowing audiences for many a moon. Jack and Kyle’s famous rockin’ acoustic tunes have now been given the full band treatment. What’s more, this album has been produced by none other than the great Dust Brothers who have had a hand in many a great album, from Paul’s Boutique to Odelay. Rock on! And be sure to dig the fact that the D have come equipped with such fabulous guest stars as Dave Grohl, who also help Jack and K.G. rock the world mercilessly.

The front of the album shows the D “bein’ schooled by Satan”, as Black put it during the duo’s interview on The Daily Show a couple weeks back. The back cover “is what’s called ‘collector’s item'”, added Jack, pointing out the shot that depicts the D as infants, still being schooled! Friends, I will never moan and bitch and wonder again where my beloved rock and roll has gone. It lives on here in this album.

The D like to mainly sing about demons, sex, smoking pot, superheroes, and “The Road”, as it were. All classic rock subjects! What’s best about these songs is that the D execute them with the same fury as all your favorite and pretentious long-haired hard rockin’ rock gods have in the past. It seems that musical history stopped for the D around 1987 or so, but imagine all the fat that that fact automatically eliminates! Just breath taking, I tell you.

Things kick off with the rocking “Kielbasa” that touches on such delicate matters as, well, ah, sex, Dianetics, and Krishna. The whole thing explodes at the end with Black howling “All the ladies in the house say ‘yeah!’ / And all you motherfuckers say a prayer! / When you fight, you’ve gotta fight fair!” and then caps it off with “You know what time it is? / TENACIOUS D TIME, you motherfucker, go! / Fuck yeah!”

Obviously, this thing comes with a Parental Advisory sticker. The PMRC would be proud of their sticky stickering here.

Other tunes tell the story of Tenacious D and their many adventures. “Tribute” recalls a tale in which a mighty demon commanded the guys to sing the best song in the world, while “Wonderboy” recounts the exact way, the exact time, and the exact moment that Tenacious D came to be! Don’t believe me? One listen to the facts will melt your mind, I tell you! If that’s not enough, you get some of Jack and K.G.’s comedy bits thrown in as well. Dig the genius of the “One Note Song”, the magic of “Inward Singing”, and learn what it takes to pass the “Friendship Test”. It’s all right here.

A sense of humor is definitely required, as is an appreciation for everything rockin’. I can only imagine how many people will get offended by “Fuck Her Gently” (which, by the way, has a nifty little video done up for it by none other than famous cartoonist John Kricfalusi at his spumco.com site) and “Double Team”. The holier than thou will pass it off as juvenile, but the rest of the listeners will groove like they have never grooved before. It’s that tremendous.

There are 21 tracks here in all, culminating in the beautiful “City Hall” that should definitely make everyone a believer in the D. I’ve been a believer ever since I can remember. Ever since that first time that Jack and Kyle rocked my world that I thought was already rockin’. Not so! So if you need a little schoolin’ and are feelin’ funky and like you could learn a lesson or two in the capital letters of R-O-C-K, then sit back and let the D work their magic. Allow yourself to be amazed and gaze in wonder at these twin towers of rock, much like millions of others are already doing!