May 2003
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ENTERTAINMENT

Tenacious D not holding back
By Chris B., Grade 9, Fredericton High, Fredericton, NB

Tenacious D
By Tenacious D
Epic (2001)

They are the rock of the new century, with a guitar player to equal Led Zepplin's Jimmy Page, and a singer to equal any of our day. That is, if they tried.

Tenacious D was the creation of Jack Black: Comedian, actor, singer and songwriter all rolled into one. Jack Black joined forces with Kyle Gass (guitar player extraordinaire) to make an amazing band to rock the new world. This joining is described, in depth, in one of their songs called: "Wonderboy". Jack Black is a well known artist who recently acted in the movie Orange County and also hosted last year's MTV video awards. On the other hand Kyle Gass came from out of nowhere; he is a simple shy, but well spoken, guitar player. Being from a comedic background, Jack blends comedy with rock to make an outrageous, if often controversial, style of music.

Their tracks are top studio quality, with sharp lyrics and perfect balance. The twist is that their songs, or most of them, take place in a casual setting. For example, almost every song has an intro setting up the song to follow. These intros are always in a casual setting; in one Jack is up for a midnight snack, in another Jack and Kyle are sitting around playing with guitar chords.

Using his songs as a means of understanding him we can further understand Jack Black. We see that Jack lives a lot of his life in his imagination. Often times it seems like he might just transform an experience he has had into a fictional adventure. For example in the song "Tribute" Jack and Kyle are hitch hiking down a long and lonesome road, when they are confronted by a shiny demon. The demon says "Play the best song in the world, or I'll eat your souls". Jack and Kyle look at each other and say "OK". After an amazing display of talent, the two hitchhiking guys sing the best song in the world, and the demon retreats to wherever he came from. Later Jack and Kyle forget the song they sang that fateful night and sing this song as a tribute (notice the name) to their adventure. The point is this, something like this could have actually happened to them. The part about them hitch hiking down a long and lonesome road and many other bits could have actually happened, but not the story they sing. This happens in quite a few of their songs like: "Wonderboy" or "City Hall" and makes for an incredibly enjoyable experience.

You've never heard anything like Tenacious D. They have great musical talent as well as some of the funniest lyrics you'll ever hear. You'll never hear anything like this again and I strongly recommend you at least listen to a few of their songs if not just go out and buy their CD. Unfortunately not all their songs could be called "schoolable", and although these songs don't take away from the quality of the CD (if anything they add to it); just listen to them away from people who aren't teenagers.


     



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