Rolling Stone (10/11/01, p.94) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...An angel-dustrial bong-water brew of Styx, Rush and Triumph, with a dollop of Journey, Kansas, loads of Zep and Sabbath, and a pinch of Black Oak Arkansas...Not since Bob and Doug McKenzie have two jokers nailed the clod-metal aesthetic so accurately..."
Entertainment Weekly (9/28/01, p.74) - "Hilarious, but no mere comedy record...attacking acoustic guitars with a metal band's intensity...They're profane, bursting with rage and lust, and they deliver more laughs than anyone since Richard Pryor..." - Rating: A
CMJ (9/17/01, p.5) - "...Packed with big dopey guitars and lyrics that are so god-awful they're almost brilliant....rock cliches are in full effect..."
Tenacious D: Kyle Gass (vocals, acoustic guitar); Jack Black (vocals, guitar).
Additional personnel includes: David Grohl (guitar, drums, background vocals); Warren Fitzgerald, Ken Andrews (guitar); Woody Jackson (sitar); Andrew Gross (strings); Page McConnell (keyboards); Steve McDonald (bass); Alfredo Ortiz (percussion); John King (echoplex).
Recorded at The Boat, Silverlake, California.
Tenacious D: Kyle Gass, Jack Black.
Recording information: The Boat, Silverlake, California.
If you never caught their short-lived TV show, you'll probably be most familiar with Tenacious D through the appearance of singer Jack Black as the bile-spitting music geek in the film HIGH FIDELITY. The sarcastic humor Black employed in that movie is a clue to the sound of his duo Tenacious D. With his partner Kyle Gass, Black digs into various areas of rock mythology and skewers them in fine comedic style. Whether he's delivering a mock-metal ode to heavy metal hero Ronnie James Dio in the appropriately titled "Dio" or indulging in too-outrageous-to-be-crass single-entendre sexual humor on "Kielbasa," Black's humor is always spot-on. While his no-holds-barred approach may be too much for some, those with a taste for the tasteless will find unending laughter in this disc.