TYBS#7 (DEC 2006)
Courtesy of the good people at SONY-BMG Music Entertainment Phils, and Magic 89.9 a bunch of friends and I (with significant others in tow) went to the premier of Tenacious D in “The Pick of Destiny” a few weeks ago.
Hampered only by a bunch of mall zombies, who thought the thing was a free for all, we went in with high spirits. After all, like the marketing tag announced, this was only: “the greatest motion picture of all time”!
While not exactly a fan of Jack Black as an actor (way too over the top and still mining the dregs of old SNL sketches) I loved his work in Tenacious D – a real band starring him and fellow SNL alum Kyle Gass.
This one does not disappoint from the get go, what with an intro that lampooned those old THX sound announcements with "THC: The Audience Is Baking." That’s tetrahydrocannabinol for the square readers. At the very least you know this is going to be a stoner movie par excellence, without pretension or guilt and with as much comic exaggeration as can be mustered. But let me tell you about the story first.
The Pick of Destiny takes us to the origins of Tenacious D, starting with the childhood of Jack Black as he realizes that living in a home with extremely religious parents (with Meatloaf as father) isn’t exactly the best thing for his music. All this unfolds in musical, rock opera fashion.
On a particularly inspired scene, after his dad has just given him a spanking and ripped most of his posters off the wall, JB prays to a Sabbath-era poster of Ronnie James Dio and Dio – bless his metal fantasy curls – actually answers like some (un)holy messenger. Whoa.
So it’s off to LA for JB. At Venice Beach JB meets up fortuitously with Klye Gass as a street side guitarist whose skills blow his mind. It is at this point that we must turn vague, lest we reveal too many comic spoilers. As they struggle to make it JB and KG meet less than expected audience response and their trek to greatness leads them to a quest for a legendary, magical guitar pick.
This green pick (shaped like a stylized ram’s head) is the fabled "Pick of Destiny." Legend has it that, since the dark ages, this supernatural pick has been passed down through many hands, including Angus Young, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen.
Their quest takes them to the Rock And Roll History Museum (where the Stairway to Guitar Heaven is just brilliant) and to a totally leftfield and unnecessary sequence about a shroom encounter with Sasquatch. The movie also contains the origin of the band’s name, the story behind the Tenacious D hit song “Tribute,” cameos by Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller and a high-stakes rock-off with Satan himself (played to the hilt by an unrecognizable Dave Grohl, reprising his “Tribute” music video role). Oh, and look out for hot and tasty blonde Melissa-Anne Davenport in Kyle’s groupie sequence. That girl’s going to be a star one day.
A San Francisco Chronicle critic said it best when he wrote: “The finished product is. . .comic gold for anyone who is currently stoned, has been stoned in the past or spends a lot of time around stoned people.”
Quite true. There’s a sequence at the back of a guitar store where Ben Stiller stops in his narrative abut the Pick and exclaims, in a cross between mockery and seriousness, “Satanus. That’s Latin for Satan!” That just cracked me up. I don’t know why. But the non-linearity of the jokes is pure stoner comedy and just thinking about it still gets me smiling. I mean, this harks back to watching Chuck Norris videos in a state of total bakedness. Recalling that lofty sensation in a movie theater with nary anything organic in my veins is genius in my book. It makes me want to shout: “Long live the D!” while flashing devil horns.
The brilliant parts actually make you forgive the plodding, mediocre ones. Thank you, director Liam Lynch. But as rocking as the movie is, I’m sure the second Tenacious D album will be so much better. Or is the soundtrack actually the second album? Hmmm. Well, just go see it. If you don’t enjoy yourself you’ll at least go home with a new set of pop culture references.
PARENTAL ADVISORY: Please be warned that this movie contains profanity (probably nothing the kids haven’t heard before, though), drug use, sexual humor, comic violence, and even more toking. Just a friendly reminder.
TRIVIA FROM IMDB.COM ABOUT “POD” (Warning: Spoilers!):
1) The conversation JB and KG have at the end of film on how they have forgotten the song that defeated the devil is a reference to the song "Tribute" from Tenacious D's debut album.
2) When KG and JB go to the open mic night for the first time Neil Hamburger is being escorted offstage. He is their opening act for their current tour, which features music from the soundtrack.
Courtesy of the good people at SONY-BMG Music Entertainment Phils, and Magic 89.9 a bunch of friends and I (with significant others in tow) went to the premier of Tenacious D in “The Pick of Destiny” a few weeks ago.
Hampered only by a bunch of mall zombies, who thought the thing was a free for all, we went in with high spirits. After all, like the marketing tag announced, this was only: “the greatest motion picture of all time”!
While not exactly a fan of Jack Black as an actor (way too over the top and still mining the dregs of old SNL sketches) I loved his work in Tenacious D – a real band starring him and fellow SNL alum Kyle Gass.
This one does not disappoint from the get go, what with an intro that lampooned those old THX sound announcements with "THC: The Audience Is Baking." That’s tetrahydrocannabinol for the square readers. At the very least you know this is going to be a stoner movie par excellence, without pretension or guilt and with as much comic exaggeration as can be mustered. But let me tell you about the story first.
The Pick of Destiny takes us to the origins of Tenacious D, starting with the childhood of Jack Black as he realizes that living in a home with extremely religious parents (with Meatloaf as father) isn’t exactly the best thing for his music. All this unfolds in musical, rock opera fashion.
On a particularly inspired scene, after his dad has just given him a spanking and ripped most of his posters off the wall, JB prays to a Sabbath-era poster of Ronnie James Dio and Dio – bless his metal fantasy curls – actually answers like some (un)holy messenger. Whoa.
So it’s off to LA for JB. At Venice Beach JB meets up fortuitously with Klye Gass as a street side guitarist whose skills blow his mind. It is at this point that we must turn vague, lest we reveal too many comic spoilers. As they struggle to make it JB and KG meet less than expected audience response and their trek to greatness leads them to a quest for a legendary, magical guitar pick.
This green pick (shaped like a stylized ram’s head) is the fabled "Pick of Destiny." Legend has it that, since the dark ages, this supernatural pick has been passed down through many hands, including Angus Young, Jimmy Page and Eddie Van Halen.
Their quest takes them to the Rock And Roll History Museum (where the Stairway to Guitar Heaven is just brilliant) and to a totally leftfield and unnecessary sequence about a shroom encounter with Sasquatch. The movie also contains the origin of the band’s name, the story behind the Tenacious D hit song “Tribute,” cameos by Tim Robbins and Ben Stiller and a high-stakes rock-off with Satan himself (played to the hilt by an unrecognizable Dave Grohl, reprising his “Tribute” music video role). Oh, and look out for hot and tasty blonde Melissa-Anne Davenport in Kyle’s groupie sequence. That girl’s going to be a star one day.
A San Francisco Chronicle critic said it best when he wrote: “The finished product is. . .comic gold for anyone who is currently stoned, has been stoned in the past or spends a lot of time around stoned people.”
Quite true. There’s a sequence at the back of a guitar store where Ben Stiller stops in his narrative abut the Pick and exclaims, in a cross between mockery and seriousness, “Satanus. That’s Latin for Satan!” That just cracked me up. I don’t know why. But the non-linearity of the jokes is pure stoner comedy and just thinking about it still gets me smiling. I mean, this harks back to watching Chuck Norris videos in a state of total bakedness. Recalling that lofty sensation in a movie theater with nary anything organic in my veins is genius in my book. It makes me want to shout: “Long live the D!” while flashing devil horns.
The brilliant parts actually make you forgive the plodding, mediocre ones. Thank you, director Liam Lynch. But as rocking as the movie is, I’m sure the second Tenacious D album will be so much better. Or is the soundtrack actually the second album? Hmmm. Well, just go see it. If you don’t enjoy yourself you’ll at least go home with a new set of pop culture references.
PARENTAL ADVISORY: Please be warned that this movie contains profanity (probably nothing the kids haven’t heard before, though), drug use, sexual humor, comic violence, and even more toking. Just a friendly reminder.
TRIVIA FROM IMDB.COM ABOUT “POD” (Warning: Spoilers!):
1) The conversation JB and KG have at the end of film on how they have forgotten the song that defeated the devil is a reference to the song "Tribute" from Tenacious D's debut album.
2) When KG and JB go to the open mic night for the first time Neil Hamburger is being escorted offstage. He is their opening act for their current tour, which features music from the soundtrack.
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