Tenacious D – Rize of the Fenix
“And I am so sick of showing up at high schools and they think we’re the damn janitors!”
[Video][Website]
[3.29]
Jer Fairall: The age at which young boys (girls too, but really it’s mostly boys) think that the word “fuck” is innately hilarious and awesome and the age at which it is believed that the only REAL music is made out of BIG RAWK RIFFS and howly vocals intersect so neatly that I totally get why Tenacious D is still a thing. But not only am I well past that age, Jack Black and Kyle Gass are so way past it that it gives their demographic-courting a feeling of inappropriate creepiness, in addition to being joke that’s as smug, insular and unfunny as anything off a Lonely Island record. And unlike Lonely Island, the D don’t get that saying “fuck” is only funny when you get Michael Bolton to do it.
[3]
Anthony Easton: Are we supposed to review this as a joke? Because it’s not very funny, and I am pretty convinced that Black is unironically self-aggrandizing. I have seen people with D tattoos. Or are we supposed to review this as a “genuine” metal song? Because it’s really not that aggressive and not that great as a metal song.
[3]
Alfred Soto: Before the Van Halen comeback I would have bumped this up a notch — better Jack Black’s imitation of an arena belter than Diamond Dave tripping over his AARP contract on his way to the mic stand. And I really think Black could do it without acting like Phil Collins did in those Genesis videos in which he wore a mustache designed to show that he was the most hilarious guy in show biz.
[4]
Brad Shoup: For an entertainer, cracking on your failures isn’t a good look unless your roast ghostwriter’s worth a shit. It’s an especially puzzling tack for the D, who rode the tubby-guys-with-Manowar-hearts thing to decent results in the aughts. Perhaps Jack and Kage understand that cock-rock moves aren’t extended much credit these days, even as comedy fodder, so the larfs must come elsewhere. It’s too bad; their stitching’s as good as ever.
[4]
Jonathan Bogart: I can’t hate anything that nails the New British Wave of Heavy Metal, and then the Old British Wave of Heavy Metal, so perfectly. Sure, Black’s self-referential lyrics and self-indulgent vocals (or is it the other way round?) are staggeringly terrible, but I’ll take it over mystical bullshit or scare-your-parents philosophizing.
[6]
Iain Mew: Disowning the last flop album and talking up the new one (hopefully alongside “return to form!”/”best album since…” reviews) is now a time-honoured rock strategy, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it addressed in song before. Sadly, the first line about this turns out to be the highlight of the song. I guess with the talk of needing a hit, the overall sense of scrabbling around desperately for any sound or hook that might work could neatly be excused as meta, too.
[2]
Katherine St Asaph: Manoweren’t.
[1]