The D reign on the big screen

Rating: 9/10 (14 February 2007)

For the best part of a decade, Tenacious D, comprising of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, have been rocking out fans worldwide with their unique blend of acoustic melodies, rock, comedy and metal. To most, they are best known for "Tribute", their tribute to the greatest song in the world (which some believed was "Stairway to Heaven"). Now, following a TV show, two albums, and a DVD, comes "Tenacious D in: the Pick of Destiny". Black (also known as JB or Jables) and Gass (KG, Kage, Rage, or Rage Kage) play themselves in this fictionalised account of the origin of "the D". As expected, the film includes a dozen songs which help narrate the movie, including: Kickapoo, Classico, Baby, History, Master Exploder, Papagenu (he's my sassafras), Dude (I totally miss you), Break in-city (storm the gates), Car Chase City, Beelzeboss (the final showdown), POD, The Metal.
It also boasts plenty of guest starts, both singing (Meatloaf, Ronnie James Dio, Dave Grohl) and non-singing (Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins). The movie starts with a young Black, tied down by his conservative Christian father (Meatloaf), and dreaming of becoming a rock star. Through the advice of Dio, who comes to life in a poster during the performance of "Kickapoo". After running away to California (and growing up very quickly), Black meet Gass, who is busking at Venice Beach. Mesmirised by his guitar playing ability, Black tries to get in Gass' band, but is rebuffed. It's only when Black is later attacked by a group of "A Clockwork Orange"-style thugs, that Gass offers his friendship, and a place to crash. From there, Black begins his training under Gass (including mastering the power slide and the cock push up), and with KG's rent payments from his parents due to be cut off, aim to win the open mic night at their local bar. When their performance of "History" doesn't go down as well as they thought, they focus on writing a masterpiece. Struggling to find the perfect song, Black, flicking through Gass' old Rolling Stone magazines, discovers that all of the best guitar players use the same pick. As they try to find the pick in a music store, they discover the origin of the pick through the store's owner (Stiller). Known as the pick of destiny, it was originally one of Satan's teeth, before being carved into the green, ram-shaped pick, now held in the Rock 'n' Roll History Museum. From there, Jables and Kage aim to break into the museum, steal the pick, and become rock gods (as dreamt by Black, whose performance of "Master Exploder", complete with all the cock-rock trimmings, is so powerful is causes one guy's head to explode). While Gass' predilection for ladies causes the band to split (Black: What's it going to be Kyle? Tits, or destiny? Gass: Tits.), they eventually reunite, steal the pick, but, just as they're about to get ready for open mic night, they confront Satan (Grohl) and engage in a rock-off. If the devil wins, KG will go back to hell and becomes Satan's bitch, and if the D win, Satan must pay their rent.
Fans of the D will love the references to their first album (including the appearance of Lee, the band's only groupie, Gass telling Black to wake up at the crack of noon to start training {which was featured in "Rock your Socks"}, cock push-ups, and referring to their rock-off with Satan as the greatest song in the world). For non-fans, the level of humour is similar to that of "South Park", "Borat" and "American Pie", focusing on broad, scatological laughs. In fact, the film is bookended with fart gags by Gass.
Overall, "The Pick of Destiny" is, for those who are familiar with the D and their level of humour, an awesome movie, with some genuinely good songs, covering a variety of genres. For people new to the D, it's still worth a look.