John Spiker

Their cover of "The Last in Line" won a Grammy for best heavy metal performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.

Jack Black and Kyle Gass initially met in Los Angeles in 1986 at their teacher's house, both members of The Actors' Gang theater troupe.

Black admits that, due to animosity, he and Gass didn't initially see eye-to-eye, as Gass was the main musician for the Actor's Gang and "felt threatened by Black".

The Actor's Gang travelled to Edinburgh, Scotland, for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1989.

They were performing Tim Robbins' and Adam Simon's play Carnage.

The two became friends during the trip, notably climbing Arthur's Seat on a day off.

Following the trip, Black and Gass would bond over music.

Black states he didn't learn guitar until he was "around twenty-three years old", so would regularly visit Gass's Cochran Avenue studio apartment, in the deal that Gass would teach Black to play guitar in return for food, mainly from fast-food chain Jack in the Box.

Black has comically stated that their go-to order was two tacos for a dollar, "as it was cheap".

"If [we] wanted to splurge, [we] would go with Monster Tacos, which included a little extra lettuce and salsa".

The two would work together professionally at The Actor's Gang and would collaborate in productions.

The band also befriended former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, which began a working relationship between Foo Fighters and Tenacious D. Towards the end of the 1990s, the duo supported large rock acts such as Weezer, Pearl Jam, Tool, and Beck.

It took a few years after meeting in the early 1990s for the two to begin writing music of their own.

Black and Gass eventually wrote their first song after Black had been dumped by a girlfriend called Melissa, a non-comedic song.

The two have since admitted to feeling embarrassed about the song, though they occasionally sing it during interviews when telling their story.

Their second song came about when Black was listening to the Metallica song "One" and told Gass that it was "the best song in the world".

Gass told Black that they couldn't write the best song in the world, but Black put a twist on it and said they could "write a tribute".

Gass played an A-minor chord on his guitar at the apartment and the two spent three full days crafting the song.

When it was done, Gass mentioned that they "knew they had something".

The song made the duo realize their comedic potential.

The two would initially call themselves "Responsive Chord" for a brief period of time while rehearsing the comedy act.

The band's first ever on-stage appearance was at Highland Grounds in Los Angeles, a coffee shop, where they performed as The Axe Lords Featuring Gorgazon's Mischief, though the production was technically part of an Actor's Gang variety event. Notably in the audience was Harry Shearer, best known for his role as Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap and as the voice of Principal Skinner on The Simpsons.

Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994.

It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time.

The duo's name is derived from "tenacious defense", a phrase used by NBA basketball sportscasters Walt Frazier and Marv Albert.

In 2000, they signed with Epic Records and the year after they released Tenacious D, their debut album featuring a full band, including Grohl on the drums.

Their second single, "Tribute", has achieved cult status since its release, contributing to their popularity in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Ireland and Australia.

Prior to the release of Tenacious D's 2001 debut album Tenacious D, the duo had a three-episode TV series released on HBO, with the episodes broadcasting between 1997 and 2000.

This series came about after the band had met David Cross on the Los Angeles music scene—and Black featuring in episodes of Mr. Show with Bob and David.

In 2003, the band released The Complete Master Works, their first live concert DVD, which achieved gold and platinum status by the RIAA.

In November 2006, they starred in their own film, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny, released by New Line Cinema, with Epic Records releasing the soundtrack as their second album, The Pick of Destiny. The film cost $20 million to produce, though only grossed $13.9 million at the box office and suffered mixed reviews from critics.

Despite the poor reception of the actual film, the band would near sell-out arenas on its respective tour, including Madison Square Garden in New York.

Following several years of sporadic festival dates and special appearances, the band released their third album Rize of the Fenix on May 15, 2012, through Columbia Records, with the album making light of The Pick of Destiny's commercial failure.

In 2013, the band hosted the comedy music festival Festival Supreme in Los Angeles, which would go on to host three more editions.

In 2014, the band were invited to feature on Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life, a compilation album where various artists cover Ronnie James Dio songs to raise funds for cancer.

Following teases from Black and Gass regarding a second film, in late 2018, the band began independently releasing an animatic hand-drawn web series titled, Tenacious D in Post-Apocalypto, each of the six episodes uploading exclusively to YouTube every week starting September 28.

Columbia Records released the album Post-Apocalypto on November 2, 2018, just after the release of the sixth episode.

Tenacious D's music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar-playing abilities.

Critics have described their fusion of vulgar absurdist comedy with rock music as "mock rock".

Their songs discuss the duo's purported musical and sexual prowess, as well as their friendship and cannabis usage, in a style that music critics have compared with the storyteller-style lyrics of rock opera.