In a new interview, Tenacious D‘s Jack Black and Kyle Gass have put some spotlight on their longtime friendship with Dave Grohl, and the cultural impact of Nirvana.
Speaking with Heavy Consequence, the duo mused on the anniversaries of two significant albums to them: their own self-titled debut (celebrating 20 years this year) and Nirvana’s Nevermind, which celebrated its 30th anniversary at the same time.
Black himself remembered the influence of Nirvana on him as a music fan and musician, saying, “Nirvana simultaneously created a genre and destroyed a genre with one powerful album.”
Of course, Tenacious D have a more tangible link to Nirvana, being their relationship with Dave Grohl – a longtime collaborator and friend. First connecting at a gig in the 1990s, Tenacious D didn’t think it would be possible to get ‘the best drummer alive’ to even get in the same room as them to work on music.
“We didn’t even want to ask him to play drums for us on that first album, because it just seemed too stupid a question.” Black remembered.
“But [producers] the Dust Brothers actually convinced us, “Are you f**kin’ crazy? He said he liked you? You’re going to try to get him on the album!”
Kyle Gass added, “I’ve never gotten over it. I still can’t believe that we got him on our very first record, and that he rocked on all our songs. … And then he would play on all the rest of [our] albums, so it’s almost surreal. It’s hard to process.”
Check out the interview below.
To mark the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Tenacious D have released the ’20th Anniversary Super Power Party Pack’, featuring a reissue of the Tribute EP, a cassette version of Tenacious D’s 1995 demo, as well as a signed flyer – a replica of a 1995 Tenacious D show. If it’s up your alley, head on over to the Tenacious D website.
