Dave Grohl has worked on a lot of music over the years, from Foo Fighters to Nirvana to… Tenacious D.
The legendary rocker played rhythm guitar and drums on the studio version of Tenacious D’s classic 2001 hit “Tribute”, and even made an appearance in the accompanying music video as a demon hungry for Jack Black and Kyle Gass’s souls.
During the Foos’ concert in Denver, Colorado, this weekend, Grohl played a bit of “Tribute” for a brief moment, although it’s unclear if it was an intentional tribute (pun very much intended) to Black and Gass or just some casual guitar noodling (as per Rolling Stone).
“You thought I was gonna play a Tenacious D song, didn’t ya?” Grohl told the crowd as he strummed the song, with Rami Jaffee joining in on the fun with a bit of accordion action. Grohl then proceeded to run through the opening verse of the Tenacious D song, but the lyrics proved trickier.
“I don’t actually know that song!” Grohl said in his defence. “I only played drums!”
Regardless of its intentionality, Grohl’s small acknowledgement of Tenacious D comes at a good time for the comedy-rock duo, who endured a very rough time of things last month.
Following a poor-taste joke about former US president Donald Trump during their Sydney concert, Black and Gass’s subsequent tour dates were quickly scrapped; Black released a statement saying that the band’s future creative plans were “on hold”; Gass was dropped by his agent; Gass posted and then deleted an apology on social media; and the legend of Tenacious D was seemingly no more.
“The line I improvised Sunday night in Sydney was highly inappropriate, dangerous and a terrible mistake. I don’t condone violence in any kind, in any form, against anyone. What happened [the shooting] was a tragedy, and I’m incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgement,” Gass said in his apology.
This year marks 30 years since Tenacious D first formed — and with uncertainty surrounding the future of the band, Tone Deaf compiled a timeline of the rise (and fall) of “The D”, as they are affectionately known.
