Its a special time of year indeed....Tenacious D are back...
Yet I don't think everyone is excited about it as I am...why?
Read on!
Well, to be honest NO-ONE in the history of the world could be as excited about them as I am.......I've only been following them since 2001 when I first heard the (HBO Acoustic, natch) version of Tribute in my local club and thought it was funny AND cool.....then I downloaded about ten of their HBO songs (and a lot that turned out wasn't them at all...damn you Kazaa!!) thought "these guys ROCK...AND they're funny...this could be my perfect best band ever!!" (English wasn't a skill I had back then..)
If it is true that your favourite music artists are an extension of your personality (just YOURS that is..not mine :p ) then of course Tenacious D sum me up quite handily.....they love to rock, they love their comedy....they don't look like a traditional rock lover but they damn sure are.....they're a bit tubby...oh., alright..the comparision ends there but you get the point...RIGHT?
Soo....then came their album....great, fantastic....AMAZING....their acoustic songs all rocked up with a full on band....AND DAVE GHROL was involved...perfect, couldn't be better! (Minor criticism, you can't hear enough of Kyle's excellent guitar-age but oh well...he was there.)
Then they went into hibernation a bit...Jack had acting to do, Kyle had...err.....erm.....food to eat by the look of it (though he has a side project band, Trainwreck (check out his T-shirts in the movie) but they've never wanted to bother with the UK so meh...)
During the hibernation time,...I came to uni. People somehow, don't ask me how, but kind of got wind that I maybe perhaps liked them a bit......well, my Mum managed to blab that on the first moving in day when she must've clocked the posters and T-shirts I had and tried to show she knew me by saying "Tenacious D...that's what he likes he does...oh yes" to everyone she could see.....
But the funny thing was....when people heard "Tenacious D" in response to the "whats your favourite band" question....they laughed.
Ok, Tenacious D has comedy at its heart...but still, I'm not sure it was the good kind of laughter.
The point of this blog is to ask: Why is that? WHY are they looked down upon by musical types....why aren't they "allowed" to be a favourite band...
And..I think I know the answer......its the comedy.
Y'see, in the rockin' world, you're not a "proper" artist unless you're singing about how many drugs you've taken....how many prostitutes you've had slash killed, how fricking hard being on the road and being a rock star is or how cool you are and how members of the opposite sex want to bang you/how you banged them. Thats worthwhile, deep, meaningful stuff apprantley.
If you write songs largely about the same sort of stuff but with an ironic twist for the purposes of humour, suddenly you're not quite as respected as the others. You're a novelty. You're a niche....but you're not real rock....(Maybe Electric Six fall into this cata-ma-gory too...maybe thats why I like them too...who knows...)
The annoying thing is I think there's a dissertation question in all of this.
"Why does the rock music community look down on artists with a comedic emphasis such as Tenacious D or Electric Six and view such artists as novelty acts?"
As my supervisor would say "Needs some work but interesting idea," and damn it, I think it is.....it would've been fun to explore that more and I'd be damn fascinated at the results turned up....but its FAR too late now.....(Time to build a time machine first to get me back to May when we submitted our questions....)
Oh well, always wise AFTER the event me......but something to think about potentia-ma-lly....
This is one big distraction...I was going to tell you that the greatest band on earth are releasing their second album on Monday and then the film is out previewing next Friday with the official release the Friday after that (damn you James Bond making me wait an extra week)
I'm trying to organise a giant meet up film viewage type situation and I want YOU!, yes YOU! To be there for MY greatest film ever.....keep an eye on your bulliten boxes, e-mail inboxes or heck mobile phone texts inboxes if I think you're worth the money...it's going to be great!!
Yet I don't think everyone is excited about it as I am...why?
Read on!
Well, to be honest NO-ONE in the history of the world could be as excited about them as I am.......I've only been following them since 2001 when I first heard the (HBO Acoustic, natch) version of Tribute in my local club and thought it was funny AND cool.....then I downloaded about ten of their HBO songs (and a lot that turned out wasn't them at all...damn you Kazaa!!) thought "these guys ROCK...AND they're funny...this could be my perfect best band ever!!" (English wasn't a skill I had back then..)
If it is true that your favourite music artists are an extension of your personality (just YOURS that is..not mine :p ) then of course Tenacious D sum me up quite handily.....they love to rock, they love their comedy....they don't look like a traditional rock lover but they damn sure are.....they're a bit tubby...oh., alright..the comparision ends there but you get the point...RIGHT?
Soo....then came their album....great, fantastic....AMAZING....their acoustic songs all rocked up with a full on band....AND DAVE GHROL was involved...perfect, couldn't be better! (Minor criticism, you can't hear enough of Kyle's excellent guitar-age but oh well...he was there.)
Then they went into hibernation a bit...Jack had acting to do, Kyle had...err.....erm.....food to eat by the look of it (though he has a side project band, Trainwreck (check out his T-shirts in the movie) but they've never wanted to bother with the UK so meh...)
During the hibernation time,...I came to uni. People somehow, don't ask me how, but kind of got wind that I maybe perhaps liked them a bit......well, my Mum managed to blab that on the first moving in day when she must've clocked the posters and T-shirts I had and tried to show she knew me by saying "Tenacious D...that's what he likes he does...oh yes" to everyone she could see.....
But the funny thing was....when people heard "Tenacious D" in response to the "whats your favourite band" question....they laughed.
Ok, Tenacious D has comedy at its heart...but still, I'm not sure it was the good kind of laughter.
The point of this blog is to ask: Why is that? WHY are they looked down upon by musical types....why aren't they "allowed" to be a favourite band...
And..I think I know the answer......its the comedy.
Y'see, in the rockin' world, you're not a "proper" artist unless you're singing about how many drugs you've taken....how many prostitutes you've had slash killed, how fricking hard being on the road and being a rock star is or how cool you are and how members of the opposite sex want to bang you/how you banged them. Thats worthwhile, deep, meaningful stuff apprantley.
If you write songs largely about the same sort of stuff but with an ironic twist for the purposes of humour, suddenly you're not quite as respected as the others. You're a novelty. You're a niche....but you're not real rock....(Maybe Electric Six fall into this cata-ma-gory too...maybe thats why I like them too...who knows...)
The annoying thing is I think there's a dissertation question in all of this.
"Why does the rock music community look down on artists with a comedic emphasis such as Tenacious D or Electric Six and view such artists as novelty acts?"
As my supervisor would say "Needs some work but interesting idea," and damn it, I think it is.....it would've been fun to explore that more and I'd be damn fascinated at the results turned up....but its FAR too late now.....(Time to build a time machine first to get me back to May when we submitted our questions....)
Oh well, always wise AFTER the event me......but something to think about potentia-ma-lly....
This is one big distraction...I was going to tell you that the greatest band on earth are releasing their second album on Monday and then the film is out previewing next Friday with the official release the Friday after that (damn you James Bond making me wait an extra week)
I'm trying to organise a giant meet up film viewage type situation and I want YOU!, yes YOU! To be there for MY greatest film ever.....keep an eye on your bulliten boxes, e-mail inboxes or heck mobile phone texts inboxes if I think you're worth the money...it's going to be great!!