(Credits: Far Out / Album Cover / HBO)
Sat 31 January 2026 22:00, UK
As we all know, there are no definitives in art; there are no real quantitative leaderboards by which greatness is measured, and so, we don’t truly know what the greatest song of all time is.
It could be ‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys or maybe even Bob Dylan’s ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, or, if you believe the immortal words of Tenacious D, it could be the lost song they honour in their track ‘Tribute’.
In this semi-satirical rock song, the comedy rock duo brazenly sing, “This is not the greatest song in the world, no / This is just a tribute / Couldn’t remember the greatest song in the world, no/ No, this is a tribute, oh / To the greatest song in the world, alright”.
For a band who straddle the line between satire and seriousness, the idea of writing the self-professed best song ever was a golden opportunity that couldn’t be missed. Between them, Jack Black and Kyle Gass possess the sort of musical ability to create a song that, in flickers, will have you banging your head and letting out an exhale and wondering if this is the best guitar lick you’ve ever heard.
But similarly, there is a comedic timing between them that punctures the bubble of misguided excitement that stirs when listening to their music. Now, 25 years after its release, the song has rather ironically become their biggest hit and stands as the anthem for a band representing a generation of rock fans who worship the expanse of classic rock.
Tenacious D performing at Rock am Ring, Nürburg, Germany, 2023. (Credits: Far Out / Sven Mandel)
“We had the idea late at night listening to Metallica in Jack’s car,” Gass told Guitarings in 2011, “He said, ‘Dude, check this song out, it’s the greatest song in the world’. Which is every Metallica song, because they’re such an epic band. I said, ‘I think we should write the best song in the world’, and Jack said, ‘You can’t do that, you can’t just write the greatest song in the world!’”
It’s surprising, given Black’s role of hype-man in the band, that he was the one cautious about writing perhaps the best song in the world, but he quickly pivoted and saw the comedic opportunity that exists within the concept.
“There’s just something very funny about that to me,” Black explained to Kerrang! in 2021, “The idea of ‘the greatest song’ was so absurd that it’s sort of in line with my obsession with the limits of universal laws. These absolutes and how absurd they all are.”
But in the spirit of making something worthy of the title, Gass recalled that the duo stayed up for “literally for the next three days crafting the song”. “At the time, there were parts of ‘Stairway to Heaven’ in it,” he added, “It was this long, crazy epic jam. Once we finished with it, we knew we had something special”.
Despite its overtly satirical nature, ‘Tribute’ achieved something monumental for the band. It may not have become the greatest song in the world as they had hoped, but it elevated them above the role of class clowns somewhat. While still tongue-in-cheek and appropriate for their comedic style, ‘Tribute’ gave them a hit that crowds can loudly sing back at them, and for a brief moment, make them feel like a true rock band.
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