{"id":401735,"date":"2026-02-01T04:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401735\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T04:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T04:15:11","slug":"the-true-story-behind-tribute-by-tenacious-d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/401735\/","title":{"rendered":"The true story behind ‘Tribute’ by Tenacious D"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover \/ HBO)<\/p>\n

Sat 31 January 2026 22:00, UK <\/p>\n

As we all know, there are no definitives in art<\/a>; there are no real quantitative leaderboards by which greatness is measured, and so, we don\u2019t truly know what the greatest song of all time is. <\/p>\n

It could be \u2018God Only Knows\u2019 by The Beach Boys or maybe even Bob Dylan\u2019s \u2018Like a Rolling Stone\u2019, or, if you believe the immortal words of Tenacious D, it could be the lost song they honour in their track \u2018Tribute\u2019. <\/p>\n

In this semi-satirical rock song, the comedy rock duo brazenly sing, \u201cThis is not the greatest song in the world, no \/ This is just a tribute \/ Couldn\u2019t remember the greatest song in the world, no\/ No, this is a tribute, oh \/ To the greatest song in the world, alright\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t be missed. Between them, Jack Black<\/a> 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\u2019ve ever heard.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Tenacious<\/a>Tenacious D performing at Rock am Ring, N\u00fcrburg, Germany, 2023. (Credits: Far Out \/ Sven Mandel)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had the idea late at night listening to Metallica in Jack\u2019s car,\u201d Gass told Guitarings in 2011, \u201cHe said, \u2018Dude, check this song out, it\u2019s the greatest song in the world\u2019. Which is every Metallica song, because they\u2019re such an epic band. I said, \u2018I think we should write the best song in the world\u2019, and Jack said, \u2018You can\u2019t do that, you can\u2019t just write the greatest song in the world!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s surprising, given Black\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just something very funny about that to me,\u201d Black explained to Kerrang! in 2021, \u201cThe idea of \u2018the greatest song\u2019 was so absurd that it\u2019s sort of in line with my obsession with the limits of universal laws. These absolutes and how absurd they all are.\u201d <\/p>\n

But in the spirit of making something worthy of the title, Gass recalled that the duo stayed up for \u201cliterally for the next three days crafting the song\u201d. \u201cAt the time, there were parts of \u2018Stairway to Heaven\u2019<\/a> in it,\u201d he added, \u201cIt was this long, crazy epic jam. Once we finished with it, we knew we had something special\u201d.<\/p>\n

Despite its overtly satirical nature, \u2018Tribute\u2019 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, \u2018Tribute\u2019 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.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Album Cover \/ HBO) Sat 31 January 2026 22:00, UK As we all know,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401736,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,3340,128,145051,150153,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-401735","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-jack-black","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-tenacious-d","12":"tag-the-story-behind-the-song","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}