Tenacious D Releases “Don’t Blow It Kage” Quarantine Video

Tenacious D, the irreverent musical act made up of Jack Black and Kyle Gass, have released a new song — “Don’t Blow it Kage” — complete with a video that was filmed while in home lockdown as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. The video, which you can see above, was produced by Jack White; the song itself has been something Tenacious D has been kicking around with White (who himself is featured prominently in the song’s lyrics and the music video) since 2019. This verison is available for purchase/streaming on digital music platforms. No word on whether this will be part of a larger album or whether more releases from Tenacious D are imminent.

Tenacious D was founded by Black and Gass in 1994, who were members of The Actors’ Gang theater company at the time. According to prior interviews, the name is derived from “tenacious defense,’ a phrase used by NBA commentator Marv Albert.

First really going public with a three-episode TV series on HBO, the duo would relese their first album in 2001. They also appeared on Mr. Show With Bob and David and opened for bands like Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Tool, and Beck. While their commercial releases often feature a full band, the duo are Tenacious D in the same way the John Flansburgh and John Linnell are the band They Might Be Giants, even when they have a backing band made up of regular collaborators.

Tenacious D is probably best known for “Tribute,” their first single off the self-titled debut album, which chronicles the band members’ encounter with a demon who demands the duo play “the best song in the world” or have their souls eaten. Having nothing to lose from trying, they play “the first thing that came to [their] heads”, which “just so happened to be the best song in the world.” The song has long been associated with Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” leading some fans to assume that “Tribute” is calling “Stairway” the greatest song in the world, although the lyrics muddy those waters by claiming that the song they are playing now didn’t sound anything like the Greatest Song in the World.

In 1991, shortly before Tenacious D was founded, Black appeared in Bob Roberts, a movie written, directed by, and starring Tim Robbins, in which Robbins plays a folk singer. Robbins, too, would later release an album of original songs, and so it seems the pair (who also collaborated on Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock) have quite a lot to talk about.

In 2006, New Line Cinema released Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, which was a box office dud but has a following among the band’s fans.