The Pick of Destiny

Untitled

The Pick of Destiny is a soundtrack album by the American rock band Tenacious D for the movie Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny. It was released on November 14, 2006 by Epic Records, and debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200.

The Pick Of Destiny is the D's first studio release in five years, following up their 2001 self-titled debut, Tenacious D. The album was produced by the Dust Brothers' John King and features appearances by Meat Loaf, Ronnie James Dio, John C. Reilly, and Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters).

Details

In the absence of original comedy skits, there are excerpts of dialogue from the soundtrack's accompanying film between numerous songs. Portions of The Pick of Destiny were recorded at Dave Grohl's studio. Throughout the album's 33-minute duration, the word "fuck" and its variants are used 58 times.

The album was released in two separate edits, a "clean" radio edit, featuring re-recorded vocals, and a "dirty" edit, featuring the full film versions. Both versions also feature clips from the movie, but with some dialogue re-recorded for the "clean" version. A special limited edition was released in a cardboard "old book case", which includes a digipack version of the album, a foldout poster depicting the D and Sasquatch, eight tarot cards from the film (Tenacious D, The Training, Destiny, Masterpiece, The Quest, The Divide, and Two Kings, as well as a card explaining the other cards), and a plastic replica of the Pick of Destiny. If the set was pre-ordered from the Tenacious D website, it also included a t-shirt.

During their late 2006 tour, Tenacious D played their new songs from this album as well as from their self-titled original, but due to the heavy amount of sound editing needed for the album version of Master Exploder they had to mime this song, something that Tenacious D hates to do

The first single from the album is entitled "POD", which stands for "Pick of Destiny". The single had a music video directed by Liam Lynch, who also directed the movie. There has also been a video created for the track "Classico", animated by John Kricfalusi (The Ren and Stimpy Show). His studio Spümcø did the "Fuck Her Gently" video from the band's last album, though John Kricfalusi wasn't involved.

"History", a song that originated on the band's TV show, Tenacious D, was re-recorded for this album, with additional lyrics. "The Government Totally Sucks" is the only song not to be featured in the final cut of the movie. It is, however, featured in the deleted scenes section of the DVD release.

In the last album track "The Metal", a barely noticeable laugh can be heard at 0:38, after Jack Black's line "Grunge tried to kill the metal...", and just before Black starts laughing scornfully at 0:39. Details around the recording of the album have not been confirmed, however, if the instruments and vocals for the track were recorded simultaneously (commonly referred to as "live recording"), it is possible that the unidentified laugh did "leak" through one of the microphones used during the recording. Since the line "Grunge tried to kill the metal" can be seen as an ironic reference towards drummer Dave Grohl, who made his breakthrough in legendary grunge band Nirvana, the laugh could belong to Grohl, who, while recording the drums, might have been surprised by Black's lyrics.

Also, "The Metal" is set to be featured in the upcoming game Guitar Hero III

Track listing

All songs written by Jack Black and Kyle Gass unless otherwise noted.

1. "Kickapoo" (Black, Gass, Meat Loaf, Ronnie James Dio, Liam Lynch) – 4:14
2. "Classico" – 0:58
3. "Baby" – 1:36
4. "Destiny" – 0:37
5. "History" – 1:42
6. "The Government Totally Sucks" – 1:34
7. "Master Exploder" – 2:24
8. "The Divide" – 0:22
9. "Papagenu (He's My Sassafrass)" (Black, Gass, John Spiker, John King) – 2:24
10. "Dude (I Totally Miss You)" – 2:53
11. "Break In-City (Storm The Gate!)" (Black, Gass, Lynch, King) – 1:22
12. "Car Chase City" (Black, Gass, John Konesky, John Spiker, King) – 2:42
13. "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)" (Black, Gass, Grohl, Lynch) – 5:35
14. "POD" – 2:32
15. "The Metal" (Black, Gass, Konesky, King) – 2:45

Bonus tracks

1. "Rock Your Socks" (Acoustic) – (iTunes pre-order bonus track)
2. "Training Medley" – (Digital Download available with Best Buy version, also available on "POD" single)

Credits

• Jack Black - lead vocals, Acoustic Guitar
• Kyle Gass - lead acoustic guitar, vocals
• Dave Grohl - drums, demon vocals on "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)"
• John Spiker - bass, backing vocals on "Car Chase City", clavinet on "Papagenu (He's My Sassafrass)"
• John Konesky - electric guitar
• Liam Lynch - additional guitar on "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)" and "Break In-City (Storm The Gate!)", additional bass on "Break In-City (Storm The Gate!)"
• John King - drum programming on "Papagenu (He's My Sassafrass)"
• Meat Loaf - guest vocals on "Kickapoo"
• Ronnie James Dio - guest vocals on "Kickapoo"
• Orchestral Arrangements By Andrew Gross, Recorded At Sony Scoring Stage, Engineered By Casey Stone
• Produced By: John King
• Assistant Engineers: Ed Cherney, Nick Raskulinecz, John Spiker, Brad Breeck
• Recorded At: The Dell And 606 Studio
• Mixed By: Ken Andrews
• Mastered By: Tom Baker At Precision Mastering
• Management By: Sam
• A&R: Matt Marshall
• Music Executive: Bob Bowen
• Photography By: Michael Elins
• Album Packaging Design By: Gregg Higgins/Michael Elins

External links

• Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny at Rotten Tomatoes