“Tenacious D in: The Pick of Destiny” movie starts in the religious Jack Black household headed by his father, played by Meat Loaf. A young Jack comes in and rocks the dinner table with a vengeance, causing his mother to pray and his dad to chase him into his rock poster filled room. Meat Loaf comes in to sing against the power of rock, and to tear down the young Jack’s posters of The Who and AC/DC. But as he slams the door, young Jack asks his poster of Dio for guidance. In a great cameo, the poster comes to life and Dio points Jack towards Hollywood to conquer the streets with his guitar.
It’s in Venice, that the duo of Black and Gass first meet. Kyle Gass is rocking the boardwalk (barely) and Jack becomes an instant follower. Becoming Jack’s Mr. Miyagi of rock, Gass sets him through tasks in order to learn what it means to be a part of the Kyle Gass Project. His rock boot camp is great, including a faux concert in front of angry faces drawn on paper plates and beer bottles flying from the audience on strings. As it turns out, Gass needs Black as much as Black needs him, and they form Tenacious D.
Looking at pictures of guitar gods such as Eric Clapton, Angus Young, Josh Homme and Eddie Van Halen, the boys notice that each player is using the same pick, featuring a demented carved devil’s head. A trip to Guitar Center provides them the history of the pick, as told by an aging rock burnout in a cameo by Ben Stiller. The rest of the movie becomes a quest for the pick. Through sorority houses, more celebrity cameos, mushroom trips, a car chase and a break-in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Black and Gass quest for the pick to become rock gods.
