Musical style, influences and legacy Tenacious D has been described as acoustic rock, comedy rock, and heavy metal, with the majority of their songs played on acoustic guitars, and rely heavily on power chords. Satire and comedy are a major aspect of Tenacious D's lyrical content. Gass said of their approach: "I'd love to do the straight music thing, but that's kind of against our mission, which is to rebel against the serious singer-songwriter mentality." Their songs evoke heavy metal clichés of bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. In particular, the song "Dio" pokes fun at the idea of a torch being passed. Songs like "Friendship" parody the lack of real friendship, as well as point out the [bromance] traits in rock groups with the lyric "As long as there's a record deal, we'll always be friends". Their short song structures have been described as punk rock-inspired. Tenacious D also employs the technique of deliberate backmasking on "Karate", a technique employed by other metal bands like Slayer, who recorded a message in Hell Awaits. Black has said that the first song he enjoyed was ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me". His style was distinctly shaped by "big dinosaurs of rock" such as The Who and Led Zeppelin. In addition, Gass lists his influences as being Tom Waits and Tony Robbins. The band claimed that the inspiration for the song "Tribute" came after Black played Metallica's "One" for Gass, describing it as "the best song in the world", leading to an attempt to write an even better song, themselves. Gass has described Tenacious D's comic assertion that they are the best band as being "ridiculous because it's a matter of opinion". Black characterizes Tenacious D's comic nature as an antidote to "the masculinity of rock", adding "There's also something funny about the macho-ness of rock. Like the bands that are the fucking hardest rocking are like, 'We'll fucking kick your ass, dude... with our rock.'" Russell Brand, All Shall Perish, The Lonely Island, and Kanye West have in turn been influenced by the work of Tenacious D. Appearances Film and television Black and Gass first performed together in Bio-Dome (1996), followed by The Cable Guy (1996), Bongwater (1997), Cradle Will Rock (1999), Saving Silverman (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), and Year One (2009). Black has starred in a number of films himself, and he has provided voices for animated films. In