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An exhibition at Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture has sparked a heated conversation about the real-life use of the slang term “un-alived,” which was spotted on a MoPOP placard that says Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain “un-alived himself at 27.”
Cobain died by suicide at age 27, on April 8, 1994. The Seattle museum shared this fact on an information card about the “27 Club” (a grouping of artists who all tragically passed away at the young age of 27), patrons have reported.
But in place of “died by suicide,” MoPOP printed the internet slang “un-alived.” The Museum of Popular Culture additionally put up a placard about the social context of the term’s usage in the digital age, also noting that “the Guest Curator has chosen to utilize the term as a gesture of respect towards those who have tragically lost their lives due to mental health struggles.”
On Saturday (Aug. 10), Stereogum pointed out many on social media were likening saying the word “un-alived” in real-life discussions regarding mental health — rather than using it only to circumvent censorship from algorithms on internet platforms like TikTok — to the dystopian world of George Orwell’s 1984, despite the museum’s explanation.
Orwell wrote of “Newspeak,” a simplified, government-directed language intended to limit critical thinking, in the novel. One element of the fictional Newspeak grammar included tagging the simple prefix “un” onto words, instead of developing an expanded vocabulary.
“this is what george orwell was warning us about with 1984,” read one comment on X (formerly Twitter) posted Friday about the museum exhibit material using the word “un-alived.”
“That moment when it wasn’t the government but youtube and social media which caused newspeak from 1984 to become a real thing lmfao,” another person on X added. “And people still say that ‘these are private companies, they don’t have to allow speech they don’t want!’ Yes they do, they are the town square now.”
Meanwhile, another user on the platform offered a different perspective: “It’s MOPop who cares. Their exhibits talk in internet lingo all the time because it’s about pop culture. It’s basically a glorified collection showcase. Twitter people saw the word ‘museum’ and lost their s—.”
Meanwhile, someone else quipped, “This will help them [the museum] go viral on tiktok.”
By Sunday evening, the conversation thread had a new reply with an updated photo — one that showed the wording on the placard has apparently been changed, with “un-alived” being edited to “died by suicide.”
There’s a placard next to it that talks about the social context of “unalive” in how people talk about mental health but this is still stupid pic.twitter.com/iKA30ECUW7— ブランドン (@burandon_sama) August 9, 2024
Ray LaMontagne reaches No. 1 on Billboard’s Adult Alternative Airplay chart for a third time as “Step Into Your Power” ascends to the top of the Aug. 17-dated tally. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The singer-songwriter last ruled with “Strong Enough” for seven weeks beginning in […]
Spuds of the world unite! Everyone’s favorite devolution merchants, Devo, popped in to NPR’s Tiny Desk studio recently for a raucous four-song set for the public radio series that featured one obscure track they hadn’t performed live in more than four decades.
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With founding singer/keyboardist Mark Mothersbaugh leading the charge alongside brother and longtime guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh and original bassist Gerald Casale, the group bounded out of the gate with the bluesy, bouncing rarity “It Takes a Worried Man.” The song — inspired by the folk/roots classic “Worried Man Blues” — was originally recorded for the little-seen 1982 nuclear panic comedy Human Highway, which was directed by Neil Young, who also co-starred alongside Dean Stockwell, co-writer Dennis Hopper and Devo, who played radioactive waste garbage men in orange outfits and hard hats accented by plastic tubes that snaked down into the band member’s noses.
In addition to Mothersbaugh’s sermon-like breakdown about how everyone is just going for that “big ice cream cone in the sky,” the song featured a wiggy keyboard solo from the frontman, who ,alas, was not wearing the band’s signature yellow flower bucket hat.
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“Wasn’t that uplifting?” said Casale. “See? De-evolution isn’t depressing.” The band then dipped into 1979’s twitchy “Blockhead” from their second studio album, Duty Now For the Future. “Never tips over/ Stands up on his own/ He is a blockhead/ Thinking man full grown/ He comes well-prepared,” Mothersbaugh bellowed in the song about the titular, boring character who he also describes as a “Cube top/ Squared off/ Eight corners/ 90 degree angles/ Flat top” kind of guy.
Joking that he was looking to get spiritual, Casale then set up the buzzing, frenetic surf punk burner “Praying Hands,” which appeared on Devo’s iconic 1978 debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Shouting the lyrics through a megaphone, Mothersbaugh yelped, “You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ You got your left hand/ You got your right hand/ While the left hand diddling/ While the right hand goes to work.”
Mothersbaugh, 74, wasn’t content to just blast his hand jive from behind the desk, so he went into the audience to ask NPR staffers what their hands were doing at that very moment before dropping to his knees and putting on a sailor’s cap he’d found in the NPR closet earlier. After rummaging around in the Tiny Desk closet to find some alternate headgear for the 17-minute show, Devo ended the set with another song from their debut, the galloping, herky jerky “Come Back Jonee.” During that one, Mothersbaugh swiped through a series of other hats he pilfered from the public radio storeroom, but, alas, none of them in the shape of the band’s iconic yellow bucket chapeaus.
Devo, who celebrated 50 years of devolution last year, will play the Ohana Festival in Dana Point, CA on Sept. 24.
Watch Devo’s NPR Tiny Desk show below.
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Green Day will cap off the summer-long celebration of their Grammy-winning 2004 opus American Idiot by releasing a massive box set edition of the album this fall. The American Idiot 20th Anniversary deluxe edition is due out on Oct. 25 and will feature unreleased demos, rare b-sides, bonus songs and previously unreleased live tracks.
The limited edition super deluxe version will be available in 8-LP vinyl and 4-CD configurations, with each coming with two Blu-Ray discs, one of which features the 2015 Heart Like a Hand Grenade documentary about the recording of the album, along with a BBC: Top of the Pops “mini gig” and their Later With Jools Holland appearance. The second disc will contain the new 110-minute documentary 20 Years of American Idiot.
The collection will also be released in an 2-LP limited-edition colored vinyl edition, as well as an audiophile “one-step” version.
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You can listen to the first three tracks — an unreleased demo of “Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” the fan-favorite b-side “Favorite Son” and a live version of “Minority” — on streaming services now (see below). Both the limited-edition sets will feature the original 23-track concept album, as well as 15 previously unreleased American Idiot demos, a 15-track 2004 concert recorded at Irving Plaza in New York and nine previously unreleased live recordings from the era, including a take on Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” as well as 14 songs previously available only as b-sides and bonus tracks.
The set commemorates the album that became the groups first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on its way to rocking the chart for more than 100 weeks. It will also feature new liner notes from producer Rob Cavallo and Rolling Stone writer David Fricke and a 48-page book, enamel pin set, sticker sheet and cloth patch; the vinyl version has a 36-page book, a large Green Day flag and the signature American Idiot red tie.
To date, the album featuring such landmark songs as “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Holiday,” “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Jesus of Suburbia” has sold more than 23 million copies, spawned a Broadway musical of the same name and earned spots on many “best of” lists.
Green Day are performing the album in its entirety — along with their breakthrough major label disc Dookie — on their Saviors world tour, which plays Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Friday night (August 9).
Listen to the first three tracks and see the full track list (slide 2) below.
With its 30-show Dead Forever residency at Las Vegas’ Sphere, Dead & Company has written another entry in the Grateful Dead’s 60-year legacy of live music reinvention. Beginning in late May, the band – comprised of founding Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart, alongside John Mayer, Oteil Burbridge, Jeff Chimenti and Jay Lane – has delivered a series of three-night runs, each without song repeats and featuring a rotating carousel of visuals ranging from diaristic photo collages to abstract technicolor animations.
For Dead Forever, which wraps this weekend with three shows Aug. 8-10, the jam band turned to Treatment Studio, the agency that has handled creative for Dead & Company and Mayer solo tours alike. Co-founded by Willie Williams and Sam Pattinson in 2009, Treatment had another critical qualification: It also spearheaded U2:UV Achtung Baby Live, the 40-date residency that opened the venue last fall.
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“It is very sweet how so many of the principles of the U2 show have become kind of boilerplate for all shows in there, because that’s what works,” says Williams, who as U2’s creative director has been responsible for the band’s tours dating back to the ’80s, including its groundbreaking “Zoo TV” outing in the early ’90s. (In fact, Treatment’s connection to Sphere predates even U2’s residency: When the venue was still just a concept, the agency created a promotional video about it to circulate among touring professionals, and Treatment consulted about how touring shows might adapt themselves for Sphere.)
But even given its familiarity with the cutting-edge venue and rapport with the third artist to perform there (Treatment wasn’t involved in April’s four-show Phish run between U2 and Dead & Company), Dead Forever still proved daunting. “They play different versions of songs, different durations, the setlist is always different, and they wanted the visual aspect of the show to vary as well,” says Pattinson, who served as Dead Forever creative director alongside Mayer. Deadheads, he adds, will see multiple shows, so the band “wanted to see variety between the three, so there was a new offering every night.”
Dead & Company at Sphere
Chloe Weir
Treatment began ideating Dead Forever with Dead & Company last November, and according to Pattinson, Mayer took the creative reins. “The whole concept came from John,” he explains of the show, which begins and ends at the Dead’s late-’60s home on 710 Ashbury Street in San Francisco and, in between, transports audiences to distant psychedelic realms as well as historic venues from the band’s past. “The show you see today is the show that he outlined in November; it was a very strong concept.”
Such a strong concept, it turns out, that Dead Forever was still adding to its robust stable of visuals –which already included core pieces like the San Francisco liftoff and touchdown, created by famed Bay Area agency Industrial Light & Magic, and a pastoral, paint-by-numbers world designed by London company Art & Graft – as late in the residency as its penultimate weekend.
Treatment isn’t involved in Sphere’s two upcoming music bookings, Eagles (starting Sept. 20) and Anyma (starting Dec. 27), and the firm has its hands full with other projects far from Sin City; when Billboard connected with Williams and Pattinson, the latter was in Munich, putting the final touches on Adele in Munich just hours before the singer’s German residency kicked off. But, Pattinson says, Treatment would “absolutely” like to return to the space in the future. “You really want to work with a band that, like U2 or Dead & Co., really sort of begins to understand the space, or are open to understanding and learning about the space and what that means for them and their performance,” he says. “Someone who’s got a lot of time to put into it.”
Dead & Company at Sphere
Chloe Weir
What was your reaction when U2 first approached you about its Sphere residency?
Willie Williams: Many things about it, initially, I was either suspicious of or wasn’t very excited about. Bono particularly was leading the charge; we talk a lot and part of his point was, “Look, what else are we going to do? Are we gonna go out and reinvent stadium rock again?” When you’ve got not only a new venue, but a completely new kind of venue, surely, if you’re going to try and put music in there, the people that need to do it are the people that have been blazing that trail for 30 years. The journey was extraordinarily uphill. Because, of course, the building didn’t exist when we were conceiving the show. So not only did we have to conceive the show, we had to conceive the building as well – I had to imagine what the building would be like. It was a long journey, but we had time. We’ll be the only people who had the luxury of having several months in the building prior to the first show. But we really were making it up as we went along.
Based on your experience with U2, what are the guiding principles for a successful Sphere show?
Williams: The big takeaway, for me, was understanding that Sphere is a three-dimensional audio-visual space, and what works in there are the kind of visual things you would make for VR rather than for cinema. It sounds so stupid, but the fact that there are no corners really was a revelation. And for me, when I started playing with very simple graphic things, I realized that your brain has no sense of where the visual plane is. And not only are there no corners, but we could introduce virtual corners and shapes of our own and your brain absolutely buys it – I was really shocked at the degree to which your brain buys the environment that you’re in.
Dead & Company at Sphere
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Sam, in a nutshell, how would you describe the concept that Mayer brought to you?
Sam Pattinson: John’s overall concept was a perfect framework for the culture of the band and their history. And it was this idea of “We start in a sort of historically relevant place, and then we could start this journey. And we use a series of portals that transport to different worlds and environments and scenes and animations and bits and bobs.” It’s a very flexible structure that we could change. Because every show, we get the setlist the night before, and we have to rebuild the show to the new setlist. So obviously it needs to be versatile – which it is.
What challenges did switching the show up night to night present? And did you see that as an opportunity?
Pattinson: Absolutely – it was great. I mean, it was added work and stress at times. The initial commission from the band was they wanted us to produce 30% to 40% more content than we needed for a show; obviously, the shows are three hours long. To date, we’ve made almost six hours worth of content. We had lots of choices, and very strong pieces within that. So actually, it wasn’t difficult to refresh the show every night – it was quite good fun.
The show begins and ends in San Francisco, but in between goes to both the cosmos and important venues from the Dead’s history, like Radio City Music Hall and Cornell University’s Barton Hall. Was balancing those elements difficult?
Pattinson: We had to nod to the big moments in their career and venues and so on, and the characters and their graphics, and all those things that the fans are familiar with. But [the band has] always been open-minded and they’ve always tried new stuff. That was very much the case in Vegas. They were open to content that we thought probably wasn’t right for them [and] was probably for more of a contemporary band, perhaps, or a younger band. So actually, combining some of their historic content with the more abstract and more contemporary stuff was quite an easy balance to strike.
Dead & Company at Sphere
Chloe Weir
What advice would you have for an artist considering playing Sphere?
Williams: To have a lot more time and a lot more money than you could possibly imagine you’d need. My takeaway is imagine you’re making material for VR but without a headset. That’s how you get the real magic out of the space, rather than it just being big, big films. I’ve had artists ask, “How many nights would I have to do at the Sphere to make it break even?” and “What sort of budget would I have to have?” Those questions just can’t be answered really, because there are just so many other factors involved. [But] it would have to be a residency and you’d have to look at the whole thing in a very overall sense.
Even beyond Sphere, stadium and arena shows are becoming more complex and immersive. Do you think that’s becoming more important for fans as they choose which artists to see in concert?
Williams: I think the only thing the audience cares about is making an emotional connection with the performer. And if the technology can assist that, then great. And if not, I don’t think they care at all. The intrusiveness of big visuals is a really, really delicate balance. I’ve always admired U2 for having the confidence to understand that it’s OK to let go of being the center of attention for a moment – something very big and visual is going to happen, and everyone’s going to look at it. And it cost a fortune, so they better look at it! And at that moment, they’re not going to be looking at you, but that’s OK, because they’ll get back to you. It’s a brave performer that has that much confidence.
Everyone’s Getting Involved, the star-studded tribute album celebrating Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense concert film, debuts atop Billboard’s Compilation Albums chart (dated Aug. 10) thanks to the set’s arrival on CD and vinyl. The effort boasts acts such as Miley Cyrus, Lorde and Paramore covering songs performed by Talking Heads in its celebrated 1984 film […]
Australian duo Royel Otis earns its first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (dated Aug. 10) thanks to its viral cover of The Cranberries’ classic single “Linger.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Released May 31 as part of a live session for SiriusXM’s Alt Nation, […]
Ghost’s soundtrack to its film Rite Here Rite Now makes a splash across multiple Billboard album charts (dated Aug. 10), as the live concert set makes top 10 bows on Top Album Sales (No. 2), Top Hard Rock Albums (No. 1), Vinyl Albums (No. 1), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 1), Soundtracks (No. 2), Independent Albums (No. 3), Top Rock Albums (No. 5) and Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 6). It also arrives at No. 21 on the overall Billboard 200 – the band’s sixth top 40-charting set on the tally.
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The live set, recorded over two nights at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., in 2023, includes one studio-recorded track: “The Future Is a Foreign Land.”
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Rite Here Rite Now arrives with 27,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 1, according to Luminate, with 26,000 of that sum in traditional album sales – supported by its availability across 10 vinyl variants (whose combined sales totaled a little over 16,000). It’s the sixth top 10-charting set for the rock band on the Top Album Sales chart.
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums, Top Hard Rock Albums and Soundtracks rank, respectively, the week’s most popular rock and alternative, rock, hard rock, and soundtrack albums by equivalent album units. Vinyl Album tallies the week’s top-selling vinyl releases. Indie Store Album Sales measures the top-selling titles at independent and small chain record stores. Independent Albums ranks the most popular independently released albums of the week, by units.
As for the rest of the top 10 on the Top Album Sales chart… Stray Kids’ ATE holds at No. 1 for a second week (48,000 sold; down 79%), Grateful Dead’s latest live archival set Dave’s Picks, Volume 51: Scranton Catholic Youth Center, Scranton PA (4/13/71) debuts at No. 3 (21,000), ENHYPEN’s Romance: Untold falls 3-4 (15,000; down 42%), Ice Spice’s debut set Y2K! enters at No. 5 (12,000), Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department climbs 12-6 (nearly 12,000; up 34%), The Red Clay Strays’ Made by These Moments debuts at No. 7 (11,000), Forrest Frank’s debut album Child of God enters at No. 8 (10,000), the Deadpool & Wolverine soundtrack starts at No. 9 (nearly 10,000) and Jimin’s MUSE falls 2-10 in its second week (nearly 10,000; down 87%).
If there’s one thing that everyone knows about the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea it’s that the veteran funk-punk bass slapper is never shy about letting it all hang out. And while 61-year-old rocker doesn’t hit the stage in the all together as often as he used to back in the band’s sock-only days, while chilling with his pal actor Woody Harrelson on this week’s episode of the Woodman’s SiriusXM Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast with former Cheers co-star Ted Danson, Flea told a chillingly hilarious story about a naked adventure he had with the Triangle of Sadness star.
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Flea opened by asking Harrelson is he remembered the time the two of them went on a nude snowboarding run. “He and I snowboarded naked. I have footage of Woody Harrelson and I snowboarding stark naked down a big snowy mountain,” Flea told Danson about the trip to Utah by the two pals.
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Harrelson said the footage is “great,” with Flea noting that he was ready to post it on Instagram before Woody’s wife, Laura, “cautioned me against it.” Always a gentleman, Danson joked that it was cold, after all, so the footage might have come up short, if you know what he means. Woody added that he and Flea always have a great time and good laughs when they hang out, some of his greatest times, in fact, even though Flea balances his Zen nature with a competitive side.
That explained how a friendly buff bomb down the mountain almost ended in fisticuffs.
Flea confirmed that he is super-competitive, though he doesn’t really care if he wins or loses, before throwing friendly shade when Harrelson said he also doesn’t care whose on top when they play basketball or race on their snowboards.
“I’ve seen you sulking after losing. I remember one of the last times we went, we were racing, and we were both reckless ’cause let’s face it. We go very fast, but we’re very average snowboarders. We have to admit that we’re average,” Flea said. “Wo we’re racing and I’m like out of control rocketing down this mountain and I nearly take a lady out, but I don’t. I see her and I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ Swerve out of her way and I miss her. All’s good. We’re racing. I can’t remember who won. Probably me, probably me, and we get down there, but then the lady, we’re getting ready to get on the lift and we’re laughing and yelling at each other, and this lady comes up and she’s infuriated.”
Flea said the woman chewed him out for nearly running into her, saying he was out of control and prompting the bassist to apologize and admit she was right. “‘I’m so glad that I didn’t hit you, but I’ll be much more careful next time. Please forgive me. I’m very sorry,’” he said he told her. “As you know, I’m neighborly. I’m polite, I’m considerate.”
When Danson asked if Flea meant it, the Chili Pepper said absolutely, acknowledging that it was probably a bit scary to see a naked man ripping by her on the mountain. “I didn’t even touch her, and she was like, ‘Well, you’re an a–hole.’ Blah, blah, blah, and I was like, ‘Ma’am, I’m very sorry,’” he reiterated. But then things got weird when Flea said the woman stuck her ski pole in his face, which agitated him. That’s when Harrelson skied up and saw the tense pole dance and came to his pal’s defense.
“And then she goes, ‘Well, my husband’s gonna come down here and he is gonna show you what for,’ and then that’s when you’re like, ‘Bring the f–king husband. I want to see her bring the husband,” he said Harrelson told the woman. The pair decided to exit the tense scene and hop on the lift, but not before Harrelson, “itching for a brawl,” started yelling, “‘I’m waiting at the top of the lift. I’ll be waiting up top!’”
Harrelson, who says he’s much more chill now, told Flea at the time, “nothing could make me happier,” than if the woman’s husband joined them at the top of the mountain, acknowledging back then — they didn’t specify when this adventure happened — the time the actor used to derive great joy from “impending chaos.”
Watch Flea and Harrelson tell their naked ski skirmish story below.
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Just like the phoenix, Jack Black says Tenacious D will rise again. The singer/actor hinted that the comedy rock duo he fronts with longtime partner Kyle Gass will return at some point after announcing an open-ended break and cancelling dates on an Australian tour following Gass’ controversial on-stage joke about last month’s assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump.
“We need to take a break. Everybody needs a break sometime,” Black told Variety at the red carpet premiere of the film Borderlands on Tuesday night (August 6). “And we’ll be back.”
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Black apologized and announced that the group would be taking a break after the pair were lambasted by Australia’s right-wing following the ill-timed joke from Gass. During the band’s show in Sydney on July 14, Black rolled out a birthday cake on stage for Gass and when asked to make a wish, Gass quipped, “Don’t miss Trump next time.” The comment was in reference to the assassination attempt on Trump the day before in Butler, PA, where a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on a Trump rally, grazing the one-term former president’s ear and killing a rally attendee.
Gass initially apologized in an Instagram post, saying, “I don’t condone violence of any kind” and adding that he was “incredibly sorry for my severe lack of judgement”; the post has since been deleted. Gass was dropped by his agent and the remainder of the group’s Australian tour — as well as a planned fall run of shows in U.S. swing states in the lead-up to November’s presidential election — was cancelled. Black also posted an apology on Instagram, writing, “I was blindsided by what was said at the show on Sunday. I would never condone hate speech or encourage political violence in any form.”
At the time of the tour cancellation, Black’s statement said that “all future creative plans are on hold.”
On Tuesday night, Black said he has spoken to Gass since the tour was called off. “Yeah, we’re friends. That hasn’t changed. These things take time sometimes… And we’ll be back when it feels right,” he said with no indication of when the group might return to stage. Black also happened to have a bit of Tenacious D hardware with him on the carpet for the premiere of the action/sci-fi movie in which he plays a wisecracking robot named Claptrap alongside stars Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Cate Blanchett.
Pulling out the magic guitar pick from the D’s 2006 big screen comedy, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, Black said, “Look what I wore today: I wore the Pick of Destiny. I love Tenacious D. It’s probably my favorite job, if you can call it that. It’s a work of art, it’s my baby.” Black and Gass have been rocking fans’ socks off since 1994, releasing four albums to date.