Dave Grohl Pays Tribute to Tenacious D With — What Else? — Impromptu ‘Tribute’ Cover

Among Dave Grohl’s many contributions to popular music, easily in the top five is essential work with Tenacious D on their 2001 classic, “Tribute.” Grohl not only played rhythm guitar and drums on the studio version of the track, but he also popped up in the video, too, as the demon who challenges Jack Black and Kyle Gass to play the best song in the world, lest he eat their souls.

Over the weekend, at the Foo Fighters’ Aug. 3 show in Denver, Grohl took a moment to play a bit of the classic song. Watching back the fan-shot concert footage, it’s unclear if Grohl had planned the cover out in advance or if he just found himself noodling the lead “Tribute” riff as he got his acoustic guitar set for a rendition of “Skin and Bones.” Odds are, it was totally impromptu based on what happened next.

“You thought I was gonna play a Tenacious D song, didn’t ya?” Grohl quipped as he strummed and Rami Jaffee joined him with a bit of accordion accompaniment. The frontman proceeded to do just that, running through the opening verse pretty smoothly before ultimately, and endearingly, stumbling over the lyrics. 

“I don’t actually know that song!” Grohl cracked. “I only played drums!” 

Whether intentional or not, Grohl’s little nod to Tenacious D felt like a welcome boost for the band, which is coming off a fraught month. Following the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, Gass made a crack about the incident on stage in Australia, which quickly spun into a full-blown controversy. Soon after, Black released a statement canceling Tenacious D’s upcoming tour and putting all future creative plans “on hold.” 

Gass — who was also dropped by his talent agent after the incident — did issue an apology on Instagram but later deleted the post. 

From Rolling Stone US.