Actors who want to sing and singers who want to act are usually desperate to be taken seriously in their secondary creative art. Jack Black didn’t want to be taken seriously at all.

The story of Tenacious D goes back to 1986, when aspiring musician Kyle Gass met aspiring actor Jack Black in a comedic acting troupe in Los Angeles. The two were initially wary of each other, but a trip to perform at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland gave the pair time together to bond over music — particularly hard rock and metal.

The duo wrote their first song together after Black went through a bad breakup but the final results made them cringe. They quickly realized their strength did not lie in earnest and heartfelt songs. A pair who would soon start to perform live under the name The Axe Lords Featuring Gorgazon’s Mischief does not do earnest and heartfelt.

Luckily, they persevered.

After playing Metallica’s 1988 epic “One” to Gass, Black called it the greatest song ever. Gass said he thought they could write the best song ever and Black reined in the ambition and responded that maybe they could write a tribute to the greatest song ever. So they took that idea and spent a few days writing their second song. Listening to the finished product, they knew they had a project worth sticking with — which is a good thing, because it took a long, long time to find success.

It wasn’t until 1997 that Tenacious D began to achieve recognition outside of Los Angeles when HBO gave them their own show. The duo pulled double-duty acting out sketches and playing their songs. As their popularity grew, it seemed only natural that a full-length album would ensue.

Gass and Black had spent their whole existence together playing their songs on acoustic guitars, but The Dust Bothers — producers of classic albums by Beastie Boys and Beck — were excited to do a full-band album and brought in Dave Grohl to play the drums, along with a host of studio musicians to fill out the sound. The result was a lean but muscular rock album that you had to take seriously even while not taking it seriously.

Tenacious D’s eponymous album was released in the fall of 2001 and “Tribute” became the second single early the following year. The song reached the Top 10 in Australia and New Zealand so it’s actually their biggest worldwide hit. The duo released three more albums while both continued acting.

So hitchhike down a long and lonesome road… with Tenacious D.