Music on TV - Week of 05.14.12: Tenacious D

Tenacious D return with appearances on Letterman (Monday), Fallon (Tuesday) and Leno (Friday).

A lot has happened in the six years since we last had new material from Tenacious D, but foremost on the minds of members Jack Black and Kyle Gass is the dilapidated state of rock and roll. "Rock is Dead" declares one title from the new release, Rize of the Fenix, a bold statement if ever there was one. But is rock truly dead?

"Well, no, but it's very, very ill," relays Gass to Billboard. "It has pneumonia." While Black and Gass are clearly tongue-in-cheek in the role of rock saviors, their is an underlying urgency in Rize that lends itself to their usual delusions of grandeur.

Another relevant thing that's happened in the past six years is the transformation of Jack Black from being stoner's idol to hero of children everywhere. Both my kids instantly recognize his face (from School of Rock, Gulliver's Travels, not to mention appearances on Yo Gabba Gabba and The Muppet Movie) and his voice (Kung Fu Panda) and exclaim "that's Jack Black, Daddy!" But this new audience ripe for the picking is not an easy task for an act that's been rated a hard 'R' up to now. To combat this, the band has taken the usual route of releasing two versions, but instead of bleeping their way to a clean version, they just rewrote a second album for their underage audience.

"We replaced all of the bad words with creative clean words," Black recently told Billboard. "We're not big on bleeps. I know the Eminems of the world are big bleepers, but it's a lazy way to do a clean album. If you really want to go the extra mile, you make the clean album just as entertaining, without the F-bombs."

In cleaning up their act, Tenacious D can also now perform all the songs on the late night talk circuit, and they take full advantage of that this week with performances on The Late Show with David Letterman (Monday), Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Tuesday) and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (Friday).

Elsewhere, there's a lot stay up for with Beach House making the rounds (Letterman on Friday) for their latest (Bloom), the return of The Cult (Jimmy Kimmel on Friday) and Mick Jagger closes out another season of SNL with Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck all lending a hand onstage with the Rolling Stones' frontman.

Picks for the week
Monday, April 2
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Silversun Pickups (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Tenacious D
CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: The Imagineers
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Karmin
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Willie Nelson
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: We Are Augustines
Tuesday, April 3
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: El-P
CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: The Imagineers
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Santana
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Tenacious D
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The Ting Tings
TBS: Conan: Gregg Allman
Wednesday, April 4
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Best Coast
CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: The Imagineers
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Dr. Dog
Thursday, April 5
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Delta Spirit
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Regina Spektor
CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: The Imagineers
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Paul Weller
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Young the Giant
TBS: Conan: Rufus Wainwright
Friday, April 6
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Cult
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Beach House
CBS: The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson: The Imagineers
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Tenacious D
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Garbage
Saturday, April 7
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Engelbert Humperdinck
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Mick Jagger featuring Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and Jeff Beck
PBS: Austin City Limits: The Avett Brothers, Heartless Bastards (REPEAT)
Sunday, April 8
ABC: The 2012 Billboard Music Awards: Cee-Lo Green, LMFAO, Kelly Clarkson