The one band Jack Black said were in a league of their own: “Masterclass”
Every musician must dedicate countless hours to mastering their craft; no one is born a virtuoso. Even the greatest artists, like Eddie Van Halen, spend years perfecting their technique, experimenting with chords, and honing their skills. While Jack Black never claimed to be a musical prodigy, he recognised true brilliance whenever he listened to Yes.
In the realm of comedy, though, Black may have the master’s touch better than just about anyone. There might be the odd movie that doesn’t pan out, but rarely do audiences get to see someone who has that level of energy every time they appear onscreen, whether that’s channelling sadness, anger, or downright insanity when working on any of their projects.
Then again, half of that intensity may have come from the way that Black listened to his favourite artists. Despite loving groups like The Beatles, it was the intense riffage of Led Zeppelin or the guttural sound of metal gods like Ozzy Osbourne that truly lit his world on fire, each possessing that indefinable rocket sauce that Black always talks about the greatest artists having.
Black is perhaps the biggest Led Zeppelin fan of all. “Led Zeppelin…the greatest rock and roll band of all time. Better than the Beatles, better than The Stones,” Black said once, which is a huge, loft claim. But he said the material backs it up, adding, “If you don’t agree with me, that’s because you haven’t done the Zeppelin marathon. It’s when you sit your ass down and listen to all nine Zeppelin albums in a row. The jams of Led Zeppelin are second to none.”
But even though Black did give prog acts like Rush their flowers in recent years, Yes was in a class by themselves. From the minute that songs like ‘Roundabout’ started, every single member of the group is at the absolute top of their game, whether that was Steve Howe getting the most out of harmonics, Jon Anderson singing like an angel above everything, and Chris Squire giving bass players a musical smorgasbord on the low end.
That’s not to say that their music was the most accessible. Something like ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’ probably wasn’t going to get on the radio with its massive runtime, but if fans were willing to take the journey, they weren’t just going to get an epic song like ‘Stairway to Heaven’. They were getting the kind of music that could teach artists how to truly refine their craft.
For Black, that was the kind of musicianship that few artists could possibly match, telling Howard Stern, “I loved Yes. They were the masters of their instruments. No one could touch them for musicianship. They were all like masterclass Julliard-trained.”
While Led Zeppelin might have been the biggest band, able to wipe the floor with anybody in their way in terms of what it meant to be in a rock band, Black had to concede that for sheer musicianship, Yes were in a league of their own. Even though there was a slim chance that anyone was going to see that kind of musicianship out of Black, he did at least sprinkle a little bit of virtuosity into his own tunes.
Despite not having the tightest grasp on guitar, a lot of the older Tenacious D cuts quote classical music, including two different tracks that quote Bach on ‘Classico’ from the movie The Pick of Destiny and ‘Rock Your Socks’ off their debut album. And it’s not like the prog metal community would necessarily disagree, either.
Even though Rush are known as some of the most technically gifted prog musicians, Geddy Lee worshipped at the altar of Chris Squire, even subbing in for him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame after he passed on. Black is more of a creative dynamo behind a camera than a guitar, but he at least knows a master of their craft when he sees them.
