Jack Black’s awkward first encounter with Thom Yorke: “It was a soul-crusher”
There are few personalities in either music or cinema as boisterous, exuberant, and infectiously enthusiastic as Jack Black, but he met his match when he encountered the decidedly stoic Thom Yorke for the first time.
Plenty of superlatives have been tossed in the direction of the Radiohead frontman during a four-decade career that’s seen his band win a legion of fans worldwide and sell millions of records, but with the greatest of respect, Yorke has hardly been noted for his natural charisma and effortless charm.
That places him in direct opposition to Black, who built his entire career on the back of bravura showmanship, a commanding stage presence, and a screen persona that more often than not relies on his manic comedic asides and a fondness for embodying larger-than-life characters.
Classic rock may have run deep in his veins for as long as he can remember, but Black’s musical taste doesn’t revolve entirely around crunching riffs. In fact, the three-time Golden Globe nominee named a solo performance from Yorke among the greatest live concerts he’s ever seen, so he was understandably nervous at the chance to meet one of his heroes for the first time.
Black has crossed paths and collaborated with some of the biggest and most iconic names in music on stage and screen, and rarely has he ever given off the impression that he was apprehensive or trepidatious. And yet, of all the rockers in the world, it was Yorke who reduced him to a trembling mess who could barely string two words together.
“Every sentence, it sounded like I was speaking through a bottle of molasses,” Black recalled to NPR about finally getting the chance to introduce himself to Yorke. “It was a soul-crusher.” The vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist isn’t regarded as the most natural raconteur when he’s outside of his comfort zone, which paints the picture of a first-time meeting so awkward the cringe is palpable.
What makes it even worse is that thanks to Yorke’s famous disdain for celebrity culture and the spotlight that comes with being a public figure, he wasn’t too keen on the meeting to begin with. “He was not into it,” Black confessed of the fateful encounter. “All my heroes: not into it when I approach them.”
The mental image of renowned funnyman and charisma tornado Black standing there like a starstruck child struggling to string a coherent sentence together while Yorke hovers around with a complete and utter lack of interest is pretty funny, albeit in a bleak way.
There’s a reason why so many people think heroes are better off un-met, and the cinematic superstar found that out the hard way when his years of Radiohead fandom culminated in a soul-crushing experience that neither party is going to remember as one for the history books.
