“Jack Black made a magnificent meal of it”: Robert Plant’s critique of ‘School of Rock’
For an entire generation of kids, the movie School of Rock was a huge turning point. Not only was it one of the first times that we saw Jack Black in a starring role, who would become a comedic and musical icon, but we were also exposed to a number of rock classics too. These include original songs from the movie like ‘Teacher’s Pet’, as well as pre-existing classics such as ‘Substitute’, ‘Smoke on the Water’, and, of course, ‘Immigrant Song’.
Memories are pretty subjective, but most kids from a specific generation remember when the band is permitted to compete in the Battle of the Bands (after all pretending they were dying). Jack Black is driving in the front of his van, singing. He turns to the rest of the band and delivers the iconic scream, “Aaaaaaahhhhhhaa,” accompanying the opening of one of Led Zeppelin’s biggest hits.
That song opened a form of music that dominated the 1960s and ‘70s but that a lot of kids didn’t know existed. It was heavy and exciting, had mythology built into it, and was cool to be a part of. Robert Plant wasn’t a huge fan of the way the song came out in the movie, saying, “Jack Black made a magnificent meal of it.” However, that wasn’t his major criticism of the fact that the song was involved.
The main critique Plant had surrounding ‘Immigrant Song’ being used in School of Rock was the fact that it’s one of the more complicated riffs that the band have. “It’s a killer guitar riff,” he said, “What a shame ‘Immigrant Song’ isn’t easy for kids to play, by the way. Everyone gets it, young and old. It’s a great song.”
More context is needed for this comment. If you speak to anybody who works in advertising, they will tell you that the idea of bagging a Led Zeppelin song for any product is nearly impossible. This is because the band can choose where the songs go, and they are picky about what movies, ads and TV programmes they permit. They worked hard to achieve the sound they had and subsequently wanted it portrayed correctly.
At the same time, the elusive nature of the use of their music meant that the band became a slight enigma once they broke up and stopped releasing new stuff. As such, Plant thought it was important for their music to be used in a way that was fun, as that was what was intended, so having it in School of Rock made a lot of sense. “I think it was exactly the right thing to do, with School of Rock, to blow our myth up into the sky for a while,” he said, “Because it’s all myth. It doesn’t matter. I’ve watched the film and find it funny.”
That being said, the song’s difficulty meant that the kids who heard and had the myth of Led Zeppelin dispelled in front of them couldn’t play the song they were connecting with. Even after so much time, it’s interesting to see how precious the band were about how their music was used and what it would mean for the public.
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