A collection of Jack Black’s favourite albums of all time: “So many incredible songs”
Jack Black has always traversed the worlds of music and film. From his role as the iconic Mr Schneebly in School Of Rock, to his own band Tenacious D, Black is part rock god, part Hollywood hero. But his own personal music taste is unexpected.
There aren’t many professionals who can slip so easily between the dual careers of acting and singing, but black manages to do so without having to be a pop star. There is a large proportion of performers who can masquerade as one or the other for a small period of time, but Black is so genuine with his deep affection for music that he has been welcomed into both circles.
Best known for his roles in films like The Holiday and High Fidelity, so many of Black’s acting accolades have involved music in some way or another. In conversation with the Los Angeles Times, he let the world into his playlist.
Revealing eclectic tastes that range from indie sleaze to 1960s folk, Black has an appreciation for all the greats. Sharing some of his all-time favourite albums, he kicks things off with the gruff rock of late-era Tom Waits.
Picking out the 2011 album Bad As Me, it’s the tracklisting that appeals to the actor. “Those first three tracks are worth the price of admission,” Black says. Paying homage to the seeming timelessness of Waits and his music, he continues: “He’s so real; he’s gonna be here in a hundred years. Don’t you feel it? Objectively speaking, can’t you look at some people and go, ‘Hundred years – still gonna be here’?”
Another legend that Black treasures is the one and only Leonard Cohen. His iconic record, Songs Of Leonard Cohen, which features hits like ‘Suzanne’ and ‘Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye’, gains a place on the playlist. But Black was slow to see the hype: “I had never listened to him. Everyone’s always like, ‘Ah, Leonard Cohen,’ genuflecting over the genius. And I just never listened, or I listened a little bit and never got it.”
He added, “So finally I was like, ‘I’ve gotta see what all the hubbub is about.’ And I got his first one, the one with ‘Suzanne,’ and I just listened to it and was like, ‘Hundred years.’”
Straying into modern waters and journeying over the Atlantic, Black’s listening habits bring him to Sheffield. Picking out Arctic Monkeys’ debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, he praises the British and their love of rock. “When you go overseas – you go to Australia or you go to England – it just seems like there’s a lot higher appreciation for rock,” he says, adding, “People know their rock over there; there’s a lot of encyclopedic knowledge and a lot more love.”
Finally, Black picks out a forgotten cut from the Pixies’ frontman, Charles Thompson. Recorded with his late 1990s band, Frank Black and the Catholics, Black loves their 2001 album Dog In The Sand. “Dog in the Sand is filled with so many incredible songs,” he says. “It’s just so weird that it doesn’t get any play whatsoever. None! How could something that good just fly under the radar? It must be because the audience is gone.”
Selecting your favourite albums is never easy to pull off. A list like that is usually something that takes weeks, if not years, of preparation to ensure nothing is missed or forgotten. With that in mind, we can take the list below with a pinch of salt. But what it does show us is that Black’s music taste is full of flavour.
Jack Black’s favourite albums:
- Tom Waits – Bad As Me
- Leonard Cohen – Songs Of Leonard Cohen
- Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
- Frank Black and the Catholics – Dog In The Sand
