The singer Jack Black said made the most beautiful songs: “Genius”
Part of the appeal behind someone like Jack Black is how larger than life he can be whenever he’s on camera.
He has had the reputation of being a virtual cartoon character every single time he gets onscreen, and there aren’t many roles where he hasn’t been able to turn on the charm and be one of the single most entertaining comedic actors of his time. But even if he had the same energy as Chris Farley, a lot of people tend to take his taste in music for granted every single time that they hear him.
Tenacious D may just be played for laughs every single time that Black gets together with Kyle Gass, but a lot of his favourite bands are about much more than being larger than life. He has had his moments where he has shouted the praises of everyone from Black Sabbath to Metallica, but saying that Black only listens to the heaviest music of all time is like trying to say that people don’t listen to Oasis because of their Beatles connotations. Sure, that’s true, but you’re missing the point entirely.
In fact, Black had a much more diverse music taste than a lot of people realised; most people just haven’t been exposed to it. He did have a large space in his heart for people like Rush and Ozzy Osbourne whenever he made his own music, but no one would have expected someone with his attitude finding time to listen to Billy Joel or The Beatles whenever he tore through his vinyl collection.
But if ‘The Piano Man’ was a bit of a stretch, Black seems like the exact opposite audience for someone like Elliott Smith. Smith was the kind of indie songwriter that seemed reserved for only the most unassuming indie rock audience, but when Black first heard what Smith could do, he was absolutely captivated. Nirvana had already kicked everyone into high gear during the 1990s, but if their rise was more like The Beatles, Smith was shooting for something closer to what his favourite singer-songwriters were doing.
So when Black was asked to sing one of Smith’s songs for a charity gig, he was only too happy to do his own version of ‘Say Yes’, saying, “One of my favourite musicians of all time. He just wrote the most heartbreakingly beautiful songs. The melodies [are] genius. He’s a genius. They were doing a tribute to Elliot Smith at Largo. But his songs aren’t funny. They’re pretty sincere, and I can’t sing songs unless they have a tinge of humour in them. I did everything in my power to get it right.”
And while Black is the kind of powerhouse that could deliver a decent Metallica cover, he actually isn’t half bad at singing these kinds of songs, either. He wanted the chance to prove himself as a softer singer, and since he already delivered a decent version of Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’, why couldn’t he find the strength to do the same thing when singing one of Smith’s tunes?
Black said that the entire experience was one of the most nerve-wracking shows of his life, but even if he had to rehearse it and restart the song a few times, a lot of the lessons he learned seemed to follow him into his next projects. His sense of breath control ended up sounding perfect when he covered ‘Wicked Game’, and he probably wouldn’t have thought to do that without listening to what Smith could do.
Because when you think about it, Smith’s songs were the exact opposite of what Black was capable of, but he wasn’t going to back down from a challenge, either. He wanted to keep things fresh whenever he sang, and that sometimes meant going against the grain and showing someone a different side of what makes you tick.
