The one band Jack Black said will be played “until the end of time”
Ever since Jack Black began listening to music, he was looking for the kind of music that he could play forever.
As much as people like the idea of following trends and staying in the moment, Black knew that the greatest artists in the world are the ones that could play for generations on end and never truly get old. The Beatles hold that title, The Rolling Stones and The Who are familiar with it, but Black felt that only a few brave musical souls have earned the right to be in hard rock Valhalla.
Because as much as the Fab Four may have been a part of Black’s musical upbringing, he had hard rock flowing through his veins from the minute he picked up a microphone. Sure, he may have been one of the most lovable goofballs that anyone had ever seen when he was in High Fidelity, but even when he was singing Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On’, it’s not like anyone was looking at him as a smooth loverman by any means. No, he was a metal frontman trapped in an actor’s body.
And with Tenacious D, Black finally had the vehicle to live out his musical dreams. He had always been a fan of the biggest names in hard rock, and aside from namedropping people like Ronnie James Dio in their songs, you can hear everything from Metallica-level bombast to the close-knit harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel whenever they break out the acoustic guitars on their records.
It might be played entirely for a joke, but Black did at least have a firm handle on his voice. The fact that he could summon that much power from his throat every single time he sang was the reason why everything from ‘Tribute’ to ‘Wonderboy’ to their cover of ‘Wicked Game’ actually managed to sound absolutely beautiful.
But when Black was looking for music for School of Rock, there was no doubt that Led Zeppelin had to factor in pretty high on his song priorities. ‘Immigrant Song’ is still one of the greatest rock songs ever made, but when Black wanted to get the right tune to work for the movie, the fact that Zeppelin would oblige only further proved that he was dealing with true rock and roll legends.
While Black had said at the Kennedy Honors that Zeppelin were bigger than both The Beatles and The Stones, he felt that it went much further than their generation, saying, “They say that Led Zeppelin sold their souls to Satan. There’s no other way to explain [their] ungodly talent. I just want to say thank you because while you’re in Hell, the human race will cherish your heavenly jams until the end of time.”
There’s a lot to be said for Black’s own fixation with Zeppelin onscreen, but it’s not like you can’t see it coated through ‘The D’s catalogue. A lot of their tunes may be completely done for laughs, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see Zeppelin’s Tolkien moments in the video for ‘Wonderboy’ or calling ‘Tribute’ their silly take on ‘Stairway to Heaven’.
Is it over the top? Hell yeah, but since when has that ever stopped Black from making the greatest jams that the world has ever heard? There are countless artists that have managed to put a fat layer of cheese on top of their music every time they play, but if I can borrow a term from Black’s playbook, there’s a certain amount of musical rocket sauce that Zeppelin has that he would carry with him throughout his life.
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