The “wedding band” Jack Black said sounded better than The Beatles: “They were damn good”
Far more than a mere Hollywood icon, Jack Black is a master of comedy and a master of reality with a side hustle as a rock star. As the leading man of Richard Linklater’s School of Rock, Black essentially played an exaggerated version of himself, revealing his deep passion for classic rock by the likes of Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Long before the popular 2003 movie, he bridged the gap between music and film as one-half of the comedy rock duo Tenacious D and had never shied from discussing his musical tastes in interviews.
Those who have seen one of Tenacious D’s live shows or watched the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny will understand that Black’s taste in music is anchored in heavy metal. As a teenager, AC/DC’s Back in Black and Black Sabbath’s We Sold Our Souls for Rock ‘n’ Roll were no strangers to his turntable. However, over time, his vocabulary expanded to welcome the alt-rock stylings of Pixies, the artfully emotional work of Radiohead and the exuberant pop-rock of Liz Phair.
Since Ozzy Osbourne’s most significant influence was The Beatles, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine that Jack Black is a big fan of the Liverpudlian four-piece, especially since practically everyone else in the world reveres The Beatles as the poodle’s privates. However, while Black appreciates the many doors the group opened in the 1960s, he feels they were somewhat overrated.
In a 2003 interview for Believer Magazine, Black and writer Daniel Handler (famed under his pen name Lemony Snicket) somehow veered onto the topic of wedding etiquette. After agreeing that, after a while, weddings can become tedious, necessitating the socially acceptable departure after the cutting of the cake, Black explained that the ceremony was the worst part, while food and music are the obvious perks.
After having his fill of wedding cake, Black usually saunters over to the music, where, invariably, elderly relatives of the married couple get a little loose to some jaunty swing music. “I don’t like to dance but I do end up dancing a little bit,” Black admitted. “That’s part of the duties. You have to get out there and try to force some merriment.” Many people like to dull their senses with booze before stepping onto the dancefloor, but Black isn’t much of a drinker. “I don’t like being drunk,” he added. “It’s not a good feeling to me. I get kind of a hot face, and then I say some things that I shouldn’t say.”
Recalling a recent wedding he went to, Black remembered being impressed by the band, a Beatles tribute act called the Fab Four. “It was quite nice, actually. The thing that made it good was that they had the best Beatles cover band in the world,” Black said. “They were damn good. They looked just like them; they sounded just like them. They sounded a little bit better than the Beatles, actually.”
Handler lightly challenged Black’s statement as “brave” since The Beatles are “highly regarded”. “Yeah, but they didn’t sound good,” Black replied. Part of the allure of Black was how the tribute act seamlessly embodied the different eras of The Beatles. “They came out as the early Beatles. They played a set, like ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ and a bunch of those early songs. Then they left for an hour and came back as the Sgt. Pepper Beatles and rocked much harder,” he added. “It was good. You got the whole spectrum of Beatles.”
Although Black enjoyed the theatrics of the costume changes, from besuited teddy boys through moustachioed psych rockers to long-haired hippies, he admitted that he’d rather cut out the early hits like ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’. “I don’t think you really need to listen to anything before Revolver,” he said, revealing his disregard for the Beatles’ early work.
From Black’s comments, it is safe to derive that he was never a Beatlemaniac on the level of Osbourne. Due to their astronomical status, The Beatles receive their fair share of flack as an overrated band. Indeed, their virtuosity could scarcely compare to that of Led Zeppelin. Still, their role in the 1960s countercultural revolution mustn’t be overlooked, and, as Black suggests, there is plenty of listenable material, especially from Revolver onwards.
