Is there any celebrity out there who’s done more for heavy metal than Jack Black? Not only does he helm his own hard rock band in Tenacious D, but his work in School Of Rock and Brütal Legend has doubtlessly shaped generations of metalheads. He also takes every opportunity he can to big up Dio, Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica in the press.
The High Fidelity and Jumanji star collected even more heavy metal Brownie points when he stopped by The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in 2011. Black stopped by the chat show initially to promote his film Kung Fu Panda 2, which was coming out the following week. However, musical obsessive he is, he couldn’t resist a good jam with the in-house band – and one of their chosen songs was Black Sabbath classic War Pigs.
Clearly, Black doesn’t expect many of the Tonight Show audience to be into the cover, as he follows the song’s opening chords by asking, “Black Sabbath? Not really? Anyone?” Whether or not the crowd likes a bit of Tony Iommi and the boys quickly becomes redundant, though, as they can’t help but whoop when the star shows off his vocal talent.
Black only sings a minute of the metal classic, but he puts his whole body into it, busting out a host of rock star poses during the fleeting cover. It wasn’t a new type of performance for him, either: just six months prior, he introduced himself on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon by smashing his way through Dio classic Holy Diver, all over American national TV.
Earlier this year, Black lent his voice to a more unexpected cover, doing a take on Chris Isaak’s sensual Wicked Game with The D. If you live in Europe and want to hear the actor’s pipes in person, his band are touring the continent in April and May next year, with tickets available now.
