Jack Black is not only one of the most famous comedians of the last decades but is also a member of the Rock and Roll and Heavy Metal duo Tenacious D that has been touring around the world for two decades already and even performed at huge festivals like Rock In Rio in Brazil.
With a musical taste really similar to his character of the 2003 movie “School Of Rock”, Black talked about many of his influences over the years and one of them is Black Sabbath, the legendary British band that created Heavy Metal music.
What is Jack Black’s opinion on Black Sabbath and his favorite song
Besides being the main character of “School Of Rock” back in 2003, that had Sabbath’s “Iron Man” on the soundtrack, Jack Black is also a big fan of the band in real life. In an interview with Planet Rock back in 2017 he recalled his love for the band and he revealed his favorite track of the group, saying (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage): “I went backwards, because I started with Ozzy and I went deeper into the catalogue of the Black Sabbath. I found some powerful gems.”
“My favorite of all time is probably ‘War Pigs’. It’s just Black Sabbath at their most raw power. There is also this sort of heavy anti-war message that you don’t really think of when you think of Sabbath.”
Jack Black continued:
“You think of them as the dark underworld rock. But really, there is this sort of peaceful center. That’s the dichotomy of the Sabbath. If you go into the Sabbath archives and you see what happens when Ozzy left them. They replaced with who turned out to be my favorite Heavy Metal singer of all time: Ronnie James Dio. Also, he held a special place because he was from the United States of America. So he was one of ours.”
“The fact that he joined forces with the greatest Heavy Metal band of all time was a great source of national pride for me personally. Also, he just had these operatic pipes. He was a different kind of cat. Very different than Ozzy but great in a whole different way. He was singing about the devil too. But it was more like a Dungeons & Dragons magical devil than that the terrifying actual like satanic mass,” Jack Black said.
In 2011, when he was interviewed in the Jay Leno show, Jack Black sang a part of “War Pigs” with the band of the show.
But when it comes to his favorite Ronnie James Dio song with Black Sabbath, his favorite one is “Heaven & Hell”, that he called a “masterpiece” when talking with Planet Rock.
Jack Black’s love for Ronnie James Dio
Jack Black and Kyle Glass paid tribute to Dio on their self-titled debut album released in 2001. The track “Dio” talked in a funny way that it was time for Dio to pass the torch for Tenacious D: “Dio has rocked for a long, long time. Now it’s time for him to pass the torch. He has songs of wildebeests and angels. He has soared on the wings of a demon. It’s time to pass the torch. You’re too old to rock, no more rockin’ for you.”
Dio heard the song and liked the tribute, what made him invite Jack Black and Kyle Glass to make a cameo in his music video for “Push”, released on his 2002 album “Killing The Dragon”.
They recorded and acted together
In 2006, in the fictional movie about Tenacious D, called “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny”, Jack Black had the chance to share the screen with Ronnie James Dio, who played himself talking with Jack’s character in the film. Curiously, the scene right before Dio’s cameo has the also legendary musician Meat Loaf, playing Jack Black’s father. That scene had the song “Kickapoo” that was sung by Jack Black, Meat Loaf and Ronnie James Dio.