“Black Sabbath? Anyone?” Watch Jack Black absolutely nail singing War Pigs on The Tonight Show in 2011

Features
By ( Metal Hammer ) published

When Tenacious D singer and Hollywood megastar Jack Black stopped by Jay Leno’s chat show, he gave everyone a powerhouse – if brief – rendition of a Black Sabbath classic

Jack Black singing on TV in 2011
(Image credit: NBC via YouTube/Tenacious Defense)

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.

Matt Mills
Matt Mills
Online Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.