Jack Black: Not Funny. Popular Music: Awful Crap

[Stevendsmith]

I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but in my opinion this guy is a prime example of the entertainment industry's pathetic marketing to the lowest common denominator, which has been getting increasingly worse over the years. Yet, today he's being shopped as some comedic giant.

Oh yeah, and popular music has been sucking for too god damn long.

Sorry, Creed, Limp Bizkit, and other frat party kegger-rock fans.

Okay, rant over!

[sidwill]

1. I have to admit

The"Tenacious D" CD is one of my guilty pleasures.

It is vulgar crude and disgusting, but damn funny to boot!.

[jmanjman]

8. Agreed

LONG LIVE THE "D"!!!!!! The best CD released in the past couple years.

[Chryslin]

47. The D ROCKS!!!

Tenacious D have a movie in the works right now, directed by Liam Lynch (of "Sifl N Olly" fame)

Gotta love the D!

[Cush]

2. Agree

I don't understand the hype about Jack Black, I just don't find him funny at all

and I also agree about Creed & Limp Bizkit...or is that Limpbizkit now?

[mkregel]

7. Jack Black CAN be funny

and when he is it's a riot. He reminds me a lot of John Belushi - Black can elicit more laughs from a raised eybrow than many comedians can from a whole monologue.

Black in "Orange County" and "High Fidelity" was hilarious!

However, he's been in some terrible roles too..."Shallow Hal" was just stupid, and "Saving Silverman" was pretty bad too.

But think about it - Belushi was in some pretty bad flicks as well - "Best Legs in 8th Grade" and "Neighbors."

[Khephra]

10. He can also be somewhat serious in his comedic roles

like Belushi too.

I'll never forget him from Bob Roberts, once Lynne pointed him out to me in that movie.

[VermontDem2004]

3. I seen a couple of movies Black was funny in

Saving Silverman was pretty funny imo.

[soleft]

4. First time I saw Jack Black was on an episode of the Xfiles

With Giovanni Riobisi. I thought then he has that - as the French say - that certain something. Jon Stewart seems impressed with him, and I thought he was great in that movie with John Cusack about the record store.

[vi5]

5. I agree about the music part, but I find JB funny as hell...

He's incredibly sarcastic and has a keen sense of popular culture. He's much more quick witted and intelligent than the simple Belushi clone that he sometimes gets pegged as.

Although I'd be curious what music you like. I've know plenty of people who criticize crapola like Creed and Limp Bizkit, only to find out that they like Tool and Alice in Chains or something like that.

[Stevendsmith]

11. My tastes are varied

I grew up on punk and new wave--Devo, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Damned, Sex Pistols, the Jam, PIL, The Police, U2, etc., etc. I still love that stuff. I'm a drummer, and that has led me into other directions that you might find offensive: Rush, and, yes, Tool, which is an intensely dark, psychedelic, cerebral band with an absolutely wicked drummer named Danny Carey. They are not a macho butt rock band. But I guess you got me on the Tool thing.

I love jazz too!

[vi5]

13. Good choices.....I like most of them....

And Tool isn't even really that bad. I just personally don't like them because they seem to have popped out of nowhere to ride the "alternative" wave post Nirvana.

I ultimately don't care what anyone listens to or likes as long as it makes them happy. I just have many a friend who cast aspersions at certain bands and their fans, when they themselves have less than impeccable tastes.

[Stevendsmith]

15. I hear ya'!

I guess I just long for the '70s and '80s when a trip to the record store always yielded some good new music.

[Khephra]

20. I don't get this one either...

By the middle of 1991, Nirvana started working on their third album, 'Nevermind'.

Tool formed in April of 1991 and recorded their first cd shortly thereafter.

Tool and Nirvana came "in" to pop music culture at just about the same time.

[vi5]

23. Uh.....not at all....

Nirvana had been around since 1988 and had one full album (Bleach) and several vinyl singles released on independent labels. I saw Nirvana live in 1989.

Tool cannot say the same thing. I was since 1985 and still am a vociferous reader of zines, music magazines, and everything I could get my hands on. And until Tool released Opiate in 1992 I had never even heard of them before.

I'm wary of any band from that time frame who were tagged as "alternative" in any way shape or form, who had not previously done time on any of the many independent labels working during that era. Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, Tool....all of them didn't enter the national stage until after Nirvana hit. I could say the same thing about Pearl Jam but at least they had their roots in Mother Love Bone and Green River.

I'm not saying Tool are the devil or the most horrible music out there. I just find them incredibly boring and yes, their timing was very opportunistic.

[Khephra]

25. Sorry, but your point was...

"I just personally don't like them because they seem to have popped out of nowhere to ride the "alternative" wave post Nirvana."

My point is that both groups had thier first hit cds in the same year. Nirvana might have been around a few more years, but they had to become big before anyone could ride a "post Nirvana" trip. Tool can't be included in your statement logicially for that reason.

That is unless you're claiming the members of Tool were psychic and went "Hey! A new form of music is going to start hitting it big in a few months. Lets form a band and try to ride the wave" before they even knew there was going to be a wave.

Oh, and they also decided to make sure that their music sounded nothing like Nirvana's too.

Dislike them if you will, but Tool started hitting it big (but not as big as Nirvana) in the exact same year as "Nevermind".

[vi5]

27. Not sure where you got your dates from....

My information shows that Tool's Opiate was released in 1992. Nevermind came out in 1991 and by the time I went on winter break at college Nevermind was already hitting like wildfire and had been out for months.

I'm not saying that their sound was necessarily defined by Nirvana but they were always on a major label, and they were definitely starting to be marketed differently after Nirvana hit big.

Same thing with Alice in Chains. They were a total hair metal band and even though Facelift was released not long after Nevermind, they all of a sudden were being passed off as a "grunge" band and dark and alternative.

My bottom line point is that many bands may have been playing already when Nirvana hit big, but there is also no doubt that the way their debut albums were sold, pitched, and marketed, and the whole attitudes and personas of the bands in interviews were changed and shaped by Nirvana hitting big. If you have some old interviews or something that I'm not privy to, I'd be happy to rethink my position. But I remember that period of time quite vividly.

[Kat45]

31. I thought Tool was being marketed as metal, at least at the outset..

That's the impression I got. I remember seeing them on Headbangers Ball. I know Nirvana et al were also on the Ball, but I never thought of Tool as in the grunge category at all. Tool was a much weirder and heavier band.

[Khephra]

32. Tool's Prog-Rock

They owe more to Pink Floyd than Nirvana.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[opiate69]

50. Volcano is not a major label..

Of course, you give Nirvana a pass on the whole Geffen thing, right? And as for AIC, let me make this clear... they were not "being passed off".. they (the members) realized they weren't drawing a crowd as Diamond Lie (the "hair metal incarnation of the band) and made some changes on their own. If you really want to get down to brass tacks, Nirvana rode the wave that bands like Soundgarden and the Melvins initiated.

[leftist_rebel1569]

52. Correction - Facelift was released in 1990

which was a year BEFORE "Nevermind" came out.

- Derek, Obsessed AIC fan

[Khephra]

30. From The Tool Faq and Nirvana Faq

When / how did the band get together?

Tool was formed in 1990, when Danny and Paul met Adam and Maynard. Danny explains, "I met Adam through Tom Morello of Rage (Against The Machine). And I was living beside Maynard. I never auditioned for them (Keenan and Jones). I felt kinda sorry for them, because they would invite people over to play, and they wouldn't show up, so I'd fill in." Danny had previously played drums for bands including Green Jelly. Paul had gone to California to work in the film business, which at the time was Adam's profession. (Adam had already done special effects for Terminator 2, Jurassic Park and Predator 2). Early on, Tool toured with Rollins Band, Rage Against The Machine and Fishbone. (Adam had gone to high school with Morello).

Eventually, they moved from second stage to main stage at Lollapalooza '93, where they pretty much blew everyone away.
According to Bass Player Magazine (3/97), when Tool first called up Justin, he at first turned them down: "Peach had broken up about six months before, and I was forming a new band with the guitarist. It was pretty tough; I felt really loyal to this friend of mine, whom I'd played with since I was 14. But then I decided I couldn't deny myself this opportunity." Justin had actually played bass on "Sober" at the widely-bootlegged show at Shepherd's Bush, before joining the band. Tool had met him while Peach was opening for them that year.

snip...................

"Opiate"

Released April 19, 1992; certified gold US (shipped 500,000).

http://toolshed.down.net/faq/faq.html

(But, as I said earlier, they started recording it in 1991)

---

09-24-91 Nevermind is released, debuted at #144 on Billboard
10-12-91 Nevermind goes Gold

http://www.digitalnirvana.net/happening/nirvanafaq/faq1.html#I

It's my understanding that Tool was recording their first work while Nirvana was hitting it big. Yes, as I said before, Nirvana was around first, but they started having hits within the same 6-9 month period, it just took Tool 1 cd before it had a hit and Nirvana 3. I think for formative period of Tool is comfortably outside of any post-Nirvana situation...especially since Tool has never coppied anything from Nirvana and has only grown more "out there" with time.

Like I said: like them or dislike them, I don't care. But they had been around long enough before "Teen Spirit" to say that they have no connection to a post-Nirvana wave.

[vi5]

38. Nothing on there contradicts what I said....

I never said anything about their style of music. I said the way they marketed themselves or allowed themselves to be marketed.

Besides, you state in your post that Nevermind was gold by October of 1991. Opiate was released in April of 1992 (notice you gave the release date but not the date it went gold. That's a 6 month lag. You dont' think they and their record company had some kind of idea as to the climate of music and the direction popular music and style was heading by that point? Besides, Smells Like Teen Spirit was the big hit off of Nevermind. What was the big hit off of Opiate? Not sure how you can say both bands hit it big around the same time.

I'm not saying any of it has to impact your own personal enjoyment of the band. If you don't care and just like their tunage then more power to you. I'm simply saying that I don't find Tool all that interesting musically and I find their status as alternative darlings to be rather disingenuous. None of it has anything to do with their music, just a statement on how they allowed themselves to be marketed. But timewise there's just no doubt that many bands rode Nirvana's coattails in some degree or another to success either in the way they played their music or the way they were marketed. Tool was one of them and nothing in the timeline or dates you posted contradicts that.

[Elidor]

40. "timing was very opportunistic"

Good timing is always opportunistic. Perhaps they should have quit making music until people stopped talking about Nirvana?

Alice In Chains are excellent musicians, particularly Jerry Cantrell.

[vi5]

41. Yeah, but when you change your style and image.....

To fit that timing then it's opportunism and not sincerity. If someone doesn't care about that then it shouldn't impact their enjoyment of the music.

And for the record I'm not a Nirvana fan any more than I am a Tool fan or an AIC fan. I just don't like seeing bands whore themselves out to a marketing department.

[opiate69]

51. I just don't like seeing bands whore themselves out to a marketing departm

And you haven't, nor will you see Tool do that.

[Redbear]

12. Tenacious D is great.

and Ive enjoyed JB in eveything he has been in, although not always the movies themselves.

[Khephra]

19. How does Tool fit with any of those bands?

:crazy:

Talk about comparing apples to oranges!

[dwckabal]

21. oh no

Alice In Chains and Tool are light years beyond anything that Creed or Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park or Godsmack have done.

I swear I can't tell the difference between most popular bands anymore. After Linkin Park made it big, the imitators came out of the woodwork. Same with Creed.

When you hear Tool, though, you know it's Tool. Same with Alice In Chains.

[vi5]

24. See my post above.....

Opportunistic ex hair farmers who suddenly decided to jump on the deep dark alterative bandwagon may write catchy tunes but it doesn't make them any more authentic than Creed or Limp Bizkit.

[Braden]

6. I don't generally find him all that funny

but then again I dont find many of the current crop of funny men to be all that funny.

:wow:

[Cush]

9. same here

Tom Green, Jim Carey, Adam Sandler....I just don't get...

[VermontDem2004]

14. Tom Green unfunny

Jim Carrey funny in Bruce Almighty, Me,myself, and Irene, and Liar Liar. Unfunny in probaly about any other movie he has been in, he was unfunny earlier in his career but he evolved into a very funny actor. Adam Sandler, the only movie I liked him was Happy Gilmore and Bulletproof, every other movie has the same fucking plot. There is this Sandler, there is this girl, there are stuff to overcome, Sandler and the Girl fall in love. This is the same plot in Happy Gilmore, Waterboy, Mr. Deeds, Big Daddy, Little Nicky, Billy Madison, am I missing another movie?

[Braden]

18. Mr. Deeds.

You know what was funny about Mr. Deeds?

Adam Sandler took a respected actor like John Turtorro and made him into a sad pathetic man. I watched that movie on HBO last month and couldnt look away in that rubber necking car crash sort of way.

[Stevendsmith]

16. Maybe I'm wrong about Jack Black

I'll check out more of his stuff. I just haven't been impressed with what I've seen.

[Spirochete]

22. In the David Cross movie Run Ronnie Run..

he does this crazy song in a British voice, dancing around with a bunch of other people, all dressed like chimney sweeps.

[Chryslin]

48. "Run Ronnie Run"

Yes, Jack Black did a Mary-Poppins-like song called "Kick Her In The Cunt".

It was hilarious!

[Khephra]

17. I won't take you on for your personal taste opinion

But I will for this comment:


I'm sure I'll get blasted for this, but in my opinion this guy is a prime example of the entertainment industry's pathetic marketing to the lowest common denominator, which has been getting increasingly worse over the years. Yet, today he's being shopped as some comedic giant.

.........

The reason he's being pushed that way is because a lot of us have been watching him pay his dues over the last 15 years. As mentioned elsewhere, he's done great roles and he's done shitty roles--just like every actor. He's not an overnight success by any means.

"Lowest common denominator"?

Did you laugh during the scene in Wayne's World where they're listening to Queen? If so, rush out and get his work with the "D". He's a man of many talents. It's very likely that you've yet to see the full range of his work.

Hell, if you can't laugh at him playing "Jeepers Creepers" in Mr.Show, then I don't know what to say....

(agreed on the fact that most of the last few films of his has sucked though)

[Red_Storm]

26. not a big fan but ....................

he was funny as the deadbeat brother in Orange County........

[SOteric]

28. Jack Black was incredibly funny in High Fidelity.

and he can be amusing.

We're all entitled to our tastes and opinions, and I'm pleased as heck to say that mine don't much agree with yours. :hi:

[SiouxJ]

34. I find him very funny too!

and as far as music goes, I never understood why people get so irate about what they don't like. No one ties you down and forces you to listen to it. Some people like it. I'm not a fan of today's popular music either but I don't feel the need to post a thread about it. I just turn it off and plow through the thousands of alternatives at my finger tips.

edited for spelling

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SOteric]

36. Chill out, Steve. - It's her sig line. Johnny flies the bird at everyone

who reads her posts.

[SiouxJ]

42. And you need to relax

We have these things called sig lines here. I realize you're new, so you probably weren't up on that. :shrug: If you want to know about anyone's sig line, all you have to do is ask. Don't assume it's bad manners.

I didn't say you couldn't post your thoughts. I said I didn't feel the need to be so negative myself. If you get off on it fine - a lot of people do. What I was saying was that I didn't understand why people just don't listen to it instead of ranting about it. Seems simple to me.

Feel free to rant all you want.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

29. Agreed!!!

Jack Black is a "Jack Ass"

[HEyHEY]

37. I agree 100 per cnet

Same for Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller.

[CBHagman]

39. They've plastered his horrible picture all over buses and the W. Post

MAKE IT GO AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mitchum]

43. What you said...

I couldn't agree more

[TroubleMan]

44. Jack Black is funny.

Sometimes he gets scripts that aren't funny.

[Grassrooter]

45. Well, everyone's entitled to their own tastes.

I've adored Jack Black since years ago, when I caught him on Conan. It was around the time that Andy Richter (sp?), the 'sidekick', was leaving - Jack did this hilarious song on why he wanted to, why he should, be Conan's new 'sidekick' ... I loved it. I think he's very funny; he was the highlight of Orange County and High Fidelity - for me anyway.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

46. ew. limp bizkit.

:puke:

[kid shelleen]

49. Witless, talentless, seemingly

solvent addled freak. His 'peers' are 10x worse, Sandler, Spade, et al. High Fidelity sucked dick, too.

[Paragon]

53. Congrats on spectacularly missing the point

Jack & Tenacious D are satirists on par with Spinal Tap.

Actually comparing them to Creed and Limp Bizkit is incredibly unintentionally funny.