Back in 2003, Jack Black snatched the world’s attention with his first lead role in the blockbuster School of Rock, starring alongside a cast of child prodigies. But when Jack and his “students” brought the film’s main tune, “Teacher’s Pet,” to the television stage for a rare live performance during the School of Rock publicity tour, no one was prepared for what the cast was about to pull off, let alone how emotional this clip would become decades later.
Racking up more than 411,000 views to date, Music Man readers can watch the School of Rock cast’s live set unfold in the viral video below…
If you’ve seen the film, you’ll remember the song: “Teacher’s Pet” is the track Jack and his prodigy students bring to the Battle of the Bands contest after an entire semester of ditching their usual timetable to rehearse and revise rock history.
But as the cast re-enacts their roles on the TV stage, their chemistry shines brighter than ever before. Jack goes feral as the band’s frontman, living out his character’s rock god dream while the child stars form his backing band, playing live and low-key stealing the show. Each actor-musician plays their instrument live, hyping up each other’s energy without missing a single beat or note; their live sound as solid as any studio recording or pro/adult band performance.
Maryam Hassan (a.k.a. Tomika, the classmate who reveals her singing voice in a shock moment) reprises her role as the surprise maestra, following Jack’s chorus with a soulful solo where she reaches some incredible high notes before riffing with Jack in a hilarious moment. It almost outshines the moment just before, where Jack sings an entire erratic guitar solo, refusing to play it on the guitar slung around his neck.
By the end of the clip, Joey Gaydos Jr. is slaying a guitar solo (for real, this time) and proving what prodigies the entire cast actually are. However, one student’s appearance is filling film fans’ hearts with grief.
Kevin Alexander Clark, who played the movie’s student drummer Freddy Jones, tragically passed away in 2021 at the age of 32, after a road collision while he was riding a bicycle. And as this publicity performance goes viral, fans are flooding the comments section with ‘Rest in Peace’ messages and nostalgic thoughts on what he added to the hit film.