Cliff Notes – Justin Hawkins slates Yungblud’s Ozzy Osbourne tribute as ‘what a stripper would do’
- Justin Hawkins criticises Yungblud’s tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the MTV VMAs, likening it to a performance by a male stripper and claiming it lacks authenticity.
- Hawkins expresses frustration that Yungblud positions himself as an heir to Ozzy’s legacy without a genuine connection to the rock genre’s roots.
- The Darkness frontman and his brother Dan Hawkins both condemned the tribute, with Dan calling it “cynical” and a “nail in the coffin of rock n’ roll.”
Justin Hawkins slates Yungblud’s Ozzy Osbourne tribute as ‘what a stripper would do’
Justin Hawkins has compared Yungblud’s Ozzy Osbourne tribute to ‘what a male stripper would do’ in what has become a somewhat vocal week for The Darkness brothers.
The Darkness frontman, 50, has joined his brother Dan Hawkins in blasting the MTV Video Music Awards tribute to the late Black Sabbath icon over the weekend, which saw Yungblud share the stage with Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry.
Speaking on his Justin Hawkins Rides Again podcast, he said: ‘It’s like you’ve watched a movie about rock and metal, it’s like what a male stripper would do.
‘It doesn’t ring authentic… It’s rock n’ roll, but not as we know it.
‘It kind of has this Disney veneer over the top of it, like it’s rock n’ roll seen through an Instagram filter of some sort. That’s what makes it galling I think.’
The I Believe In A Thing Called Love rocker accused the 28-year-old musician of ‘positioning himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy’ without having a connection to ‘the really important stuff’.
Yungblud and Steven Tyler performed a medley of Ozzy Osbourne songs for the VMAs tribute (Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for MTV)
He argued: ‘I suppose one of the things that irks musicians of a certain age is to watch Ozzy invent heavy metal, then turn into this post MTV household name with the television series and his decades of being brilliant, and then you kind of think ‘What the f*** does all those decades of having this incredible legacy got to do with Yungblud?’ ”
Yungblud opened the tribute to Osbourne – who died on July 22 – by singing Crazy Train and Changes with Nuno on guitar, and they were then joined by the Aerosmith duo for Mama, I’m Coming Home.
After the performance, the quartet embraced and Yungblud shouted: ‘Ozzy forever man!’
Justin also drew unfavourable comparisons to 2003 Jack Black movie School of Rock.
He added: ‘All of this posturing is Jim Morrison meets the bloke from Stone Temple Pilots meets everybody else who’s ever owned a pair of leather trousers.
Joe Perry was also rocking out – but Justin Hawkins wasn’t convinced at the spectacle (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for MTV)
He called Yungblud’s Changes rendition ‘painful’ (Picture: Gary Miller/Getty Images)
Justin said this moment reminded him of a male stripper (Picture: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for MTV)
‘It’s 101 School of Rock stuff, you know? It’s the latest in a long line of – I’m sorry to say it – posers…’
The One Way Ticket hitmaker, who called Yungblud’s rendition of Changes ‘painful’, added: ‘For seven minutes, the world is looking at rock and this is what we’ve given them.’
He asked: ‘Where are the surviving members of Black Sabbath? Why aren’t they there?’
Justin, who admitted he was quite jealous of Yungblud getting to sing with Steven Tyler, recorded the video for his YouTube in an effort to explain his brother’s social media post slamming the performance.
‘It was born of a triggered state. Maybe I will be able to contextualise that,’ he said.
Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins fumed on Instagram earlier this week: ‘Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; s***.’
Seemingly referring to Yungblud, he added: ‘Makes me sick how people jump on this s*** to further their own careers.’
He also captioned a clip from Mama, I’m Coming Home: ‘What a bunch of b***ends.’
Meanwhile, fans were buzzing at the performance, which took place on Sunday night in New York.
@bobbyseelye92 wrote on YouTube: ‘Coolest thing to happen on VMAs in the last 25 years.’
‘Now THAT was a proper tribute,’ said @carminecaligiuri, while @patiymuchoflowcrew said: ‘EVERYTHING about this performance, Steven’s voice and spirit still giving it all, also YB pulling out all the cards, and the way you can see Steven getting emotional at the very end when he flicks his hand and covers his face with it.
Ozzy Osbourne died in July after years of health problems (Picture: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
‘Respect, perfect tribute, perfect soulful, fiery performance all those involved!!’
Yungblud, who performed with Ozzy at the iconic Back to the Beginning night just weeks before his death, took to social media before the VMAs with a black and white photo of them together.
‘They’ve ‘asked me to pay tribute to you at the @vmas on Sunday night. I’ll try my best to do you proud Oz. Tune in from up there. I love you forever,’ he said.
It was a relief for Aerosmith fans to see frontman Steven, 77, back in action, after a vocal injury – which includes a fractured larynx and damaged vocal cords – marked the end of his touring days.
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