Yungblud is an English singer, songwriter and actor, and he was vaulted into the consciousness of rock fans earlier this year with his performance of “Changes” at the Ozzy/Black Sabbath “Back To The Beginning” farewell concert. While many people praised the performance, brothers Justin and Dan Hawkins of The Darkness remain unimpressed.
Dan took to social media following another Yungblud performance, this time as part of an Ozzy tribute with Aerosmith at the MTV VMAs. “What a bunch of bellends,” Dan wrote. “Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; sh*t. Makes me sick how people jump on this sh*t to further their own careers. #whatabunchofc*nts.”
Yungblud previously starred on the Disney Channel show “The Lodge” as a boy-next-door rocker. Justin Hawkins referenced this while clarifying why he and his brother have criticized Yungblud’s tributes. “If the future of rock comes from musical theatre and Disney, if this is Ozzy’s heir, we’re in trouble,” Justin told Classic Rock. “We said it was a bit ‘sh*t’ (because of the) auto-tune that was being run in real time,” he continued. “If the future of rock needs auto-tune to carry a song, then we are in trouble.”
Yungblud previously told Ozzy’s son, Jack: “You will never see someone that’s bigger or more emotionally evolved than you talk sh*t on you. You ain’t ever going to see f*cking James Hetfield slag off a young rock star, because he’s James f*cking Hetfield. They don’t need to insert themselves into a conversation. Because they’re emotionally evolved and they know what it takes to get somewhere.”
“I think the strangest thing about that was all I was trying to do was my best for your old man, because he gave me such a gift,” Yungblud continued. “When people try and intellectualize a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going ‘f*cking love you man’, it’s just bitter and jealous. They are doing the things they say we are doing. They’re trying to insert themselves into a conversation to obtain some kind of relevancy, on the back of us honouring one of the greatest rock stars that ever lived. And then they talk about authenticity and stuff like that. I just loved your dad.”
