While the Yungblud-led VMAs tribute of Ozzy Osbourne was hailed by many – especially for bridging the gap between younger rock luminaries and veterans such as Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Perry, and Steven Tyler – the Darkness' Dan and Justin Hawkins were less than impressed by the performance.
In fact, they took to social media to deem it as “another nail in the coffin of rock n roll” and “cynical, nauseating and more importantly; shit.” Furthermore, there was a further insinuation that Yungblud was using Ozzy's legacy to further his own career.
After responding to these criticisms on Billy Corgan's The Magnificent Others, Yungblud is now taking things a step further on Jack Osbourne's Trying Not to Die podcast.
Osbourne opens up the difficult conversation with, “After the VMAs, some rock stars were slagging you off. Kind of being like, ‘Oh, he's just clout chasing. He's jumping on the bandwagon of Ozzy passing.’ But I kind of wanted to use this opportunity to talk about [this] – because as a family, we've talked about this, you've been so graceful over the last two months.
“But you were so much more involved, and we've respected that. You've respected that, but these people didn't fucking know... Dom [Harrison, Yungblud] meant something to my Dad. My Dad meant something to Dom.”
Osbourne goes on to say that he texted him on the night of the VMAs, and, on behalf of the whole family, told him to “crush it.”
“All I was trying to do was my best for your old man,” replies Yungblud. “Because he gave me such a gift. And when people try and intellectualize a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going, ‘We fucking love you, man,’ it's just bitter and jealous.”
According to Yungblud, the naysayers – especially those of a certain profile – are trying to “insert themselves into a conversation to obtain some kind of relevancy on the back of us honoring one of the greatest rock stars that ever lived”.
He continues, “I'm just gonna do it, and I'm gonna channel him, and I'm gonna do his ‘Hahahas,’ and I'm gonna do his hands, and I'm gonna do his eyes, and I'm gonna wear his cross, and I'm gonna just fucking do it, because what the fuck else are we gonna do?
“I couldn't fucking sleep, so I texted your old man the night before, and it didn't go through. I literally just said, ‘Tomorrow, I just want [you] to know wherever you are, I love you, and I'll give you everything I got.’”
Yungblud also notes that, “you will never see someone that's bigger or more emotionally evolved than you talk shit on you”.
“You ain't ever gonna see fucking James Hetfield slag off a young rock star. No, because he's James fucking Hatfield,” he observes. “[You ain't ever gonna] see your dad slag off a fucking rock star because they [haven't] got anything to prove. They don't need to insert themselves into a conversation.”
Elsewhere, Yungblud and Aerosmith recently announced that they're releasing an EP together.
