Justin Hawkins compares Yungblud’s Ozzy Osbourne tribute at MTV VMAs to David Hasselhoff: “101 School of Rock stuff”
The Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins has waded into the debate surrounding Yungblud’s tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the MTV VMAs.
At the awards ceremony, which took place in New York at the UBS Arena on September 7th, Yungblud honoured the late Black Sabbath icon with assistance from Nuno Bettencourt, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler.
It also later emerged that Yungblud wore trousers once owned by Iggy Pop and a necklace gifted to him by Osbourne for the performance, which saw him deliver renditions of ‘Changes’, ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’ and ‘Crazy Train’.
Following the event, The Darkness guitarist Dan Hawkins, Justin’s brother and bandmate, took to Instagram to describe the tribute as “another nail in the coffin of rock’n’roll”, as well as describing it as “cynical, nauseating and, more importantly, shit”. He concluded by calling those involved “a bunch of bellends”.
Now, his brother, Justin, has taken to his YouTube channel, Justin Hawkins Rides Again, which boasts more than 600,000 subscribers, addressed his brother’s comments, and also gave his thoughts on the performance.
“There has been some discussion this week regarding my brother’s comments on the Ozzy tribute and Yungblud at the VMAs,” he began by saying. “Was it really necessary to refer to anyone as a ‘Bellend’? Let me try to explain.”
Hawkins firstly discussed Yungblud’s grand red carpet entrance, stating, “So the minute he got there, he was like ‘OK, this is for Ozzy.’ One difference though, Ozzy was fucking hilarious, he really was funny.”
He continued his analysis: “I suppose one of the things that irks musicians of a certain age is to watch Ozzy invent heavy metal, then turn into this household name with the television series and his decades of being brilliant, and then you kind of think ‘What the fuck does all those decades of having this incredible legacy got to do with Yungblud?'”
Hawkins then said that “musicians of a certain age” are likely irked due to the fact “Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy” despite not being connected to the formation of metal.
The Darkness singer 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. It’s 101 School of Rock stuff, you know? It’s the latest in a long line of – I’m sorry to say it – poseurs. For seven minutes, the world is looking at rock and this is what we’ve given them.”
Hawkins then compared the performance to a Disney Channel version of metal, adding, “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.”
The frontman continued his scathing pop culture comparisons by saying, “It’s actually like watching David Hasselhoff, who I think is one of the greats… So when I say that, it’s not actually an insult. I just mean that it’s like rock ‘n’ roll done by somebody who, perhaps, was famous for driving a talking car and felt reassured by wearing little red shorts and looking after you at the beach. It’s like a television personality doing rock ‘n’ roll.”
Yungblud had a relationship with Osbourne before his death, and performed a cover of ‘Changes’ at the rock legend’s farewell show just weeks before his death at Villa Park in Birmingham. He has since vowed to perform the Black Sabbath song at each of his shows going forward in order to remember his late friend.
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