During the run-up and epic performance of the Back to the Beginning concert featuring Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath, music fans might have been stunned to see Yungblud's name involved. The day was supposed to be metal's best day ever. Yungblud is nowhere near being a metal artist.
Did he pay his way into the gig? He hadn't exactly been on a run of success for a bit, so maybe concert musical director (and former Rage Against the Machine guitarist) Tom Morello received a nice little Venmo from Yungblud, and Morello included the pop artist. That wouldn't seem very Morello, though.
As it turned out, it wouldn't be very Yungblud either. The truth appears to be, if you believe the artist formerly known as Dominic Richard Harrison, that Ozzy Osbourne had taken the youngest under his bat wing and provided musical and life advice. Yungblud was more of an adopted son than an interloper.
The Darkness and Yungblud feud is the one music fans didn't know we needed
Not that Justin and Dan Hawkins of the Darkness buy into that. After an MTV VMAs segment honoring Ozzy that featured Yungblud, Joe Perry, Steven Tyler, and Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt (apparently a sad attempt by MTV to replicate the Back to the Beginning farewell), Dan Hawkins did not hold back in his review of the performance.
Hawkins wrote on Instagram, "Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll. Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; s***. Makes me sick how people jump on this s*** to further their own careers."
Is he wrong? Maybe. Tyler and Perry, of course, don't really need a crutch to build their careers. Their rock bones were made decades ago. Yungblud, however? Maybe.
He has a fine voice, but his facial expressions in his performance are far too earnest. We get that he might like Ozzy Osbourne and singing an Ozzy song, but one does not have to look like they are achingly in love.
Dan's brother, Justin, the singer of the Darkness, has also weighed in on his recent podcast, Justin Hawkins Rides Again. Justin backs his brother, but uses logic to do so.
Justin Hawkins said, "There has been some discussion this week regarding my brother's comments on the Ozzy tribute and Yungblud at the VMAs...I feel like what irks musicians of a certain age is the fact that Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy, having nothing to do with the really important stuff."
That is true, too, and it goes back to Yungblud's performance at the Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath farewell gig. The young singer was in fine voice, but did he fit? Not really. Instead of riding on the proverbial coattails of others, he needs to find his own way, if he has the talent to do so.