Justin Hawkins has warned music is “in trouble” if Yungblud is the future of rock.
The Darkness frontman sparked upset when he blasted the I Think I’m Okay hitmaker’s MTV VMAs tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne and while he doesn’t see the row as a “spat”, he stands by his comments over Yungblud’s use of autotune.
He told Classic Rock magazine: “I don’t see it as a spat. We said everything we want to say about the VMAs, and in some ways that’s cynical and nauseating and a bit s***.
“But the ‘bit s***’ bit comes from the auto-tune that was being run in real time.
“If the future of rock needs auto-tune to carry a song, then we are in trouble.
“Also, if the future of rock comes from musical theatre and Disney, if this is Ozzy’s heir, we’re in trouble.
“We’ve said everything we wanted to say, and the only reason why it’s an ongoing feud and he’s come back and said, ‘Oh they’re bitter and jealous’ is because they know we’re right. It’s sad really.”
Yungblud previously slammed “bitter and jealous” rock star critics of his Osbourne tribute at the MTV VMAs, after he took to the stage with Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt and Aerosmith duo Steven Tyler and Joe Perry to pay tribute to the late Black Sabbath icon, who died aged 76 in July.
He said on Jack Osbourne’s Trying Not To Die podcast: “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.
“When people try and intellectualise a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going ‘f****** 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.”