“We were probably one of the only acts there singing live”: Yungblud responds to criticism over VMAs performance with Aerosmith
Last month, Yungblud joined forces with Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry for a raucous Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the VMAs. However, it was met with some criticism – namely from The Darkness’s Dan Hawkins, who called the supergroup “nauseating”.
While Hawkins’ slammed the performance, labelling it “another nail in the coffin of rock and roll” on his Instagram, Yungblud is taking the criticism on the chin. In his own words, the impassioned performance of Crazy Train, Mama, I’m Coming Home, and Changes was an “organic” display of the “power” of rock music. “I think we were probably one of the only acts singing live there,” he reflects in a new episode of The Magnificent Others podcast with Billy Corgan.
READ MORE: He brought the house down at Black Sabbath’s farewell gig, and once hilariously defied a no-moshing order at a Japan show. Like it or not, Yungblud is the star rock music needs
Elsewhere in his criticism, Hawkins noted that it felt like the group were jumping on a bandwagon “to further their own careers”. However, Yungblud doubles down on the authenticity of his love of rock and roll.
Thanks to his dad’s guitar shop, Harrison was raised around rock. “I’m a kid from a guitar shop whose education was T-Rex, Bowie, The Sex Pistols, The Clash… it’s truly in my blood, you know?” he explains.
Doubters aside, other rockers have gladly taken Harrison under their wing. Ozzy Osbourne was vocal about his appreciation of the young rocker, even gifting him a cross while filming the music video for Harrison’s 2022 single, The Funeral. Now Aerosmith are giving him the stamp of approval.
Harrison and Aerosmith are set to release a collaborative five-track EP, One More Time, this November. The first track, My Only Angel, serves as the first taste – and it sounds like a pretty strong pairing. And it was in the works long before the VMAs performance.
“Me, Steven [Tyler] and Joe [Perry] got together before the Ozzy thing was even about,” he tells the Smashing Pumpkins frontman. “We were just going to write together for fun… but when your heroes are like, ‘yo, do you want to get in the studio?’ you’re just like, ‘yeah!’”
“We heard our voices together, and Steven was like, ‘oh my God, you can get up to the places where I can go!’” he recalls. “There was almost this friendly competition between me and one of my all time vocal heroes, someone that I’ve sat in my room and studied.”
In terms of the EP, Harrison insists it’s “real fucking rock” to the core. “Like guitars, live drums, solos in every song, wailing, screaming,” he explains. “Me and Steven are just competing with each other [vocally] in the most beautiful way.”
Looking forward, the haters are going to have to suck it up, because Harrison’s rock and roll era is only just beginning. “I would love to be able to play stadium rock all over the world,” he insists. “Because I think that’s where I come alive as a frontman.”
One More Time is due to drop 21 November.
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