“Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll”

Dan Hawkins performs with The Darkness. CREDIT: Gary Miller/Getty

The Darkness‘ Dan Hawkins has hit out at Yungblud and Aerosmith members’ tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at the MTV VMAs, calling them a “bunch of bellends”.

Yungblud (real name Dominic Harrison) joined forces with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Extreme’s Nuno Bettencourt to honour the late Prince Of Darkness at this year’s ceremony, which took place in Long Island, New York last night (September 7).

Together, the musicians covered Osbourne’s solo classics ‘Crazy Train’ a

nd ‘Mama, I’m Coming Home’, as well as Black Sabbath‘s ‘Changes’.

Yungblud performed his Osbourne-approved version of the latter track at Black Sabbath’s final-ever show in July, along with Bettencourt and others. He later officially released the cover, and broke down in tears when performing it on tour in the US. Sabbath’s Geezer Butler called the gig the “best show I’ve seen in years”.

Today (September 8), The Darkness’ Dan Hawkins – the younger brother of frontman Justin – shared a brief clip of Yungblud and co’s VMAs 2025 tribute. The video included Ariana Grande’s astonished reaction to the performance.

But Hawkins was less than impressed, and shared some scathing criticism in the caption. “Another nail in the coffin of rock n roll,” he wrote. “Cynical, nauseating and more importantly; shit.”