Tom Morello has shed light on Yungblud‘s cover of ‘Changes’ at Black Sabbath’s ‘Back To The Beginning’, revealing that just 48-hours before, “he wasn’t gonna be the singer of that song”.
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The Rage Against the Machine musician reflected on his hand in the landmark show in a recent chat with 98KUPD Radio (via Blabbermouth), where he touched on his aims to curate “the greatest day in the history of heavy metal”.
“Heavy metal is the music that made me love music, it’s in the DNA of 90 per cent of my favourite artists,” he said. “So, if we’re gonna do this, we really have to treat it with the gravity that it deserves. I will say that once the actual day started, and, dude, it was thousands of hours of preparation and worry and anxiety and changing around stuff – changed in the last 24 hours.”
“Once it actually started, I had to let go. I’m, like, ‘OK, the bands are now gonna play their songs, or they’re gonna fall off the stage. I can’t control it anymore.’” When asked if there were any “hard calls” that he had to make during those hours, Morello said there were thousands in the lead up.
“One of the greatest moments of it was Yungblud singing ‘Changes’,” he continued. “Well, 48 hours before, he wasn’t gonna be the singer of that song.”
“Things were changing… I landed at Heathrow Airport and I got a call, like, ‘That’s not happening.’ So I’m, like, ‘OK, let’s figure it out.’ And it turned out to be one of the highlights. But that’s the gig, that’s what the gig is.”
Having vowed to sing ‘Changes’ at every gig he’ll ever play following Ozzy’s death, Yungblud won his first ever Grammy for Best Rock Performance last week (February 1) for his rendition of the Black Sabbath track at the band’s farewell.
Dedicating the award to Ozzy, he said: “We would all like to thank Sharon, Jack, Kelly and Aimee for this opportunity, and everyone at the ‘Back To The Beginning’ show. Six generations of rock musicians came together in the name of our genre, in the name of Sabbath and in the name of Ozzy Osbourne.”
The Doncaster musician led a supergroup at ‘Back To The Beginning’, also including Nuno Bettencourt from Extreme on guitar, II from Sleep Token on drums and Adam Wakeman of Ozzy Osbourne’s band – and son of rock legend Rick – on keys.
He also paid tribute to Ozzy at the VMAs back in September, joining forces with Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith and Bettencourt. The medley he performed attracted criticism from the likes of The Darkness, whose guitarist Dan Hawkins called the performance “another nail in the coffin of rock n roll” and called Yungblud and co “a bunch of bellends”.
Dan’s brother Justin – frontman for The Darkness – would later expand on Dan’s comments on his YouTube channel, describing the performance as “rock n’ roll seen through an Instagram filter of some sort” and adding: “Yungblud seems to have positioned himself as a natural heir to the Ozzy legacy, having nothing to do with the really important stuff.”
Yungblud later responded to criticisms of his tribute on Jack Osbourne’s podcast, saying: “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.”
He then referenced the gold cross Ozzy gave Yungblud just before he played Black Sabbath’s final show. “When people try and intellectualise a sense of spirit and six musicians on a stage going fucking love you man, it’s just bitter and jealous,” he added.
In a subsequent video about Yungblud’s VMAs tribute, Justin Hawkins expanded on his thoughts: “What I was saying was that it comes off like a TV personality doing rock […] We can’t live in this culture where criticism is not allowed. When I’ve done embarrassing things, people have called me out, and I appreciate that kind of guidance and criticism. That’s how you become a better artist.”
Yungblud previously told NME about his relationship with Osbourne shortly after his passing, saying: “Ozzy was always my north star. Ozzy Osborne and David Bowie meant everything to me. Ozzy was a character in my life who was a reflection of everything I went through.
“I was always a bit over the top. I was always seen to be a bit crazy. I was always seen to be a bit loud, but when some people saw that as a negative, Ozzy would provide me with the hope that there was an avenue for someone like me in the world.”
