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The most recent version of the song “Mama, I’m Coming Home” by Ozzy Osbourne performed by Carrie Underwood on the Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM ignited a torrent of mixed reactions. While under the Hard Rock Block on SiriusXM Channel 60, Carrie was supposed to showcase her rock influences; however, the Underwood version stirred much debate, both on her style of singing and on the appropriateness of her song choice.
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A SiriusXM promotional post was urging listeners to tune in on Saturday nights to hear Carrie Underwood’s hard rock picks. It commented on Underwood’s reflections of performing with Axl Rose at the Stagecoach Festival and encouraged fans to hear her take on the Ozzy classic. The general idea was to set Carrie up as an artist who could move effortlessly between various worlds and is most comfortable in the rock world. The reaction was anything but unanimous.
A sharp backlash followed. A user said with an undertone of hilarity: “Those Mama I’m Coming Home covers need to be stopped 😂,” setting off a lengthy discussion. Another commiserated with dislike for the country-style vocal delivery: “I mean she has a strong voice and some good lungs, but the country accent should be left out for this song, even if that is her category. It is a rock song after all.” Many others expressed their displeasure with the direction taken: “Sorry it’s a big fat no from me you just slaughtered Ozzy 😢.”
There were opposing views on the criticisms. A few people expressed: “Don’t cover songs because you can. Cover songs because you can capture the emotion of the song. Carrie is technically outstanding, but she sings with all of the heart of an overripe plum. This is abysmal.” Grammatically speaking, this means Underwood and Osbourne are at odds technically, but when it comes to feeling, the two don’t mix at all.
Quite a peculiar trend is forcing in some and almost always political comments about Underwood’s supposed MAGA affiliation to be included in the complaints, thus giving birth to a parallel conversation wherever both artistic and political judgments are mutually confronted.
The entire discussion, however, was not set in stone. A supporter of the performance tried to correct the issue and insisted that “this cover was done 2-3 yrs ago with the blessing of Sharon at the Howard Stern Show and Ozzy literally called Howard to say how much he loved it.” For a precious moment or two, civility was restored as indictors had to consider the original composer’s point of view. One of them added, “let’s agree to disagree and I appreciate the civil discourse but for what it’s worth, Ozzy was truly iconic.”
Here was another dominant thread that found itself muffled in comments: the fatigue from the very Ozzy tunes that went for so many covers. One user provocatively asked, “Do ppl realize ozzy has more songs then mamma im comin home and changes😂,” thus kicking off a thread for fans to list their favorite metal legend deep cuts-from “Mr. Crowley” to “Goodbye to Romance.”
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The reaction to Underwood’s rock rendition thus exposed all those hurdles that crossover artists usually experience. Being Ozzy Osbourne’s endorsement is indeed an endorsement that weighs in her favor, but the very presence of a loud chorus of detractors hollering about how inappropriate her rendition was in terms of grit couldn’t quite be crushed. But then that conversation spilled into the personal lives of artists, descending into a realm wherein public opinion regarding their art is usually affected. The extremely passionate reactions both for and against attest to the longevity of the original song in that the audience regard the direction of a performance with immense feelings. The whole controversy actually gave both sides of the aisle a good rundown—all else considered, the decision is yet too polarizing. This performance was part of a series of events, including a recent Grand Ole Opry performance. A flashback photo of the rock legend also sparked nostalgia during this time. Fans also got a glimpse of her process with a stunning transformation from rehearsal to stage.
This story originally appeared on Celebrityinsider
