Time flies (pun intended) when you’re famous for biting the head off of a bat. Believe it or not, the late and great Ozzy Osbourne famously bit the head off of a real bat on this day exactly 44 years ago.
The incident, which took place on January 20, 1982, at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, during his tour promoting Diary of a Madman, became a massive part of rock history. Uniquely, the entire tour featured a particularly heavy metal interactive element where he catapulted raw meat into the audience. What else would you expect from the Prince of Darkness?
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To this day, some onlookers swear the bat was already dead. Of course, Osbourne assumed, at first, that the bat thrown onstage was nothing more than a rubber prop, then later realized it was alive. In his autobiography, I Am Ozzy, he recounts the moment, “Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong. For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid…Then the head in my mouth twitched.”
Of course, Osbourne was rushed to the hospital for a round of shots…because having rabies is not metal at all!
While some of the exact details remain disputed to this day, one thing is for sure: the bat incident is nothing short of an iconic moment in Osboure’s career.
To celebrate the anniversary, the official Ozzy Osbourne merch store is sharing a plush bat with a detachable head, featuring the artist’s logo. Grab yours for $40.
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