'He’s joined the bat': The night Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne bit off a bat's head live on stage

Ozzy Osbourne, dubbed Prince of Darkness, and Black Sabbath frontman died at the age of 76.

Ozzy Osbourne, music's very own Prince of Darkness, passed away at 76, cementing his place in rock history for his personal and his band, Black Sabbath's, contribution to metal. Among the many crazy antics from the frontman of the Birmingham-based band, one that stands out most infamously is the time Ozzy bit off a bat's head.

Ozzy Osbourne had to get a rabies shot after biting a bat's head off (X/@AppleMusic)

All aboard the crazy train: When Ozzy bit off a bat's head

Osbourne was in the US, as part of the ‘Diary of a Madman’ tour, when he bit off the bat's head. The incident took place at the Des Moines Veterans Memorial Auditorium on January 20, 1982.

However, what has gone down as one of the most iconic moments in metal history was actually an accident.

Ozzy had a ritual at the time, where he would throw raw meat at the concertgoers, and they threw back whatever they had snuck in. During this performance, one person chucked a bat at Ozzy and he bit its head, thinking it was fake.

However, Ozzy's mouth filled with blood, which is when he realized that it was a live bat.

Speaking about it in the 2020 documentary ‘The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne’, the ‘Mr Crowley’ singer explained, “I thought it was a rubber bat. I picked it up, put it in my mouth, crunched down, bit into it, being the clown that I am.”

Ozzy, at the time, had also noted that bats were the biggest carriers of rabies in the world, and explained that after the show, he was in a hospital to get rabies shots – one in each ear.

Speaking to People, Ozzy had said the incident would follow him for life. “I know when I eventually do leave this place, it's going to be, 'Ah, the man who bit the head off the bat — he joined the bat today. I mean, I've achieved quite a lot in my life, but all people do is go, 'Ozzy, what do bats really taste like? Was it dead?' But I'll tell you what, when they gave me the rabies shot, I wasn't smiling.”

The legendary singer also explained why he liked throwing meat at the attendees, saying he liked ‘old movies which used to have custard pie fights.'

“It gave me this idea to throw, instead of pie, bits of meat and animal parts into the audience. I thought it was hilarious. [They’d throw back] sheep testicles, live snakes, dead rats, all kinds of things. Someone once threw a live frog onstage. It was the biggest frog I’d ever seen, and it landed on its back,” he said.

However, Ozzy soon grew tired of the gag as people resorted to ‘crazier’ things, with the singer admitting that it was no fun when one had to get a rabies shot.

Notably, a Des Moines concert goer, Mark Neal, later came forward claiming he was the one who threw the bat, though he said that it was dead.