If I recall correctly, the head biting was an accident.
this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2025
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And it wasn't a bat. It was a bird. Dove or pigeon, IIRC. He thought it was a prop, not a real bird
That was a different incident, when he was negotiating with his label, iirc. I think he brought two doves to release as a symbol of peace and when negotiations went south, he intentionally bit their heads off.
The bat incident is very well-documented, and is definitely a different story.
How do you accidentally bite the head off a bat? That's like accidentally sticking your penis in someone other than your SO.
He thought it was a toy or something thrown by a member of the audience, the biting was deliberate but the live bat part was an accident
If you say oopsie daisy afterwards, it's an accident.
Dude, the internet is full of videos of the latter. As far as I can tell that's a pretty frequent occurrence - your analogy does not hold.
If I remember correctly it was supposed to be a rubber prop, but he didn't check and just went for it.
You're thinking of Alice Cooper https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot1t9KZRsV4&list=PLAOj_bjbXN1YGZqCGw26osPoa7w8-i6Dq&index=3&pp=iAQB
He's like the only major rock star from the 60s-80s period I can think of who I haven't heard about sexually harassing or assaulting someone at some point
The couple used to physically fight regularly and, according to Osbourne, they would "beat the shit out of each other." She has described herself as "a beaten woman" when she was at the hands of husband Ozzy where he once knocked out her front teeth. She once retaliated by throwing a full bottle of scotch at his head.
From https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Osbourne
The couple used to physically fight regularly and, according to Osbourne, they would "beat the shit out of each other." She has described herself as "a beaten woman" when she was at the hands of husband Ozzy where he once knocked out her front teeth. She once retaliated by throwing a full bottle of scotch at his head.
How much has society fucked me when my first thought was "well at least it was mutual abuse and he didn't rape a minor".
No. None of it is okay, what the fuck brain.
It may not be ok, but certainly better than rape. They may have passed on another form of trauma to their kids like every generation before and it may have taken quite a long time but they did finally make things and each other better. Which I think is a good relationship in my book.
From my understanding anyway. Not gonna proclaim to be some Ozzy Osbourne biographer or something.
Ah, I should've done some more research before sounding off
That's hugely disrespectful to the namesake of the social network you're posting on.
Ha, good point
I think he was assaulted as a youth so he knew the damage and trauma that can cause. I doubt he would wish those experiences on anyone.
Lemmy, Eddie Van Halen, Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio off the top of my head.
Edit: Oh and Bruce Dickinson as far as I know has also always been a standup guy.
The thing with ozzy is that all his demons were very firmly in his past and he owned up and fixed it for the most part. He used to be a drug addled asshole but he didn’t remain so
No one person has ever invented a genre of music. Dont get me wrong, I won't argue against calling him the grandad of metal or whatever it is, but he INVENTED heavey metal? Fucking insane take.
King Crimson's '21st century schizoid man' came out in '69, after the formation of black Sabbath but before their first album was released, and I think it has a decent claim to being a 'metal' song. There was definitely a vibe for that kind of musical experimentation around that time, although Black Sabbath can claim to be more defining of what 'metal' was.
Anyway yeah, agreed.
You can waste all sorts of time on the net arguing with people about who started what genres. Then you start getting into terms like proto-metal, etc.
No personal issue with your choice because it's a fucking awesome song, but if wanted to be one of those assholes I'd say it's heavy prog rock, in the pool of music metal would later draw from. That said, I'm no musicologist, and somewhere right now there's someone in a black t-shirt with a very cool but difficult to read band name on it reading this, aghast.
I think we can all agree that Black Sabbath is a cornerstone in what metal generally (and specifically sludge, stoner metal, etc.) developed into.
If that song doesn't count, then I think you really do have to hand it to Black Sabbath as the defining progenitor of the genre. Even if it does, it was an impressive exploratory foray; Black Sabbath set up camp.
Stupid thought but BS's first two albums both came out within like 14 months of that song. Perhaps it was the kernel that got their sound together. I wonder if there are any recordings of Sabbath from before the release of that song...
After making that comment, I went and compared first album dates with other bands I thought came out at a similar time, and sabbath was 5 or 10 yrs ahead of them. And Ive no idea when Earth got started. But yea King Crimson and some hippy rock who were getting a little heavier where the only big names I saw listed as metal in 1970.
I stand by he didnt invent it singlehandly, but dam if anyone else could contend for title of Grandfather of metal. I made it to a few ozzfeasts in the late 90s early 00s, great time. He fucking rocked.
Why is no one mentioning that he once peed on the Alamo?... Does no one remember the Alamo?
He didn’t piss on the actual Alamo but it was close enough Texas didn’t care
Ok, you're officially right, as in he did not pee on the actual Alamo... he peed on the Alamo Cenotaph Monument, which is the monument to honor those who fell in the battle. I'm not sure that's any better, and I can understand why the Texans were upset by it.
Well, it deserved to be pissed on, so it is a shame it was not the actual Alamo. Bunch of traitorous slavers.
That whole war was a setup to take land from Mexico. We do not need to remember it with fondness any better than Vietnam or Iraq.
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The stars at night are big and bright.
he use to
\sigh
Ohh did he somehow dethrone Lucas being the Prince of Darkness?
Joke aside, RIP
i actually needed this explanation, i'm young
Ozzy Osbourne aka: the prince of darkness and his band Black Sabbath and later solo Ozzy, are some of the originators of what we now know as heavy metal. Ozzy was well known for onstage theatrics which were popular at the time for bands like Sabbath and Alice Cooper. Big stage shows showing fake gore and violence like the precursors to Gwar. They would act out killing people and animals on stage as part of their showmanship routine and throw offal and guts into the crowd. "Worship Satan". Have women in lingerie on stage for no reason but to get covered in "blood" or act like they were being murdered. Eventually the crowds started throwing stuff back. One such stage show involved a fan throwing a "live" bat on stage. Ozzy picked it up and bit it's head off "not knowing" it was alive. There are conflicting stories about this of course.
Much of this also led to the satanic panic we experienced as kids in the 80's and 90's.
Likely a lot of these actions were because Ozzy was a raging alcoholic and drug user for much of his professional life. There are lots of interviews with him completely fucked out of his brain. He would intentionally drop acid and booze before said interviews and sometimes even his band mates couldn't handle him. Like Kieth Richards people even joked that Ozzy would outlive everyone because he had done so much stupid shit publicly over the course of his life and survived.
Ozzy was one of the artists that morphed the huge epic stage shows of the 60's rock and roll era into the chaos and drama of early heavy metal. Aside from his shortcomings Ozzy was an original rock and roll master.
It was not "his band". Although Ozzy was in Black Sabbath from the beginning, he was enlisted by Bill Ward and Tony Iommi together with Geezer Butler because as a drummer and a guitarist with a vision they needed bass and vocals with them.
Ozzy was kicked out in 1979 and started his solo career in the shock rock tradition he is mostly known for. The idea that sparked Black Sabbath however was a heavier blues than ever heard before and that was Ward and Iommi.
As you say, they were some of the originators of heavy metal. There is no single inventor of the genre. There never is. Culture is cross pollination and collaboration.
Ozzy made it "his band". That's what front men did then. The sound came.from the band. The recognition came from the front man. In this case Ozzy.
Who's band was it when they fired Ozzy?
Edit: about the front man status of the band - https://www.noise11.com/news/fact-check-did-charlie-watts-say-to-mick-jagger-youre-my-fucking-singer-20210828
Who's band when they change their sound so much they basically fall into obscurity after Ozzy leaves?
Dio was a shit front man and his presence lost fans immediately. That they hung in for three more albums was valiant but pointless. Dragging out the death of the band over the next several decades because their sound was so good without Ozzy.
And had Charlie "fired" Mick, the same fate would have befallen the rolling stones as did Sabbath. You could have all sound you want yet without the charisma you had nothing.
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Great summary, but just as a point of order apparently the bat might not have actually been alive when he bit it: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c72ppzwek90o
That being said, he apparently did on a separate occasion bite the heads off of two live doves. Dude was on hella drugs and alcohol, but goddamn was he talented.
I'm old. Ozzy was one of my childhood heros.
I don't blame you! I remember discovering him when I was in middle school and it felt like a life changing experience at the time.
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