
It’s Been 43 Years Since Ozzy Bit a Bats Head off In Iowa
On January 20th, 1982, rock history witnessed one of its most shocking and infamous moments. During a live performance at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne, the "Prince of Darkness," inadvertently bit the head off a bat, an incident that has since become legendary across all genres of rock.
Heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne stands laughing over a woman chained to a table, beneath a swinging blade and an upside-down crucifix, circa 1982.
Ozzy Osbourne was known for his wild stage antics and theatrical performances. He often used props, like rubber animals and "gallons of blood" to shock and entertain his audiences. However, the events of that night took an unplanned, macabre, and extremely distasteful turn. During the concert, a fan named Mark Neal threw a bat onto the stage. Osbourne, thinking it was another prop, bit down on it. To his horror, he quickly realized the bat was real and his mouth was now full of actual bat blood.
Neal, along with Carmen Kelly, had said in interviews that they found the dead bat weeks earlier and decided it would be fitting to bring it to the concert. Neal, who won tickets to the show, smuggled the bat in and threw it toward the band during the performance.

Osbourne’s immediate reaction was one of shock and disgust, realizing he had bitten into a real animal. He was rushed to the hospital after the show and underwent a series of rabies shots, a painful process that continued throughout the rest of the tour, with injections administered to his buttocks. The fans are adamant that the bat was dead and kept in a freezer for a couple weeks leading up to the show. Ozzy, however, had said in a book and several interviews, he thought the bat moved its head and may have even bit him.
This bizarre event became a defining moment in Ozzy’s career, reinforcing his reputation as a rock and roll rebel. It also sparked widespread media attention and added to the mythos surrounding his on-stage persona. Despite the unintended nature of the act, the story of Ozzy biting the head off a bat has been recounted for decades, cementing its place in rock folklore and reoccurring across film and rock for decades now.
The incident also raised concerns about the health risks of extreme stage antics, leading Ozzy to publicly promise to avoid such behavior in the future. However, the unpredictable nature of his performances ensured that this moment would be remembered as one of the craziest in concert history.
37th anniversary of the incident"Ozzy Plush Bat" toy featuring a "detachable head"Forty-two years later, the bat-biting incident remains a vivid reminder of the unpredictability of live rock shows and the legacy of one of heavy metal’s most enduring figures.
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