Ozzy Osbourne, the eccentric lead singer of Black Sabbath and one of the most provocative icons of heavy metal, died this Monday, July 22, 2025 at the age of 76. His legacy includes immortal anthems like Paranoid and Crazy Train, but is also marked by surreal episodes such as biting the head off a bat during a concert... and another time, that of a dove.
Yes, Ozzy was not only “the Prince of Darkness.” He was also the king of excesses, and built a public figure that mixed musical genius with absolute chaos.
The day he accidentally ate a bat
On January 20, 1982, during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne starred in one of the most unusual moments in rock history. A fan threw a bat (yes, a real one) onto the stage, and Ozzy, thinking it was fake, bit its head off live.
He had to be hospitalized immediately and received rabies vaccines. Since then, the image of Ozzy with a bat in his mouth became a dark legend of rock. So much so that in 2020, in the midst of a revival of his career, he released a commemorative bat plush toy for sale, with a removable head. The merchandise sold out in hours.
He also bit a pigeon... intentionally
A year before the bat incident, Ozzy had already shown a little taste -literally- of his most provocative side. In a meeting with CBS Records executives, while trying to promote his solo career, he took out a white dove... and bit its head off.
The act was his way of protesting for feeling ignored during the meeting, although, ironically, from there his career took off even more. Not only did he scandalize the media, but he also reinforced his image as the enfant terrible of rock.
An icon that transcended music
Despite the excesses and scandals, Ozzy Osbourne was also a prodigious musician. As the vocalist of Black Sabbath, he pioneered the dark sound of metal, and in his solo career he experimented with sounds, collaborations, and genres. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, won multiple Grammys, and sold over 100 million records.
He even starred in the reality show The Osbournes, which made him a popular figure beyond music.
A goodbye that hurts... but is not forgotten
His family confirmed that Ozzy died surrounded by his loved ones, weeks after giving his farewell concert in Birmingham, his hometown. In that show, called “Back to the Beginning,” he performed from a throne, physically weakened but with his spirit intact.
Ozzy is leaving, but he leaves behind a unique legacy: that of an artist who turned chaos into art, and scandals into symbols of creative freedom.