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Ozzy Osbourne’s Wildest, Most Outrageous and Most Beloved Pop Culture Moments

Ant snorting, dove biting, and bat chomping, too — here’s how the Prince of Darkness left an indelible mark on the world

Ozzy Osbourne

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If Ozzy Osbourne had vanished from public life forever after Black Sabbath kicked him out in 1979, he still would have gone down in history as a monumental figure, thanks to his pivotal role in the creation of heavy metal. And had he truly retired in 1992 following his first farewell tour, he’d still be a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee due to his groundbreaking solo career.

But as Jack Black explained when he inducted Osbourne into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, this was merely the beginning for Ozzy. “He teamed up with his family to create another genre, reality TV, maybe the most evil thing he ever did,” Black said. “Then what? Oh, maybe just a little thing called Ozzfest, only the most successful heavy metal music festival of all time. Ozzy, stop creating incredibly successful, genre-defining, world-changing hits. It’s too much success for one lifetime.”

Ozzy’s cultural impact goes even deeper than Sabbath, his solo career, the Osbournes, and Ozzfest. Here’s a look at other pop culture moments from Osbourne’s epic life that people will be talking about for decades to come.

Bat Out of Hell

Technically, it was an accident. Then again, who other than Ozzy Osbourne would find themselves in a position to accidentally bite the head off a live bat? The creature found its way onstage at Osbourne’s Jan. 20, 1982 show in Des Moines during the part of the show where Ozzy chucked raw meat into the crowd, and they threw back whatever they’d snuck in. Osbourne thought the bat was made of rubber, hence his decision to take a bite. The incident affirmed Osbourne’s madman reputation, garnered him more press attention than he’d ever received, and also forced him to undergo a painful series of rabies shots. “It got to the point where people expected me to do crazier and crazier things,” Osbourne once said. “I’ll tell you what guys — it ain’t fun when you get them rabies shots.” —A.G.

Ozzy Has a Very Unfortunate Meeting With a Couple of Doves

In 1981, Sharon Osbourne had the rather lovely idea of releasing live doves when Ozzy met with Epic executives. But her husband was blackout drunk that day, and bit the head off one of the birds when it landed on his knee. “This carcass was flapping around the table and feathers were flying,” Ozzy said years later. “They were all throwing up all over the place. People were freaked.” The label threw him out of the building, but Ozzy bit the head off another dove and threw it at reception before his exit. (It’s important to keep in mind that Ozzy loved animals. He just wasn’t in a place where he could make wise decisions at this point in his life.) —A.G.