Curious Historian

By Sarah Norman | April 28, 2023

Ozzy Dismembered A Shark While Touring With Black Sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne, the iconic frontman of Black Sabbath and successful solo artist, has lived a life that's as wild as the music he's known for. From drug-fueled exploits with rock royalty like Motley Crue and Van Halen to wanton destruction of hotel rooms and national monuments, Ozzy has been at the center of some of the most outlandish stories in rock 'n' roll history.

Now, in this gallery of Ozzy's craziest moments, we invite you to delve deeper into the mythos of this larger-than-life figure. Whether you're a longtime fan or simply fascinated by the excesses of rock stardom, you won't want to miss these tales of Ozzy's wildest exploits. So come along for the ride and discover the incredible stories that have made Ozzy Osbourne a legend in his own time.

Tony Iommi shared a shocking story during his 2011 interview with the New York Post while promoting his book Iron Man: My Journey through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath. According to Iommi, his bandmate Ozzy Osbourne took their drug-fueled antics to a new level when he hauled a shark into their hotel room, dismembered it, and covered the room in blood. Iommi portrayed this incident as just another day on tour for Black Sabbath, as drugs often lead to boredom and reckless behavior. The fact that Iommi provided no additional context and presented the story as normal behavior is both alarming and disturbing.

He Bit The Head Off a Dove In Front Of A Group Of Executives

After leaving Black Sabbath to pursue a solo career, Ozzy Osbourne wanted to impress his new record label CBS. As a gesture of goodwill, he decided to release a set of doves into the air. However, things took a bizarre turn when Ozzy bit the head off the closest dove and spat it onto the ground while he was reportedly intoxicated. Despite describing the release of doves as a "sign of peace," the CBS bosses were initially indifferent to Osbourne's actions. It was only after this shocking incident that they started to take notice of him.

He Also Bit The Head Off A Bat

During his 1982 solo tour stop in Des Moines, Ozzy Osbourne was at the height of his infamy and demonstrated his audacious persona. The singer famously bit the head off a bat, an act that has become one of the defining moments of his career. In an interview on the TV show Night Flight, Osbourne explained that he initially thought the bat was a fake rubber prop, but soon realized it was real after he picked it up. When asked if the bat was alive, Osbourne confirmed that it was until he bit its head off. This deranged episode has become a lasting legacy of Osbourne's music career. Osbourne recalls:

He Was So Rude To A Group Of Satanists That They Cursed Him

In his autobiography, I Am Ozzy, the beloved British singer recounted an experience where his band was invited to perform at Stonehenge, the Druid Mecca of Britain. He expressed disbelief upon learning that some people actually practiced the occult. Osbourne described encountering individuals in black robes and white makeup who invited him and his bandmates to attend black masses at Highgate Cemetery in London after their performances. The incident left a lasting impression on Osbourne, who shared this anecdote in his memoir. He writes

He Once Accidentally Drugged A Vicar

Osbourne knows how to party, so much so that he brings non-partiers into his orbit just by merely existing - that includes members of the clergy. He told GQ:

He continued:

Ozzy Got Wasted In The White House

In 2002, during their peak of reality TV fame, the Osbourne family was bizarrely invited as guests to The White House. However, the event turned out to be a nightmare for George W. Bush, the then US President. Ozzy Osbourne, the notorious Black Sabbath leader, made the most of the free bar and had a great time, while Bush was allegedly so annoyed with him that he muttered, "This might have been a mistake." The two never developed a friendship and haven't met since.

He Nearly Killed Sharon

Ozzy Osbourne would often party for days on end, getting blackout drunk and leaving him with immense anxiety when he wakes up with a massive hangover. His biggest fear was waking up with no recollection of the previous night and having potentially killed someone in a fit of violence. Unfortunately, his worst nightmare nearly became a reality. He recalled:

He "Redecorated" The Alamo

Ozzy Osbourne, during a night out hitting the bars of San Antonio, Texas, in 1982 got so drunk that he ended up urinating on the sacred cenotaph, an act that led to his arrest. Adding to the bizarre incident, he was wearing one of Sharon's dresses after she hid his clothes to stop him from going out, but it didn't deter him. Despite being heavily intoxicated, Ozzy was arrested by the police for his actions. A decade later, Ozzy is said to have donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas caretakers of The Alamo before saying:

People Thought He Died After A Cocaine Duel

During a concert in Alabama in November 1978, Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath. Following the show, Ozzy Osbourne and David Lee Roth decided to challenge each other on who could consume the most illegal drugs without dying. The next morning, when their tour bus arrived in Nashville, Ozzy was missing, causing panic among the band and police being called. After a few hours of uncertainty, Ozzy was found in the hotel lobby, wobbling, but alive, and was greeted with chants of "Ozzy is alive."

Ozzy Had A Personal Little Person Who Accompanied Him On Tour

In the early days of his career, Ozzy Osbourne used his wealth to fulfill his desires, which included bringing a little person on tour with him. John Edward Allen, a Broadway actor who had appeared in movies such as Bladerunner and Under the Rainbow, caught Osbourne's attention, and he was subsequently hired to join him on his Diary of a Madman and Speak of the Devil Tours.

Osbourne Snorts Ants With Mötley Crüe And Lives To Tell The Tale

In 1984, Mötley Crüe and Osbourne went on a tour filled with drug use and outrageous stunts. As part of a competition to outdo each other, Osbourne reportedly snorted a line of ants while at a hotel in Florida, cementing his reputation as the wildest member of the tour while maintaining his legend status. Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx writes of this experience in The Dirt:

TV Party

It wouldn't be a collection of stories about Ozzy Osbourne if there weren't chaos. While staying with guitarist Zakk Wylde at The Four Seasons, Ozzy Osbourne grew bored and decided to throw a TV out of the window in a move that has become iconic in the world of rock 'n' roll. Without hesitation, he opened the window, picked up the TV, and hurled it out, causing a loud explosion when it hit the ground below. However, at the time, they were unaware that a man smoking outside the hotel was just seconds away from being struck by the high-impact TV. Ozzy was held responsible for the damages and ended up paying not only for the TV but also for three months' worth of room time, which totaled more than £40,000.

He Drove His Pregnant Wife To The Hospital While He Was Completely Wasted

It is a well-known fact that Ozzy Osbourne has never been one to shy away from a drink. However, when his first wife Thelma went into labor with their first child, the situation became more serious than a mere social indulgence. Urged by Thelma's insistence to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible, Ozzy found himself in a pickle. Not only was he drunk as a skunk, but he didn't even possess a driver's license. Despite the circumstances, Ozzy accepted the challenge, and with Thelma in tow, set off on his journey. Despite the odds stacked against them, they ultimately arrived at the hospital in time for Thelma to deliver their child later that day.

He Is... Cow Man

Before he became the frontman of one of the most influential heavy metal bands in history, Ozzy Osbourne spent years working a variety of unglamorous jobs. His resume included stints testing car horns, plumbing, and even thievery, but perhaps the most unexpected of all was his time at Digbeth Slaughterhouse, where he toiled for two years. At the tender age of sixteen, this was the first job Ozzy truly excelled at. Initially tasked with carving open carcasses and removing their innards, he soon rose through the ranks to become a cow killer, a role he described as involving "man-on-cow death matches." He later developed a specialty in removing cows' stomachs and dispatching pigs.

He Was Convicted Of Burglary Before He Was 18 Years Old

At the tender age of 18, Ozzy Osbourne found himself on the wrong side of the law, having been apprehended and found guilty of burglary. He served a six-week sentence at Winston Green Prison for his crime. Ozzy's haul, it transpired, was a modest one: a television set that tumbled onto him during his escape and was ultimately left behind, along with some infant clothing that he had mistakenly believed was adult-sized, and a smattering of t-shirts. In retrospect, Ozzy ruefully acknowledged his ineptitude as a thief, remarking, "I tried a bit of burglary, but I was useless."

He Used Patrol Car As A Urinal

Following a boozy dinner in Memphis back in 1984, Ozzy Osbourne vanished for the evening. According to accounts given in a recent documentary, the next thing he knew, he was waking up in the great outdoors, with a pressing need to answer nature's call. In a moment of alcohol-fueled misjudgment, Ozzy relieved himself on an unmarked police car, thoroughly drenching it in the process. The arresting officer allegedly told Osbourne:

It's clear that when alcohol is in the mix Ozzy has little care for where he is or who's around.

He Was Terrified By Whitney Houston

On a recent installment of "Ozzy Speaks," the SiriusXM channel hosted by the legendary heavy metal icon, Ozzy Osbourne recounted a chilling encounter with the late R&B icon Whitney Houston that left him badly shaken. He said:

Osbourne couldn't figure out how he knew Houston, but he assumed that he must have. He continued:

When Houston walked right up to Ozzy and said, "good to see you," he was even more confused. Ozzy looked to Sharon after the run in and said, "I never knew you knew Whitney Houston." She responded, "You never asked."

He Was Fired From Black Sabbath For Being Too Rock N Roll

After completing a 1978 tour with Van Halen, Black Sabbath relocated to Los Angeles, where they spent a year immersed in the creative process for their next album while indulging in whatever substances took their fancy. However, according to bandmate Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne's behavior during this time was on another level entirely. Despite the band coming up with new song ideas, Osbourne seemed disinterested and refused to sing them. As pressure mounted from the record label and frustrations with Osbourne's lack of input boiled over, Iommi ultimately made the fateful decision to dismiss the singer in 1979. For Iommi, it was a choice between letting Osbourne go or breaking up the band altogether. Iommi said:

Drummer Bill Ward, who was closest to Ozzy at the time, was tapped to fire his singer and friend. He said:

He Went In Drag To Get A Drink

Ozzy Osbourne's reputation as a hard-living, rock 'n' roll icon is well known, and during his drinking days, his family tried every trick in the book to keep him from hitting the bottle. At one juncture, his wife Sharon went to extraordinary lengths, taking away all of his clothes and stashing them in a hotel room, under the assumption that he wouldn't venture out to a bar if he had nothing to wear. However, this gambit ultimately proved fruitless when Ozzy simply donned one of Sharon's dresses and made his way to the nearest watering hole.

He Fought Off A Burglar In The Buff

During an interview, Sharon Osbourne recounted a peculiar incident involving a burglar who broke into the home she shares with her husband, the septuagenarian rocker Ozzy Osbourne. As it happened, the Black Sabbath frontman had a tendency to sleep without clothing, and this proved to be a formidable deterrent for the would-be thief. Sharon said:

Police Thought Ozzy Had Been Abducted, But He Was Just On A Binge

During a tour with Van Halen in 1978, Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne and Van Halen's David Lee Roth embarked on a drug-fueled binge that lasted until Ozzy vanished one day. According to a tour member who witnessed the events, Ozzy passed out for an entire day in the wrong hotel room in Nashville, leading authorities to suspect he had been kidnapped. In his autobiography, Roth corroborates this account and even reveals that Sabbath had contemplated continuing on without Ozzy, with Roth stepping in as the new vocalist. However, the plan quickly fell apart when Roth realized he didn't know the words to any of the band's songs, forcing everyone to wait for Ozzy to sober up.

He Painted Tommy Lee's Hotel Walls With His Own Feces

As far as Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee is concerned, Ozzy Osbourne's feelings toward the band were either overwhelmingly positive or intensely negative. In a bizarre incident related by Lee, Ozzy allegedly invited him to his hotel room, only to drop his pants and defecate on the floor before Lee's astonished eyes. Lee said:

British Airways Used His Yard As A Trash Target

Acclaimed photographer and music video director Dean Karr, best known for his work on the Dave Matthews Band's iconic "Crash Into Me" video, recently paid a visit to Ozzy Osbourne at his sprawling estate in England. While there, Karr made a surprising discovery: the Osbourne family weren't the only occupants making use of their vast property. Karr said:

He Nearly Died In An ATV Accident

In 2004, Ozzy Osbourne narrowly avoided a tragic demise in a decidedly unglamorous manner: while piloting an ATV, he lost control and flipped the vehicle, subsequently falling into a coma that would last for eight harrowing days. Fortunately, thanks to the quick actions of his bodyguard, Ozzy was pulled back from the brink of death. Reflecting on the incident with the Sunday Mirror, Ozzy credited his survival to the heroic efforts of his protector, stating, "If it wasn't for Sam, I probably wouldn't be here. He had to bring me back to life twice."

Ozzy Essentially Bought A Hotel Room After Letting Off Fireworks In It

There are plenty of stories about rock stars smashing up hotel rooms and running up enormous bills, but Ozzy is one of the few (and possibly only) singers to essentially buy an entire hotel room after laying waste to it. Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi explained that after one particularly chaotic night on tour Ozzy did just that:

The Man Has An Insatiable Drive For Hooking Up

After decades of being one of the most famous rock stars in the world it's no surprise that Ozzy has his fair share of stories about groupies, but this one takes the cake. He described this encounter in easily the most accommodating Holiday Inns in America:

He Didn't Get His Driver's License Until He Was 60

Ozzy says that he's never held an actual driver's license because he's never been sober enough to take the exam, let alone pass a driving test. After a while, he had chauffeurs to do the driving for him so it didn't really bother him. He said:

Ozzy Almost Burned The House Down While Making A Sandwich

Despite his considerable wealth, Ozzy Osbourne seems disinclined to delegate the task of making his own sandwiches to a hired chef. In fact, he's been known to take matters into his own hands, even when the results are potentially disastrous. As his wife Sharon recently revealed, Ozzy once came perilously close to setting their house ablaze while attempting to fry up a bacon sandwich on his own. Perhaps it's time for the rock legend to reconsider the merits of outsourcing his culinary needs.

According to Sharon's twitter, Ozzy nearly burned their house down when he tried to make a bacon sandwich in the middle of the night. Now that's rock n roll.

He Accidentally Sent A Text To Robert Plant About A Cat

During an appearance on the Conan O'Brien Show, Jack Osbourne regaled the host with a story that neatly encapsulated his dad's lack of technical skills. As Jack recounted, Ozzy had once attempted to send a text message to none other than Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, informing him that he couldn't locate his cat. In a charming display of kindness, the elder rocker responded to Ozzy's message with a simple inquiry: "You can't find the cat?"Ozzy explained to the O'Brien:

He Freaked Out Rob Zombie

It's a rite of passage for many celebrities to acquire their very own "Ozzy story," a memorable anecdote detailing their first encounter with the legendary heavy metal icon. For horror-rock luminary Rob Zombie, that initial meeting, which took place some two decades ago, was a decidedly uncomfortable affair, as he recently recounted during a conversation with Apple Music's Zane Lowe. Zombie detailed the unusual predicament in which he found himself thanks to the Black Sabbath singer:

Zombie continued, noting that he's no longer uncomfortable around the singer:

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