"Mouth Was Full Of Gloopy Liquid": Ozzy Osbourne's Infamous Bat Bite

The night Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat during a live concert remains one of the most bizarre and talked-about moments in rock music history. 

On January 20, 1982, Ozzy, the lead singer of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, was in the middle of the tour promoting his second solo album, Diary of a Madman. During the tour, he made the tradition of throwing raw meat and animal parts, including intestines, into the audience.

In retaliation, the audience also started throwing strange and weird items at him. 

So, during his gig in Des Moines, Iowa, one of the audience members threw a small, black object at him. Ozzy picked it up and bit into it, assuming it to be a rubber toy. But almost immediately, he realised something was wrong, only to realise it was a real bat.

The singer states in his 2010 autobiography, "I Am Ozzy," that he picked it up, stuffed it in his mouth, and chomped down, reports BBC. He wrote, "Immediately, though, something felt wrong. Very wrong. For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid," he recalled. "Then the head in my mouth twitched," he added.

Ozzy further mentioned that he initially thought the bat was a fake Halloween toy because it had a string around its neck. So, he bit into it as part of his stage act. But then his wife stopped him, saying, "It's a real, dead bat!"

However, soon after, there were questions about whether the bat was dead or alive.

The man who threw the bat at Ozzy was Mark Neal, the Des Moines Register reported. At the time of the concert, he was 17 years old. He revealed that his younger brother had brought the bat home two weeks ago, but regrettably, it had not made it.

According to Far Out Magazine, Ozzy, in a 1997 interview with Edward Helmore, stated that the bat-biting story had followed him every single day since it happened in 1982. Some were curious and even asked him things like, "What did it taste like?"

Ozzy Osbourne, 1982, explains why he bit the head off of a real bat on stage pic.twitter.com/TcyC3k1Z4m

— TaraBull (@TaraBull808) July 22, 2025

Known as the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 at the age of 76. The cause of his death was not mentioned, but he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2019.

He is survived by his wife Sharon, 72, and their three kids, Aimee, 41, Kelly, 40, and Jack, 39.