Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Black Sabbath Cocktail inspired by the anniversary of the time in 1982 that Ozzy Osborne, on stage, bit the head off a live bat. It’s an incident that lives in infamy.
Ozzy Osborne got his start in rock and roll in 1968 as the founding vocalist of the band Black Sabbath. They’re often cited as being among the pioneers of heavy metal music, a genre not exactly known for subtlety. The group distinguished itself through their use of occult themes and horror-inspired lyrics.
Ozzy’s job description at the time was pretty much “dark prince of heavy metal” and he lived up to the reputation. His alcohol and drug binges were extreme, to the point that the band fired him in 1979.
What came next - Ozzy’s “solo” comeback - is a legendary tale in rock n’ roll. From his bottoming out after being fired by Black Sabbath, to his manager’s daughter - and later his second wife - Sharon helping to pull him up from the bottom, to his meeting rock guitar god Randy Rhodes (not to be confused with the iconic talk show host) , Ozzy’s phoenix-like rebirth led to the albums Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman, Of course, what also followed were a couple of extensive concert tours - which brings us to the bat incident.
On January 20, 1982, Ozzy arrived in Des Moines, Iowa, for the show. By this time he had developed a reputation for throwing raw meat into the audience. In turn, the audience would toss back whatever they had been able to smuggle in. It was all in good fun, or so they thought.
That night in Iowa, someone threw a live bat onto the stage. Thinking it was a rubber toy, Ozzy picked it up, put it in his mouth, and crunched down. Suddenly, he had a nasty surprise. "Immediately … something felt wrong. Very wrong,” Osbourne later wrote in his 2010 autobiography I Am Ozzy. “For a start, my mouth was instantly full of this warm, gloopy liquid," he recalled. "Then the head in my mouth twitched." Accounts vary as to whether the flying mammal was dead or alive.
The audience looked on in horror, despite already being jaded by outrageous behavior. After the show, Osbourne was taken to the hospital, where he had to endure a long course of rabies shots, not exactly something you would choose for fun. Still, the story’s wild nature only made Ozzy even more legendary to his legions of - not literally- rabid fans.
Osbourne went on to sell several million albums throughout his career and become a pop culture icon. He and his manager (& second wife) Sharon Osbourne, launched the highly successful Ozzfest music festival in the 1990s and later starred in an MTV reality show about their lives called “The Osbournes.”
Ozzy Osbourne was inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice, as a member of Black Sabbath in 2006 and as a solo artist in April 2024, with many in modern rock & even hip hop crediting Ozzy as a major influence on their music. After suffering from suffered from coronary artery disease and Parkinson’s, Ozzy Osbourne died of cardiac arrest last year on July 22, 2025, just three weeks after his final concert appearance.
As a salute to Ozzy, we give you today’s Drink Of The Day, the Black Sabbath Cocktail.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
