Deep Purple keyboardist recalls Ozzy Osbourne’s infamous bat head chewing incident

In January 1982, the Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne performed a stunt that would go down in heavy metal history. The legendary frontman saw a bat on stage in front of him, which he mistook for a rubber toy thrown from the audience. The showman decided to bite the toy’s head off in a spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, it was not a toy, but a live bat that had fallen on stage.

Hawaii Public Radio had just interviewed Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey, who happened to be playing in Osbourne’s backing band at the time. Airey recalls Osbourne’s stunt.

Airey recalls playing on the stage and watching Osbourne hold a bat during “Suicide Solution“. Afterwards he asked the singer what he had in his mouth. Osbourne revealed that he had thought the bat was a plastic toy, but it bit him. Everyone was joking about the incident backstage, but Airey was adamant that Osbourne needs to see a doctor, and so he did.

You can listen to the interview in full below.