Ozzy Osbourne’s most shocking moments

Ozzy Osbourne was famed as a provocative and powerful performer on stage and a wild hedonist off it.

The Black Sabbath singer and successful solo artist was known for his controversial live shows.

Drug and alcohol use often fuelled manic behaviour in front of his adoring audiences, and also his most crazed moments in between shows.

These are some of the most memorable and infamous moments from the hell-raising life of the late heavy metal pioneer.

The Alamo  

In 1982, Osbourne was wearing one of his wife’s dresses for a photoshoot close to The Alamo in Texas, the site of a heroic sacrifice by the Texan troops against the invading Mexicans.

The rock star drunkenly relieved himself on a cenotaph commemorating the dead, later donating thousands to the group which maintains The Alamo.

In the midst of an alcohol and drug haze, Osbourne said that he set about slaughtering 17 cats with a shotgun.

The rocker said he was found by his wife under a piano, armed with a knife in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

Ants  

Osbourne toured with Motley Crue in the 1980s, and it was during this time that he is rumoured to have shocked his fellow rockers after “spotting” a line of ants.

Bassist Nikki Sixx claimed that Osbourne took a straw and, as if snorting cocaine, hoovered the line of ants up his nose.

Bats 

In 1982, Osbourne was on stage at a gig in Des Moines, Iowa, during a US tour.

A fan threw a bat on stage, and in the frenzy of performance Osbourne – believing it to be rubber – bit its head off.  There remains debate as to whether the bat was alive or dead when it was thrown on stage.

Doves  

Osbourne had history with the decapitation of winged creatures, beginning with an incident which stunned CBS Records executives.

Celebrating a new album in 1981, the Black Country-born rock star was intending to release two doves in a symbolic act at the record label. Instead, he grabbed a dove and bit its head off, before being thrown out of the building.