Some myths are so perfectly suited to the legend they're too good to be true. Others just turn out to be true. Although many fans dismiss the story as myth, Ozzy Osbourne -- reality TV's rock & roll Prince of Darkness -- actually did bite the head off a bat. After the 1981 release of his second solo album, Diary of a Madman, the former Black Sabbath vocalist hit the road for a tour nicknamed "Night of the Living Dead." Onstage, Ozzy pelted his audience nightly with 25 lbs. of pig intestines and calves' livers. Fans began bringing meat, and then dead animals, to throw back. One night in Des Moines, someone threw a live bat onstage. Stunned by the lights, the bat lay motionless. Osbourne, thinking it was a rubber toy, bit into its neck. He was rushed to the hospital and tested for rabies. Rumors that Osbourne once bit the head off a dove during a meeting with CBS Records have also been confirmed. But even this madman can't live up to the reputation every time: One rumor has it that Ozzy used to throw three dogs into the crowd before shows, refusing to begin until their dead carcasses were returned to the stage. That one is, in fact, a myth. JAMES SULLIVAN
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