The early 80s saw Ozzy Osbourne perform many acts that have gone down in the annals of horrifying rock history. There was the time he bit the head off a bat during a gig. There was the time he bit the heads off two doves during a record company meeting. There was the time he snorted a line of ants in the absence of any actual drugs. And there was the time he offended the entire state of Texas by taking a wee on the Alamo.
Now he is to make amends for the incident, which took place on 19 February 1982, by returning to San Antonio on Thursday 5 November to record an apology.
The incident has been much mythologised over the years, and it appears Osbourne’s offence wasn’t quite as bad as widely assumed – but still pretty bad. The Alamo was the scene of a battle between Mexican and Texan troops during the the Texas revolution in 1836. Between 182 and 257 members of the Texas forces were killed, and the site has become a symbol of Texas pride. Osbourne apparently urinated not on the walls of the Alamo itself, but against the Alamo Cenotaph. That was enough to get him arrested, though had he urinated against the actual Alamo, one tour guide said, police wouldn’t have arrested him – they would have beaten him to death.
Osbourne was banned from playing in San Antonio after the incident, a ban lifted only after he donated $10,000 to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who maintain the monument, 10 years later.
Osbourne is returning to the monument with a TV crew from the History Channel, according to a San Antonio news site, where he will apologise for his misdeed in a recording for a future show. The news was broken by city councilman Roberto Trevino on Wednesday, during a town meeting. Trevino added that Osbourne has been in contact with his office about his return.
