San Antonio may have been rocking hard since the ’70s, but Ozzy Osbourne helped cement it as the “Heavy Metal Capital of the World.” On February 19, 1982, the late Black Sabbath frontman made a drunken decision to relieve himself on the Alamo Cenotaph, a regretful move that played differently with city leaders than it did with the rebellious headbangers who packed arena shows.
Osbourne, who died July 22 at 76, was in town for his Diary of a Madman tour. On the night of the infamous incident, his manager and future wife, Sharon Levy, had gathered all of his clothing in an attempt to keep the hard-partying vocalist from wandering into the San Antonio streets. Undeterred by the sabotage, Osbourne nicked one of her nightgowns and set off for downtown.
According to his 2010 autobiography, the “madman” didn’t know the significance of his lewd act.
“It took a moment for it all to click. I’d definitely heard of the Alamo – I’d seen the John Wayne movie a few times,” he wrote. “So I knew it was this big-deal place where lots of Americans had been killed while they were fighting the Mexicans. But I hadn’t made the connection between the old wall I was p*ssing on and the ruins of a sacred national monument.”
Osbourne was arrested in flagrante and held at the Bexar County Adult Detention Center on public intoxication charges. Needless to say, city leaders weren’t cracking a smile.
At the time, heavy metal music was the subject of much national debate. Although former Second Lady Tipper Gore had yet to form the Parents Music Resource Center, America was already in the grips of Satanic panic, the widespread conspiracy theory that ritual abuse was being carried out in communities across the U.S. The British contingent of metal music was especially fond of stirring the pot by frequently alluding to the dark arts.
The genre’s unruly edges were of particular concern in San Antonio. According to Texas State University’s Journal for Texas Music History, radio stations KMAC-AM and KISS had made heavy metal a local phenomenon, and soon local teenagers wanted to parrot the sound. Promoter Jack Orbin of Stone City Attractions started booking some of rock music’s loudest and most controversial acts. Osborne himself was a frequent San Antonio visitor, both as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath.
Osbourne’s shocking Alamo visit earned him a 10-year ban from performing in city-owned venues, but it only made him more popular among his young fans. After the singer was released, his concert went on as planned to a sold-out audience. Mimicking Osbourne’s rowdy ways, those without tickets smashed windows and glass doors in an attempt to get in. According to a contemporaneous review by the San Antonio Express-News, the singer was hardly contrite, regaling the crowd with his story.
Parents were meanwhile in a tizzy. The incident was one of the catalysts for the formation of local parent group Community Families in Action, a “morality police” group that made national headlines by attempting to ban artists from performing controversial songs. Everyone was talking about the city’s attempts to keep the heavy metal’s influence away from kids — a surefire way to ensure the genre’s continuing popularity.
Osbourne eventually apologized to the city in 1992, following up with another mea culpa during an Alamo visit in 2015. The Alamo, for its part, considers the rocker’s former behavior water under the bridge. Upon hearing of Osbourne’s death, the Alamo posted a still of the singer and son Jack Osbourne’s travel show Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour.
“At the Alamo, we honor history in all its complexities,” the Alamo wrote on Instagram. “Today, we acknowledge Ozzy Osbourne’s journey from regret to reconciliation at the historic site, and we extend our condolences to his family, friends, and fans around the world. May he rest in peace.”