Ozzy Osbourne Talked to a Horse for an Hour High on Acid

Welcome back to the Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter bringing you independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.

Today’s lead story is in memory of Ozzy Osbourne, our Prince of Darkness, who has been all over the news because he recently made his final departure to the great beyond. We understand he’s a controversial figure. But we can’t deny the fact that he and his bandmates were among the early ambassadors of psychedelics and ushered in a culture that stood counter to the “peace and love” era of the ‘60s. We dive into that, a hilarious anecdote, and more in our elegiac piece below!

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find stories on mesianic 5-MeO “shamans,” what radical empathy looks like in psychedelics, golfers who use ayahuasca, and so much more.

Stay sane and hydrated,

Mary Carreón
Editor-in-Chief

Remembering Ozzy Osbourne and the Dark Psychedelia That Fueled Black Sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne’s death marks the end of heavy metal’s most rebellious era, where dark psychedelia and chaos defined the sound of an entire genre.

Few bands have lore like Black Sabbath. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne was at the helm of the band’s mythos, fueling it by biting off bats’ heads and snorting lines of ants and urinating on the Alamo. It was chaos; it was theatrical — he was a Sagittarius man, after all. We’re using this space to honor the Prince of Darkness because he died at his home in the UK at the end of July, and his funeral was at the end of last week. We figured, why not commemorate the dark psychedelia of Ozzy? (Who, in many ways, was a master of surviving dark trips and infusing them into his art.) We need more dark psychedelia in a culture that feigns love and light at all costs.

Our favorite story about Ozzy dates back to Sabbath’s chaotic heyday and the making of the 1972 classic Vol. 4. In an interview, Ozzy opened up about the time he realized he had to give up LSD, which we realize isn’t necessarily the most “pro-psychedelic” story. But, if you’ve ever taken a shitload of acid over a period of time, you’ll understand the humor in this and likely empathize with his decision to “hang up the phone,” as Terence McKenna used to say.

According to Louder Sound, Ozzy knew he had to end his relationship with Lucy after having an hour-long conversation with a horse. “At that time in America, people were very fond of lacing your drinks with acid,” Ozzy said. “I didn’t care. I used to swallow handfuls of tabs at a time. The end of it came when we got back to England. I took 10 tabs of acid, then went for a walk in a field. I ended up standing there talking to this horse for about an hour. In the end, the horse turned round and told me to fuck off. That was it for me.”

The members of Black Sabbath were fond of psychedelics and have opened up about their experiences with them. In 2017, drummer Bill Ward told Metal Hammer: “It’s interesting to talk about the phenomena of LSD when you’re playing in front of 25-30,000 people, but in hindsight I was taking huge risks with not only my performance but the entire performance.”

In 2020, bassist Geezer Butler told Metal Hammer about his first trip. “I thought I was a skeleton. I got in the van, and [the band said to me], ‘What’s wrong with you?’ I said, ‘Can’t you see? I’m a skeleton!’ We were driving along, and there was a park on the side of us with all these flowers in it, and I thought the flowers were trying to get into the van. I went onstage and thought it was on a boat and the crowd were waves. It was horrendous. I was watching my hand playing the songs, and I thought it wasn’t connected to my body. Scary.”

Guitarist Tony Iommi also had an acid revelation to share. He told Classic Rock that he had the worst time on LSD. “I hate being out of control. With cocaine, I felt I was in control, I knew what was going on. But acid… I was in America in the early ‘70s, and I had a terrible headache, and this girl said she had a couple of pills for it. And she gave me some acid. Bloody hell, I didn’t know what hit me! Thank God the rest of the band came and sat in my room and calmed me down. I was gonna jump out the window!”

LSD is our favorite drug next to MDMA. But drugging someone who doesn’t understand its power is demonic. If the members of Black Sabbath can barely handle being drugged, then no one can. So don’t do it — and don’t peer pressure your friends to take psychedelics if they don’t want to, either. 

The ’70s were wild. LSD was king of the West’s first “psychedelic renaissance.” And Black Sabbath was undoubtedly a part of it. The making of Vol. 4 will always be a part of the psychedelic rock history canon. How could it not be? As Osbourne recalls: “We lived together in a house in Los Angeles, rehearsed there, did loads of drugs, and made an album. It was simple,” says Ozzy. “Those were good times.” 

Rest In Chaos, Ozzy.

Jonathan Ott vs. the “Psychedelic Renaissance”

This Friday, we’re telling the story of Jonathan Ott — the reclusive scholar who coined the term entheogen, outlived most of his legendary peers, and spent his final years quietly dismantling the very movement people tried to tie him to.

From a rare gathering in Mexico to a moment in the sun that felt almost otherworldly, this is a portrait of a man who refused to let language — or history — be rewritten. RIP!

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DoubleBlind Digs

1. Zeus Tipado, a Maastricht University neuroscientist, is gathering data for a DMT study. He is asking people who have tried DMT and had a visual experience to fill out a questionnaire that tells the study authors whether participants experienced some particular thing, or vision, in their DMT experience on a zero to 100 scale and whether it occurred in the beginning, at the peak, or end of the trip. Researchers are seeking 400 additional participants to complete the survey. Fill it out here.

2. Attend “Sexuality and Psychedelics,” a collaborative seminar with Sura and Sex and Psychedelics Magazine exploring the intersection of intimacy and expanded states. Use Code db2025 at checkout and learn more here.

3. First Study on Psilocybin Therapy for Low‑Income Adults. Researchers in Oregon will share groundbreaking results showing how state‑regulated, group‑based psilocybin therapy can help people with depression who the mental health system has underserved. Join the Zoom briefing on Tuesday, Aug. 5 at 9 AM PT / Noon ET to learn more and hear from the study’s lead investigators. Sign up here.