Michael Anthony watched Ozzy Osbourne set Bill Ward on fire

In a recent interview, Michael Anthony, known for being Van Halen's bassist until 2006, recalled an episode that happened in 1978 during which he saw Ozzy Osbourne set fire to Bill Ward, who was still his bandmates in Black Sabbath at the time.

During the time of Anthony's anecdote during a guest chat with Sirius XM's Eddie Trunk, the “Jump” band was on tour with the “Paranoid” band. “We had a great time opening for Black Sabbath,” recalled Michael Anthony: “We felt great every night.”

According to the former Van Halen bassist, Black Sabbath “still knew how to have fun off stage” and he recalled in detail one of his favorite moments from the tour. “Ozzy, Bill Ward and I were sitting at the hotel bar after the show having a beer,” Anthony said: “At one point Ozzy nudged me and said, 'Hey, Michael. Look at this.' a lighter and set Bill's beard on fire.” The bassist then said that to his great amazement he saw the Black Sabbath drummer remain impassive. “He didn't even bat an eyelid,” he said, inferring that Bill Ward was used to Osbourne's wild outings: “He kept drinking his beer.”

Recalling the anecdote, Anthony later confessed that his favorite pranks on tour involved, on the contrary, fire extinguishers. “My forte was fire extinguishers,” said the musician, who later joked that destroying hotels was seen as a rite of passage for rock bands of the time: “We read about what Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and all the other touring bands were doing. We also pulled some stunts during the first tours”, admitted the bassist.