Ozzy Osbourne's Black Sabbath bandmates feared he'd been kidnapped when he failed to show up for a gig after overdosing on Night Nurse.
Ozzy Osbourne went missing before a gig after downing a whole bottle of cold medication
The veteran rocker's mysterious disappearance back in 1978 was recounted by the band's bassist Geezer Butler in his book 'Into The Void', revealing the musicians had to report Ozzy missing and police officers were sent out to scour the city of Nashville for him - but he turned up the next morning after having slept through the show night because he'd downed a whole bottle of cold medication.
Geezer wrote: "Ozzy had a heavy cold, so a doctor had given him some Night Nurse. But instead of taking a couple of spoonfuls, he necked the whole bottle. When we arrived at the hotel, he was already half asleep.
"When we got to the venue, we thought Ozzy must have gone there earlier. But there was no sign of him. There must have been about 20 people phoning his room, but there was no answer. The hotel manager said he'd looked but he wasn't in there ... We ended up having to report Ozzy missing."
The musician went on to explain: "We thought he might have been kidnapped. We even thought he might be dead. The police scoured Nashville but couldn't find Ozzy anywhere. They printed off posters and circulated them in bars: 'HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?'"
However, Ozzy 24 hours later feeling much better and had no idea he had missed the show.
Geezer added: "The following day, we were getting on the bus when Ozzy came strolling out of the hotel, looking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and said: 'What time's the gig?'
"It turned out Ozzy had got off the bus, staggered into the first hotel room he could find – fallen on the bed and gone unconscious."
Black Sabbath were supported by Van Halen at the show and the band extended their opening set while they waited for Ozzy to show up. When it became clear the frontman was nowhere to be found, Black Sabbath's set had to be called off - prompting the angry crowd at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium to kick off.
The venue's former boss Bob Skoney told The Tennessean newspaper: "Things are flying. They're taking chairs and piling them in a heap in the middle of the room. Here come trash cans from the balcony, they're throwing them down on the floor. They set some of the curtains on fire up there — or tried to get them on fire, because they're flameproof... We got them out here, and nobody got hurt, but they sure wreaked some havoc."
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