Metal Band Apologizes After Throwing Severed Pig’s Head Into Crowd

A Texas metal band has apologized to fans for throwing a severed pig head into the crowd at a recent show. Lambgoat reports that, on Jan. 19, Martyrdom — a black metal band from Houston — was playing a show with several other bands, including Devoured Trachea, Accosted, Yung Jitt, 79 Stick, Big Pete, Martyrdom, Entropy, and Two Timer, at The White Swan Live. During, their set, a member of Martyrdom pulled out the pig head and threw it at the audience. The incident caused a massive backlash, and Martyrdom has since apologized for the situation. 

“Hi everyone, we just want to start off by saying we are incredibly sorry to anyone we offended with our actions and gimmicks on stage,” the band told Lambgoat. We are a black metal band, and as part of it, we try to add a little bit of imagery and shock value to our set. Unfortunately our acts has gotten carried away and way out of hand, offending many and even harming some.” They then added, “We want to apologize to any vegans, Muslims, or other minority groups we may have offended, and to anyone who was harmed by our act.” Martyrdom’s statement concluded, “Most importantly we want to apologize to the White Swan, and Harry, the sound guy, specifically. thank you so much white swan for giving us the opportunity to play there.” Click here for images of the incident, shared to X.

While it’s certainly a bizarre situation, extreme metal bands have been doing outrageous stunts like this for decades. Easily the most notable incident was back in the early ’80s, with the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. The metal godfather’s bat story is one of the most notorious true stories from the rock ‘n’ roll community, right up there with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards confessing to snorting his father’s ashes and Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx literally dying of a heroin overdose and then being brought back to life by two doses of adrenaline. 

According to legend, Osbourne was playing a show in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 20, 1982, when someone from the audience threw a bat onto the stage. Believing it to be a rubber bat, Osbourne picked it up and bit its head off. He soon discovered that it was not a toy and rushed to the hospital for a rabies shot after the concert, per the Des Moines Register. Iowa native Mark Neal, who was 17 at the time, confessed to bringing the bat in a plastic bag with him to the concert and throwing it on the stage. “It really freaked me out,” Neal told a reporter afterward. “I won’t get in any trouble for admitting this, will I?”