Harleys, Hells Angels & Heavy Metal Heroes

By David Ciminelli - February 1, 2017

What could make Harley-riding Russian Hells Angels bikers sob like little babuskas? Would you believe a visit by the Prince of Darkness?

When you hear the description “Russian, Harley-Riding Hells Angels bikers,” what image comes to mind? It makes us think of one thing: Badass, personified. About the only thing that might even come close to making a Russian Hells Angel member cry is maybe a scratch on his favorite bike. But even that’s doubtful.

However, there was an incident in Russia back in the awesome ’80s, when a very unexpected incident caused a group of Harley riders to cry like little babushkas. Rockstar and former Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach recounts this surreal moment in his new memoir, 18 and Life on Skid Row.

Back in the late Eighties, the “Youth Gone Wild” singer was in Moscow to perform at 1989’s historic Moscow Music and Peace Festival. Bach recounts that he was staying at the same Moscow hotel as his famous friend when the bizarre incident transpired. Apparently, word got out about his buddy’s arrival in Russia, where his friend is revered as a rock deity.

A large group of Russian Harley-riders from all across the region sent word out to one another about their favorite artist being in town. Soon, a mass of tattooed tough guys rolled up to the hotel and reached their rock hero.

Of course, this was no ordinary rock superstar. It was the Prince of F*ckin’ Darkness himself, the legendary Ozzy Osbourne. The bikers were immediately enamored with their hero and offered to serve as Ozzy’s loyal bodyguards while he was in town. But there was just one problem: The macho motorcycle riders couldn’t stop blubbering over being in the presence of his royal Ozzness.

‘Ozzy had no choice but to come down and greet them, which made most of these badass Russian bikers cry like little girls seeing The Beatles.’

“I as awoken from my sleep because of the sound of sheer pandemonium outside the hotel,” Bach recounts in 18 and Life on Skid Row. “I walked down the stairs, looked into the lobby and saw this huge commotion. There was Ozzy, greeting the Hells Angels of the Soviet Union, who had gathered en masse upon the hotel, in the wee hours of the morning.

“Every Hells Angel contingent from the U.S.S.R. had ridden their Harley-Davidsons from the farthest reaches of the Republic to this hotel, hoping only to meet their hero, Ozzy Osbourne,” continues Bach.

“So many of them had gathered outside the hotel that it became a safety concern. Ozzy had no choice but to come down and greet them, which made most of these badass Russian bikers cry like little girls seeing The Beatles…the gnarliest human bikers from Serbia or wherever [were] greeting Ozzy that night and bursting into tears like infant children.”

Could this surreal incident have inspired Ozzy’s 1991 smash “No More Tears”? Only the double-O knows for sure.