How a bizarre 1983 studio idea led to one of music’s strangest collabs between the Prince of Darkness and the Queen of Pop.

It sounds like something dreamed up in a Sunset Strip recording studio at 3 a.m. after a few rounds of coke and whiskey, but believe it or not, in 1983, Ozzy Osbourne and Madonna did actually appear on the same song!

The track was “Shake Your Head (Let’s Go to Bed)” an experimental electro-dance track from Was (Not Was), the Detroit-based band fronted by musician/producer Don Was. The plan? Put Ozzy on lead vocals and pair him with a then-unknown Madonna on the duet.

It wasn’t pop. It wasn’t metal. It was something  that you might hear the Sprockets from Saturday Night Live listening to in an underground techno club somewhere in Germany in 1987.

“Shake Your Head (Let’s Go to Bed)” was slated for Was (Not Was)’s 1983 album Born to Laugh at Tornadoes. But just as quickly as the collaboration came together, it fell apart—because Madonna didn’t stay unknown for long.

Her self-titled debut dropped in July 1983, and almost overnight she went from East Village club kid to global superstar. With that came more control, and a hard no on the use of her vocals now that she was developing her own signature style. Just like that, the Ozzy–Madonna duet was shelved.

Later, Was brought in actress Kim Basinger to re-record the part, and the original became the kind of story that sounds too weird to be true.

Except it was true.

Accidentally Reviving an Ozzy/Madonna Collab

Nearly a decade later, “Shake Your Head (Let’s Go to Bed)” came back from the dead.

In the early Ninties, the song got a second life when it was remixed into a club track by producer Steve “Silk” Hurley. And that’s when destinies collided—or maybe just got mislabeled.

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