AK47 was a great band. The distinctive element was the two guitar wall of sound.I saw most of their early shows in 78/79. The lawsuit was a joke. The Houston Police sued all of the band members under their stage names( Raton Pi, Neutron Stu,Jimmy Allstar, Tim Phlegm) But they didn't stop there.....since the record sleeve said" Mikhail Kalashnikov presents AK-47" the cops prolly figured that the Russian guy must be the band's promoter so they sued him too. I was one of the attorneys initially approached to defend this case. As an attorney it was a source of lotsa laffs when the subject of exactly how the HPD was going to serve suit papers on somebody in Russia....who designed weapons. BTW the song on the OTHER side of the single is even better...kiss my machine.
I had that single! I lived in Houston and was involved in that music scene 1979-83. It took ages to get them to do a show. We didn’t know why then! They were great. I was very naughty punk. You’d see those f****** The Badge Means You Care bumper stickers, and if I could, I’d whip out the Magic Marker and write “Suk” over the last word. I got a sticker 3 times on one vehicle. They replaced it twice. Also loved the Houston band Really Red. Their song Teaching You the Fear is in the same vein as this. Worth a listen!
I was at this freakin show. AK47, Really Red, MyDolls. RR & MD gigged at the Island fairly often. Take a listen to Teaching You the Fear. Good bands, good people.
My dad was friends with one of the members in high school and filled in for them at a reunion show at walters in like 2012. Pretty cool because i went on to spend a lot of time in the hardcore punk scene in Houston and practically lived at walters in its twilight years before closing.
So you think you know what terror is As it stares from the newspaper page Yeah of course you all know what horror is It's the rage of the age Well, intimidation doesn't have a focus It oozes from every pore Murder doesn't bother to whisper In this fucking town it roars Bodies awash in back bayous Bibles all full of holes Kill a captive to capture a criminal Badges where there ought to be souls Badges where there's got to be souls Badges where there's not any souls Well, I'd like to be smug and self-righteous And talk about courts setting criminals free Get me a nice little home near Conroe Where the neighbors are just like me But every time I see the uniform I realize I've had the luck To only read about their latest deeds And miss a fascist mind fuck Duck when you see 'em coming The badge means you suck A black man just back from 'Nam His folks thought he were a little bit odd Jogged at night to calm his nerves Always talking about god Well a black man running in the evening To a cop is a "nigga crook" They had two loaded revolvers Milton had just one book But he didn't had a chance to convert them Cause they wouldn't take a second look It took eight shots to stop Milton Glover And his Goddamn holy book Duck when you see' em coming Cause the badge means you suck Sprinkle bodies with their throw down revolvers Cover court transcripts with shit And if by chance you get found guilty Well you'll still get away with it Yeah the men who killed Jose Torres Never went to jail The sniper who picked off Carl Hampton Never paid any bail Well, the killers of Milton Glover They might be pulling you over tonight And if you happen to get shot Well I guess you started the fight Yeah I guess you started the fight They said you started the fight Bodies awash in back bayous Bibles all full of holes Kill a captive to capture a criminal Badges where there ought to be souls Well there's too much counterfeit money I don't need to pass no buck Gonna coin me a new slogan The badge means you suck The badge means you're fucked The badge means you suck
Commenting here in memory of Pamela Turner who was shot two days ago in Baytown. I've seen the video: I can hear the taser sound before Officer Delacruz backs up and fires his gun. But it seems Delacruz dropped his taser in the process. Turner may have picked it up after being tased. In any case Delacruz was not tased as was reported by the Baytown police. And how did this incident escalate so far in the first place? She said she was going home, back off and watch her going home. How hard can it be?
The Houston Pig Patrol had trouble suing the band because they all used pseudonyms... mainly Russians, including Kalishnikov who, after John Browning, was the finest designer of firearms in the world. Kalishnikov died just in the past year or two.
Mikailt. Kalashnikov's AK-47 has a TH-cam channel now with a couple of more recent performance vids for The Badge Means You Suck: th-cam.com/channels/z_Wo123d1xu0IYliXaOu6w.htmlfeatured AK--47 also has a Bandcamp site that offers a digitally re-mastered of their first single. Got some other stuff, too. ak-47-badge.bandcamp.com Thanks!
Listening in memory of Houston native George Floyd. Imagine a knee on your neck and a leg on your back moving in and out of an air choke and a blood choke with periodic relief for eight minutes and 45 seconds. This is insanely painful. I recently watched my elderly mother die from a pulmonary thrombosis and accompanied by a cardiac arrest. It HURT and she talked to me about how much it hurt for the last five of the nine minutes she lived. George Floyd felt all this pain and more. Gotta give props here to the Floyd family here in Houston for helping keep things mostly nonviolent. But for a minute think that getting a little violent thwarts political goals. There was some unrest over Glover's murder, and a major riot in Denver Harbor after Joe Campos Torres was tortured and drowned. Whitmire would win election as mayor on a police reform platform and backed by black and Latino leaders, as well as the gay and lesbian community. BTW, Ray Hill made this all happen. He's basically the Gay Jesus of Houston. I met him once. I am not a Christian, but the one time I met Ray Hill I felt I was in the presence of the divine. I reject all Christian concepts of salvation, but if there is salvation, it is according to the standards of Matthew 25. These standards are harsh, but fair. Ray Hill met them.
I also met Ray Hill a couple times. I felt I was in the presence of the unwashed, I wish he had met soap those days. To be fair, it was a weekend so maybe he was in ‘chill mode’. 🤷♂️
Floyd was a drug user, fake check writer, a loser who robbed a pregnant white woman at gun point, and threatened to kill her, etc. So who gives a shit about his worthless ass, he got a million dollar send off, figuratively speaking.
@BillHicks420 You can check various punk blogspots; I've had mine for years. Try typing AK-47 rar & some blogspot links should pop up. Good luck & thanks for watching.
Hope you kept your copy. It looks like it's going for about $500 for now. I bought mine at a punk rock record store on lower Westheimer in the 1980s including the lyrics and a newspaper article about the lawsuit! www.discogs.com/AK-47-The-Badge-Means-You-Suck/release/1666233
AK47 was a great band. The distinctive element was the two guitar wall of sound.I saw most of their early shows in 78/79. The lawsuit was a joke. The Houston Police sued all of the band members under their stage names( Raton Pi, Neutron Stu,Jimmy Allstar, Tim Phlegm) But they didn't stop there.....since the record sleeve said" Mikhail Kalashnikov presents AK-47" the cops prolly figured that the Russian guy must be the band's promoter so they sued him too. I was one of the attorneys initially approached to defend this case. As an attorney it was a source of lotsa laffs when the subject of exactly how the HPD was going to serve suit papers on somebody in Russia....who designed weapons. BTW the song on the OTHER side of the single is even better...kiss my machine.
Great slice of historic info!
Seriously thanks for the story. This song is a serious jam and the police response is hilarious.
I had that single!
I lived in Houston and was involved in that music scene 1979-83.
It took ages to get them to do a show. We didn’t know why then!
They were great.
I was very naughty punk. You’d see those f****** The Badge Means You Care bumper stickers, and if I could, I’d whip out the Magic Marker and write “Suk” over the last word. I got a sticker 3 times on one vehicle. They replaced it twice.
Also loved the Houston band Really Red. Their song Teaching You the Fear is in the same vein as this. Worth a listen!
@@FlashHockey2017
I was living in Houston at the time and heard little about the suit!
@@castielsgranny4308 didn't even realize Really Red was houstoniams
I was at this freakin show. AK47, Really Red, MyDolls. RR & MD gigged at the Island fairly often. Take a listen to Teaching You the Fear. Good bands, good people.
Early texas hardcore punk,noise,psychedelia, is some of the finest music ever created in the world.13th floor elevators to really red such great music
Red wave!!!!! ❤️🔥❤️🔥😍😘there’s your kiss
Roky Erickson!
Roky also played The Island. Great gig. 1981.
My dad was friends with one of the members in high school and filled in for them at a reunion show at walters in like 2012. Pretty cool because i went on to spend a lot of time in the hardcore punk scene in Houston and practically lived at walters in its twilight years before closing.
So you think you know what terror is
As it stares from the newspaper page
Yeah of course you all know what horror is
It's the rage of the age
Well, intimidation doesn't have a focus
It oozes from every pore
Murder doesn't bother to whisper
In this fucking town it roars
Bodies awash in back bayous
Bibles all full of holes
Kill a captive to capture a criminal
Badges where there ought to be souls
Badges where there's got to be souls
Badges where there's not any souls
Well, I'd like to be smug and self-righteous
And talk about courts setting criminals free
Get me a nice little home near Conroe
Where the neighbors are just like me
But every time I see the uniform
I realize I've had the luck
To only read about their latest deeds
And miss a fascist mind fuck
Duck when you see 'em coming
The badge means you suck
A black man just back from 'Nam
His folks thought he were a little bit odd
Jogged at night to calm his nerves
Always talking about god
Well a black man running in the evening
To a cop is a "nigga crook"
They had two loaded revolvers
Milton had just one book
But he didn't had a chance to convert them
Cause they wouldn't take a second look
It took eight shots to stop Milton Glover
And his Goddamn holy book
Duck when you see' em coming
Cause the badge means you suck
Sprinkle bodies with their throw down revolvers
Cover court transcripts with shit
And if by chance you get found guilty
Well you'll still get away with it
Yeah the men who killed Jose Torres
Never went to jail
The sniper who picked off Carl Hampton
Never paid any bail
Well, the killers of Milton Glover
They might be pulling you over tonight
And if you happen to get shot
Well I guess you started the fight
Yeah I guess you started the fight
They said you started the fight
Bodies awash in back bayous
Bibles all full of holes
Kill a captive to capture a criminal
Badges where there ought to be souls
Well there's too much counterfeit money
I don't need to pass no buck
Gonna coin me a new slogan
The badge means you suck
The badge means you're fucked
The badge means you suck
Knowing the lyrics, still, it being put in text as well.... Gives me chills
@@bratniii
Listen to “Teaching You the Fear” by Really Red.
Commenting here in memory of Pamela Turner who was shot two days ago in Baytown. I've seen the video: I can hear the taser sound before Officer Delacruz backs up and fires his gun. But it seems Delacruz dropped his taser in the process. Turner may have picked it up after being tased. In any case Delacruz was not tased as was reported by the Baytown police.
And how did this incident escalate so far in the first place? She said she was going home, back off and watch her going home. How hard can it be?
Best punk guitar solo right there.
The California punk band agent orange also has a great lead guitar, that's because they had surf influence
"That god damn holy book"!
I saw them at Rock Island in downtown Houston. It was our theme while driving HW 59.
I bartended at The Island for a while.
I was Paradise Island, then Rock Island, then The Island.
I wish I’d run the thing.
@@castielsgranny4308 I am certain that I purchased NUMEROUS beers from you!!!
@@castielsgranny4308 I am sure I bought numerous beers from you. Thank God IDs were not required!!!
The Houston Pig Patrol had trouble suing the band because they all used pseudonyms... mainly Russians, including Kalishnikov who, after John Browning, was the finest designer of firearms in the world. Kalishnikov died just in the past year or two.
I remember!
Mikailt. Kalashnikov's AK-47 has a TH-cam channel now with a couple of more recent performance vids for The Badge Means You Suck:
th-cam.com/channels/z_Wo123d1xu0IYliXaOu6w.htmlfeatured
AK--47 also has a Bandcamp site that offers a digitally re-mastered of their first single. Got some other stuff, too.
ak-47-badge.bandcamp.com
Thanks!
This is great to go back and hear how raw and cool. This stuff is mint.
Social Distortion ripped this off for their “1945” song.
sounds like "ameoba" by the adolescents too.
Apparently Jello Biafra guided me here.
You too?
Jello Biafra understands that the Houston scene was cool at the time. He's also supported the Cincinnati/Covington scene.
Listening in memory of Houston native George Floyd. Imagine a knee on your neck and a leg on your back moving in and out of an air choke and a blood choke with periodic relief for eight minutes and 45 seconds. This is insanely painful. I recently watched my elderly mother die from a pulmonary thrombosis and accompanied by a cardiac arrest. It HURT and she talked to me about how much it hurt for the last five of the nine minutes she lived. George Floyd felt all this pain and more.
Gotta give props here to the Floyd family here in Houston for helping keep things mostly nonviolent. But for a minute think that getting a little violent thwarts political goals. There was some unrest over Glover's murder, and a major riot in Denver Harbor after Joe Campos Torres was tortured and drowned. Whitmire would win election as mayor on a police reform platform and backed by black and Latino leaders, as well as the gay and lesbian community.
BTW, Ray Hill made this all happen. He's basically the Gay Jesus of Houston. I met him once. I am not a Christian, but the one time I met Ray Hill I felt I was in the presence of the divine. I reject all Christian concepts of salvation, but if there is salvation, it is according to the standards of Matthew 25. These standards are harsh, but fair. Ray Hill met them.
Countless people have died for the bible. Purifying of the soul through fire and baptism before death.
who cares
I also met Ray Hill a couple times. I felt I was in the presence of the unwashed, I wish he had met soap those days. To be fair, it was a weekend so maybe he was in ‘chill mode’. 🤷♂️
Floyd was a drug user, fake check writer, a loser who robbed a pregnant white woman at gun point, and threatened to kill her,
etc. So who gives a shit about his worthless ass, he got a million dollar send off, figuratively speaking.
@@ditsomusic exactly
Milton Glover
Love this song to death!
@BillHicks420 You can check various punk blogspots; I've had mine for years. Try typing AK-47 rar & some blogspot links should pop up. Good luck & thanks for watching.
One person has the badge
I grabbed the single in Houston taking my little boy to astroworld.....long time ago
velvetfan do you still have it?
Hope you kept your copy. It looks like it's going for about $500 for now. I bought mine at a punk rock record store on lower Westheimer in the 1980s including the lyrics and a newspaper article about the lawsuit!
www.discogs.com/AK-47-The-Badge-Means-You-Suck/release/1666233
Anyone wanna sell their copy?
thats it
Hi Penny.... Remember the island..... Suicided Punks...
GENIUS!!!!