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The Crazy Dude That Struts Like a Rooster Will Save Our Neighborhood: An Appreciation of Michael ‘P.S.’ Hayes’ “Badstreet USA”

by tonydoug wright

In my opinion, the 1980s were the high-water mark of professional wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) sat on top of the professional wrestling business due to their golden boy of commercialization, Hulk Hogan. Although the WWF was successful, they had plenty of competition from other organizations such as the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), and World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW).

Wrestlers at this time were to have certain panache, a sharp tongue, a sellable gimmick, a dash of danger, an ample supply of spandex, and a theme song to pump up the crowd. It was not unusual at the time for wrestlers to use popular tunes such as Survivor’s ‘Eye of the Tiger’ or Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ for their entrance music. As time went on, the wrestling business deiced that an original theme song would be used instead, so the wrestlers made their way into the recoding studio in hopes of striking theme music gold.

Hulk Hogan teamed up with Rick Derringer for ‘Real American’, quite possibly one of the most recognizable entrances of the era. Others tried their hand at singing their own theme music, and for the most part, it was more of a miss than a hit. But the 1980s were a time when it was necessary to not only have the song but a video as well. One of the most memorable wrestling entrance themes and videos was delivered by one Michael ‘P.S.’ Hayes, a member of the heel trio known as the Fabulous Freebirds. First of all, a heel is a bad guy in wrestling terms and secondly, the ‘P.S.’ stands for “Purely Sexy”.

Hayes wrestled for WCCW and the NWA, was a member of the Freebirds, and he partook in some legendary matches with the Von Erich Brothers, the talented but cursed wrestling family of Texas. The Freebirds did use ‘Freebird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd as their entrance theme until the mid 1980s, but as Hayes grew into a superstar and as the original theme song became en vogue, then Hayes teamed up with some musicians to record the 1984 wrestling classic, ‘Badstreet USA’.

First of all, you’ll need to watch the official video for ‘Badstreet USA’. Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emKxRo1a3cs.

By professional wrestling standards, what you just watched was a masterpiece. If you think I’m joking then venture down the professional wrestling highway of theme songs and prove me wrong.

Let’s examine the video. ‘Badstreet USA’ opens with a gritty view of the bad side of town where an elderly woman looks out the window only to see that her neighborhood is about to be destroyed by the oncoming gang of leather clad freaks. Fortunately, a man who looks like a mix of Dog the Bounty Hunter and Toby Keith, struts out the door, like rooster, to save the day. That hero is none other than Michael ‘P.S.’ Hayes. The video cuts to Hayes and his band rocking out to ‘Badstreet USA’. Did you notice that the guitar player in the yellow animal striped shirt sort of looks like Ron Jeremy?

As the video cuts back to the gritty black and white bad side of town, we notice that the leather clad gang of punks’ moves closer and closer. Hayes does not have to fight them alone because he calls out Terry ‘Bam Bam’ Gordy and Buddy Roberts. Maybe they did not have enough money in the budget for the rumble scene but we do see two medical personnel standing over a fallen leather clad punk. Apparently, those cats did not know about Badstreet USA.

When the solo hits, then it’s time to roll out the clips of the Freebirds in the ring. Hayes, Gordy, and Roberts are shown battling the Von Erich’s. There’s more of Ron Jeremy and the backup band as well. The video ends with the Freebirds saving the neighborhood and all is right in the world.

When I was twelve, this video was absolutely amazing. Now that I’m older, I’m not afraid to admit that I like ‘Badstreet USA’, but not as much as I did when I was twelve. The campiness of the video makes it enjoyable and it brings back memories when I would watch professional wrestling with my grandfathers. Both of my grandfathers have passed away but when I was younger, we would check out some local matches and we spent hours in front of the television watching guys like Nick Bockwinkel wrestling Curt Henning for the championship belt.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Hayes will not be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame due to his signature hit, ‘Badstreet USA’. It is however a great example of what happens when wrestlers get their theme songs right because they have the catchy tune plus there’s the memorable video. Just remember Hayes when the leather clad punks are making their way into your neighborhood.


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