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Pac-Man Fever (album)

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Pac-Man Fever
Cover illustration of 1999 re-release
Studio album by
Buckner & Garcia
ReleasedJanuary 1982
Recorded1981
GenreRock
Length33:24
LabelColumbia/CBS Records (1982)
RC 37941
Buckner & Garcia Productions (1999)
K-tel Entertainment (2002 version)
ProducerBuckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia chronology
Pac-Man Fever
(1982) 		Now & Then
(1999)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. Each song on the album is about a different arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was originally released on LP, cassette, and 8-track tape in January 1982, and was later completely re-recorded for re-release on CD in 1999 and 2002.

The title song, "Pac-Man Fever", was released as a single in December 1981 and became a top 10 hit, peaking at #9 in March 1982 on the Billboard Hot 100[2] and earning gold certification by the RIAA for selling over one million copies;[3] the single sold 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008.[4] It had been released independently earlier in the year on the BGO Records label, before being picked up by CBS. The album's second single, "Do the Donkey Kong", peaked at #3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.[5] Like the title track, the album went on to receive a gold certification from the RIAA, for over 500,000 records sold;[6] the album had sold 1,200,000 copies in total by the end of 1982. The duo performed both of these singles on American Bandstand on March 20, 1982,[7] and appeared later that day on Solid Gold to perform the title track.[8]

The album was completely rerecorded in 1999 for CD release because the original album is still owned by Columbia, who declined to re-release it. When Buckner & Garcia rerecorded "Mousetrap" for this release, they were unable to find a copy of the arcade game anywhere, so they instead recorded dog and cat sounds at a pet store.[citation needed]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleGameLength
1."Pac-Man Fever"Pac-Man3:48
2."Froggy's Lament"Frogger3:18
3."Ode to a Centipede"Centipede5:37
4."Do the Donkey Kong"Donkey Kong4:24
5."Hyperspace"Asteroids4:07
6."The Defender"Defender4:02
7."Mousetrap"Mouse Trap4:01
8."Goin' Berzerk"Berzerk4:17

Personnel

[edit]
  • Gary Garcia: vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, cowbell
  • Jerry Buckner: vocals, keyboards, synthesizers
  • Mike Stewart: Moog synthesizer (7, 8)
  • Chris Bowman, Rick Hinkle: electric guitar
  • Larry McDonald: bass guitar
  • Ginny Whitaker: drums, percussion
  • David "Cozy" Cole: electronic drums

"Froggy's Lament" also pays tribute to Smilin' Ed McConnell and Froggy the Gremlin from Andy's Gang with its lyrics "Hiya, kids" and "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!".[9]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ "Pac-Man Fever". Time Magazine. April 5, 1982. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2009. Columbia/CBS Records' Pac-Man Fever...was No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week.
  3. ^ "Popular Computing". Vol. 2. McGraw-Hill. 1982. Archived from the original on November 7, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2010. Pac-Man Fever went gold almost instantly with 1 million records sold.
  4. ^ Turow, Joseph (2008). Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 554. ISBN 978-0-415-96058-8. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  5. ^ Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004
  6. ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Pac-Man Fever Archived 2015-09-04 at the Wayback Machine. RIAA.com. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  7. ^ "American Bandstand Season 25 Episode Guide". TV.com. March 20, 1982. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
  8. ^ "Solid Gold Season 2 Episode Guide". TV.com. March 20, 1982. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
  9. ^ "FROGGY'S LAMENT / Buckner & Garcia / Original 1982 Release". Youtube. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
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