Pac-Man Fever (song)

For the game of the same name, see Pac-Man Fever (video game).
"Pac-Man Fever"

A-side label of U.S. vinyl single
Single by Buckner & Garcia
from the album Pac-Man Fever
B-side "Pac-Man Fever" (Instrumental)
Released December 1981
Recorded 1981
Genre Pop, pop rock
Length 3:43
5:51 (extended 12-inch version)
Label Columbia/CBS Records
18-02673 (7-inch single)
44-02762 (12-inch single)
Writer(s) Jerry Buckner
Gary Garcia
Producer(s) Buckner & Garcia

"Pac-Man Fever" is a hit single by Buckner & Garcia. Capitalizing on the video game craze of the early 1980s, the song, about the classic video game Pac-Man, peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in March 1982.[1]

That same month, it was certified Gold by the RIAA for over 1,000,000 units shipped to retailers;[2] the single sold 1.2 million copies by the end of 1982,[3] and 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008.[4] VH1 ranked it at #98 on their list of 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

A follow-up release in May 1982, "Do the Donkey Kong", just missed the Billboard chart, ranking #103.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1982) Peak
position
Canada RPM[5] 9
US Billboard Hot 100[6] 9
U.S. Cashbox Top 100[7] 7

Year-end charts

Chart (1982) Rank
US Billboard Hot 100 42
US Cash Box Top 100[8] 47
US American Top 40[9] 58
Canada[10] 92

Re-release

In 1998, the duo was asked to record an unplugged version of "Pac-Man Fever" exclusively for the syndicated radio show Retro Rewind. In 1999, a re-recorded version of the album was released independently by Buckner and Garcia, which was released commercially through K-Tel in 2002. The re-release was anxiously awaited by fans of the original album. However, Buckner and Garcia could not obtain the original master recordings from Sony Music Entertainment, so the duo was forced to record new performances of the songs and recreate a lot of the sound effects either digitally or musically.

In honor of the release of the 2015 film Pixels, Jerry Buckner, and Danny Jones with Jace Hall, took the vocals from Gary Garcia's master recording, and created a new version called "Pac-Man Fever Eat Em' Up".

References

  1. ↑ "Pac-Man Fever". Time Magazine. 1982-04-05. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
  2. ↑ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Pac-Man Fever. RIAA.com. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  3. ↑ "Ode to Joystick". SPIN. SPIN Media. 20 (9): 86. September 2004. ISSN 0886-3032.
  4. ↑ Turow, Joseph (2008). Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 554. ISBN 0-415-96058-4. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
  5. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  6. ↑ "Buckner & Garcia – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Buckner & Garcia. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "American Top 40" (PDF). Charismusicgroup.com. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  10. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-11-13.


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