Comments on: Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" (1982)

By: SomeGuyNamedMark

SomeGuyNamedMark — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

Yup, I admit it. I saw “Fish Heads” on a vinyl 45 many years ago and had to pick it up.

By: IronEdithKidd

IronEdithKidd — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 14:49:00 +0000

Just reading the headline was enough to plant this song firmly in my head. I don’t think I’ve heard it since I was 9. It was all over the place in 1982, regular radio play, not just Dr. Demento (that came later). I was also just hit with a flood of memories of being a young girl in that era. Good stuff.

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 06:30:00 +0000

I’ve listened to hours of Dr Demento as a youngster and this is the first time I’ve heard this song.

By: skeletoncityrepeater

skeletoncityrepeater — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 05:06:00 +0000

This record is UNLISTENABLE. If you pay more than $10 novelty value for the LP you are really wasting money. There is a more novel 45 rpm single for Pac-Man Fever on square vinyl. This is generally worth more as it is really cool to display. There are a few of them for sale at Caveman Vintage in Chinatown in LA. Seriously, the music of Buckner & Garcia is about as bad as you can get. It’s my childhood, I was a huge Dementoid and still love novelty music, and synths, and odd things. On this record, they just don’t get it.

By: Boundegar

Boundegar — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:26:00 +0000

And worth every penny. (shudder)

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 01:02:00 +0000

Live noise would kind of kill the lip-sync, wouldn’t it?

By: dculberson

dculberson — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:53:00 +0000

Did anyone else notice that neither of the keyboards are plugged in?

By: echolocate chocolate

echolocate chocolate — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:52:00 +0000

Speaking of Pac-Man, a decade later, Aphex Twin made an early rave track under the pseudonym Power Pill. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnURWFxwmk0

By: fredges

fredges — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Dr. Demento still rules. I thought this was Barnes & Barnes, now I know it was Buckner & Garcia. Thanks!

By: Dave Pease

Dave Pease — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:13:00 +0000

$40? Holy smokes, add my record collection to stuff I wish I still had from when I was a kid.

By: kringlebertfistyebuns

kringlebertfistyebuns — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:48:00 +0000

Heads up – when sharing on Facebook, the headline comes up as just “Buckner and Garcia’s.” Dunno if that’s something you have control over. Just a small oddity.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Lightweight. Here's Disco Lucy on Soul Train.

By: Meadhbh Octopodidae

Meadhbh Octopodidae — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:41:00 +0000

i see your pac man fever and raise you one “space invaders” by uncle vic: http://youtu.be/kgtbcWAO_Cg

By: dhparlee

dhparlee — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:52:00 +0000

I had no idea that Steve Wozniak also had a music career. Also, his lip syncing and fake guitar playing suck.

By: EH

EH — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:48:00 +0000

You know what I mean.

By: David Pescovitz

David Pescovitz — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:39:00 +0000

Um, thanks.

By: emg72

emg72 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:38:00 +0000

Was just thinking of this song, as the kids and I watched Wreck-It-Ralph, and if you wait through the credits, there’s a “Wreck It Ralph” theme song that sounded vaguely familiar. My 12-year-old, being 12, said “that’s cheezy”, and I said, “Well, I’m pretty sure it’s just a parody of Pac-Man Fever, which was a song when I was a kid…”

One little Google later, and lo and behold, “Wreck It Ralph” was written and sung by Buckner/Garcia!

Genius move. For a film already packed with videogame refs, that one’s the pixelated cherry on top.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:37:00 +0000

Want to forget it again? This should drive it out of your mind:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFrmapGCuhs

By: Ric Johnson

Ric Johnson — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:24:00 +0000

Um, David? The Dick Clark Show? Try “American Bandstand” Thus the giant “AB” on the back wall…

By: Jonathan Peterson

Jonathan Peterson — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:23:00 +0000

I found that and ripped it a while back and spun it in a Turntable FM 80s room. The result was… gratifying. Not quite as good as Paco – Puttin on the Ritz.

By: franko

franko — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:16:00 +0000

OOF. here’s a track i was happier forgetting.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:16:00 +0000

People who really need to lighten up.

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:07:00 +0000

And let’s not forget the tragically neglected “Mouse Trap”. Wikipedia reports that when they rerecorded the album in 1999, they were unable to find a machine and used sounds from nature, instead. Oddly, while Exidy’s founder generously released many of its old ROMs for non-commercial use with the MAME emulator a few years ago, Mouse Trap was not among them.

By: EH

EH — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:03:00 +0000

FWIW, I’d say that’s Amazon pricing. I just saw it in an actual record store this past weekend for $20.

Elsewhere on the internet, it can be had for as low as US$1.00+shipping:

http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?master_id=121796&ev=mb

By: EH

EH — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 20:03:00 +0000

Who criticizes Dr. Demento?

By: Christopher

Christopher — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:57:00 +0000

There are those who criticize Dr. Demento, but I feel I owe him for so much: National Lampoon’s “Deteriorata”, Camper Van Beethoven’s “Take The Skinheads Bowling”, Allan Lieberman’s “Thank God I’m A Jewish Boy”, Larry Groce’s “Junk Food Junkie”…

I also appreciate him filling in some of the background information on Barnes & Barnes’s “Fish Heads”, although I’d already been introduced to it a few years earlier, thanks to Nickelodeon’s “Turkey TV”.

By: SomeGuyNamedMark

SomeGuyNamedMark — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:52:00 +0000

Dr Demento flashback

By: anon0mouse

anon0mouse — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:50:00 +0000

Don’t need the reissue. I have a copy of the original…worth 40 bucks, eh? EXCELLENT!

By: TheKaz1969

TheKaz1969 — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 19:37:00 +0000

gee, yeah, at the time, everyone was going nuts over the game of Pacman, but I can’t figure out where they came up with the idea, either, Mr. Clark…

that being said, I listened to this 45 over and over again as a kid. When I wasn’t listening to Convoy, or Billy Crystal’s “You Look Mahvelous”