Songoftheday 4/10/12 - I got a pocket fulla quarters & I"m headin' to the arcade...

Buckner & Garcia - "Pac-Man Fever"
from the album Pac-Man Fever (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (two weeks)

The Akron, Ohio duo of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia rode the Atari wave to platinum sales with the biggest novelty hit of 1982 courtesy of the little yellow chomping orb, Pac-Man. Before then, they had recorded a spoof of Howard Cosell under a different moniker and reached #82 on the pop chart. The same year as "PacMan Fever", the two co-wrote part of the extended "Theme From WKRP In Cinncinnati". In fact, Steve Carlisle, who sung that #65 pop charting song, sings backup on "Fever".

But it was the video game arcade fad that made it for the guys, as every kid was heading to their local "Space Port" or whatever to plunk down quarters. The resulting album had homages to Centipede, Donkey Kong, and Frogger, even though they originally protested making an entirely games-based LP. The album went on to sell more than a half-million records, and the "Pac-Man Fever" single has sold close to three million. That's a lot of extra plays. Check out Garcia's bluesy growl tryin' to sell it...



Garcia died last November, so tip a token to his memory.

Tomorrow: a little ditty about numbers and birds.