Wednesday cover: "Froggy's Lament" by Insane Ian

Comedy musician Insane Ian is, I believe, the only one to cover a song from the Pac-Man Fever album other than the title track. You can listen at SoundCloud and buy it (name your price) as a hidden bonus track at Bandcamp.

Update: I later discovered Insane Ian not only wasn't the only one to cover a song from the album other than "Pac-Man Fever", he wasn't even the first. Sorry, Ian.

On the charts December 26, 1981

40 years ago today, "Pac-Man Fever" debuted at #79 on the Record World Singles chart and #87 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles chart.

Week 11: 2016 Christmas t-shirt

In 2016, Jerry Buckner offered Pac-Man Fever Christmas t-shirts on Cafe Press. In both English and Spanish!

Christmas Bonus: 2021 t-shirt

And this was this year's Christmas t-shirt. (No, he hasn't produced one each year.) Merry Pac-Man Fever Christmas!!!

Local Dr. Demento debut

On December 20, 1981, the song "Pac-Man Fever" made its debut on the local version of the Doctor was first played on the local, live version of The Dr. Demento Show on KMET in Los Angeles. (It's national debut was a couple weeks later.) Thanks to Jeff Morris and his site, the Demented Music Database, for the information!

Week 10: 12" maxi-single

Pac-Man Fever" was also released on a 12" maxi-single. Unlike this photo, it came in a plain white sleeve. One side (they're not designated 1 and 2) has the Club Version, which we'll cover below. The other side is the same 3:43 instrumental version as came on the 45.

The Club Version is also an instrumental. Unfortunately, it's merely padded to 5:51 by repeating the verse and chorus music a couple times at the end, not by doing any real remixing. You can listen to it on YouTube.

Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man Fever" by Worm Quartet

Worm Quartet is a one-man comedy synth-punk band. He's also the "Pac-Man guy" from VH-1's Totally Obsessed. He released The Pac-Man EP to celebrate Pac-Man's 40th anniversary in 2020, including a PMF cover. It's available on Bandcamp in either digital or physical format.

Week 9: Picture disc

One interesting thing Columbia did was release the Pac-Man Fever 45 in a picture disc format. Well, maybe it shouldn't be called a disc because it's actually square. It came in a clear plastic cover so you could see the photo through the sleeve.

Both sides are identical photos of a Pac-Man game in progress. To fit the square format, the score is missing. The tracks are identical to the regular 45, the song with vocals on the A side and the instrumental on the B side. Except for the copyright notice, which is present on both sides, there are no markings on the record, so it's easy to lose track of which side is which.

Wednesday cover: NiFTy Fever by Buckner & Garcia

Jerry Buckner hopped on the NFT bandwagon back in April and auctioned off 5 copies of "Nifty Fever" featuring Danny Jones. The music is from 2015's "Pac-Man Fever (Eat 'Em Up)" with new lyrics about NFTs. You can listen to it on YouTube.

Week 8: Country version

After the launch of the album, someone in the band or at Buie/Geller thought a country version of "Pac-Man Fever" would be a hit. Having already worked with Edgel Groves on "Footprints in the Sand", the duo asked him to record it.

After the country version of "Pac-Man Fever" was recorded, however, CBS Records got wind of it and nixed it. They were worried it would eat into sales of the original. Despite this, some 45 copies were pressed locally on the Starstruck label.

Remember in week 4 we told you we'd see Edgel Groves' name again? Yes, he's the same one that helped create the patterns included on the album's sleeve.

The country version of "Pac-Man Fever" is actually faster than the original, having been played at about 200 bpm as opposed to the original's 150 bpm. This makes the country version almost exactly one minute faster.

Just like the original, the country version 45 comes with an instrumental version on the B side. But nobody has ever put it online! Until now!!! Enjoy!