This is the international cover version that classic video game fans in general have known about the longest, as photos of the front of the 45's picture sleeve showed up on the early Web.
You can see that, similar to the Finnish and Australian releases, Atari sponsored this version of the song to promote their Atari 2600 version of the game. Nikolaus Esche was hired to translate the lyrics. The B-side is a song Mann co-wrote. (Photos courtesy Discogs.com.)
And here is the third aerobic album with "Pac-Man Fever." This one sadly lacks any credits for the band. And there's no version without the exercise directions.
But it does come with a nifty poster showing some of the moves for each song. Thanks to Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber for playing this on his radio show, Crap From the Past, from which I extracted the audio and uploaded it to YouTube.
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| Scans courtesy Discogs.com. |
All we know about this cover of "Pac-Man Fever" is the publisher. There's no artist credits or even a copyright date (but c. 1982 is probably a good guess).
Another international cover from 1983, this time with all-original music and vocals. And unlike the original, this one features no arcade samples, just synthesized effects.
This one also is a promotion for the Atari 2600 version of Pac-Man, as can be seen by the back cover. My working theory is that Atari licensed the song in territories where the original song wasn't released, like Finland and Australia. (Photos courtesy Ville Ranki.)
Remember the international releases of "Pac-Man Fever"? Not all were mere repackagings of the Buckner & Garcia version. Some were done by native artists. This one from the Philippines, however, is rather odd. It uses the "instrumental" version of the Buckner & Garcia track and has a new vocalist, presumably the lead of the Green Notes, sing the lead. Unfortunately, it seems they possibly only did one take, as it's a little rough.
I've never seen a copy of this 45 with a sleeve. (Maybe a generic one.) It is extremely hard to find on eBay and isn't even listed on discogs.com. The few I've seen photos of also appear to be in rough shape, making me wonder if all surviving copies came out of jukeboxes.
I'll be upfront and tell you I can't share the audio for this one because I've never heard it. I have yet to track down a copy of this 1983 LP at a reasonable price. But the song is the backing track for "Aerobic Routine #4". Side A has exercise instructions over the music, but side B is just the music.
From The Glory of America (1983, re-released as America Fest in 1984). "Pac-Man Fever" is in the middle of the medley. I've been unable to find it anywhere online, so I've uploaded an excerpt.
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| Courtesy Discogs.com |
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| Courtesy Discogs.com |
It was this version of the song, not the original, that inspired Derrick Bostrom's cover. That explains why that version lacks the third verse.
The band is mainly Derrick Bostrom of Meat Puppets fame with Bruce Sandig. The version of "Pac-Man Fever" on the four-song EP was actually inspired not by the original, but by a version done in a medley by Jimmy Osmond. You can read Bostrom's account at his blog.
Around 1999/2000, B&G took the music from their new version of "Pac-Man Fever" and turned it into this. Unable to obtain a license, it wasn't released. Until Pokémon Go hit in 2016. With Pokémon Go's amazing popularity, Buckner released a couple videos of the song. However, after some months, he removed it, telling me after I asked that he was never satisfied with it. But once something's on the Internet, it's rarely gone for good. So you can still find a version on YouTube.
I'm not aware of any "Do the Donkey Kong" covers for DtDK Month, so we'll do this. In 2018 Tyrone "The Kahn Man" Kahn took the Buckner & Garcia song and tweaked the cadence to make a swing version. It's only been played on Kahn Man's Comedy Corner, his comedy music show. You can listen by creating an account at MadMusic.com.
The Four Eyes are a Seattle band that licensed the song to release their cover on 1000 Rock & Role Playing CDs in 2004. I believe this means they're the first artist to cover a song from the PMF album other than "Pac-Man Fever." You can find the track (and the whole album) on Bandcamp.
Seattle, Washington artist Scott Andrew performed this medley during a live performance at the Trabant Chai Lounge on 6 May 2005. "Pac-Man Fever" is the first song of the medley. It's available on Archive.org.
Iron Butter released this grindcore cover of "Pac-Man Fever" on their EP, For The Mysophiliacs, in 2006. The song appears to no longer be online for free, so here's a sample.
The EP cover is censored not because I'm prudish, but because I don't want the hassle of how putting nudity here might affect the blog. If you want the uncensored cover, you can find it on Discogs.
This cover was exclusive to Little Darla Has A Treat For You, V.25: Endless Summer 2007-08, published by Darla Records. According to Wikipedia, the Sprites were "an independent new wave/indie pop music group from Maryland."
You can listen to the cover on YouTube and buy it at Darla Records.
Hopefully you know who/what Worm Quartet is by now. When he released his 2007 album, Mental Notes, he offered a bonus album, Unreleasable, to those that pre-ordered. One of the tracks on the latter was this performance of "Pac-Man Fever" from MarsCon 2005. The album is out of print and unavailable, but you can hear the song on MadMusic.com.
I'm breaking the pattern of moving back in time on Wednesday covers to let you hear what the marching band arrangement (as covered this week) sounds like. Jenson published an album each year with performances of their latest marching band arrangements. "Pac-Man Fever" appears on side 4 of the Marching Band '82 double record album.
This has been released under a few different company names. It exists in both a demonstration version (about 3:53, includes lead vocals) and a karaoke version (about 4:02).
The music sounds pretty close to the original. The lead singer on the demo version, however, does not sound much like Gary Garcia or even match his intonations. Both versions are on YouTube (demo, karaoke).
This is the insane one. First, there are three versions of this cover: a straight one, one with Halloween sound effects, and a karaoke version. All clock in at 4:05 except for one karaoke one which is 4:00. Why Halloween sound effects? I have no idea! "Ghosts", I guess.
Second, it was released under seven different publishers. Third, it was released under 13 different band names. Fourth, it was released on 33 different digital albums, but one of those has two different versions of the cover art! You'll note a lot of these albums have "70's" in the title. I'll remind you that "Pac-Man Fever" was released in 1981.
All three are on YouTube: the regular one, the Halloween SFX one, and the karaoke one. You can also buy them on Amazon.
