Off-Topic Tuesday: "Old School Games" by Buckner & Garcia (feat. Danny Jones)

I'm not certain, but this may be the last song to date credited to Buckner & Garcia. The subject matter is appropriate and Jones provides lead vocals again. It's sometimes credited to Buckner-Garcia Band (feat. Danny Jones) instead.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph" by Buckner & Garcia

While working on the movie Wreck-It Ralph, someone at Disney had the bright idea of having Buckner & Garcia sing a song based on the Fix-It Felix Jr. game. So they called up Jerry Buckner and asked if they'd be interested. Of course they're interested! Unfortunately, Gary Garcia had passed away, so Danny Jones did the lead vocals. But it doesn't have the same effect if they don't keep calling the band Buckner & Garcia. Buckner has briefly told the story on YouTube.

The nice thing was that they got to reunite the surviving members of the band from the original Pac-Man Fever album. As mentioned, Garcia was gone, but so, too, was Ginny Whitaker who'd played drums on the album. Buckner also presented some video of the song's recording session. He mentions Jamie Houston as the co-producer, but glosses over the fact that he also composed the music and wrote lyrics. Houston has written a lot of songs for Disney.

As it says up top, the song is "Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph." And there's an Easter egg in it. There's a short instrumental/sound effects break in the song. If you listen closely at the 2:03 mark, you'll hear someone say "Uh!" That's Gary Garcia's voice taken from a recording of "Pac-Man Fever". (Probably the 1999 version.) They figured if they're going to keep calling themselves Buckner & Garcia, he should have a part in it, so he does.

Image courtesy Discogs.com.

Off-Topic Tuesday: Video game medleys by Insane Ian

We've covered one of Insane Ian's medleys before because of the Frogger section, but he's done 5 of them! You can get the first 4 on a single EP. His latest medley is its own track.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Mama Rap" by Dead Alewives

Those of a certain age will remember when the "Your Mama" insult trend was ubiquitous? This 1996 rap leans fully into that and mentions a bunch of classic video games in the process. (Thanks to James Piazza for the pointer.)

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Pac-Man Is Naked and So Should You" by Worm Quartet.

I mentioned this song earlier, but now I'm highlighting it on it's own. This was, I believe, Worm Quartet's first time doing a song about Pac-Man. It's from the album Stupid Video Game Music, and that title also pretty much sums up the song, I think. (No offense intended.) Yeah, that's pretty much it. Take a listen on Bandcamp.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Pac-Man" by Sudden Death (feat. Worm Quartet)

Sudden Death — these days performing just as Devo Spice — did this parody of "Smack That" by Akon featuring Eminem and figured VH-1's Totally Obsessed (and fellow comedy musician) Shoebox of Worm Quartet was just the one to sing along.

Off-Topic Tuesday: Overclocked Remix

Rather than doing a specific song, this week I'm plugging an entire site. OCRemix is a place for musicians to remix the music from video games of any age. Yes, even Pac-Man. Browse around and check it out. 

https://ocremix.org/ 

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Dig Dug" by Digital Air

This 1984 single is by Gary Wright, of "Dream Weaver" and "Love Is Alive" fame, and Paul Gordon. There is no album it came from. You can listen on YouTube.

You'll notice in the video it shows the back side of the single is "Berzerk". For years it seems people only found promo copies with "Dig Dug" also on the B side instead. But finally someone found a copy with "Berzerk" and also posted it to YouTube.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Computer Wars" by Began Began

This 1982 12" single includes samples from "Pac-Man," "Centipede" and elsewhere. Side A is the long version while side B is two different mixes of a short version. You can hear the whole thing on YouTube. I suspect you will either love or hate these tracks with very few falling in the middle.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "80's Arcade" by Irish Elvis

Irish Elvis (a.k.a. Sean Tiedeman) created this short song for his film "The King of Arcades". Reverb Nation is now the only place to hear it and it comes with an intro as long as the actual song.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Donkey Kong Joonyer" by Starbomb

The final Off-Topic Tuesday song for Donkey Kong Month is "Donkey Kong Joonyer" by Starbomb from their 2019 album, The Tryforce. You can listen to it on YouTube or buy the album from the Starbomb website.

But wait, there's more! You see, Starbomb is kind of an off-shoot of another band called Ninja Sex Party. In 2020, to celebrate NSP's 10th anniversary, Insane Ian put together a tribute album called Above the Covers. And on that album, which is available on Bandcamp, is a cover of "Donkey Kong Joonyer" by Scooter Picnic. Scooter Picnic is the band name for when Insane Ian and TV's Kyle team up. Everything is connected!

Off-Topic Tuesday: "King of Kong" by TV's Kyle

The third Off-Topic Tuesday song for Donkey Kong Month is "King of Kong" by TV's Kyle from his 2010 album (appropriately enough), Pocketful of Quarters, and featuring Devo Spice on a rap verse. "Pocketful of quarters" is also a line of the chorus. Although the song shares the name of a Donkey Kong high score "documentary", it is unrelated to any of that. You can both listen and buy it at tvskyle.bandcamp.com.

But wait, there's more! Kyle also released an acoustic version on his album Ray Fillet in 2011, which also features the Devo Spice rap verse. It's also available on Bandcamp.

And finally -- or, actually, firstly -- Kyle originally released the song on the FuMP Sideshow in 2008 without Devo Spice's rap verse. That version, sadly, is no longer available anywhere that I'm aware of. (Outside my various personal devices.)

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Don't Sell The Barrels To The Monkey" by Super 8 Bit Brothers

The second Off-Topic Tuesday song for Donkey Kong Month is "Don't Sell The Barrels To The Monkey" by Super 8 Bit Brothers from their 2009 album, Brawl. Thanks to Jason Schneiderman of The Dr. Demento Show - Official group on Facebook for pointing me to this.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Human Video Game" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince

Our first Off-Topic Tuesday song for Donkey Kong Month is "Human Video Game" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (1988). This is a link to the longer version from the original vinyl and cassette release of He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper. The CD version was shorter.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "The Super Epic Video Game Medley II: Championship Edition" by Insane Ian

I know I just announced Donkey Kong month in June, but we have one last Frogger song to do for Off-Topic Tuesday in May.

A bit of a cheat, but three minutes into this medley we have "Frogger Cross the Street", a parody of "Dancing in the Street" by Mick Jagger and David Bowie. Check it (and Ian's other medleys) out at Bandcamp.

If using a medley containing one song about Frogger was too much of a cheat for you, we give you an honorable mention of this awesome "Frogger - Main Theme" guitar cover by Project Genesis (a.k.a. @EricHeatEsparza).

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Frogger" by Bad Religion

For the fourth Frogger song, we have this one from their album Back to the Known, where the band says Los Angeles traffic is like "playing Frogger with my life." Listen to it on YouTube.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Frogger Is Killing Our Culture" by Possible Oscar

We continue Off-Topic Tuesday's Frogger month with this song by comedy band Possible Oscar about "a violent video game that is corrupting our society at breakneck speed" in 2011. There's a link in the video description to buy it.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Moves Like Frogger" by Insane Ian

The second Frogger song for May is a parody of "Moves Like Jagger" by Insane Ian, who's been featured before. Enjoy the video at YouTube. If you'd like to buy the song, see the links in the description. (Also, the "real video" mentioned there didn't get made, so this is the only one for the song.)

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Frogger! The Frogger Musical" by Paul & Storm

Today starts Frogger Tuesdays. Every Off-topic Tuesday in May will feature a Frogger song. Well, I may have to fudge a little on the fifth Tuesday.

Paul & Storm created today's track in response to a Masters of Song Fu writing contest to do three styles in one song. You can listen on YouTube and buy at paulandstorm.com.

Off-Topic Tuesday: "Q*bert" by the great Luke Ski

In 2014, the great Luke Ski corrected the grievous oversight of their not being a song about this well-recognized arcade icon. You can see the video I made for it on YouTube or buy the track on Bandcamp.