Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man Fever" by Green Notes (Philippines)

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.

You can also find the song on the Filipino release of Hooked on Disco, which is also very hard to find. You'll note that actually mixed up the artist credits on the back and miscredit it to the Echoes. The other song by the Echoes has a female lead, however, so I presume the Green Notes credit from the 45 is the correct one. Oh, and the B side of the 45 is a song called "Lift Off."

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.

Aside: Level 257

Back when it still existed, Level 257 in Chicagoland had a Pac-Man history display on the bottom floor, including a timeline. The 1982 portion featured the Pac-Man Fever album.

 

Charting the Charts

Now that we've concluded the chart positions of all things Pac-Man Fever, here's some charts to show how they did. If anyone is a chart wiz and wants to take a crack and making more attractive charts, I will gladly share the data. Just contact me at 52ofpmf @at@ gmail .dot. com.

Week 46: K-Tel CD

After the self-published release, Buckner arranged for K-Tel to publish the re-recorded CD. Released in 2002, it's essentially the same as the 1999 release, with the K-Tel logo and some extra verbiage. (Photos courtesy Discogs.com.)

Wednesday cover: "Pac-Man Fever" by TAFI

 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.

How to properly credit the song is complicated. The album was created by Mary Boyd and Lettie Gillespie for Texas Aerobic Fitness Inc. (TAFI), and their names appear on the cover. However, a deeper dive into the credits reveals it was arranged and conducted by Dennis Buck. David Brody provided synthesizer effects and the vocals were by Doris Eugino, Janice Hardgrove, and Norm Michaels. It was published by Kimbo Educational Records.

Thanks to Discogs.com for the cover scan and credits!

On the charts August 21, 1982

40 years ago today, the Pac-Man Fever album was #178 (down 19) on Cash Box Top 200 Albums, its final week on the chart. This concludes the look back at Pac-Man Fever on the charts.

However... the song "Pac-Man Fever" was played one more time on American Top 40. Although it takes us past the 40th anniversary year of the song, it seems a fitting end to the project. Look for it in December.