Buckner & Garcia... cashing in on the video game craze of the early 80s.

When I was about ten years old, video games were all the rage. I had a friend whose father owned a fast food restaurant. He bought a bunch of video games for his patrons, which naturally, my friend got to play for free. Because I was her friend, I got to play, too... sometimes. I grew up playing Frogger, Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Crazy Climber, Phoenix, and my personal favorite, Scrambler.  In those days, we thought the video games had great graphics and music.  So did a whole lot of other people.  Pac Man was a phenomenon in the early 80s.

Enter Buckner & Garcia, who had a hit song called "Pac Man Fever".  It used to play on Top 40 radio and at skating rinks.  In 1982, the duo, consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia of Akron, Ohio, released a musical ode to video games.  A couple of days ago, I actually downloaded their album, which along with the hit song, "Pac Man Fever", also includes songs like "Froggy's Lament" (about Frogger), "Do the Donkey Kong", and "Ode to a Centipede".  The album has eight songs in total, each of which are about video games, and each of which include actual sound effects from the games.

I'm listening to "Do the Donkey Kong" as I write this.  I'm actually kind of impressed by the music.  It's pretty solid.  The singing also isn't bad.  The lyrics, on the other hand, are pretty ridiculous.  Also, today's kids have no concept of going to the arcade with a pocket full of quarters and playing for an hour or so.  I guess if you were really good at the games, you could play longer.  Basically, they were worse than one armed bandits, because if you got a high score, you didn't get anything more than "egoboo" and maybe your initials on the "highest scores" list.

You can dance to this while you dodge encounters with Speedy.

Buckner & Garcia were actually around for a long time.  They began writing novelty songs in 1972, the year of my birth, and continued until 2011, when Gary Garcia died.  Jerry Buckner has written many songs for more famous performers such as Anne Murray, Bobby Vinton, and yes, even Bertie Higgins of "Key Largo" fame, although Buckner didn't write that song.  

Buckner & Garcia's 1982 album, which won national distribution thanks to "Pac Man Fever's" success, is heavy on synthesizers, which were all the rage in the 80s...  just like Pac Man was.  Sometimes, I miss the simpler days.  It would be fun to play a couple of rounds Pac Man instead of reading more about the sorry state of the world.

I see I wrote about "Pac Man Fever" in 2017, but I didn't take the time to look into the duo who created these catchy and somewhat inane songs.  Obviously, they had some musical chops, though, given how long they were in the music business.  And, on another note, I'm getting so old!  

   

Bertie Higgins...

I will admit that I only know of one song Bertie Higgins ever sang.  It was a early 80s number called "Key Largo".  It definitely qualifies as crap from the past.  Thanks ever so much to Alexis for reminding me of this schlocky hit.

Dear God...

I haven't heard this song in ages, but it's basically a wistful love song.  They don't make 'em like this anymore, people.  It's pure radio gold.

He must have had some kind of career, though, because I ran across this image on the Internet.

Hmm... Sexy?  Or not?

According to Wikipedia, Bertie Higgins is a native Floridian.  He is, at this writing, 71 years old.  In 1982, when "Key Largo" was a hit, he was in his late 30s.  Knowing this fact and realizing that I remember 1982 and that song makes me feel very old.  

"Key Largo" was a fairly successful song and has been used on a number of TV shows.  Higgins was one of the writers of that song and has penned songs for other, better known singers.  I guess I can give him props for making his music career work, even if he's not necessarily a household name.  

Kudos to Bertie Higgins for writing a song that still sticks in my head over thirty years later.  It's like a musical ode to Florida.  Almost makes me want to hop on a jet and go there for some snorkeling and conch fritters.  

Undercover Angel...

It's Sunday and I'm bored.  Luckily, I purchased a new CD the other day... Hard to Find 45s on CD Vol. 14.  It consists of 71 minutes of some of the shittiest songs from the 70s... perfect thing to go with my cheap red wine.

This is the first song that came on my iMac as I played this...

Followed by this song...

Now I'm feeling old, even though these songs were popular when I was a very wee lass...

Of course, if there were ever a true "one hit wonder", this song would top the list.