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!  

   

Sugar Don't Bite...

Back in 1983, I was an avid fan of Star Search.  It was kind of an 80s precursor to American Idol, although it also included categories besides singing.  I'd say the vocalist categories were the most popular and launched a few legitimate stars.  I remember Sinbad, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, and Tiffany were all contestants.

You know who else was a contestant?  Sam Harris.  Don't know the name?  A lot of people don't.  But back in the 80s, when he was in his 20s, he was a big winner on Star Search.  He was kind of like Star Search's version of Kelly Clarkson.  After winning big on Star Search, Harris got a record deal with Motown and released this song...

It sounds a little like Papa Don't Preach.  The songwriters sued Madonna and actually won...

I do remember this being on the radio back in the day...  I was 12 years old in 1984 when this was a minor hit.  It's a pretty crappy song, in my opinion.  I'd rather listen to "Papa Don't Preach".  

Here's Sam Harris singing his signature song... "Over the Rainbow", which people seem to love.  Harris was known for his soaring high notes and embellishments, which I have always found kind of annoying.  But this performance was good enough to win lots of money and eventually a turn on Broadway after his Motown record deal fizzled.

"Over the Rainbow"... I can think of versions I like better than this.  That showy last embellishment makes my hair stand on end.

I give him credit for making good, though.  Not only has he been on Broadway and scored a record deal, but he's also produced TV shows.  And even though I am not a fan of the showy embellishments, he definitely can sing.

I did wonder where he went after "Sugar Don't Bite".  I think that song probably embarrasses him now.  But it was fun to listen to it yesterday after so many years.

Pac Man Fever...

South Park led me to write this post.  They played a clip of "Pac Man Fever", a musical homage to the legendary arcade game.  People of my generation loved Pac Man.  Now it's ridiculously primitive.

Buckner & Garcia sing their one hit wonder...  Holy shit!  They were on American Bandstand!

Pac Man had a hell of a run in the 80s.  I remember they marketed everything from breakfast cereal to Saturday morning cartoons with the little yellow guy and his descendants and "wife", Ms. Pac Man.  And, yes, there was even a hit song.  Man, oh man, does this song bring back some painful memories.

I am still hooked on video games, although now I'm playing them online and blowing too much money on them.  I'd kill for a game I could play for a quarter.

Back in my youth, we even had game shows dedicated to video games.  Of course, Pac Man was a big part of that.  This is Starcade, which used to air on TBS.

Yeah, this is one of those songs that came out at the right time and is now mostly faded from memory.  But the guys who made South Park are my age, so sometimes I relate even more to their show than I should.  

U Stink But I Love U

Wow... a true blast from the past.  I literally haven't thought of this song since 1989 or so.  For some reason, the chorus popped into my head...  So here it is.  Mucky Pup's very unique addition to the music of my youth.

Rotten.

I got a kick out of the video because it's introduced by Adam Curry, an MTV veejay.  I guess this band came to fame because the creator of the Bloom County comic strip was a fan and made them the house band, Billy and the Boingers.

Well... I'm not sure they had much more going on beyond this.  Looking at their YouTube channel, I see a few more videos that came out in the 90s.  Moreover, I'm pretty sure I was introduced to this by my ex best friend, who watched a lot more MTV than I did.  But it's kind of fun listening to it again after all these years.  Damn... I am getting old.

Star Trekkin'...

I was never a fan of the old TV series, Star Trek, but plenty of my peers loved the show.  Consequently, I remember very well when a parody song about Star Trek came into being.  The year was 1987.  The band was called The Firm.  They were Brits with a keen sense of humor.

And they hired art students called The Film Garage to make a clever video...

This song became quite successful.  It was released by Bark Records and the first pressing was just 500 units, which were sent to British radio stations.  The song took off and eventually sold over a million copies, although apparently the band's success was a flash in the pan.

Someone posted a meme on Facebook yesterday, which made me think of this song.  I will admit the first time I heard it was in the early 90s, when I worked at my college's radio station.  I used to have the radio show after a couple of geeks who played new wave songs from the 80s as well as silly stuff like this.  Later, the song was used at the summer camp where I used to work.  A guest counselor taught the kids a dance to go with the song, which they all seemed to love.

I can't believe this is thirty years old...  How quickly time passes when you get to be middle aged!

Rappin' Rodney!

Here's a blast from the past.

Yes, Rodney Dangerfield made music...

The video for Rodney Dangerfield's hit "Rappin' Rodney" even had a cameo from Pat Benatar in it.  She played the executioner. The backup singers remind me of the Pointer Sisters, but I doubt they had anything to do with this tripe.  Rodney was pretty funny back in the day, though.  Check him out on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

They don't make 'em like this anymore.

At the time of its release, Dangerfield was 62 years old and his catchphrase was "I don't get no respect at all."  So they made a song about it and it was a minor hit in the 80s.  The other day, it popped into my head for no apparent reason.  I hadn't thought of that song in decades and I consider myself to be an aficionado of shitty one hit wonders from the late 70s until the early 80s.  But it made an appearance on the brain while we were in France.  I had to go looking for it and had a sudden flashback to the early 80s, when MTV was still about music on TV.

In the 1980s, Dangerfield's career was ignited with several movies.  He was in Back to School, Easy Money, and Caddyshack.  It makes sense that he'd hit the hit parade with a silly novelty song.

Now that I've thought of this song, there will surely be others.  Long live the 80s!

OXO... Whirly Girl is possibly the lamest song of the 80s!

I woke up this morning with this song on the brain.

This song is called "Whirly Girl" and it's by a band called OXO.  This was their one and only hit.

When I was in the fifth grade back in the spring of 1983, an American dance band called OXO came out with a song called "Whirly Girl".  I remember liking the song when it was popular.  It's fairly catchy.  

For some reason, I woke up thinking about this obscure song and decided to see if I could find it.  Sure enough, there it was in all its YouTube glory.  One would think this band would go on to bigger and better things, but they sort of fell off the face of the map.  I see in the YouTube comments that this song was also used in a documentary called Frank and Cindy.  Indeed, Frank Garcia was the bassist of OXO and his stepson, G.J. Echternkamp wrote and directed the film.  Evidently, Cindy was the ultimate groupie and married Frank thinking she'd live a rock star life.  Guess not.  Now I'm curious about the film.

Dick Clark interviews OXO on American Bandstand. Dig those costumes.

I'm surprised it's taken me this long to write about OXO.  They seem like they're the perfect addition to a blog like this one, focused on musical crap from the past.  

Of course, nowadays, when most people think of OXO, they think of kitchen gadgets, not an obscure 80s band.  I like the dancer in the video.  Wonder what she's doing now...

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.  

Eight Seconds... Songs my old best friend used to love...

The 80s were chock full of one hit wonders.  This dramatic song, "Kiss You When It's Dangerous" was a mid 80s hit by Eight Seconds.  I remember my best friend circa 1986 loved this song.

She also loved this song by Robbie Nevil...

I think she liked it because it had a titled in French and she thought French was the shit...

Whatever happened to Pretty Poison.  I think part of the reason they were a one hit wonder was because of the name of their band.  I can't imagine making classic songs that last a long time with a trendy name like "Pretty Poison".  And who wants to hang out with people who think of themselves as Pretty Poison anyway.  Too many guys are already involved with toxic women who are also ugly.