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!  

   

The S.O.S. Band...

 I love it when a random song from the past pops into my head.  Just a little while ago, a song called "Just Be Good To Me" started playing in my head.  I went looking for it on iTunes.  I only found a version done by a Canadian singer named Deborah Cox.  Deborah Cox recorded "Just Be Good To Me" in 1995.  She's two years younger than I am.  I knew the song was older than that, since I remember it playing on the radio when I was a kid.  Sure enough, I learned that it was released by the S.O.S. Band in 1983.

The song I remembered.  It's hard to find this song without paying an arm and a leg.

Neither iTunes nor Amazon.com had this song available by the S.O.S. Band.  If I want it, I have to pay a shitload of money.  I like the song, but not that much!  Besides, I can always listen on YouTube.  I did download Deborah Cox's version, which is pretty good and very faithful to this version.

She's got chops.  I read that she used to sing backup for Celine Dion.

Amazon.de does have "Just Be Good To Me" available to download, but I can't download stuff from their store, because I have a U.S. bank account.  I would need a German account to access the digital Amazon.de store.

Living in Germany can have its annoying sides.  Like, for instance, I am once again locked out of my PenFed account, and I have to call the bank to get it unlocked.  But I have to wait until the afternoon, because I'm six hours ahead of PenFed, which is in Virginia.  It's even worse when something happens on USAA.  They're on central time, there.  

Anyway, the S.O.S. band had another hit song back in the day.  It's called "Take Your Time, Do It Right".  I don't like that one as much as the funky "Just Be Good To Me".  For one thing, "Take Your Time" has a tendency to get stuck in my head.  It's quite an earworm.

But you sure can dance to it... or do other things.

"High Hopes" is a 1982 era hit.

"The Finest" is another hit by the S.O.S. Band, but I don't remember this one.

The S.O.S. Band stands for Sounds of Success.  They got their start in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977.  As I sit here listening to their music, realizing that they worked with some famously great producers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, I can understand why their sound is so infectious and still pretty great many years later.  I've always really appreciated funk, even though I'm about as white as a person can get.

I'll probably be singing that song for the rest of the day. 

 

Holiday Rap!

No, no, no... not a Christmas holiday...  I'm referring to "Holiday Rap", a 1986 song by the Dutch duo, M.C. Miker G & DJ Sven.  Although the song was a hit in Europe, I remember hearing it in the United States.  It has a very catchy riff that should be familiar, since it's set to the 1983 song "Holiday" by Madonna.  I think I somehow taped this song off the radio back in the day and the fact that I heard it more than once while living in the USA was just dumb luck.

Anyway, I was reminded of "Holiday Rap" yesterday, while watching a video about the show, To Catch a Predator, which was popular in the mid 00s.  Someone used a clip of "Holiday Rap" to introduce the video, and I was instantly transported to 1986.

Hmm...

I am shocked by how cheesy this is.  Were things really this cheesy in 1986?

Well, things were pretty cheesy in the 80s, but I still love the music.  It's a lot of fun to hear these old hits from back in the day, even if they make me feel older than hell.  I love how a lot of the music from those days has stood up to the test of time.  Madonna's song, "Holiday", is breezy and poppy, but it still has an infectious groove and you can dance to it.  

I'm not sure that M.C. Miker & DJ Sven have improved on Madonna's classic, but I always chuckle when I hear this rap... even when it's almost Christmas time, and this is about a summer holiday.  And based how cold it is outside today, I would welcome a summer holiday... especially if it means COVID is less of a problem.  Here's hoping.

Lipps Inc... who knew? And rest in peace, Ronnie Wilson, of The Gap Band...

 A couple of nights ago, while sitting in rented accommodation in Slovenia, I was messing around on YouTube and watching old clips of the old British kids' show that included the Pink Windmill Kids, with Rod Hull and Emu.  Toward the end of the show's run, it was starting to resemble an American show called Kids Incorporated.  But whoever was choosing the songs for the Pink Windmill Kids' show, must have loved disco and dance music, even in the 80s.

Having grown up during that time, I am well familiar with the big hit, "Funkytown".  I used to hear it all the time at the skating rink.  

This was a big hit...  Probably Lipps Inc.'s biggest...

So there I was, sitting there watching the Pink Windmill Kids doing covers of songs like "Funkytown", although I don't think they ever actually did "Funkytown".  And they did a song called "Power", which was originally a Lipps Inc. song.  But "Power" also rips off "Venus" by The Shocking Blue and Bananarama... and the horn section also sounds suspiciously similar to James Brown.  

Pretty impressive...

"Power" definitely sounds like a song by the people who brought us "Funkytown",  But what really struck me was the unusual chord harmonies on the chorus.  And what struck me even harder is how well these girls from The Pink Windmill Kids do it... especially given that it's a "deep cut".  

Impressive stuff.  But by the end of the 80s, the Pink Windmill Kids were definitely channeling Kids Incorporated.

I'm surprised none of these kids turned out to be famous.  Or, at least none that I know of today...

Moving on...

Yesterday, I learned that Ronnie Wilson, one of the founding members of The Gap Band, died at age 73.  May he rest in peace.  

This song never gets old... it always reminds me of my childhood.

A priceless piece of history... Karen, Tina, Olivia, Peaches, and Toni singing an Eagles hit!

I watched Tina Turner's HBO documentary the other day.  Included within that program was a clip from the time period during which Tina Turner was recovering from her marriage to and divorce from Ike Turner.  Tina joined Olivia Newton-John on a TV special she did around 1980 or so.  It was quite the epic party, and also included Elton John, Andy Gibb, and it looks like Cliff Richard was also on hand.

Check out Toni Tennille, Tina, Olivia, Karen Carpenter, and Peaches from Peaches and Herb.  Crazily enough, as I played this, my husband thought Peaches was me.  

Dayum!  Lots of talent up there!

What do you know?  Someone uploaded the whole show!  Wonder if I want to watch it?

Now THIS is entertainment!  I think this aired in April 1980; so I would have been seven years old.

I actually kind of miss these sorts of shows.  They were fun to watch, and the people behind them were legitimately talented.  Yes, they were often corny, but they allowed us to escape life for awhile.  I was as child at the time these aired, though, which may be why I liked them so much.  There's no accounting for taste, especially when you're a little kid.

I think most of these folks had the odd TV special... well, the women did, anyway.  I know The Carpenters and the Captain and Tennille did them.  And poor Tina was once on The Brady Bunch Hour.  Now THAT is an embarrassing way to make money!  But at least they didn't make her wear a skin tight polyester jumpsuit.

Ya Mama!

I just have to share this hilarious song from 1982 that I discovered (or possibly rediscovered) today.  One of my husband's friends from high school shared this popular rap song that his former suitemates at Sam Houston State University in Texas used to play all the time.

This song is funny!

I was ten years old in 1982, but I swear I don't remember this song, which was a one hit wonder for Wuf Ticket, an American hip hop group that consisted of Mustafa Ahmed, James Mason, Earl McField and Karin Wolf.  Although this song was fairly successful and got to number 21 on Billboard's Black Singles chart, their follow up song, "The Key" didn't chart.  Looks like these folks are now relegated to musical obscurity... but I sure had a good laugh listening to them today.

My friend, Andrew, calls this a "diss track".  I guess it's because the song mostly consists of two guys cutting each other down.  But then, when it gets to "Ya Mama", they rein themselves in, because it's not cool to cut down someone's mama.

I should have posted about this on Mother's Day.  I'm glad to have found it today, when I needed a good laugh.  This definitely qualified as crap from the past that belongs in the Dungeon!

Rest in Peace, B.J. Thomas...

I heard a few months ago that B.J. (Billy Joe) Thomas had lung cancer.  I was sorry to hear it, since his music was a big part of my soundtrack growing up.  I remember hearing his hit song, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", a song he did with Burt Bacharach for the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, so many times when I was a young child in the 1970s.  I'm listening to it now, as I write this post, enjoying the retro sound, yet realizing that it still sounds excellent in 2021.  I also remember him for being very handsome.  He had mesmerizing blue eyes and thick, dark hair... He was lucky to have looks and talent going for him.

B.J. Thomas passed away on May 29, 2021.  He leaves behind his wife of 51 years, Gloria Thomas, and three daughters, Paige, Nora, and Erin.  Thomas overcame many struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, eventually becoming a Christian.  But he still sang his pop hits in his concerts, and memorably contributed his distinctive voice to the theme song for Growing Pains, a sitcom I used to watch a lot when I was growing up.  In fact, a couple of months ago, I watched the whole series and heard B.J. singing that iconic theme over and over again for each episode.

Here are a few videos by him...

Probably his best known hit...

Another well known song!  Much better than the "ooga shaka" follow up by the group, Blue Swede.

B.J. sang this as a solo and with Jennifer Warnes. He later did a version with Dusty Springfield, which became a hit on the radio.

B.J. Thomas had a beautiful voice... much like his contemporary, Ray Stevens, who was reportedly offered "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" before B.J. was.  I'm glad it was done the way it was... I can't imagine a better singer for that song.  

Thoughts and prayers go out to Gloria Thomas and her daughters as the mourn the passing of their legendary husband and father.  And on another note, I can't believe I never mentioned B.J. Thomas on this blog before.  He really was a wonderful singer, and he came of age at a time when talent really mattered.  I hope he is at peace now... and I know he is no longer in pain.