Pac-Man Fever (album)

Pac-Man Fever
Cover illustration of 1999 re-release
Studio album by Buckner & Garcia
Released	January 1982
Recorded	1981
Genre	Rock
Length	33:24
Label	Columbia/CBS Records (1982) RC 37941 Buckner & Garcia Productions (1999) K-tel Entertainment (2002 version)
Producer	Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia chronology
Pac-Man Fever (1982) Now & Then (1999)

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AllMusic	[1]

Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. Each song on the album is about a different arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was originally released on LP, cassette, and 8-track tape in January 1982, and was later completely re-recorded for re-release on CD in 1999 and 2002.

The title song, "Pac-Man Fever", was released as a single in December 1981 and became a top 10 hit, peaking at #9 in March 1982 on the Billboard Hot 100^[2] and earning gold certification by the RIAA for selling over one million copies;^[3] the single sold 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008.^[4] It had been released independently earlier in the year on the BGO Records label, before being picked up by CBS. The album's second single, "Do the Donkey Kong", peaked at #3 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.^[5] Like the title track, the album went on to receive a gold certification from the RIAA, for over 500,000 records sold;^[6] the album had sold 1,200,000 copies in total by the end of 1982. The duo performed both of these singles on American Bandstand on March 20, 1982,^[7] and appeared later that day on Solid Gold to perform the title track.^[8]

The album was completely rerecorded in 1999 for CD release because the original album is still owned by Columbia, who declined to re-release it. When Buckner & Garcia rerecorded "Mousetrap" for this release, they were unable to find a copy of the arcade game anywhere, so they instead recorded dog and cat sounds at a pet store.^{[citation needed]}