This past November the classic gaming community lost yet another icon, musician Gary Garcia. The brief history writen here is only a small portion of what made the man who was Gary Garcia.
Gary Garcia and Jerry Buckner were grade school friends in the early sixties, formed a local band known as Wild Butler, and together sold their first novelty song, “Gotta Hear The Beat ” under the pseudonym of Animal Jack. They later wrote the 1978 hit funk/soul disco single “I love the Nightlife” for Alicia Bridges, which landed in the fifth spot of the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1980, Gary and Jerry found it fit to offend sports journalist Howard Cosell by writing the Christmas song, “Merry Christmas in the NFL ” which featured Cosell as St. Nick driving a black limousine. From there they composed “ Footprints in the Sand ”, based on the popular poem, for recording artist Edgel Groves. It hit number one on the Country Music and Christian Gospel charts and was the single most requested song to American disk jockeys in 1981. The following year, they partnered to create the theme song of the CBS hit sit-com “WKRP in Cincinnati ” sung by Steve Carlisle.
To classic gamers and music aficionados of the eighties, the duo is most known for the 1981 chart topping song, “Pac-Man Fever .” The novelty song, which featured actual sound samples from the coin-op Pac-Man, could not help but become a hit while approximately one-billion in quarters were finding their way into the 350,000 arcade cabinets worldwide in less than a year!
The song itself almost never happened. The duo recorded the song and shopped it around, but all the record labels turned it down. It wasn't until they released it independently and it aired on a local morning show that it sold over ten thousand copies in a single week and then CBS Records took notice. Then, with national circulation, “Pac-Man Fever ” went gold and hit number nine on the Billboard Hot 100. Within a month CBS offered Buckner and Garcia an opportunity to complete an entire album of video-game themed songs. Amazingly, the entire album was conceived and finished in less than two weeks! Also titled “Pac-Man Fever,” the LP featured music and sounds from other early popular arcade games including Asteroids , Berzerk , Centipede , Defender , Donkey Kong , Frogger and Mouse Trap. In total, over two and a half million copies were distributed. Gerald Mann even re-recorded the song in German as “Pac-Man Fieber.”
When the fever passed, so did the spotlight on Gary Garcia and Jerry Buckner. They created a song based on the popular movie “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ” that was even endorsed by Steven Spielberg himself. However, it was passed on by the music label and replaced by Neil Diamond's unauthorized E.T. song, “Heartlight” which resulted in a lawsuit.
While they both continued to write for other performers and compose jingles for product commercials, neither of them were able to reach back into the limelight that is pop-culture. With Gary's demise this past November 17th, it is an end of an era and we sadly wish Gary Garcia goodbye.
Gary's final song, “Found Me The Bomb” is available free at GiantBomb.com and was recorded following an interview conducted during Giant Bomb's Pac-Man tournament. During a podcast on July 5th, video game journalist Ryan Davis joked that the team should make a song about them and to his surprise, Buckner & Garcia did just that!
I suggest that you download the “Pac-Man Fever” album for Rock Band and honor Gary in a manner that would certainly leave him smiling if he were around today. With this I leave you the lyrics and wisdom of “Pac-Man Fever.”
Pac-Man Fever
I got a pocket full of quarters, and I'm headed to the arcade.
I don't have a lot of money, but I'm bringing ev'rything I made.
I've got a callus on my finger, and my shoulder's hurting too.
I'm gonna eat them all up, just as soon as they turn blue.
Chorus:
'Cause I've got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
It's driving me crazy.
Driving me crazy.
I've got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
I'm going out of my mind.
Going out of my mind.
I've got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
I'm going out of my mind.
Going out of my mind.
I've got all the patterns down, up until the ninth key.
I've got Speedy on my tail, and I know it's either him or me.
So I'm heading out the back door and in the other side;
Gonna eat the cherries up and take them all for a ride.
Chorus
I'm gonna fake it to the left, and move to the right;
'Cause Pokey's too slow, and Blinky's out of sight.
Guitar solo
Now I've got them on the run, and I'm looking for the high score;
So it's once around the block, And I'll slide back out the side door.
I'm really cookin' now, eating everything in sight.
All my money's gone, so I'll be back tomorrow night.
'Cause I've got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
It's driving me crazy.
Driving me crazy.
I've got Pac-Man fever;
Pac-Man fever.
I'm going out of my mind.
Going out of my mind.
Repeat and fade
