Pac-Man Fever (album)

{{Infobox album

| name = Pac-Man Fever

| type = studio

| artist = Buckner & Garcia

| cover = Pacmanfeveralbum.jpg

| caption = Cover illustration of 1999 re-release

| released = January 1982

| recorded = 1981

| venue =

| studio =

| genre = Rock

| length = 33:24

| label = Columbia/CBS Records (1982)
RC 37941
Buckner & Garcia Productions (1999)
K-tel Entertainment (2002 version)

| producer = Buckner & Garcia

| year = 1982

| next_title = Now & Then

| next_year = 1999

}}{{More citations needed|date=February 2024}}{{Album ratings

|rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r31804|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]

}}

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{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921174,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107105801/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921174,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2007|title=Pac-Man Fever|publisher=Time Magazine|date=April 5, 1982|accessdate=October 15, 2009|quote=Columbia/CBS Records' Pac-Man Fever...was No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week.}} and earning gold certification by the RIAA for selling over one million copies;{{Cite news |title=Popular Computing|publisher=McGraw-Hill|date=1982 | volume=2|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921174,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071107105801/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,921174,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 7, 2007|accessdate=August 14, 2010|quote=Pac-Man Fever went gold almost instantly with 1 million records sold.}} the single sold 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008.{{cite book|last=Turow|first=Joseph|title=Media Today: An Introduction to Mass Communication|year=2008|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-96058-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KusZ29rZHYIC&pg=PA554|edition=3rd|accessdate=29 January 2012|page=554}} 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.Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004 Like the title track, the album went on to receive a gold certification from the RIAA, for over 500,000 records sold;[http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Pac-Man_Fever&artist=&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=10 RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Pac-Man Fever] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904081506/http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=Pac-Man_Fever&artist=&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=10 |date=2015-09-04 }}. RIAA.com. Retrieved 2009-11-01. 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,{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/solid-gold/show/2476/episode.html?tag=ep_guide;paginator;2&season=2|title=American Bandstand Season 25 Episode Guide|publisher=TV.com|date=March 20, 1982|accessdate=August 14, 2010}} and appeared later that day on Solid Gold to perform the title track.{{cite web |date=March 20, 1982 |title=Solid Gold Season 2 Episode Guide |url=http://www.tv.com/solid-gold/show/2476/episode.html?tag=ep_guide;paginator;2&season=2 |accessdate=August 14, 2010 |publisher=TV.com}}

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 re-recorded "Mousetrap" for the 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|date=February 2024}}