April Fool's Record Club - Buckner & Garcia, "Pac-Man Fever"

I had an Atari system when I was a kid. I LOVED Pac-Man. My mom only let me play a maximum of one hour a day. But, oh, I loved that game.

The first two tracks are perfect encapsulations of this album's intent: tame but well-made versions of the rock’n’roll that the intended pre-teen audience would get into a few years later. “Pac-Man Fever” is a cuddlier version of “Search and Destroy” and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. “Froggy’s Lament” is what Dave Mustaine would be singing if he were well-adjusted. The rest? Novelty stuff, inoffensive.

Oddly enough, my nominee this month also did a Taylor’s Version years before that was a thing, as Streetlight Manifesto re-recorded an album by the singer’s old band as a protest against the record label putting out a new unremastered edition of said album or some such.

So, when are we getting Rosa's defense of this choice?

I must say, they are right that Frogger's movement doesn't really make any sense at all.

The Centipede song almost works, except for the dopey chorus.

More later.

Pac-Man Fever - I have played the game 'Pac-Man' so this song resonated with me.

Froggy's Lament - I am familiar with the game Frogger thanks to the hit TV show Seinfeld but the game Frogger was not one that I played in my youth so this song did not resonate with me. I played the similar but different Horace Goes Skiing on the ZX Spectrum. They should have made this song be about that game instead. The frog voice is annoying.

Ode to a Centipede - my initial thought here was that this sounded like a mild parody of Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero but after some investigation it turns out that this song is older and therefore Bucker & Garcia have a potential intellectual property copyright claim against Jim Steinman. I have limited experience with the game Centipede. I am aware that there was an old arcade game with that name though until now I didn't know about the central gameplay mechanic. As a result this song does not resonate with me. I wish he couldn't see the centipede. Why stretch this thin premise to a 5 and a half minute long song? What justifies that?

Do the Donkey Kong - Now we're talking. I've jumped over the barrels thrown by that dang ape. As a result this song resonated with me - I give it a strong 5/7. Or at least I was going to before the completely unearned post-fade-out chorus repeat came in. 4/7.

Hyperspace - It took me a moment to figure out that this was about Asteroids and not some game called 'Hyperspace' that I hadn't heard of. As soon as I made that realisation everything clicked into place and the song resonated with me. They claim that the spaceship is somewhere between the moon and the sun but the asteroid belt, where I would expect the game to take place, is not in that area. What's the deal with that?

Defender - I remember finding this game fucking hard work much like this song which, despite resonating with me as a result of recognising the subject matter, was bad.

Mousetrap - I didn't know there was a Mousetrap video game. I have played the Mousetrap board game but this song doesn't appear to be about that. This song does not resonate with me. Ironic that the game appears to be an unpopular knock-off of the much more popular Pac-Man.

Goin' Bezerk - I have no idea what's going on here. This song does not resonate with me. No Stars.

This album is a true piece of shit.