'Pac-Man Fever' Musician Gary Garcia Dies

According to the official Buckner and Garcia band website, Gary Garcia has passed away in his home in Englewood, Florida.

Inspired by the thriving arcade culture of the early 80s, Gary Garcia and Jerry Buckner wrote an extremely rockin' album of novelty pop songs based on popular games like Frogger ('Froggy's Lament'), Asteroids ('Hyperspace'), Donkey Kong ('Do the Donkey Kong') and Centipede. Sounds from each game were recorded and mixed into the tracks, and the inner sleeve of the LP featured the maze patterns for Pac-Man.



The title track of the Buckner and Garcia album issued in 1982, 'Pac-Man Fever,' became a break-out success and ended up selling over a million copies and peaking on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #9.

In a remembrance on the band website, Jerry Buckner recalls, "Gary and I wrote Pac Man Fever in my front room. He mostly handled the lyrics and I the music. He was a gifted writer. His opening line, 'I gotta pocket full of quarters and I'm headed to the arcade' is a classic and summed up the entire video game craze that was sweeping the country at that time."

After a follow-up record, "E.T., I Love You" found little success, Buckner & Garcia faded into obscurity. The Pac-Man Fever album re-emerged in 1999, however, and though Buckner and Garcia were unable to access the original recordings, they re-recorded the entire album, making it available to the public once again.

Gary Garcia and Jerry Buckner embraced the kitsch value of Pac-Man Fever, keeping the record available far beyond its initial success and continued to collaborate on musical projects. Pac-Man Fever tracks were recently made available as playable tracks on the Rock Band Network. I highly recommend that you grab a plastic guitar, fill your pocket full of quarters and head to your home arcade for a round of "Do the Donkey Kong."

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