My original copy of Pac-Man Fever that I got at age 7 in 1982

Vinyl is hot among music collectors again. I happen to be one of those, as well (records and retro games are pretty much my two collecting hobbies these days). I’ve always bought tons of music, whether on vinyl, cassette, or CD (I’m not a downloader, I prefer physical media – which is probably evident as I’m blogging about collecting old videogames), so it’s not a trendy thing for me (cue the “I was buying vinyl before it got hip” line).

Anyway, with the current hipness of vinyl records comes a proliferation of video game soundtracks on said format. Companies like I Am 8 Bit, Data Discs, and Ship to Shore are producing high-quality editions for collectors of both games and music.

But let’s go back…way back. To the beginning.

Pac-Man Fever.

As a wee music fan (I was listening to KISS as early as 4 years old), PMF was the first album I actively wanted to obtain. I can’t say it was the first album I bought myself, as I was 7 years old in 1982 and I didn’t have any money, but it was the first one I asked my parents for. And when I got it, I played the  shit out of it. Not only the title track, but songs based on other games like Frogger, Berzerk, Defender, Donkey Kong, and more.

Revisiting it, it’s pretty cheesy. But the album went gold, almost platinum, with 900,000 copies sold, and the Pac-Man Fever single itself sold 2.5 million copies.
The unfortunate fate of this album is that you cannot buy the original version on CD. In 1999, artists Buckner & Garcia had to re-record the entire album and they no longer had the rights to use all the original sound effects incorporated into the songs, so the CD version has new SFX that are an approximation of the original. Fortunately, used copies of the original LP are inexpensive should you wish to rock out to this classic!