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Pac-Man Fever (album)
''Pac-Man Fever'' is a 1982 album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. It is also the name of the first song on that album. Each song on the album is about a different classic arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was originally released in LP, cassette, and 8-track tape formats, 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 and earning gold certification by the RIAA for selling over 1 million copies; the single sold 2.5 million copies in total as of 2008. 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 #103 on ''Billboards Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. Like the title song, the album itself went on to receive a gold certification from the RIAA, fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia was an American musical duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first recording was made in 1972, when they performed a novelty song called "Gotta Hear the Beat", which they recorded as Animal Jack. Later, in 1980, they wrote a novelty Christmas song titled "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining sports journalist Howard Cosell as Santa Claus. The recording was credited to Willis the Guard (a character performed by Atlanta radio personality Bob Carr) and fictional group Vigorish. The song reached No. 82 on the Billboard charts. In 1981, the duo wrote a faith-based country theme to back the poem " Footprints in the Sand", performed by Edgel Groves, which reached No. 1 on many Country and Easy Listening radio stations. The duo also produced an extended version of the ''WKRP in Cincinnati'' theme song released on MCA Records in 1982. However, the duo is best known for their hit novelty song " Pac-Man Fever", released in 1981 on a l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solid Gold (TV Series)
''Solid Gold'' is an American syndicated music television series that debuted on September 13, 1980, and ran until July 23, 1988. The program was a production of Brad Lachman Productions in association with Operation Prime Time and Paramount Domestic Television. Usually airing on Saturday evenings, ''Solid Gold'' was one of several shows that focused on the popular music of any given week; other examples included the long-running ''American Bandstand'' and ''Soul Train''. While ''Solid Gold'' did share elements with those two programs, such as appearances by performers, it also stood out by including something they did not: an in-house crew of professional dancers that performed routines choreographed to the week's featured songs. Reviews of the show were not always positive, with ''The New York Times'' referring to it as "the pop music show that is its own parody... nactingmini-dramas...of covetousness, lust and aerobic toning—routines that typically have a minimal connectio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1982 Debut Albums
__NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire *January 28 **Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar. **Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus. China *Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed. By topic Religion * Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211). Births * Lu Kai (or Jingfeng), Chinese official and general (d. 269) * Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andy's Gang
''Andy's Gang'' was a children's television program broadcast on NBC from August 20, 1955, to December 31, 1960, hosted by the actor Andy Devine. It was the successor to the radio and television program ''Smilin' Ed McConnell and His Buster Brown Gang'' (later shortened to '' Smilin' Ed's Gang''). Devine took over the television program when McConnell died suddenly of a heart attack in 1954. Devine inherited a number of characters from the earlier show and the sponsor, Buster Brown shoes. Cast The cast of the program included: *Andy Devine *Nino Marcel as Gunga Ram *June Foray as the voice of Midnight the Cat and Old Grandie the Witch *Billy Gilbert as the teacher *Lou Krugman as the Maharajah *Jerry Maren as Buster Brown *Alan Reed as the poet *Vito Scotti as Pasta Fazooli and Rama *Bud Tollefson as the voice of Tige, the dog Smilin' Ed McConnell ''Smilin' Ed McConnell and his Buster Brown Gang'' was one of the first children's TV shows filmed in Hollywood. In the original s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Froggy The Gremlin
Froggy the Gremlin was a character created by Smilin' Ed McConnell and brought to radio in the 1940s and television in 1950s on the ''Smilin' Ed McConnell, Smilin' Ed's Gang'' show, and later ''Andy's Gang'' TV show, hosted by actor Andy Devine after McConnell's death. The character Froggy was a troublemaker. Disrespectful of adult authority figures, Froggy played practical jokes and disrupted the presentations of other guests. If a guest were to demonstrate how to paint a wall, he might say, "And now I'm going to take this can of paint..." Froggy would chime in, "And dump it over my head." And the confused guest would proceed to do so.McMahon, Ed and Fisher, David C.''When Television Was Young'' Thomas Nelson Inc, 2007, On radio and the early TV shows, Froggy's voice was frequently supplied by Arch Presby, Arch ("Archie") Presby, who was also the program's announcer. He appeared on screen in a puff of smoke with the catchphrase, "Hiya, kids! Hiya hiya hiya hiya!" The human host ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smilin' Ed McConnell
Smilin' Ed McConnell (born James McConnell; 1882 – July 23, 1954) was a radio personality, best known as the host of the children's radio and television series, ''Smilin' Ed's Gang'', closely identified with its sponsor, Buster Brown shoes, and also known as ''The Buster Brown Program''. For his work in radio, McConnell was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Early life Born James McConnell in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of a minister, McConnell began to sing at age three and soon learned how to play drums and the piano. He was athletic as a teenager, and after attending William Jewell College, he became a professional boxer. He enlisted in the United States Army during World War I. According to an NBC press release, "A troop train on which he was traveling was wrecked in Arkansas by a German sympathizer and Ed wound up in a river. When he was pulled out, an Army surgeon pronounced him dead, but a buddy finally revived Ed with artificial respiration." Radio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moog Synthesizer
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer, and is credited with creating the analog synthesizer as it is known today. The Moog synthesizer consists of separate modules which create and shape sounds, which are connected via patch cords. Modules include voltage-controlled oscillators, amplifiers, filters, envelope generators, noise generators, ring modulators, triggers, and mixers. The synthesizer can be played using controllers including keyboards, joysticks, pedals, and ribbon controllers, or controlled with sequencers. Its oscillators can produce waveforms of different timbres, which can be modulated and filtered to shape their sounds (subtractive synthesis). By 1963, Robert Moog had been designing and selling theremins for several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Berzerk (video Game)
''Berzerk'' is a multidirectional shooter designed by Alan McNeil and released for arcades in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. Following Taito's ''Stratovox'', it is one of the first arcade video games with speech synthesis. ''Berzerk'' places the player in a series of top-down, maze-like rooms containing armed robots. Home ports were published for the Atari 2600, Atari 5200, and Vectrex. A sequel, ''Frenzy'', was released in 1982. Gameplay When the game begins, the player controls a green stick man on the left of the screen. In two-player games, the second player controls a purple stick man on the right of the screen. Each player plays until they lose a life, allowing the other player to have a turn. Using a joystick and a firing button that activates a laser-style weapon, the player navigates a simple maze filled with many robots, who fire lasers back at the player character. A player can be killed by being shot, by running into a robot or an exploding robot, gettin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mouse Trap (video Game)
''Mouse Trap'' is a maze video game developed by Exidy and released in arcades in 1981. It is similar to '' Pac-Man'', with the main character replaced by a mouse, the dots with cheese, the ghosts with cats, and the energizers with bones. After collecting a bone, pressing a button turns the mouse into a dog for a brief period of time. Color-coded doors in the maze can be toggled by pressing a button of the same color. A hawk periodically flies across the maze, unrestricted by its walls. Coleco ported ''Mouse Trap'' to ColecoVision as a 1982 launch title, then later to the Intellivision and Atari 2600. Gameplay The player uses a four-position joystick to maneuver a mouse throughout a maze and eat pieces of cheese scattered along the paths. Six cats patrol the maze and chase the player, with two present at the outset and four more being released one at a time. The maze has three sets of color-coded doors, which the player can open or close by pressing the corresponding button ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defender (video Game)
''Defender'' is a scrolling shooter video game developed by WMS Industries, Williams Electronics in 1980 and released for Arcade game, arcades in 1981. A side-scrolling shooter, the game is set on either an unnamed planet or city (depending on platform) where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts. Development was led by Eugene Jarvis, a pinball programmer at Williams; ''Defender'' was Jarvis' first video game project and drew inspiration from ''Space Invaders'' and ''Asteroids (video game), Asteroids''. ''Defender'' was demonstrated in late 1980, before entering production in early 1981. It was distributed in Japan by Taito. ''Defender'' was one of the most important titles of the golden age of arcade video games, selling over 55,000 units to become the company's best-selling game and one of the highest-grossing arcade games ever. Praise among critics focused on the game's audio-visuals and gameplay. It is frequently listed as one of Jarvis' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asteroids (video Game)
''Asteroids'' is a space-themed multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Lyle Rains and Ed Logg released in November 1979 by Atari, Inc. The player controls a single spaceship in an asteroid field which is periodically traversed by flying saucers. The object of the game is to shoot and destroy the asteroids and saucers, while not colliding with either, or being hit by the saucers' counter-fire. The game becomes harder as the number of asteroids increases. ''Asteroids'' was conceived during a meeting between Logg and Rains, who decided to use hardware developed by Howard Delman previously used for '' Lunar Lander''. Asteroids was based on an unfinished game titled ''Cosmos''; its physics model, control scheme, and gameplay elements were derived from '' Spacewar!'', '' Computer Space'', and ''Space Invaders'' and refined through trial and error. The game is rendered on a vector display in a two-dimensional view that wraps around both screen axes. ''Asteroids'' was one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donkey Kong (video Game)
is a 1981 arcade video game developed and published by Nintendo. As Mario, the player runs and jumps on platforms and climbs ladders to ascend a construction site and rescue Pauline from the giant gorilla Donkey Kong. It is the first game in the '' Donkey Kong'' series as well as Mario's first appearance in a video game. ''Donkey Kong'' is the product of Nintendo's efforts to develop a hit to rival ''Pac-Man'' (1980) and break into the North American market. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Nintendo's president at the time, assigned the project to first-time video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. Drawing from a wide range of inspirations including ''Popeye'', ''Beauty and the Beast'', and King Kong, Miyamoto developed the scenario and designed the game alongside chief engineer Gunpei Yokoi. They broke new ground by using graphics as a means of characterization, including cutscenes to advance the game's plot and integrating multiple stages into the gameplay. Although Nintendo's America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
