Top 40 Music on Compact Disc: buckner & garcia "pac-man fever"

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edtop40
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Posted: 28 November 2007 at 5:20pm \| IP Logged

my commercial 45 issued as columbia 02673 states, on the label's face, a run time of 3:43 but it actually runs 3:52 and is identical to the version on the below cd (thx paul)

(S) (3:52) Rhino 78239 Like, Omigod! The ‘80$ Pop Culture Box (Totally)

the db has 2 other cds that have a run time of 3:46....my guess is that those cds tried to match the 45's stated run time without actually checking it....this info should be noted in the db.....

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BillCahill
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Posted: 28 November 2007 at 5:32pm \| IP Logged

The original 45 release on BGO records has a listed time of 3:54.

Todd Ireland
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Posted: 28 November 2007 at 10:39pm \| IP Logged

Was "Pac-Man Fever" released more than once?

Brian W.
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Posted: 28 November 2007 at 11:25pm \| IP Logged

Thanks, Ed. I've always wondered about that time difference.

jimct
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Posted: 28 November 2007 at 11:26pm \| IP Logged

Not really, Todd. Atlanta, GA natives Jerry Buckner & Gary Garcia shopped their song to all the major labels in '81, but there were no takers. But small indie label owner Arnie Geller heard it, liked it, and released it on his small, pale blue "BGO" label (BGO 1001). A local morning show then started playing it, to great response. When the 45 had sold 10,000 copies in one week, Columbia then finally decided to pick up the song for national release, in December 1981. The BGO & Columbia versions are the same, and both labels use the same "instrumental version" as the flip side. The BGO 45 of it is actually pretty common out there in cyberspace, for anyone interested. The song peaked at #9 in Billboard, in March 1982.

80smusicfreak
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Posted: 29 November 2007 at 2:43pm \| IP Logged

Brian W. wrote:

I've always wondered about that time difference.

Nearly two years ago, when budaniel first brought up the subject of this song here, I did post the following in that thread back in March of '06 (and it was me who actually brought that second K-tel CD w/ the song to Pat's attention - nice to know he took the time to add it to the database):

80smusicfreak wrote:

As you may have noticed in Pat's database, the version of "Pac-Man Fever" on the two K-tel CDs is slightly shorter than the one on the Rhino box, so I went ahead and A/B'd them - as far as I can tell, K-tel just faded the song about seven seconds earlier, which is what accounts for the time difference.

I admit I don't have any technical software to do a precise A/B comparison on my pc like most folks seem to here; sorry if just listening to them by ear wasn't good enough...

Todd Ireland
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Posted: 21 January 2009 at 10:32am \| IP Logged

It appears there may indeed be two different 45 pressings of Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" (Columbia18-02673). Abagon reports his commercial copy has an actual run time of 3:55, not 3:43 as stated on the record label. This of course runs at least :03 longer than all the song's CD appearances in the database. The matrix number of Abagon's 45 is: ZSS 169907-2A.

Fetta
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Posted: 21 January 2009 at 5:28pm \| IP Logged

Does anyone have the 12" version of this? I burrned a copy from a mint 12" but the version doesn't seem to have any vocals in it except for the chorus? Does anyone have a 12" version of this that has the regular vocals?

budaniel
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Posted: 22 January 2009 at 9:04am \| IP Logged

My 12" version is the same as yours--the full vocal LP version on one side, and an 'extended' version on the flip side that is actually more lilke a dub or instrumental version with just the chorus! I'll never understand WHY they released the extended 12" version as an instrumental!

edtop40
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Posted: 22 January 2009 at 3:46pm \| IP Logged

my commercial 45 issued as columbia 02673 has "zss 169907-2c" stamped, not etched, in the run out groove and could possibly run 3:53 and not 3:52 but my vinyl 45 is too noisy to really know for sure......

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aaronk
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Posted: 16 August 2010 at 9:15pm \| IP Logged

Looking at some R&R song positions compared to Billboard, and I noticed this one did not even make the CHR chart (unless I'm just missing the chart info for it). Was this one of those songs that was more of a "spike record" but wasn't actually being reported by radio?

Paul Haney
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 5:05am \| IP Logged

aaronk wrote:

I'm not too surprised that this didn't chart in R&R. It was much bigger in sales than in airplay. I only heard this on the radio a couple of times outside of "American Top 40". My local record store sold a lot of copies.

aaronk
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 7:58am \| IP Logged

Good to know, Paul. Thanks! There a couple other similar, surprising examples that I've found. "Let It Whip" by Dazz Band did not make the R&R CHR chart, and neither did "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring.

aaronk
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 3:58pm \| IP Logged

Here are a few more interesting examples of '80s songs that did not chart on the R&R CHR chart but did well on the Hot 100:

- Do They Know It's Christmas? (#13 Billboard)
- Super Freak (#16 Billboard)
- Love Come Down by Evelyn "Champagne" King (#17 Billboard)
- You And I (Eddie Rabbitt/Crystal Gayle) (#7 Billboard)
- It's My Turn by Diana Ross (#9 Billboard)

Edited by aaronk on 17 August 2010 at 4:06pm

JMD1961
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 5:44pm \| IP Logged

- Master Blaster (Jammin') (#5 Billboard)

NightAire
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 8:46pm \| IP Logged

It's been fairly easy to find Billboard charts online, but it sounds like for what was REALLY being played on the radio, the R&R charts would be a better reference for me.

Two questions: did R&R do year-end charts? Secondly, anybody know if their yearly charts for 1980 - 1989 are available online?

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aaronk
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 8:49pm \| IP Logged

Alphabetical listing by artist
Weekly & yearly charts*
*The yearly charts are based on a point system devised by the creator of the site and are not exactly the year end charts published by R&R. Personally, I like this guy's year end charts better, because rather than using a cut off date for each year, a song appears only on the chart of the year in which it peaked. This allows for a more fair and accurate representation of songs that had chart runs split between two years.

Edited by aaronk on 17 August 2010 at 8:52pm

NightAire
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 9:07pm \| IP Logged

Aaron,

After a very confused post by yours truly, I HAVE found the charts.

I'm either blind, or drinking... and unaware of either condition. :)

Thanks again,
Gene

Edited by NightAire on 17 August 2010 at 9:12pm

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Gene Savage
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aaronk
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Posted: 17 August 2010 at 9:23pm \| IP Logged

I'm confused as to what you were confused about, Gene!? I posted those links just a few moments after you had asked where to find the R&R chart data (in response to your inquiry).

Anyhow, here are a few other non R&R CHR song:

- Billy Squier "The Stroke" (#17 Billboard)
- Deniece Williams "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" (#10 Billboard)
- Jermaine Jackson "Let's Get Serious" (#9 Billboard)
- Whispers "And The Beat Goes On" (#19 Billboard)
- Yarbrough & Peoples "Don't Stop The Music" (#19 Billboard)

JMD - Interesting about that Stevie Wonder song not making the CHR chart!

Edited by aaronk on 18 August 2010 at 9:02am

JMD1961
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Posted: 18 August 2010 at 6:12pm \| IP Logged

aaronk wrote:

JMD - Interesting about that Stevie Wonder song not making the CHR chart!

Yes. I contacted the person compiling the artist list you posted the link to, and he confirmed that it never charted on R&R.

Now, let's go the other way:
Led Zeppelin - All My Love (#10 on R&R; never charted on either Billboard or CashBox)

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