Oh, boy! Those ancient arcade video games...they were quite the craze when we were going into junior high school. I remember the game of Pong which could be played on the TV through some sort of controller, but then the industry took a huge leap forward when "Space Invaders" came out. I've played that game but to be honest, I always preferred "Pac-Man" or "Galaga".
During that trip to Japan in summer 1981, my classmates and I ended up at a game kissa（ゲーム喫茶...game café）one sweltering morning, and some of them got to play one of those video games (probably "Space Invaders") while our bemused waiter came up with the iced coffees. Yup, I have been hooked on iced coffee since then. The Japanese did it again...drink, chat and play all at the same time!
The advent of video games surely crashed into all aspects of pop culture, so I couldn't be surprised that a kayo would be made about "Space Invaders". And sure enough, one did pop up: "Aitsu wa Invader" (Guy's An Invader) by Maki Ueda（上田マキ）, one-half of the popular women's wrestling duo Beauty Pair.
"Aitsu wa Invader" was the B-side to Ueda's one-and-only single from 1979, "Invader Walk"（インベーダーWALK）, and if it wasn't for the topic matter and the bleeps and bloops associated, I would have sworn that this song was a theme for a tokusatsu program of almost a decade prior. It has the kids backing up the chorus and it just sounds so heroic. Mind you, I do pick up on the disco as well. Written by Yu Kamimura*（上村裕）and composed by Noriichi Morikawa*（森川範一）, it has been included in a compilation of techno kayo, although I think that the bleeps and bloops are relatively subdued. However, I think Ueda does a pretty good job as an unlikely solo idol type behind the mike. I would also like to know who was providing that bass backup vocal.
No idea how Ueda's tune did on the Oricon charts. But a couple of years later, Buckner & Garcia came up with "Pac-Man Fever" which broke into Billboard's Top 10 at No. 9.
*Once again, I've got a couple of first names that I'm not sure about for the two songwriters. If anyone can come in with any clarification, I will make any corrections if necessary.
i played Pac-Man fever and my 4 year old said "Pac-Man!"
ReplyDeleteI'm behind my kids :)))
Always liked the classics! :)
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