Track-By-Track: O/B #27
To celebrate this tune, one of the earliest tributes to video games in the history of recorded music, here’s a collection of other examples from over the decades.
Please tell me yours in the comments – together we might have enough for a themed radio show, and you should know by now how much I like those…
Player [1] - Space Invaders (WEA, 1979)
Surely the first ever record dedicated to a video game, ‘Space Invaders’ was composed in Australia in the year following the launch of the arcade game. You can read the whole story here. Three years later, Jesse Saunders happened to pick up a copy in a Chicago record store. He sampled the bassline on his 1984 record ‘On & On’ and the rest is history. I mentioned Jamie Principle sampling the bassline from Electra’s ‘Feels Good’ in my last post – to me it’s endlessly fascinating that an entire new genre grew out of these quick and simple decisions, in confluence with the desires of Chicago dancers in that particular moment.
I can’t post this song without also giving a special mention to the backing singer, for what is surely one of the most audacious backing vocal performances ever committed to vinyl.
Those Nervous Animals - Hyperspace! (Tara, 1985/All City, 2018)
This appears on one of my all-time favourite compilations, Quare Groove Vol. 1 from All City Records. A collection of ‘Sounds of the Irish musical underground from the 70s & 80s’, the 2xLP demonstrates that there was groove to be found in Ireland’s underground scene if you just knew where to look for it. Tracks like Sunshine’s ‘Give It To Me’ fit right in with my Evelyn “Champagne” King records, while Natural Wild’s ‘Hot & Sexable’ is Gang Of Four and XTC put through a dub disco filter (brilliant, in other words).
‘Hyerspace!’ was the title track from Those Nervous Animals’ only mini-album. It’s an idiosyncratic slap bass-led vamp with infectious lyrics about going to play video games at the local arcade. The soaring bridge is astonishing:
Feel my reflex! Feel the machine!
The band never broke out of the underground (read about that here), but I’ve just discovered that after 27 years they’ve released a new collection of old and fresh recordings, The Mission Sessions, so you can expect to hear some of those on future radio shows.
DJ Narrows - Fruit Machine (Game Over) (Sub Vert, 2004)
Information about this one is very thin on the ground, but what really needs to be said once you’ve listened to the tune itself – totally ridiculous, utterly slamming. I’ve played this many times, usually at entirely inappropriate moments, and I don’t have a single regret.
Game’s over!
Phone Traxxx - No More Mr. Nice Guy (Phone Traxxx, 2019)
Continuing the garage vibe, we have a track that Antoin from Kiss Me Again played during the boys’ closing set when I played for them back in February 2020. One of the last parties before the pandemic eh.
‘No More Mr. Nice Guy’ wins simply for sampling one of the games I spent so many hours playing as a 13 year old: Worms. Memories of holy hand grenades, old ladies and worms with thick Scottish accents come flooding back. The tune itself plays games with the dancefloor, at one point switching into jungle without a moment’s notice. Then, in the blink of an eye, it’s back.
Hi-Ryze - Ride The Rhythm (Brainiak, 1990)
Hi-Ryze aka Ubik aka Timenet aka Dave Campbell is a towering figure in early 1990s electronic music in the UK. He’s still making music today under the name 62nd Cell - check his recent album - and there are a few interviews online (like this one) where you can learn all about his history and creative processes.
I’m including this track because I’m sure I read somewhere that it sampled an old Zelda OST. Now of course I can’t find the source for that claim, but I’ll take any excuse to post this absolutely stunning piece of early bleep/techno history. Essential.
Ronnie Jones - Video Games (Polydor, 1980)
Ronnie Jones’s ode to twiddling a joystick, this is the tune that prompted this whole list. Replete with comedy arcade game sound effects and Ronnie hamming it up big-time. I think it’s actually a cautionary tale wrapped up in weird subliminal packaging, as he sings in the bridge:
Turn! Turn on the video!
Play! Play on the radio!
Turn! Turn on reality!
Bring! Bring out the worst in me!
Then the vocodered spelling-out of ‘V-I-D-E-O’ in the break is just as addictive as Pac-Man.
As you’d expect with any tune from this particular era, there’s a creepy performance on Italian music television, which you can see below. It’s worth a look if only for the fact the staging means Ronnie has to give himself whiplash every time he sings a line.
Note: this is an entry in the Track-By-Track series for my mix for O/B.
Track-By-Track is a series that looks back at records you will have heard in my mixes, one by one in the order they were played. Who made them, and when? How did I come across them? And what do they make me feel?