Skip to content

By Iain Baird on

The top 10 songs about videogames—a musical tribute to our Games Lounge

Songs about videogames were a unique craze in the late 1970s and early 80s, inspired by the increasing popularity of gaming.

The context

Videogames are an inherent part of popular culture, but only 30 years ago it was though that they were directly responsible for the failings of the music industry.

Our Games Lounge features a dozen or so fully playable, authentic, old-school videogame arcade consoles. I was inspired to write this blog post upon rediscovering the peculiar and fascinating (and mostly forgotten) genre of pop music which accompanied the debut of arcade videogames.

In the late 1970s, revenue had dropped across the music industry, and this trend was blamed directly on the arrival of arcade games. Were they displacing the traditional jukebox as well as pinball machines? It seemed like videogames were having an obsoleting effect on pop music.

Perhaps this contributed to the unique series of songs and music videos exploiting the videogame craze around the time—the old ‘if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em’ strategy.

songs about videogames

The songs began appearing in 1978, and the trend had fizzled out by 1984. During this time, a number of musicians and music producers became fascinated by the new electronic sounds, background stories and the changes to youth culture. Sounds from the games were integrated into the rhythm and melody of songs, often complimented by the latest synthesisers; graphics and characters inspired by the games appeared in album artwork and music videos.

Here are ten of what I think are the best-written and best-performed songs representing this genre.


1. ‘Computer Games’ by Mi-Sex, 1979

Mi-Sex was a New Wave rock band from New Zealand. One of the earlier songs about videogames, ‘Computer Games’ became an instant hit when it was released in Australia and New Zealand. The promotional video was shot on location at a computer facility in Sydney.


2. ‘Space Invaders’ by Player One/Playback, 1979

Australian electro-disco group Player One (also known as Playback) had a medium-sized hit with this song. Other songs of the time inspired by Space Invaders included ‘Disco Space Invaders’ (1979) by Funny Stuff, ‘Space Invader’ (1980) by The Pretenders, and ‘Space Invaders’ (1980) by Uncle Vic.


3. ‘Video Games’ by Ronnie Jones, 1980

Ronnie Jones is an American soul singer who was based in Germany in the 1970s. ‘Video Games’ appeared on his album Games. This song was sampled by Daft Punk for their song ‘Technologic’ in 2005.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu0ulHQizgQ


4. ‘Pac-Man Fever’ by Buckner & Garcia, 1982

Pac-Man Fever was a hit concept album recorded in 1982 by Buckner & Garcia, a musical duo from Akron, Ohio. This song was the title track and their most famous song, selling over a million copies.


5. ‘Hyperspace’ by Buckner & Garcia, 1982

This catchy song describes the experience of playing the game Asteroids. ‘Hyperspace’ was the ‘oh no I’m about to get hit’ button that would teleport your ship randomly to somewhere that was safe—at least for the moment—from asteroids.


6. ‘Ode to Centipede’ by Buckner & Garcia, 1982

The story behind Centipede was that the centipede and the spiders were originally your friends, but a wizard made them hate you and made them want to kill you. This may explain the tragic tone of this song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuYsCrHLe0g


7. ‘Donkey Kong’ by R. Cade and the Video Victims, 1982

R. Cade and the Video Victims produced a video game inspired album called Get Victimized. The album cover features aliens playing an arcade game with the humans as helpless ‘victims’ inside the game.


8. ‘The Climber’ by Kid Stuff Records, 1983

This song was from an entire album devoted entirely to the game Donkey Kong. Yes, that’s right, an entire album. It also features a female voice (unusual for this genre).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg_aeaHazgA


9. ‘Galaga’ by Haruomi Hosono, 1984

In 1984, former Yellow Magic Orchestra member Haruomi Hosono produced an album almost entirely from Namco arcade game samples entitled Video Game Music, recognised as the first videogame music album.


10. ‘Happy Up Here’ by Röyksopp, 2009

This video was directed Reuben Sutherland, a British VJ, director and visual artist who specialises in mixing up live action and animation. Sutherland has also made music videos and has directed a number of TV commercials.


Technological change

About 200 pop songs were recorded about videogames from 1978 to 1984. While they range in quality, there is something special about these songs.

To come to grips with television’s merger with the computer chip, 20th century society initially placed this technology into cultural contexts that it was familiar with—games and science fiction. But to engage a wider audience, why not write songs about it?

Technologies which force us to change our way of life can be irritating. The lyrics of Player One’s song ‘Space Invaders’ (1979) can be interpreted this way…

Through dark sunken eyes
I see another pale sunrise
surrounded by soldiers
glued to the screens
hold back the invaders
their infernal machines


Videogames are a part of us

Today we are no longer fighting the ‘Space Invaders’; in a sense we have become them. We watch digital television, videogames are commonplace—and rather than songs about videogames, music is written for them.

Our visitors perceive the old arcade consoles in the Games Lounge very differently from how people did then. For all but our younger visitors, the sense of novelty has been replaced by a sense of nostalgia.

12 comments on “The top 10 songs about videogames—a musical tribute to our Games Lounge

  1. Pingback: Six Degrees of Sizzling Music. How Do You Like Your Bacon? From Foreigner to the Limousines | Andy Kaufman's Kavalkade Krew ~ The Wandering Poet
  2. For years I have been racking my brain trying to figure out a song from the late 70’s to early 80’s something about video lover from videoland and he walked over and handed her a quarter said the next one was on him any ideas????

  3. Excellent list! We Fell In Love in The Video Arcade is my personal favorite. You managed to find all the best songs out there about video games, which is just great!

  4. There was a song called Video Kids. The lyrics went “They’re just kids. Video kids.” Anyone have any ideas? I think it came out in the 80s. It had pacman sounds at the beginning.

  5. A song about Video games that I am looking for, came out either late 70s, early 80s. The only lyrics I remember were “Give me just one quarter” and “Video games…Video Games”. I Tried google, various music lyrics searches, and youtube. Found nothing. The video/song use to come out in a music TV channel in Phoenix Arizona in the early 80’s, called TV -61! Much Appreciated if you can let me know. Thanks in Advance!!

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *