PAC-MAN (Gorillaz song)

"PAC-MAN" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz featuring American rapper ScHoolboy Q. The track was released on 20 July 2020 as the sixth single for Gorillaz' Song Machine project, which involves the ongoing release of various Gorillaz tracks featuring previously unannounced guest musicians over the course of 2020.[2][3][4]

"PAC-MAN"
Single by Gorillaz featuring ScHoolboy Q
from the album Song Machine (Season One)
Released20 July 2020 (2020-07-20)
StudioStudio 13
Genre
Length3:13
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Gorillaz
  • Kabaka Jr
  • Prince Paul
Gorillaz singles chronology
"Friday 13th"
(2020)		 "PAC-MAN"
(2020)
ScHoolboy Q singles chronology
"Floating"
(2019)		 "PAC-MAN"
(2020)
Music video
"PAC-MAN" on YouTube

Background

The song was recorded in London, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the arcade game, Pac-Man.[5]

Music video

The video, directed by Jamie Hewlett, features the band members inside Kong Studios, the band's fictional headquarters. 2-D is in the game room playing the Pac-Man arcade game, Russel does some boxing with a punching bag, Murdoc is in the basement, sitting inside an orgone accumulator, and Noodle is on the recording studio couch with her mobile phone while ScHoolboy Q records his verse. As 2-D continues to play the arcade game for nine hours, all of his bandmates have a reaction in the real world such as Murdoc looking outside his accumulator, Russel pausing from punching as though he heard something, and Noodle changing art styles, switching to an anime-esque style and then a Peanuts-like character. Eventually at the end of the video, Noodle goes down to the game room and unplugs the Pac-Man arcade game, leaving 2-D confused.

The video references the Pac-Man game:

  • The arcade cabinet artwork is sightly redrawn with Murdoc as the ghost and 2-D as Pac-Man.
  • Murdoc is wearing Pac-Man underwear.
  • The arcade game portrays the band members as 8-bit characters, with 2-D as Pac-Man and Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde replaced with the faces of Murdoc, Russel, and Noodle.

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsProducerLength
1."Machine Bitez #9" (with 2D, Murdoc & Russel)  0:46
2."PAC-MAN" (featuring ScHoolboy Q)Albarn, ScHoolboy Q Elvin Shahbazian, Jon Smythe, Kabaka Jr.Prince Paul, Kabaka Jr.3:13
3."Machine Bitez #10" (with 2D, Murdoc & Russel)  0:44
4."Machine Bitez #11" (with 2D & ScHoolboy Q)  1:38
Total length:5:20

Personnel

Gorillaz

  • Damon Albarn – vocals, instrumentation, songwriting, director
  • Jamie Hewlett – artwork, character design, video direction
  • Remi Kabaka Jr – drum programming, percussion, songwriting, live drums

Additional musicians

  • ScHoolboy Q - vocals, songwriting
  • Prince Paul - production, backing vocals
  • John Smythe - guitar
  • Weathrman - bass, keyboards, synthesizer

Technical

  • Stephen Sedgwick – mixing, engineering
  • Samuel Egglenton – mixing, engineering
  • John Davis – mastering, engineering
  • Elvin "Wit" Shahbazian – engineering

Charts
Chart (2020) Peak
position
New Zealand Hot Singles (RMNZ)[6] 30
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References
  1. Broerman, Michael. "Gorillaz Get Retro With "PAC-MAN" Ft. ScHoolboy Q [Watch]". Liveforlivemusic. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  2. Blistein, Jon (29 January 2020). "Gorillaz Detail New Music, Video Series 'Song Machine'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  3. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/gorillaz-schoolboy-q-honor-arcade-classic-pac-man-on-new-song-1030712/
  4. Mamo, Heran. "Gorillaz Tap ScHoolboy Q for Eye-Straining 'Pac-Man' Track: Watch". Billboard. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  5. "Gorillaz, Schoolboy Q Honor Arcade Classic Pac-Man on New Song". Rolling Stone. 20 July 2020.
  6. "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
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