| "Space Invaders" | |
|---|---|
.jpg) 1979 Australian 7-inch sleeve | |
| Single byPlayer 1 | |
| from the album Game Over | |
| B-side | "A Menacing Glow in the Sky" |
| Released | 1979 |
| Genre | Space disco |
| Length | 3:08 |
| Label | WEA |
| Songwriters | Russell Dunlop, Bruce Brown |
| Producers | Russell Dunlop, Bruce Brown |
"Space Invaders" is a song by Australian songwritersRussell Dunlop and Bruce Brown, recording under the band namePlayer 1 (commonly stylised asPlayer [1]) in 1979. The song is based on the hugely successful 1978video gameSpace Invaders. It was anovelty hit in Australia,[1] peaking at No. 3 on theKent Music Report charts, and ending up as the seventh best selling single in Australia for 1980. It spent 28 weeks on the Australian charts.[2] The song approachedPlatinum status in Australia as of October 1980.[3]The single was very popular in South Africa and received much airplay. It also reached No. 20 in the New Zealand charts.
Thearcade game of the same name,Space Invaders, was released by Japanese companyTaito in 1978 and had become aglobal phenomenon by 1979. TheWarner Music office inSydney had its ownarcade cabinet of the game, which prompted the idea of a song cashing in on the game's popularity. They took the project to Sydney producer duo Russell Dunlop and Bruce Brown, who took inspiration from theSpace Invaders game to create the song'sbassline. According to Brown: "We actually went out with a machine before we did the record and recorded all the sound effects of it and had a little fiddle around with it".[4]
Dunlop and Brown also released an album as Player One,Game Over. Dunlop recalled: "We sat down and wrote a bunch of space songs, but instead of sticking to the concept of the hit, we wandered off into the 'clever' musical genre with fancy time signatures, radical chord progressions and so on. The reply came back for the States that this was intended for 13- to 14-year-olds: 'You've lost us.'"[1]
The song was released internationally but failed to chart outside Australia. The single and album were released in the US under the band namePlayback, which Brown and Dunlop had used for other projects, to avoid confusion with the US bandPlayer. The US version of the album was titledSpace Invaders.
"Space Invaders" was influential in the history ofelectronic dance music:[4] a bootlegmashup called "On And On" used the original recording of "Space Invaders," and the bassline was re-used byJesse Saunders for what is commonly held to be the firstChicago house record, also called "On and On" (1984).[5][6]
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 3 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8] | 20 |
| Chart (1980) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[7][9] | 7 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[3] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||