Tetris (Doctor Spin)

"I know you are going to dig this."

Since its original creation, Tetris has proven itself to be one of the most iconic video games ever created. In particular, the Game Boy version helped propel it into pop culture legend, with its 'A-Type' theme song - a chiptune version of the Russian folk song Korobeiniki - proving to be as catchy as the game was addictive.

Such was Tetris' popularity at the time that composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and producer Nigel Wright collaborated, under the name 'Doctor Spin', to produce a novelty dance track based on the famous Korobeiniki tune.

The resulting single, also titled Tetris, was released in the UK in September 1992. It went on to spend eight weeks in the charts, peaking at number six in late October, and earning a position in the top 100 best-selling singles chart for that year. The song was even performed on the BBC music chart show Top of the Pops, featuring a group of dancers sporting some bizarre Tetris-themed outfits!

Despite its novelty status and the inclusion of strange vocal clips uttering phrases such as 'I know you are going to dig this' and 'Such a good feeling', this version of the classic theme is a funky mix and still enjoyable to listen to, today; at best, it can be considered 'so bad it's good'. As well as the 7" and 12" versions of the standard mix, there was also a 'Hardcore Mix' of the theme that gave the tune a more serious-sounding beat, making it sound more like a stadium chant in places.

The B-side was Play Game Boy, which was produced by Robin Sellars, another of Wright's colleagues. Rather than another Tetris mix, this was a unique dance track, its only ties to the Game Boy being the title and the 'Play the Game Boy' voice clips that play during the track.

Other Early '90s Nintendo Singles

SuperMarioLand

SuperMarioLand was a rap song based on the 'Birabuto Kingdom' theme from Super Mario Land. It was written, mixed and performed by DJ Simon Harris and rapper Colin Case, using the aliases 'Ambassadors of Funk' and 'MC Mario' respectively.

This single was released a month after Tetris and even though it couldn't outperform Doctor Spin's effort, it still sold very well, peaking at number eight in the UK charts. In Japan, SuperMarioLand was successful enough for Ambassadors of Funk and MC Mario to release a second single, Go Mario Go!, and the album Super Mario Compact Disco, which featured the previous two singles alongside other rap remixes of various Mario game themes.

Surprisingly, Club Nintendo never promoted SuperMarioLand like it did with Tetris, leaving it up to other Nintendo magazines to promote it.

Will You Ever Reach The End?

Will You Ever Reach The End? was a bizarre single released by drummer Rob Adams under the name 'High Score Warrior' in 1993. This was a commercial release of the music used in the adverts for the SNES at the time, which used the song's title as their slogan.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't even touch the UK singles chart, and today remains something of a strange curiosity in Nintendo's history.

Picture credits: Top of the Pops screenshot - TOTP 80s & 90s Archive (Youtube), SuperMarioLand and WYERTE cover images - Discogs.
Artist information provided by Discogs. Chart information provided by Official Charts and UK-Charts.