In the early eighties, the computer revolution was in its infancy. Video games, previously only found in arcades and bars, started appearing in home consoles like the Colecovision and Atari game systems. Computers were still on the horizon for most -- an IBM PC without even a hard drive was still a couple of thousand dollars at this point, and the more affordable entry-level stuff (like the Commodore Vic-20 and the Texas Instruments TI49a ---- my first computer) was just starting to roll out.
At any rate, I resolved to be the voice of My Generation with an updated version of "Pinball Wizard." Unfortunately when it was put to a vote, I was strongly encouraged to "fade away AND die," so that didn't work out too well.
It didn't also help that the song kinda sucked. There's no real melody to speak of, and the lyrics were sort of haphazard.
What we did spend a lot of time on, though, was the structure (granted, a lot of that was discussing precisely on what beat we would start the boom chicka-chicka guitar thingie, but still) and the sound of the song. For example, I wanted a metallic tone to the drums, so we fed the machine's output through a guitar pedal. It wasn't exactly Dark Side of the Moon, but we were experimenting to see what we could do. (And reflecting the improvements in electronics and miniaturization, the elaborate sounds that Pink Floyd, et.al. accomplished using dedicated tape recorders and the techs to run them were now available to anyone who could hand over $30 to the clerk at the local music store.)