The tune of the “Ghostbusters” theme, written and performed by Ray Parker Jr. is suspenseful yet exciting — the perfect song for this past Halloween weekend. “Ghostbusters” was recorded in 1983 and released the following year. The song was included on the 1984 “Ghostbusters” movie soundtrack and the instrumental version was featured in the ”Ghostbusters” movie.
“Ghostbusters” won Ray Parker Jr. a Grammy award in 1985 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. Additionally, the song won him a BAFTA award in 1985 for Best Original Song Written for a Film. As an artist, Parker Jr. is known for writing love songs and ballads, making “Ghosbusters” an oddity for him as a songwriter. However, a friend of Parker Jr. from Columbia Records requested that he help write for the Ghostbusters movie soundtrack.
The director of the film, Ivan Reitman, had already settled on the tempo and genre of music for the theme song of the Ghostbusters movie. As a result, Parker Jr. was able to express himself through the chosen lyrics. The artist understood that the song needed to have the word “ghostbusters” in it, but singing this word proved difficult.
Parker Jr. determined that he wouldn’t sing the word at all and that, instead, he’d have a crowd chant the word. The theme’s iconic call and response: “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” is actually directly related to the movie plot, as characters call the Ghostbusters to solve their issues with non-human creatures. Another fun fact about the song is that it was only supposed to be an instrumental played briefly at the beginning of the film.
The recent remake of the 1985 “Ghostbusters” film, released in 2016, featured reimagined theme music from Fall Out Boy and Missy Elliott. Parker Jr. was shocked to learn that a majority of people prefer the original song written and performed by him. After thirty years, many expected people to want a more modern version of the theme song to accompany the modern film. Additionally, Parker Jr. was co-featured on the theme song for “Ghostbusters 2.” He didn’t write the rap, but the original movie theme song, which he did write, was licenced. Therefore, his name was published with the song.
“Ghostbusters” will forever live on in our hearts and minds as a groovy mysterious tune accompanying a fantastic film. Given this information, and now that Halloween weekend has passed, it felt fitting to write a review about the artist Ray Parker Jr. and the song “Ghostbusters”.
Ethan Anderton. September, 2020. “Ray Parker Jr. on the Legacy of ‘Ghostbusters’, Passing on ‘Spaceballs’ and his Wild Oscars Performance”. https://www.slashfilm.com/who- you-gonna-call-eat-Parker-jr-interview/
