Ray Parker Jr. claimed to have been inspired to write Ghostbusters while watching a late night commercial on television. We certainly believe him, as the song was a perfect fit between the inane cackling of morning D.J.s and a lame tune by a Jackson rip off.
Ghostbusters had a hook that was audio diarrhea at its worst, repetitive and annoying. It stays in your head like an itch in the back of your brain that can’t be reached. Allegedly, that hook was ripped off Huey Lewis’s hit of a year earlier “I Want a New Drug”. How anyone is inspired by Lewis is anyone’s guess, but Parker Jr. must have been facing a deadline when he wrote it. Unfortunately, this was 1984 and the MTV video age was upon us. The hit movie of the same name led to a flashy video (by 1984 standards) that featured numerous cameos and the all star cast of the film. The song rocketed to the top, but lest you think that the year was a wash musically, remember that the song number one position was preceded by Prince’s epic “When Doves Cry and followed by Tina Turner’s comeback single “What’s Love Got to Do with It?”. Where Ray Parker Jr. is now is anyone’s guess but wherever he is likely bombarded with smart ass questions revolving around “who you gonna call?”
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