"Ghostbusters" is a song recorded by Ray Parker Jr. as the theme to the film of the same name starring Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11 in 1984, and stayed there for three weeks. It also reached number two on the UK Singles Chart for many weeks in summer 1984.

An instrumental version of the song serves as the theme song for the spin-off cartoon series The Real Ghostbusters.

Parker Jr. was approached by the film's producers to create a theme song for the film. Unfortunately, he only had a few days to do so and the film's title seemed impossible to include in any lyrics. However, when watching television late at night, Parker Jr. saw a cheap commercial for a local service that reminded him that the film had a similar commercial featured for the fictional business. This inspired him to write the song as a pseudo-advertising jingle that the business could have commissioned as a promotion.

Parker was later the defendant in a copyright-infringement lawsuit which claimed "Ghostbusters" was too similar in musical structure to "I Want a New Drug", written and performed by Huey Lewis and the News (more specifically, the guitar riff which runs through the song). "I Want a New Drug" was a U.S. top-ten hit earlier the same year. The two parties settled out of court, with Parker paying Lewis a settlement.

In later years, AutoNation adopted the theme for their advertising campaign.

Cover versions

• Run DMC recorded a rap cover for the Ghostbusters II soundtrack
• Rapper Mistah F.A.B. samples the song in his single "Ghost Ride It".
• A cover of the song also appears on the debut album Peep by the Finnish band The Rasmus. It is available on their compilation album Hell of a Collection as well.
• British thrash metal band Xentrix covered the song as a single and released it in various versions on several albums. There was a bit of controversy when they used the Ghostbusters logo on the single sleeve without permission, but the band later reissued the single with different artwork.
• It has been covered by many other artists, notably many ska bands, as the song's metre lends itself well to a ska beat. A common ska cover available on the Internet is Attaboy Skip's"Ghost Chasing Science Guys", though like many popular songs it is frequently misattributed on peer-to-peer file sharing services, often to Goldfinger or the Mad Caddies.
• A remix of the song serves as the theme song for the cartoon series Extreme Ghostbusters.
• Beatmania IIDX 14: Gold includes a remix of the Ghostbusters Theme as a playable track.
• "Ghostbusters" has also been remixed by many DJs, and become one of the more popular songs to use in mashups. Most famously it has been combined with Michael Jackson's "Bad" as "Bad vs Ghostbusters", and Nine Inch Nails' "The Hand That Feeds" as " The Ghost That Feeds".
• The song was also covered by Mickael Turtle, an animated character, in 2005, and reached #5 in France on December 3, 2005, and #23 in Switzerland on January 15, 2006.
• British pop/rock band McFly covered it during their Motion In The Ocean tour in 2006. It appears on the DVD of their show at Wembly during the tour.

In the media

The song is referenced in both the films and the cartoon series.

In Ghostbusters II, at one point in the movie, Peter Venkman says, "Kitten, I think what I'm saying is that sometimes, shit happens, someone has to deal with it, and who you gonna call?"

In an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, the Ghostbusters are trapped in an alternate reality New York populated by ghosts, where a group of ghosts called the Peoplebusters go around the city catching human beings. When they are fleeing from the Peoplebusters, the GBs pass a ghost dining in an outdoor cafe, who witnesses the scene and sings "When there isn't something strange/in your neighborhood/Who you gonna call?/Peoplebusters!"

It has been confirmed that the song will appear in the Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

The British band McFly also performed the song as it is one of the lead singer's (Tom Fletcher) favorite songs

Professional wrestler Jerry Lawler made a parody of the song in Memphis Wrestling entitled "Wimpbusters".

In the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) asks Buffy, "Who you gonna call?" then follows it with "God, that line is never gonna be usable again, is it?" to which she replies, "Probably not."

In the "Petergeist" episode of Family Guy, Tom Tucker reports that the Griffin family's house is infested with ghosts. "Who they gonna call?" he asks. His co-anchor, Diane Simmons, suggests "Ghostbusters?" and Tucker replies with "No, Diane, their insurance. That's just stupid what you said."

In an episode of the TV show Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere, a motor mechanic who goes by the name of Mick Bustin has the slogan "When there's something strange/Underneath your hood/Who ya gonna call?/Mick Bustin" for his business, and Ghostbuster parody logos all over his auto shop.

In the "Bloooo" episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Wilt asks who to call to help out their "ghost" problem, and Coco responds by saying "Co-coco" in the same way the word Ghostbusters is said in the song. Wilt replies, "No, they've been out of business for a long time."

In the arcade

Formats and track listings

1. "Ghostbusters" (3:46)
2. "Ghostbusters" (Instrumental) (4:03)

Mickael Turtle versions; CD-Single Universal

1. "Ghostbusters" (Radio Edit) (2:26)
2. "Ghostbusters" (Extended Club Original Mix) (5:07)
3. "Ghostbusters" (Who's That Remix Long Voix) (6:15)
4. "Ghostbusters" (Extended Club Instrumental Mix) (5:07)
5. "Ghostbusters" (Who's That Remix Long Dub) (6:12)
6. Mickael The Turtle - Teaser Video

Chart

External links

• Ray Parker Jr. discusses the making of 'Ghostbusters'
• The Unofficial Ghostbusters Remix Project - lists popular cover versions, remixes and mashups

References