Who you gonna call? The story behind the Ghostbusters music video
October 31, 2015 9:05 AM   Subscribe

How did a funky R&B guitarist and singer get signed on to a spook-tacular music video? No, I'm not talking about Ray Parker Jr.'s very Halloween-appropriate music video for "The Other Woman", but his later video for the scary-funny movie, Ghostbusters. Screen Crush has the inside story on the making of Ghostbusters theme song video (alt source: Daily Motion).

The extensive Ghostbusters wikia sadly doesn't have much on the the Ghostbusters song, but notes that it's featured in Ray Parker Jr's video for Girls are More Fun, and that the Ghostbusters dance/shuffle is seen in the end credits for The Real Ghostbusters and the birthday party scene in Ghostbusters II.

If you've read through Ghostbusters facts and trivia, you'll know that some of those cameos were from actors who could have been Ghostbusters. For example, Louis Tully was originally written for John Candy, but he didn’t understand the part and thought Tully should be played with a German accent and thought the character should own Rottweilers. He eventually passed on the role, and Rick Moranis stepped in. (More insight into the Ghostbusters from the movie commentary.) And Chevy Chase, who also made a cameo appearance in the music video, turned down the role of Dr. Peter Venkman.
posted by filthy light thief (13 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
The Ghostbusters music video (which I've not seen for a while) really is the 80s distilled down into its purest form
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 9:30 AM on October 31, 2015 [4 favorites]


Extra favorites/points for inclusion of "The Other Woman."
posted by blucevalo at 9:37 AM on October 31, 2015 [4 favorites]




Huey Lewis lawsuit
posted by Brian B. at 9:48 AM on October 31, 2015 [6 favorites]




...which maybe explains why he went guns blazing into Back To The Future less than a year later.
posted by leotrotsky at 9:53 AM on October 31, 2015


Came here to root for Huey, was not disappointed.
posted by chavenet at 10:10 AM on October 31, 2015 [2 favorites]


Chevy Chase's little cigarette trick at the end is a classic Chase move. He couldn't be content to be just one cameo among many; he had to do something to one-up everyone else.

Also, there was an Alvin & the Chimpmunks version.
posted by riruro at 10:30 AM on October 31, 2015


We must all be eternally grateful that Chevy turned down the role of Peter Venkman.
posted by wabbittwax at 6:02 PM on October 31, 2015 [7 favorites]


Ditto Candy as Louis. "Ya, I am das keymaster" would be really annoying.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:58 PM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]


I Want A New Drug honestly sounds nothing like Ghostbusters to me. I know this is just my brain not processing music right or something, but it weirds me out.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:40 PM on October 31, 2015 [3 favorites]


If "A Woman Needs Love" has NOT been made into a Vaporwave track yet, someone needs to. Stat.
posted by symbioid at 9:45 AM on November 1, 2015


I couldn't remember how the Huey Lewis track sounded, so I had to refresh my memory (original video). Here's a mashup that may help (or hinder) your appreciation of the similarities.

And now I want to watch test footage of Ghostbusters with basic FX and that track used throughout.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:00 AM on November 2, 2015


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