Ghostbusters Soundtrack Review
October 18, 2016
The 1980s were years of grandeur and glamour. The hair was big and the music was even bigger. The movies would become legendary. But sadly, we are not living in the ’80s anymore. Why create new films to define our own decade when we can remake films from such an interesting decade?
The new Ghostbusters was released on July 11, 2016. I haven’t seen the movie and I’m not a film critic, so I’ll just say that remakes are usually pointless and changing the sexes of the main characters does not create a new movie.
We’re here to talk about the soundtrack. It shared in the lack of originality because it contains Ray Parker Jr.’s original “Ghostbusters,” two covers of the same song, a song that samples the original and a weird cover/rework.
It opens with Walk the Moon’s cover. It is exactly the same as the original except it’s in a different key and there’s a bit of vocal distortion near the end. However, listening to this song made me notice that the song contains the lyric, “I hear he likes the girls.” The “he” being the ghost, presumably. Even though I hear the original every year around Halloween, I’ve never noticed this lyric. Walk the Moon didn’t add that, it’s been there the entire time. It’s not the Halloween kind of creepy, it’s a slightly rapey kind of creepy.
The second cover is definitely better because it at least sounds different. It’s an a capella cover performed by Pentatonix, who I already like. This is probably one of the better songs simply because this group is so talented.
The lack of originality continues with “Good Girls” by Elle King. Remember that song “Ex’s and Oh’s” where she talked about how she’s so bad and cool because she has sex without getting emotionally attached and she’s such a crazy party animal? This is basically the same song. Her shtick wore out on me by the third time I heard that song, so “Good Girls” doesn’t do anything for me. It sounds good, just like her first hit did, but it doesn’t do anything noteworthy or new.
But there are also some high points on this soundtrack. “Saw It Coming” by G Eazy and Jeremih is the best sounding song on the soundtrack, in the technical sense. While writing this review, I listened to it multiple times in the Online News class and my fellow reporters gave me weird looks because of the way I danced along to this song playing in my headphones. To justify my dancing (if one can call it that), I simply shouted, “that production though!” I don’t care what either of the artists are saying, that beat is insane. I can’t think of anything I’ve heard that sounds like this. The synth sounds like the noise a laser would make if it were remixed and rapped over. I hope this song is also on G Eazy’s album, because it’s too good to only be found on a mostly mediocre soundtrack.
Another one of the best songs on the soundtrack is technically a cheat because it was written long before this reboot and long after the original movie. “Party Up (Up in Here)” by DMX is a fun rap song from 2001 that plenty of people already like. It feels as though this song was included just to buy good will from the audience (sort of like how Suicide Squad almost exclusively used popular songs from years past for the same purpose). This song also made me “dance” in an embarrassing way, but this is less impressive because it has been doing that for years.
There’s also an actual rock song on the soundtrack. “Ghoster” by Wolf Alice is a refreshing change from the rest of the soundtrack. The best thing about it is that it sounds like a real song. It doesn’t sound like it was thrown together just to be on a soundtrack. It makes me want to check out this band, which is important for any lesser-known artist that is featured on a soundtrack. This is a great way for musicians to increase their fan base, and Wolf Alice has most likely gained a new fan in me. I also plan on checking out Beasts of Mayhem, who provided a real live punk song for the soundtrack, and Muddy Magnolias after hearing their songs on the soundtrack.
And now for the scariest monster associated with this movie. “Ghostbusters (I’m Not Afraid)” by Fall Out Boy and Missy Elliot. In short, I am afraid. You should be too. Fall Out Boy’s decline in quality continues to disappoint, but not surprise, me. Some readers may remember that they appeared on my list of the worst singles of 2015. They clearly are not trying to redeem themselves with this lack of instrumental creativity or general originality. This is some odd mix of a cover, a remix, and…a few random lyrics. The most original part is Missy Elliot’s rap verse, but it proves that “original” does not necessarily mean “good.” Once my favorite rapper, she delivers a mediocre verse that is completely unnecessary. It doesn’t save the song, but it also doesn’t make it worse. It’s just there.
This could also be said for a majority of the album. It’s just there. It doesn’t justify its own existence. While there were a few good songs, there weren’t enough and they weren’t good enough to save the soundtrack as a whole. This album was all over the place, so I’ll just give it 5.5/10 versions of “Ghostbusters” because you apparently can never have too much of that song in your life.
Mr. Ferguson • Oct 20, 2016 at 8:22 am
I found a mashup of “Ghostbusters” and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” called “Thunder Busters” on Youtube. It was weirdly awesome.