Amazing it had past me by until last night that Ray Parker Jnr's Ghostbusters is a complete rip off of this song:-
https://youtu.be/N6uEMOeDZsA?si=hgr0i4Dle6o-IEA6
Anyone else unaware of this outrage?
It was big news back in the day. I always thought it was interesting how the media back then said that the lawsuit was "quietly settled out of court." 😃
From what I understand, the bass lines in the songs are very close (I don't play bass, but I remember reading that is probably what triggered the lawsuit). I think Ray Parker, Jr , got a really bad rap from this, unfortunately. He was under a deadline to write a song and probably felt a lot of pressure to deliver. There's an old saying when it comes to music along the lines of, "The good ones borrow...the great ones steal." But it is called "the music business" for a reason...it is indeed a business. That lawsuit seemed to kill Parker's career, though...I liked a lot of his music (and I really enjoy "Ghostbusters"...the video that went along with the song was great).
I guess I must have been just a little too young at the time to have taken in the news about this and was just swept along with the whole Ghostbusters phenomenon...
Don't know if it's 100% true or not but I was reading somewhere last night that apparently one of the film producers played Ray the Huey Lewis song and asked if he could make them a catchy theme song a bit like that! 😂 If that's true, it's ridiculously shameless...
It was really weird. I remember reading about the lawsuit in the old American magazine "Newsweek" (My parents subscribed). However, for a long time, there was nothing on it...no news, no updates, nothing. Finally, at some point, I remember reading an article (I don't remember what it was in...it may have been "Newsweek" also) that the case was "quietly settled out of court." And that was that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about the case, which I'm assuming was part of the settlement.
Yes, I've heard that same story that you mentioned. These "plagiarism cases" when it comes to music are interesting and make me so glad I'm not a professional musician! 😃 Ray Parker Jr. is 70 years old now...as if I needed something else to remind me that I'm getting older. But I don't think he ever had another hit after "Ghostbusters."
The funny thing is, Ray Parker Jnr landed up suing Huey Lewis right back at a later date as he started talking about it even although they had all signed non disclosures at the time of the settlement!
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/ray-parker-jr-vs-huey-lewis-and-the-battle-for-ghostbusters/
Also amusing is that this article suggests it was slightly worse than that story I'd heard - The movie makers had actually put the Huey Lewis song as the background to scenes in the movie whilst showing it to Ray!
I didn't know that about Parker suing Lewis in return. That's funny! 😃
shareAs already mentioned: -
Huey Lewis and the News sued Ray Parker Jr. for copyright infringement over the theme song for the 1984 film Ghostbusters:
The lawsuit
Lewis claimed that Parker's song copied the melody of his 1983 song "I Want a New Drug". The case was settled out of court in 1985, with an undisclosed sum and a confidentiality agreement (Legal beagle Andy).
Oh yeah, I don't even need to click the link to know exactly which song this is! My band has long talked about performing a mashup of these tunes...
shareHere it is:-
https://youtu.be/JKWW5-jr5Y0?si=7k1UotUOkLR2rPwB
THAT IDEA IS INTERESTING....PLEASE DO THAT.
shareI've always liked Ray Parker Jr music even though I certainly don't support stealing someone else's sound. But when Jack and Jill by Raydio comes on the radio... ain't nobody turnin' it.
shareYeah, that's a great song!
Blew my mind when I discovered that was actually Ray Parker Jnr as well...
I only learned about it fairly recently. Also I never realized that Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” and Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” are based on a Chic song “Good Times”.
shareI guess I knew that re Rapper's Delight as it's pretty rapping over the top of Good Times but I didn't know Another One Bites the Dust was supposed to be ripping it off as well...
Another one I like is The Flaming Lips ripping off Cat Stevens with Flight Test. But I really like both songs and it's like the Flaming Lips one is a direct response to the advice given in Cat Stevens version.
Huey Lewis & The News was still one of the biggest shlock bands ever though. What utter crap that band put out.
shareBoth Huey AND the Ghostbusters guy ripped off M's "Pop Muzik" (1979). Huey had some gall to sue the Ghostbusters dude, when he himself had clearly "borrowed" in the first place. Surprised he won that case.
"Pop Muzik" by M: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCZ7iAv1tkE
I grew up with both songs and I like the Sports album by Huey Lewis and The News. I don't hear any significant similarities between the two songs. The only thing I noticed were possibly some guitar fills that sounded alike but I don't believe that constituted copyright infringement at the time. My theory is that the studio settled with Huey Lewis and The News to placate the band with the hopes that they could work together in the future. Huey Lewis and The News were huge at that time and their contributions to the Back To The Future soundtrack were solid.
https://youtu.be/Fe93CLbHjxQ?si=-4LQqsnK0e3qcTpF * Ray Parker Jr. Ghostbusters *
https://youtu.be/N6uEMOeDZsA?si=GmPFF-4XPXqruCA2 * Huey Lewis & The News IWAND *
I'm surprised to see people say they don't hear the similarity but did you play the mash up I posted further up in the thread?
I only ask because the very first comment on there sounds similar to yourself, i.e. said they'd listened to both hundreds of times but didn't get it...
https://youtu.be/JKWW5-jr5Y0?si=cqlaeo7jF3bwxoqj