Unused Ghostbusters Theme Songs

I ain't afraid of no Ray Parker Jr., and neither were the Ghostbusters.

Long before Columbia Pictures enlisted his help for a theme song to the 1984 classic film, they approached other musicians. None of the fans know how many other artists submitted music for the film, or even who all of those artists are, but two of these unused theme songs are now known... one of which is getting its first general public appearance right here on Spook Central today!

Before I get right down to it, let me make one thing clear. Both of the songs listed below were used as the backing track for a video. Dialog is laid over the song, and it can't be removed. What is presented below is the best available copy of the songs that the public currently has. Maybe Sony has a perfect copy, maybe they don't. We don't know, and they don't care, because they would not pay the exorbitant music fees needed to make it officially available to the public even if they had a perfect copy. This is abundantly clear when you realize that they edited the source of the second song when they made it public so as to REMOVE the song!

The first song, by an unknown artist, is used in the film's Teaser Trailer. The only lyrics I can definitively make out are, "Who's that creepin' down the hall?" and "Whoa ooooooo... Ghostbusters".


Sony included the Teaser Trailer on the Ghostbusters 1 & 2 4K/Blu-ray set released in 2019, which was the first time it appeared on a Ghostbusters home video release since the Criterion Collection laserdisc in 1989. The 320kbps MP3 file embedded above was taken from the audio track of the teaser from the 4K/Blu-ray set.

The second song is making its GENERAL PUBLIC WORLD PREMIERE here today on Spook Central. I'm just as thrilled as you are!

The song below is used throughout the unedited ShoWest exhibitor reel. Yes, I said UNEDITED. The copy on the previously-mentioned Ghostbusters 1 & 2 4K/Blu-ray set from 2019 has been edited. Thankfully, Zed Richards managed to get a VHS copy of the original reel, and Derek Osborn helped him fix it up. With their permission, I will be premiering the full unedited ShoWest exhibitor reel in my next article here on Spook Central in a few days, in which I will fully go over everything that's incomplete on that 4K/Blu-ray set. For now, let's stick to the song, which is presented in three parts in the reel. I've edited them together into this single 3-minute 320kbps MP3 file. Take a listen, then continue reading for more history.


Although there is still dialog and talking over the song, much more of the lyrics are discernible than in the other song. Here are a few bits and pieces I was able to make out.

Street light, so bright, coming through the dark.
Something's in the hall
There's a shadow on the wall
So scary that you'll scream
You find out it's not a dream

Front line, anytime
Take it right to the Ghostbusters
Cool heads under fire
Never mess with the Ghostbusters

Ride all night
We're gonna ride all night
We're gonna blast 'em right out of this world

I gotta be honest...the more I listen to this, the more I like it. It makes Ray Parker Jr.'s song seem so pedestrian. I'm starting to think the filmmakers chose the wrong song.

As of this writing, these are the only two unused Ghostbusters theme songs that we're aware of. I'm sure that there are more, but either they've long since been destroyed, or are locked away in a proverbial vault somewhere.

I'd like to close by saying that it's not too late for the Ghost Corps team to track down the original recordings and include these songs in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. If those recordings don't exist anymore, I think that all of the artists are still alive and can re-record the songs. Let's turn these songs from "unused" to "used".