When Fall Out Boy’s cover of the Ghostbusters theme song emerged from the darkest recesses of hell last month, fans of Ray Parker Jr.’s original reacted, how shall we say, strongly. But lost in all the internet chatter was the notion that Parker himself must have approved the song somewhere along the line. There’s simply no way Fall Out Boy (and Missy Elliott, too!) would be so bold as to take on such an iconic theme song without at least bouncing some ideas off the original composer… right?
Wrong. In a recent interview with Inside Edition, Parker made it clear that nobody approached him before unleashing Fall Out Boy’s demon spawn to wreak havoc on humanity’s eardrums. “I wish they had called me to maybe work with some of the younger guys and help them get a direction,” he said.
As for his thoughts on the cover, he called it “interesting,” which is the kind of things parents say when their kids present them with a finger-colored mess to pin on the refrigerator. “I’m just gonna say maybe I’m an old guy now and I like it the old way,” Parker later added.
If you made the mistake of going back and listening to Fall Out Boy’s cover for reference, allow us to clean the poop out of your ears: