I was in the shower recently and found myself humming a few bars of Bobby Brown’s “On Our Own.” The fact that I was humming the somewhat obnoxious and catchy single from Ghostbusters II meant that I had to do what I did as a disappointed 9-year-old who had just bought the Ghostbusters II CD: listen to the original soundtrack and hope that Ray Parker Jr.’s anthemic theme song would wash away the mediocrity.

I’ll admit to being biased, since the first film is one of my all-time favorites. Ghostbusters is a fun movie that in many ways shouldn’t have worked, especially when one considers that the movie was originally conceived by Dan Aykroyd as a serious science fiction film with some comedic elements. Director/producer Ivan Reitman liked the concept but told Aykroyd it needed a major overhaul. Enter SCTV veteran Harold Ramis to lend a hand, and a winning screenplay was forged. The movie would ultimately gross almost $300 million and young’uns like me clamored for a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man toy. Before any of that, however, I remember receiving my cassette copy of the soundtrack for Christmas of ’84 (there would be no action figures until The Real Ghostbusters cartoon in 1986). The soundtrack was good enough, based mainly on the strength of Ray Parker Jr.’s iconic title song.

Which is what makes this revisitation over 25 years later so interesting. While the soundtrack has a couple of awesome songs, it also feels very utilitarian. For instance, even with the two Elmer Bernstein pieces and the theme instrumental, there are only a total of ten tracks! In retrospect, it’s amazing how much of an afterthought the album feels like, considering how many pop stars are featured on the Ghostbusters II soundtrack.

I was in the shower recently and found myself humming a few bars of Bobby Brown’s “On Our Own.”

Still, there’s that kickoff song. From the first spooky synth opening notes, it would become synonymous with ’80s pop culture and intertwined in the fabric of the Ghostbusters franchise. Megastar Huey Lewis—upon discovering “Ghostbusters” resembled one of his songs—would even share the wealth and give the song to Ray Parker Jr. to remodel into a song about how good it feels to bust ghosts. Well… not quite, but that’s another story.

One could not ask for a better theme song that encompasses the creepy, comedic and outright ’80s stamp than “Ghostbusters.” It’s no wonder Ray Parker Jr. received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song!

The follow-up track from The BusBoys, “Cleanin’ Up The Town,” evokes fond memories of the sequence where