We knew the moment the reboot was green lit that every aspect of what made the original so iconic was going to be "up for grabs". We got the genderswapped cast, the mini proton packs, the budget version of the Ecto-1, the blinged up logo, hell we even got a reinterpretation of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man with Rowans so-called "destructor form". It seems that as far Amy Pascal and Paul Feig are concerned no aspect of the Ghostbusters franchise is safe from their "reworking" with the release of the not quite new theme tune for the reboot called Ghostbusters (I Ain't Afraid) by Fall Out Boy and Missy Elliot...
As the song started I have to admit I was intrigued, enjoying the electric guitar and the heavy bass but the rock stylings, club style chant's and the R&B rap bridge towards the end made me cringe. Had this been an original song I may have liked it, but knowing that beneath all the modern remixing and reworking's is Ray Parker Jr.'s classic there is just no comparison.
When covering any song, no matter how the original is treasured, a cover must add something new to the song, something that wasn't there in the original. This can take many forms such as less or more instrumentation, less or more emotion, a faster or slower tempo. The best covers complete the song, making the original feel incomplete by comparison. Unfortunately, this redux of Ray Parker Jr.'s does none of that. The iconic melody is lost, the singalong attraction is gone, the charm is glossed over with false pretense. It is a good effort, and better than I had feared but Ray Parker Jr.'s original still reigns supreme.
Article Published:
2016-06-23 12:19:22