Ray Parker Jr. Regrets Having Passed on ‘Spaceballs’
By George Robbins
Music plays a huge part in movies to the point that despite not thinking about it most of the time, we can’t live without it. If we were to watch a movie and the film had nothing in it but he voices of the characters and no score whatsoever, we would think something went horribly wrong. There are plenty of moments in films where there is absolute silence, but so many more where music permeates throughout the medium. This is resulted in unforgettable moments and lasting memories for fans of different films throughout the years. Some films have music that is so memorable that we will never be able to forget it no matter how many years go by.
One of the people responsible for the creation of one of those iconic composed themes was Ray Parker Jr. who composed the theme for ‘Ghostbusters.’ The theme for the film is easily one of the most memorable pieces of audio media that the world has ever heard. It wouldn’t just be used for the films, but would also go on to inspire countless forms of pop culture as time went on. You would think that with a piece of audio media that important to the world, that Ray Parker Jr. wouldn’t have any regrets from his time in the industry. Well as it apparently turns out, he does have a regret and that is the fact that he passed over Mel Brooks’ ‘Spaceballs‘ film.
As many well know, ‘Spaceballs’ was Mel Brooks’ parody on the, then and now, new series ‘Star Wars.’ While the film was a standalone, it still remains a very well-loved piece of media over the years. Ray Parker Jr. was offered the chance to work on the film, but according to him, was off “fooling around, doing something, chasing girls or waterskiing,” and therefore didn’t work on the film. This would be an action he very much regretted doing as he actually thought about it afterwards that he would have loved to meet and befriend Mel Brooks. Even now he is hoping he may one day get the chance before it is too late, but it just goes to show that sometimes it may be better to stop and think about a choice before saying no or you may regret it.