Huey Lewis and the News sued Ray Parker Jr., alleging that the melody and riff of Parker’s 1984 hit “Ghostbusters” copied their earlier Top 10 single “I Want A New Drug”. The dispute mattered because “Ghostbusters” became closely associated with the successful film and was Parker’s biggest US hit, while the film’s director Ivan Reitman acknowledged that the earlier Huey Lewis track had been used as temporary music during editing.

The case was initially settled out of court under a confidentiality agreement, so its terms were not meant to be disclosed. In 2001, Lewis reportedly discussed the payment on VH1, leading Parker to sue him for breaching that agreement; “Ghostbusters” nevertheless spent three weeks at number one in the US and remains Parker’s only chart-topper.