has anyone involved with the films or anyone else for that matter discussed why a new composer was brought on for GB2? the score from the original was quite memorable…curious why they changed up to Edelman for part 2.
also. which score do you guys prefer?
Seems in 2001, Bernstein actually answered that question in an interview that was posted on his website:
So it seems he passed on it because he’d become tired of writing music for comedy, seems a shame.
As for Edelman’s appointment, he’d worked with Ivan Reitman on Twins and Reitman must’ve thought he’d be a good replacement when Bernstein turned down doing GBII.
As for his score… it’s alright, but nothing I’d write home about, it certainly didn’t have the creepy; otherworldly feel to it like the first film score contained. It also lacked a decent reoccurring secondary theme for the Ghostbusters like Bernstein had scored.
Bernstein’s score was definitely more memorable. But I think Edelman’s score is also good and underrated. I especially love the heartfelt piano theme, and that heroic, marching-into-battle theme.
…That said, Shuki Levy tops them both in my book.
Bernstein was also reportedly miffed that so much of the score he wrote for Ghostbusters was replaced by “pop tunes.”
Except for a few brief moments, I loathe the Edelman score. It sounds like it belongs in a Hugh Grant film. It just adds to the big, goofy, hokey mess that was GB2.
I love Bernstein’s score but am glad Randy Edelman got to do the second! I think they work great in separate ways. I am glad in a way the “main title theme” and other themes weren’t used again. I love the mysterious eerie and wondrous sound of the first and the second one is full of fanfares and heroic horns…as well as GB2 having some scary stuff…
plus it’s one thing people can’t complain “that’s just like the first one” 
They’re very unique unto their own. People that say the second score sounds kiddie-ish, it had a baby in it!!
Love the GB2 score
I think some sequel scores need to sound like the original; Back to the Future II & III for example. Aside from the GB theme song, the score could be different for each sequel, emphasizing the new danger. Bernstein’s was kinda quirky and very supernatural. Edelman’s score had contemporary tones, embodied the heroic aspect of the GB’s and built on the romance between Peter and Dana.
This was 100% the issue. Bernstein and Reitman had a bit of a falling out/long-standing grudge about how the score was treated in the final version of the film. You get hints of it in this articlewhere he says:
I can’t remember where I read but he was particularly angry/those two disagreements were about the use of “Cleanin’ Up the Town” in place of a triumphant theme that he had written and then the omission of the “Ghosts!” track that he had written for when all hell breaks loose where “Magic” was used. EDIT: Okay the above article mentions the “Magic” instance, so that’s where I read that one… duh. The other might have come from one of the Reitman Q&As after Bernstein passed away?
I appreciate Bernstein’s disappointment, but personally disagree with him that his score work should’ve been used in those scenes.
I agree…I am glad to hear all the tunes in restrospect but the very first time I heard the music following GET HER when I first got the score I was like “uhhh…wut?” They are pretty cool to hear in the video game and all the other stuff through the years but they would have been pretty cheesy in the final film IMO…
the Bus Boys tune really sets up how legendary the Ghostbusters would become in pop culture…every time I hear it ♪♫ Gonna tell you a story bout a little town I know ♫♪
gives me chills thinking about it.
It probably would have made the film feel more like Stripes in those moments. Would have just been a different experience.
But also… sticking to the score might have made the movie a little more timeless in retrospect.
Some of the score in GB2 sounds Real Ghostbusters-ish