Josie and the Pussycats Soundtrack 19 Years Later
EMILIE:
Movies/TV have a long history with fictional bands. The Monkees were created for the eponymous TV show. The “members” didn’t actually play any of their instruments, and while they would later become a band in their own right, most fictional bands remain in their movie or TV world. There weren’t many female groups in the movie and TV world, but in 2001 Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the writing/directing team behind Can’t Hardly Wait (which we talked about in our teen romcom episode), would release a movie based on the Archie Comics and Hanna Barbera superstars Josie and the Pussycats.
Like many fictional bands in movies, Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid didn’t actually sing or play instruments on the album, but the star power behind the fictional band and soundtrack is insane. Josie’s vocals were performed by Kay Hanley from Letters to Cleo, whose fans include Ben Wyatt from Parks and Recreation and yours truly. Apparently this was Hanley’s first solo foray after Letters to Cleo broke up, and after this soundtrack she would go on to write music that’s featured on children’s shows, like Care Bears and Doc McStuffins. The soundtrack’s main executive producer was Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, who also makes a great uncredited cameo in the movie during the fictional Behind the Music episode. In terms of soundtrack producers, you couldn’t land a bigger name than Babyface. The man produced The Bodyguard, the highest-selling soundtrack of all time, and won at least one Grammy every year from 1993–1998.
The second half of the album was produced by the late, great Adam Schlesinger. Besides being behind the amazing band that was Fountains of Wayne, he was responsible for some of the best original songs you’ve heard in movies and on TV. He got his start writing “That Thing You Do,” for god’s sake! He would go on to be the executive music producer and co-writer of most songs on the incredible Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I could write a whole post about Adam Schlesinger, he was a genius, and the fact that he passed away from COVID-19 last month is terrible. Wear a mask, wash your hands, and stay home, people.
Personally, this was one of the many soundtrack CDs my sister and I owned and played on the regular. I still remember seeing this movie in theaters and later rewatching the DVD over and over again. This soundtrack is still great, almost 20 years later, and it’s still worthy of a re-listen. One of my quarantine purchases was this soundtrack on vinyl (I also bought Margaux a copy). The packaging is incredible.
MARGAUX:
I have a non-blood related “uncle” who works for Dreamworks and was nice enough to take me as his plus one to nice industry screenings every once in a while growing up. To make up for the incredibly uncomfortable experience of discovering in real time that Cruel Intentions was in fact not a “kid friendly movie”, he reassured me I’d love Josie and The Pussycats, and boy was he right! By the end of the movie, thanks to free soda and candy, I was literally jumping up and down and singing along (poorly). And guess what was in the gift bag? If you said, “the soundtrack”, congrats! And guess who had to listen to it at a very high volume all the way home? If you guessed Poor Uncle Steve, you have great reading comprehension!
For a movie about a fake band, much like the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, the music separated from the movie not only its own story, but you really don’t need the movie. That might’ve been part of the problem with Josie and The Pussycats release, it was critically panned for the most part; it was ahead of its time in a lot of ways and misunderstood. Bright side, the soundtrack went gold.
The process of the casting was interesting because, at first, they weren’t sure if they were going to hire actors who could also sing, which would make it look more “natural” or go for a real fake band. In the process of figuring it out, BEYONCE and Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopez came in to read for the part of Val (Rosario Dawson).
Even though Rachel Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson weren’t trained musicians, didn’t mean they couldn’t play some of the songs. Similar to the writing camp the co-writer/directors and Babyface held to produce a majority of the songs that ended up on the soundtrack, they sent Josie + The Pussycats to band camp to get trained by the best, like Marilyn Manson’s drummer.
Speaking of the writing camp, in the oral history that came with the vinyl, Deborah Kaplan, one half of the writer/director duo, said she recently dug up a few notebooks from that time and there were several songs that had made the cut to be recorded, but never happened.
And last casting fact, because you know I love them, Kay Hanley was not the first choice to be the singing voice of Josie. Babyface had initially casted someone else, but by the time Hanley made it out to LA to write songs, Josie Voice Number One had dropped, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise since everyone on set agreed Hanley’s voice matched up to Rachel Leigh Cook looked more unbelievable.
- “3 Small Words” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
The album opens with a BANGER. At just under three minutes, this song is made from the same energy that causes you to sing/lip sync in your bedroom with a hairbrush as a microphone. “I’m a punk rock prom queen / brown paper magazine / hotter than you’ve ever seen / and everywhere and in-between…” Didn’t even need to google those lyrics. The song was co-written by the movie’s directors, along with Dave Gibbs, who was a co-producer on the album and is a well-known songwriter and musician in his own right.
MARGAUX:
A writer’s pop song for sure. I’m a huge fan of a song where the singer crams a bunch of words into a short verse, which is exactly what Deborah Kaplan wanted to achieve. Turns out they wrote this song last because when they played the album for other people to get feedback, someone pointed out that they didn’t have a ‘raw punk rock’ song. So the writers and Dave Gibbs wrote it very quickly and recorded it off the clock, aka they had no more money, at Babyface’s house. Fun fact: Dave Gibbs also worked on That Thing You Do!
2. “Pretend to Be Nice” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Adam Schlesinger wrote this song, which is my personal favorite on the album. As stated earlier, he was a genius. The “ooo wee ooo wee ooo wee ooo wee oo wee — ooo ooo ooo ooo” chorus is an instant earworm, and just when you think the song can’t get better, an epic key change comes in to solidify this BOP.
Five minutes after I thought I was done with this blurb and about how much I love Adam Schlesinger:
THE MAN ALSO WROTE “JUST THE GIRL” BY THE CLICK FIVE! I’m now re-listening to the Click Five for the first time in about 15 years. This song was on a playlist when I worked at the Aeropostale at Tysons Corner Center my senior year of high school. I am now thinking of all the polo shirts I had to fold during that three-month period of my life.
MARGAUX:
When you hear this song initially, it makes sense why Kaplan/Elfont thought they already a ‘raw punk song’ crossed off their list, but this is still a little too pop-y. Don’t get me wrong, it’s my second favorite song on the soundtrack, and an undeniable bop, but it’s pop punk, very good pop punk, but it doesn’t hit as hard as “3 Small Words”.
3. “Spin Around” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Adam Duritz from the Counting Crows co-wrote this song, and while some people will shit on the Counting Crows, I’m not one of those people. I’m ready to talk smack about Train, but leave the Crows alone. They had a few fun songs that made some people happy in the ’90s, and apart from sporting some problematic white dude dreads for far too long, Adam Duritz hasn’t hurt anyone. Anyway, this song has a great fake-out where you think it’s going to be a slow, acoustic number, and then (Tara Reid?) and her drumsticks come in with a “One, Two, One Two Three!” lead us into another jam.
MARGAUX:
Classic opening credits song, upbeat and oddly hopeful, sets the tone for the rest of the movie. Knowing Adam Duritz co-wrote it makes me like it slightly less because unlike you, Em, I WILL happily talk shit about Counting Crows, and I’ll throw in a drive-by shit talk about the sleepy drops of Jupiter turds too. Why doesn’t Adam Duritz go back to what he does best, dating women outta his league so I can go back to enjoying this song in blissed ignorance.
4. “You Don’t See Me” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
The slow song on the CD. This song’s co-writers include a bunch of the aforementioned people involved with this movie and Jane Wiedlin. Wiedlin being a co-writer on this album makes a lot of sense since there’s a heavy Go-Go’s influence on many of these tracks. Anyway, I can’t hear this song without thinking of Mr. Moviephone, since this track is featured in the scene where Josie discovers Fiona and Wyatt have been adding subliminal messages to the band’s music. Now I have the sudden urge to have my own solo career and primetime TV series!
MARGAUX:
It’s probably not a shock when I say I’m not a ballad kind of girl. This one is usually a skip for me, but one thing to note is this is Kay Hanley’s favorite song on the album, and the moment she cites as a turning point in her career. Kay hadn’t sung a lot of ballads and didn’t consider it to be something “for her”, but this movie, and Babyface, gave her the opportunity to prove it to herself, and that’s when Hanley says she stopped putting herself in her own boxes.
5. “You’re a Star” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Every makeover montage deserves a catchy song, and this one does not disappoint.
MARGAUX:
The bridge and chorus remind of Le Tigre, and the chorus itself is very cute and catchy. This is a prime example of what the producers were trying to accomplish, a catchy song about absolute nothing that sounds vaguely familiar.
6. “Shapeshifter” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
This song was co-written by Kay Hanley and her Letters to Cleo bandmate/then-husband Michael Eisenstein. I didn’t remember this song as as much as the first five tracks, but this very much sounds like a track that could have been on Letter to Cleo’s Wholesale Meats & Fish album (or even on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack, since they had a few tracks on that album).
MARGAUX:
Totally, this song sounds like it didn’t make the cut for 10 Things I Hate About You. If you’d had any reservations that Rachel Leigh Cook might not be singing, this song fully gives it away. It is *distinctly* Kay Hanley.
7. “I Wish You Well” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Not one of my personal favorites, Anna Zaronker wrote this song, and she was one of the people who wrote the music for the Clueless TV series. Turns out her sister-in-law is Charlotte Caffey, who’s also a member of the Go-Go’s.
MARGAUX:
I like this song, in terms of flow on the soundtrack, it comes in the perfect time. Goes great with a second act montage.
8. “Real Wild Child” — Josie and Pussycats
EMILIE:
This is a cover of a song from the ’50s and is fine, but again, not one of my favorites. Honestly, most of the covers on this soundtrack are among my least favorite tracks. The original songs that were written for this movie are such good standalone songs that I don’t think we needed any other covers besides the theme song that plays during the end credits.
9. “Come On” — Josie and the Pussycats
MARGAUX:
“Come On” has the most writers credited to it, and it also shares a Go-Go’s connection. One of the writers is Jane Wiedlin, who I’ve met before when I worked on a movie about competitive dog dancing. Yep, you read that correctly. Anyway, this song sounds like the girl power version of a Ramones song. Don’t hate it.
10. “Money (That’s What I Want)” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Again, I can do without these covers. I do appreciate that this song was played during the scene when the girls are out and about in downtown Riverdale where all the stores are.
MARGAUX:
I’m already meh on this song, and this cover isn’t special enough to convince otherwise. It’s a skip from me, dawg.
11. “DuJour Around the World” — DuJour
EMILIE:
Another song co-written by the movie’s directors, this song sounds like a perfect ripoff of the Backstreet Boys’ “We’ve Got It Goin’ On.” I mean that as a compliment, because that was the intent. DuJour means friendship! And speaking of friendship, I appreciate this was the second movie where Breckin Meyer and Donald Faison played fictional bandmates (the first one being Can’t Hardly Wait, where they were members of Loveburger).
MARGAUX:
Apparently Kaplan and Elfont wrote this song in the back of a cab on the way to the airport in 15 minutes, fully proving my unofficial scientific study that the best writing happens between 30–15 minutes before it’s due. This song makes me want to scream DUMB every time I listen to it, and I honestly can’t think of a higher compliment.
12. “Backdoor Lover” — DuJour
EMILIE:
The movie opens with this song, which features (again!) another perfect Backstreet Boys ripoff, with the opening scene parodying the “I Want It That Way” music video. I feel like we could have replaced one of the Pussycat covers with another DuJour song.
MARGAUX:
DuJour is primed for a “I’m Gonna Tell My Kids This Was Backstreet Boys” meme. And if the meme doesn’t work, this song should do the trick. It’s so good, you could tell someone this IS Backstreet Boys, and they’d be hard pressed not to agree with you.
13. “Josie and the Pussycats” — Josie and the Pussycats
EMILIE:
Great cover of the ’70s Hanna Barbera TV theme. Did not realize that Joseph Barbera and William Hanna also co-wrote the theme song.
MARGAUX:
This theme song does what it has to do. They are Josie and the Pussycats, honey, long tails and ears for hats, bitch.
