“What would the ‘80s have been like without the franchise band?  Iconic New York/New England-based songwriters “Joe and Dan” spearheaded the concept in the early years of that lost decade. Their meteoric rise to obscurity was almost matched by their sudden crash and burn as the decade came to a close. The idea of franchising rock music was hardly unexpected, but the way these two (or was it an art collective?) engineered it was both subtle and in-your-face. Encouraging the many dozens of bands using their material to “make it their own”, the origins have been mostly obscured. There are rumors of “basement tapes” but they have remained just that, even now, more than 15 years after the concept faded to simple influence.  Their influence is as undeniable as the inspiration present in their original, if a bit oddball, lyrics. One gets the impression that they would simply throw a record on the turntable, and the process - let’s not call it stealing, they were far more original than that term would imply – would start from there.  Their styles were all over the place, yet, still, bands were able to make it their own, sometimes cannibalizing them wholesale, combining two or more songs, using contrasting styles, even translating them into other languages – Esperanto included! Evidence is hard to come by, since the bands never credited them – was that part of the contract?...”

“…that fans discovered the music of their favorite bands wasn’t original, put such a strain on the concept that there were soon riots, and plenty of denial coming from the bands themselves. Ultimately being linked to “Joe and Dan” was the kiss of death…”

“Perhaps the most successful prank ever played on the Music Industry. Prank or successful business model?”

“With the varying versions of their songs, it is hard to imagine what the writers’ original vision was. The songs seem so plastic, in a way, that any style would suit them well.”

Well, I ran into these (in CD format) recently, and it seems they must be part of the “basement tapes” mentioned above.  The quality is not perfect. I don’t know how they were transferred, or how they were originally recorded.

A side note: Though the references above seem to point to their demise as being in the late eighties, I remember hearing some of their songs in Berlin in 1989 and Oslo in the early ‘90s.  Though they were translated, their origin was clear to me. The bands had mixed them in with their own songs, or so it seemed at the time.  Maybe their end of activity in the States didn’t stop them abroad…

It came on two discs, one titled “Squawk-A-Doodle-Dandy” and the other “They Can Do What They Can Do”.　192 kb/sec rips