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Now, Wasse and Jones are the female half of a fine young London rock band, the Weekend, which makes clever, angst pop.
Josie and the Pussycats have gone from the comic book and and TV cartoon versions to a film, complete with a slick soundtrack CD.
Wasse and Jones first fell under the Josie spell as buddies at Kensal Park elementary school. At the time, Josie and her band were one of the few rock-girl icons, along with Barbie and Jem dolls of the era.
Unfortunately, the movie CD is no big hit with the longtime Josie fans.
"It's not total crap. It's got its shining moments and it does have a lot of crap," says Wasse, the Weekend's singer, guitarist and songwriting chief.
"It's not awful," says Jones, the Weekend's bass player and singer. "It's a tight, tight album with great hooks.
"The songs are really structured like perfect pop songs. But it just has no soul because it's not a real band ... If you look at the liner notes, it's like 10 people writing one song."
Wasse and Jones were responding to a request by The Free Press to check out the soundtrack as expert Josie witnesses. Along with keyboardist Lincoln Cushman and new drummer Jay Westman, they're working on material for the Weekend's second album.
Both young women say they're definitely going to the movie, "just to see" what's become of those Josie rock dreams.
They also stress the soundtrack CD includes many musicians they admire, one of them a real-life inspiration they heard long after moving on from the characters in the Archie Comics series.