Andy’s dear friend the late Tommy Ardolino introduced Andy to voice actor Tom Kenny before an NRBQ show in Los Angeles. Ardolino suggested that Andy and Tom should write songs together. It turned out he was 100% right. The songwriting partnership has proven to be very fruitful, first writing songs for SpongeBob but expanding their horizons to Handy Manny, Olivia (“Good Night Olivia”), and others. The bulk of their work has been for SpongeBob, beginning with the “The Best Day Ever Album” which has proven to be an evergreen with songs like “The Best Day Ever,” “Employee of the Month,” “My Tightie Whities,” “Where’s Gary?” and “Under My Rock” being stuck in the heads of kids and parents all over the world. “Where’s Gary?” is a McDonald’s jingle in the U.K. and it’s only a matter of time before many of these songs are used for any number of commercials or are covered by other artists. Tom and Andy’s approach to making the album was unusual in that they wrote songs which were not dependent completely on the cartoon characters who sang them. Therefore, the shelf life of the songs is extended infinitely. At the same time, the characters’ personalities shine as their performances are serious efforts. Tom and Andy noticed how much better fans reacted to the product produced with this approach.
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