Ranking Me First and The Gimme Gimmes’ 8 Albums
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes isn’t an ordinary band — It’s a punk supergroup with a twist. Formed in 1995 as a side project for a group of friends who wanted to do something different from their regular bands NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use For a Name and Swingin’ Utters. The Gimmes, as fans affectionately call them, specialize in one thing — punk covers of songs, from Barry Manilow hits to musical theater classics.
Their approach to music is less about innovation and more about invigoration; they breathe new, raucous life into the tunes your parents might have slow-danced to at prom. Starting with their debut album, they’ve spun through a discography that includes takes on R&B, country, showtunes, and even Christmas carols, proving that no genre can’t be reinvented.
The band’s lineup has become a revolving door at a punk rock party. While Spike Slawson, Joey Cape, Fat Mike, Dave Raun and Chris Shiflett have been on almost every album, their live lineup tends to remain fluid. The Gimmes are notorious for their lively concerts, where the band’s outlandish costumes — think Hawaiian shirts and wigs — often speak as loudly as their music.
Offstage, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are as irreverent as they are during performances. Whether they’re transforming a somber classic into a pit-opening punk anthem or giving a pop song a guitar-heavy facelift, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes never fail to entertain, surprise, and remind us all not to take music — or life — too seriously.
8. ¡Blow it…at Madison’s Quinceañera! (2024)
No Fat Mike, no Dave, and no Chris. Is it still the Gimmes if only two-fifths of the band return? Well, I guess that’s for you to judge… or me since I’m writing this.
In place of those mentioned above, we’ve got CJ Ramone on bass, The Swami (of Rocket From the Crypt) on guitar, and Pinch (of The Damned) on drums. Rounding out the lineup are returning members The Caper on rhythm guitar and Spike Slawson on vocals.
Now, I’d like to say that the charm and fun that the band brought to previous albums is still in full force here, but unfortunately, that would be untrue. Yes, Spike is still as charismatic as always, but the delight and joy found before is almost entirely absent. It’s particularly noticeable in the lack of on-stage banter between the members (not even a peep from Joey).
Conceptually, I love the idea of recording a live album for a quinceañera, but in practice, it just kinda falls flat. The 7 songs sung in Spanish (fully or partially) fit the theme, but they’re just not very interesting as they don’t seem to adapt well to the Gimmes style. Also, the live feeling of the album is somewhat lost due to the songs relying on a fade in/fade out transition — really killing the sound of an actual live experience.
The only song on the album that seems to come across naturally is “Queen of Hearts”, which makes sense because it fit would’ve fit relatively well with their covers on Love Their Country.
Including a horn section for a few of the Spanish-sung songs was a nice inclusion and helped differentiate some of the songs, but it’s ultimately really not enough to make the album much better.
Don’t get me wrong, this is still a good album, but compared to the band’s other releases, it’s just lacking. The musicianship isn’t of the same high quality as before, Spike’s live vocals don’t always come off that well, and the musical arrangements are just not that interesting (although I do like the juxtaposition interpolation of “Love Will Tear Us Apart” into “Love Will Keep Us Together”).
I’m happy the Gimmes are back, but it’s kind of like running into a friend that you haven’t seen in years and realizing you don’t have much in common anymore.
Recommended Tracks: Queen of Hearts / Good 4 U / I Could Fall in Love
7. Are We Not Men? We Are Diva! (2014)
After a solid run of albums from the late 90s to mid-00s, the Gimmes took a lengthy break before finally returning in 2014 with a new album, this time tackling famous female singers throughout the past few decades.
I wish I could say that the time away didn’t kill the magic, but that’s not really the truth. All the parts of what make the Gimmes great are still there, but there’s just something a little lifeless about this record.
Recorded at the Blasting Room, it sonically sounds excellent, but it’s missing much of the joy and fun that was so apparent in their earlier records. What you get instead is a very well-put-together album full of classic covers — basically, if this were some other band, I’d be more than happy, but for the Gimmes, it just comes up short.
That said, there are some undeniable highlights, like “Straight Up” which they do an absolutely excellent job covering. “Top of the World”, “I Will Survive”, and “Karma Chameleon” are some other excellent highlights that really do the originals justice.
The only song that manages to contain that old, fun, Gimmes charm is “I Will Always Love You”, which it should come as no surprise since it was actually recorded 8 years prior durin the Love Their Country sessions.
I do appreciate that they try to mix things up a little on this one to prevent it from getting stale, like the folky, acoustic and accordion version of “My Heart Will Go On” or the ukulele and sax cover of “Crazy For You”.
Other tracks are more of a miss. Take “Believe” which utilizes heavy auto-tune as an homage to the original which popularized the style. The idea is good in theory, but ultimately doesn’t really work that well here. The last two songs on the record are also just kind of there and lack much memorability.
I’m always happy for more material from this band, but it’s still a bit disappointing that this record doesn’t have the heart that the first records had.
Recommended Tracks: Straight Up / I Will Always Love You / Top of the World
6. Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah (2004)
What’s the logical next step for a supergroup cover band’s 5th album? To record a live album where you’re playing someone’s bar mitzvah of course!
The overall ridiculousness of the situation is by no means lost on the band and it definitely helps heighten the experience and create a more fun and exciting occasion.
As opposed to the albums prior, the covers here don’t fit any real specific theme (besides “Hava Nagila”), but instead work as a collection of songs you might hear at an event where a cover band is playing.
The best thing about the album is the clear enjoyment they’re all having — the whole thing just doesn’t work without the sense of genuine fun. The group screws up several songs, either through false starts, playing the wrong notes, or just general messing up and if it wasn’t so playful, it could’ve been annoying.
There’s plenty of banter between Spike, Fat Mike, and Joey so you’re always entertained, even when they’re not playing any songs. The jokes all land, and (when they don’t screw up), the arrangements are all pretty excellent (like inserting “Come Out and Play” into “Hava Nagila”).
I selfishly wish they would’ve actually recorded studio versions of a few these, in particular “Delta Dawn” which sounds terrific, but they mess and abandon before finishing or “Take It On the Run” which is adapted so perfectly into that classic Gimmes style.
What works about the album is also coincidentally what keeps it at a lower position. As a live album, those screw-ups and jokes do tend to get a bit old on repeat listens — not enough to ever make me dislike it, but enough to make most of the other studio albums preferrable.
Recommended Tracks: Take It On the Run / Heart of Glass / The Longest Time
5. Are a Drag (1999)
This one is a flat-out classic, even if it is a covers album. Punk versions of famous songs from musicals, what’s not to love?
That said, if I’m being completely honest, I’m not actually the biggest fan of musicals, which means I’m not that terribly familiar with the original versions of many of these songs. Nonetheless, it seems like the band did an incredible job and clearly have love for many of the originals.
Some songs seem to naturally handle being covered better than others such as “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” or “Phantom of the Opera”. In particular, “Science Fiction Double Feature” sounds fantastic, featuring some excellent vocal harmonizing. Fat Mike has stated in the past that the soundtrack to The Rocky Horror Picture Show is one of his favorite albums, so it’s no wonder they did so well covering this song.
While there are far from any bad songs on the record, some tracks do begin to lose their charm on multiple listens. “Tomorrow” or the two rainbow songs “Over the Rainbow” and “Rainbow Connection” seem like more of a funny choice of covers rather than songs the band really felt passionate about.
Most of the album is made up of that solid late 90s punk that Fat Wreck was so good at producing, but there a couple of songs that break away from the more standardized punk formula to provide some variation — “Summertime” with its breezy surf rock or the closer “Cabaret” and its slow, and catchy reggae vibe.
This is a great album, but thematically, some of the band’s other records just work a bit better.
Recommended Tracks: Science Fiction Double Feature / Cabaret / Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
4. Blow in the Wind (2001)
For the band’s 3rd album, they decided to make it all covers — this time hits from the 1960s.
Blow in the Wind really takes advantage of the band’s collection of excellent singers and incorporates several 3 and 4 part vocal harmonies throughout the record. The original songs are perfectly suited for this type of harmonizing as they blend doo-wop with rock n’ roll beautifully.
After only experimenting with the ‘cover inside a cover’ once on the previous album, this time the Gimmes go all in on adding parts of popular punk songs into these 60s classics. You’ll hear riffs from the Ramones, The Clash, Bad Religion, Sex Pistols, The Dickies, and more either added to the beginning or end of several of the tracks.
Although all the covers are excellent, some are particularly outstanding, such as “Wild World,” where the band makes the song completely their own. Both “Who Put the Bomp” and “My Boyfriend’s Back” include stellar harmonizing (from Fat Mike in particular), which makes them so addictively catchy and fun.
The band’s humor continues to be in full swing with some lyrical changes in songs like “Stand by Your Man” which alters the final verses to be about a band (Me First) instead of a man.
I think the only song that doesn’t seem to quite go over as well as the others is “San Francisco”. It’s still a great song, but something just seems to be slightly missing.
Anyway, this is a perfect covers album. I could easily see this being someone’s favorite Gimmes record, since the theme for each record will likely have a heavy influence on your overall opinion.
Recommended Tracks: Wild World / My Boyfriend’s Back / Runaway
3. Have a Ball (1997)
The album that started it all — just a punk supergroup of friends from NOFX, Lagwagon, and No Use For a Name covering some of their favorite popular hits from (mostly) the 60s and 70s.
Even if punk bands covering popular songs and ‘punkifying’ them was nothing new when the Gimmes released this album, they still managed to define this particular style of it. Their influence was clearly found in the late ’90s to early 00s when any punk cover was credited as being Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, regardless of who did it.
The most significant difference with how these songs were covered versus what had been done before, is that the Gimmes alway maintain the heart and melody of the original song — it not just about playing the same song, but faster.
Some of these covers even manage to retain what made the original great while perfectly blending in the band’s own style and making the cover something brand new and unique. Take for instance “Seasons in the Sun” or “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. There’s a respect and love for the originals easily heard in these tracks.
While all of the tracks on this record are excellent, the cover of “Rocket Man” is particularly outstanding and the album’s best example of Spike’s vocal range. He gives his everything on this track, and it’s completely worth it because their version is stellar.
On the other side of things, Spike’s vocal abilities are somewhat lacking on this record compared to the band’s other albums. It’s not bad, but his range is noticeably less wide. The band also avoided including as much harmonizing on this album, which is a bummer because they’re so great at it.
Recommended Tracks: Rocket Man / Seasons in the Sun / Leaving on a Jet Plane
2. Take a Break (2003)
When it came time for the boys in Me First to re-enter the studio and once again reinvent classics for their fourth album, they decided upon a genre many wouldn’t think would translate well to punk — R&B.
Perhaps it’s because I had a relatively significant disconnect from these songs compared to what the band had covered prior, but it seems the band was really able to transform these tracks into something new and inherently original (while still remaining covers).
The songs’ original style forced Spike to put his utmost into his vocals — pushing his capabilities to their extremes. It totally pays off because he unleashes some absolute gems here.
The production on Take a Break is a little nicer than the previous 3 albums, with noticeably less overdriven guitar distortion (except for “I’ll Be There” which utilizes a really chunky distortion).
“Crazy” expertly incorporates the intro to Black Flag’s “Six Pack” before jumping into the actual song. Their cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” proves that this is an excellent track no matter who covers it, plus the bassline that Fat Mike uses fits it perfectly.
Hearing Joey Cape do a surfer-dude spoken verse during “End of the Road” or Spike struggle to breathlessly repeat “I know, I know” over and over during “Ain’t No Sunshine” are both reasons enough to make this record a must-listen.
This whole album is excellent — production is stellar, song choices are great, and Spike sounds about as good as he ever has.
Recommended Tracks: Crazy / Nothing Compares 2 U / Ain’t No Sunshine
1. Love Their Country (2006)
With how much the genre has transformed, it’s easy to forget how early country-western music contained a lot of lyrics and themes that align fairly well with punk. When you recall that, it’s perhaps no surprise that these country hits translate so well into punk.
Although Ryan Greene obviously did a great job on the Gimmes albums up to this point, Alex Newport absolutely nails the production on this record — it sounds utterly phenomenal. The crisp sound of the percussion and vocals, as well as the stellar guitar tone, is on a level you rarely hear on punk records.
Opening slow and twangy with a slide guitar, the band’s cover of “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)” sounds strikingly similar to the original up until about the halfway point, where the Gimmes fast melodic style we know and love comes into full play.
Once again, the band manages to completely reinvent many of these songs and make them modern punk classics. “Desperado”, “Goodbye Earl”, and “Jolene” all sound like they could be original punk tracks — as if the band unearthed the way these songs were truly meant to sound.
I guess it’s a credit to the production, but these tracks are all supercharged and by far the most energetic the band has ever sounded. The only downside to that is that they blast through the songs so quickly that the record is over far too soon. I would love if they would reissue this album at some point and include the 5 extra songs they recorded (which ended up on 7"s).
While “East Bound and Down” is a full rager which includes a terrific intro interpretation of The Damned’s “Love Song”, perhaps the best cover within a cover is how they worked in the melody of The Clash’s “Police & Thieves” into “Sunday Morning Coming Down” — it’s a truly genius level of musicianship the way the band so easily combine the 2 tracks.
I thoroughly love this record. Even if these aren’t original songs, this is still one of Fat Wreck’s best releases. It never gets old.
Recommended Tracks: Jolene / Sunday Morning Coming Down / Goodbye Earl
