Chances are that you have spelled this incredible punk rock reimagined version band’s name wrong once, twice, or thrice, but Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the greatest cover band in the world not named The Spazmatics, have been delivering their fun brand of punk since 1995 with a revolving cast of misfit characters from such bands as Lagwagon, NOFX, No Use for a Name, and Michelle Branch, and doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, despite the fact that vocalist Spike Slawson is the only consistent live member. That sentence was quite a mouthful, but that’s how we do it! Anyway, we ranked the Gimmes’ six full-length studio albums below and no EPs, live records, B-sides records or compilations are listed because feelings aren’t facts.
6. Are We Not Men? We Are Diva! (2014)
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes honestly don’t have a bad LP, but one had to be listed in the dreaded stinker position, so their sixth and latest record “Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!” despite having their best album title, is right here. Fun fact: MFATGG sometimes provide sizable Easter Eggs/Shiny Menorahs in the form of a punk intro from bands like they do on “Are We Not Men? We Are Diva” including T.S.O.L., The Dead Boys, The Buzzcocks, and The Dave Matthews Band just before they start the actual song that they are covering, and said parts are uber DELICIOUS, we tell ya! It’s been nearly a decade since this fantastic album came out, so let’s hear it for the boy(s), let’s give the boy a hand!
Play it again: Paula Adbul’s “Straight Up”
Skip it: Donna Summer’s “On the Radio”
5. Love Their Country (2006)
Even if you’re one of those derivative humans who spouts cliched garbage like, “I like all genres of music but hip-hop and country,” every chance that you get, there is still PLENTY to love about, uhh, “Love Their Country,” and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes showcase grit, diversity, melodic sensibilities, and straw hats on all twelve tracks of their fifth full-length studio LP here. Classic country and western songs from The (Dixie) Chicks, Garth Brooks, Kenny Rogers, and Ja Rule get the Gimme Gimmes’ treatment, and introduce such hits to a captive audience that, like we mentioned earlier, would have never had such open minds towards prior. Fun fact: “Love Their Country” is the band’s shortest, and thus, most digestible album, so take twenty-five minutes and twenty-eight seconds of your crappy day and inhale this one right this very moment.
Play it again: Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”
Skip it: Johnny Lee’s “Lookin’ for Love”
4. Blow in the Wind (2001)
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ third full-length effort and first non-’90s LP features the band’s sterling takes on classic 1960s hits like Cat Stevens’ “Wild World,” Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be with You,” The Beatles’ “All My Loving,” and Salt-N-Pepa’s “None of Your Business.” The band kicked off the 21st century (digital boy) in style and each of the lucky thirteen tracks. Fun fact: 2001 was also an underrated year for MFATGG’s label Fat Wreck Chords with other releases from Rise Against (“The Unraveling”), MxPx (“The Renaissance EP”), Mad Caddies (“Rock the Plank”), and the soundtrack from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” Funner fact: The band’s version of The Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” from “Blow in the Wind” was featured twelve years later in Dr. Suess’ children’s classic “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
Play it again: Barry Mann and The Halos’ “Who Put the Bomp (in the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)
Skip it: Scott McKenzie’s “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”
3. Have a Ball (1997)
We bet you so much more than a rock that you didn’t think that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes would last much longer than their debut effort “Have a Ball” but we also surmise that you thought that Title Fight would be at Fall Out Boy’s heights by now. To this day, “Have a Ball” remains their best selling record, and with perfect covers like Paul Simon’s “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl,” John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and Morbid Angel’s “Lord of All Fevers & Plague,” can you blame the punk rock public? Not one tin soldier can! Shout outs to the OG Me First and the Gimme Gimmes lineup: Spike Slawson on vocals, Chris Shiflettt on lead guitar, Joey Cape on rhythm guitar, Fat Mike on bass, and Dave Raun on drums!
Play it again: Loggins & Messina’s “Danny’s Song”
Skip it: James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain”
2. Take a Break (2003)
Oh girl, we are still very confused as to why this is the lone LP in the band’s six-record collection to NOT have a Wikipedia page, but we hope that this silver medal ranking here ensures one STAT. Depending on the day of the week, this could switch positions with the yet-to-be-mentioned gold medal effort, but today, “Take a Break” loses by a hair. If both you and Elenore are upset about this, don’t fret, our pets, as it is the first of two no “skip it” track efforts to be mentioned here. Seal, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Rival Schools get the MFATGG treatment here and each vocal/harmony is showcased brilliantly with a much, much faster BPM… Now let’s please move on, as we saved the best for last!
Play it again: “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”-”Natural Woman”
Skip it: “Where Do Fixed Lungs Go”-”Plastic Man”
1. Are a Drag (1999)
Please riddle us this, what’s more punk rock than a freaking musical? Don’t cry for us Argentina OR answer that. Anyway, long, long before MFATGG stalwart Fat Mike’s punk rock musical “Home Street Home” was released, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes’ sophomore LP “Are a Drag” provided that the band was not capable of a sophomore slump, and the band blazed through its second shortest album with a one-twelve punch of effervescent Broadway and film splendor from such musicals as “A Chorus Line,” “Porgy and Bess,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Schindler’s List,” and the like. Your prom night will forever be soaked with menstrual blood from someone’s thighs if you have yet to spin this record, and we implore you to sing along, in any season rain or shine, with the body electric now or TOMORROW.
Play it again: Are a drag
Skip it: Is two pleasure