Discograffiti: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

Hello music nerds! If you’re new here, this is a new(ish) series I’ve kicked off where I pick a band or artist and take a journey through their discography. I explore time periods, shifting lineups, production tidbits, and toss in a few a few personal quips along the way. It’s part history lesson and part fan rant but 100% fun! Come along for the ride!

This time around I’ll be jumping into the discography of San Francisco based cover supergroup Me First and the Gimme Gimmes!

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes formed in 1995 in, as I mentioned in the introduction, San Francisco. There is a revolving door of membership but there are some mainstays. We will get into that when we dive into the discography. They are a cover band that puts a goofy, pop-punk spin on a wide range of material. The band’s first release was a single released in 1995 titled Denver that featured 2 John Denver covers (“Country Roads” and “Leaving On a Jet Plane”).

To date, the band has released 6 studio albums, 2 live albums, 2 compilation albums, 3 EPs, and a few handfuls of singles, in addition to a 2001 limited edition self titled box set. For the purposes of this journey, I was be focusing on studio albums, live albums, EPs, and the compilation albums.

Okay, let’s dive in!

Have A Ball

• Released in July 1997 by Fat Wreck Chords, this first studio album from MFATGG was recorded at One Week Records in San Francisco and produced by Ryan Greene and the band.

• It is made up of 12 tracks that were 60s and 70s hit with one exception, the Billy Joel song “Uptown Girl.”

• For this album, the band lineup was Spike Slawson on vocals (Spike is a mainstay of this band), Chris Shiflett on leader guitar, Joey Cape (also a mainstay) on rhythm guitar, Fat Mike (another mainstay) on bass, and Dave Raun on drums.

  • Spike is the bass player from (most notably) Swingin Utters. Chris Shiflett was in the band No Use For a Name (and is currently the lead guitarist for Foo Fighters). Joey Cape is (most notable) the vocalist for Lagwagon. Fat Mike is the singer/bassist for NOFX. Dave Raun is the drummer for Lagwagon.

• My favorite tracks from this one include “One Tin Soldier” (originally by Original Caste), “Uptown Girl” (originally Billy Joel), “Sweet Caroline” (originally Neil Diamond), and “Mandy” (originally Barry Manilow).

  

Are A Drag

• Released in May 1999 by Fat Wreck Chords, this one was also produced by Ryan Greene and MFATGG and recorded at Motor Studios in San Francisco.

• The band lineup on this one did not change from the previous album.

• It’s 12 tracks are made up mainly of show tunes, that is, songs that were originally performed in stage shows or movies (Broadway type stuff) and almost entirely originally performed by female vocalists.

• My favorite tunes from Are a Drag are “Over the Rainbow” (originally from The Wizard of Oz), “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” (originally from Evita), “My Favorite Things” (originally from The Sound of Music), and “Rainbow Connection” (originally from The Muppet Movie).

Turn Japanese

• This EP was released in February 2001 by Pizza of Death. Like its predecessor, it was recorded at Motor Studios and produced (again) by Ryan Greene and MFATGG. It was originally released only in Japan for their 2001 tour of the country.

• Once again, the lineup remained the same.

• Like the debut LP Have a Ball, this one consisted of 60s and 70s covers and most were previously released as singles.

• My favorites on this EP are “The Times They Are a Changin” and “Blowin in the Wind,” both Bob Dylan covers.

Blow In The Wind

• Released by Fat Wreck Chords in March 2001, this 3rd LP of the band’s was another one recorded at Motor Studios and produced by Ryan Greene and the band.

• Same lineup once again.

• This album consists entirely of 1960s tunes and features numerous songs where the band leads off the song with an homage to classic punk rock songs. For instance, the song “Sloop John B” begins with the music to “Teenage Lobotomy” while the song “San Francisco” leads off with the music to Bad Religion’s “Stranger Than Fiction.”

• My favorites on the LP include the re-released “Blowin in the Wind” (Bob Dylan), “Wild World” (originally by Cat Stevens), “All My Loving” (The Beatles), “Stand By Your Man” (originally by country singer Tammy Wynette), “I Only Want To Be With You” (Dusty Springfield), and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” (The Shirelles).

Take a Break

• The band’s 4th album, like most of the others, was recorded at Motor Studios and produced by, you guessed it, Ryan Green and MFATGG. It was released by Fat Wreck Chords in July 2003.

• The band’s lineup on this album is the same as the previous albums (this will change eventually I assure you).

• This one consists entirely of R&B covers, playing tunes from greats like Lionel Richie, The Family, The Jackson 5, and more.

• Guitarist Joey Cape has said that he feels this is the band’s “worst record.”

• Some of my favorites include “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” (originally by Whitney Houston), “End of the Road” (originally Boyz II Men), “Nothing Compares 2 U” (which was originally written by Prince, originally recorded by The Family, but I feel that they are covering the Sinead O’Connor version), “I Believe I Can Fly” (R. Kelly), and “Save The Best For Last” (originally by Vanessa Williams).

Ruin Jonny’s Bar Mitzvah

• This first live album from the band was released in October 2004. It was produced by Ryan Greene and recorded in October 2003 at an actual bar mitzvah.

• Same lineup as previous albums.

• It consists mostly of songs that were not previously released on other albums and cover a variety of original styles.

• My favorites from this live album are “Heart of Glass” (originally by Blondie), “Come Sail Away” (originally Styx), and “The Longest Time” (originally Billy Joel).

Love Their Country

• The band’s 5th studio album was released in October 2006 by (I’ll bet you can’t guess this one…) Fat Wreck Chords. It features a different producer than previous recordings as this one was produced by Alex Newport. It was, however, still recorded at Motor Studios.

• Still the same lineup.

• As you might be able to tell from the title of the album, this one consists of country and western songs, covering songs from the likes of Garth Brooks, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, and more.

• My favorite songs from this LP include “On the Road Again” (originally by Willie Nelson), “Jolene” (originally by Dolly Parton), “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (originally by Hank Williams), “Goodbye Earl” (originally performed by Dixie Chicks), and “Sunday Morning Coming Down” (originally perform by Johnny Cash but written by Kris Kristofferson).

Have Another Ball

• Technically, this is a compilation album but it features (mostly) songs that did not appear on previous LPs so I guess you could also say that this is their 7th album even though the band counts it as a compilation.

• It was released by Fat Wreck Chords in July 2008. The recordings date mostly from their Have a Ball time period but also features songs recorded between 1996 and 2008 that appeared on various 7” singles.

• My favorites from this one (that weren’t already on other albums) include “Rich Girl” (originally by Hall & Oates), “Only the Good Die Young” (Billy Joel), and “Coming to America” (originally by Neil Diamond).

Go Down Under

• This EP was released in February 2011 by Fat Wreck Chords. It was recorded at Motor Studios (they really like this place don’t they?) and produced by Jamie McMann.

• Same lineup as previous albums.

• This EP features songs exclusively from Australian artists.

• The track listing included “Never Tear Us Apart” (originally by INXS), “All Out of Love” (originally by Air Supply), “Friday On My Mind” (The Easybeats), “Have You Never Been Mellow” (originally recorded by Olivia Newton-John), and “I’ve Done Everything For You” (as performed by Rick Springfield although this one is kind of a cheat as it was originally written and performed by non-Australian Sammy Hagar).

Sing in Japanese

• Another EP, this one was released in September 2011 by Fat Wreck Chords. It was NOT recorded at Motor Studios. It was recorded at 606 Studio in Northridge, California. It was produced by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

• This one consists of songs originally recorded by Japanese bands and artists.

• My favorite songs from this one include “Hero” (originally by Kai Band), “Kokoro No Tabi” (Tulip), and “C-C-C” (originally by The Tigers).

Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!

• Released in May 2014, this one was also recorded at Studio 606 and was produced by MFATGG.

• The title is a reference to the 1978 debut album from Devo, titled Are We Not Men? We Are Devo!

• This one consists of 12 tracks and consists of songs originally recorded by “divas” such as Cher, Celine Dion, Lady Gaga, Madonna, etc….

• My favorite songs from this album are “I Will Survive” (originally recorded by Gloria Gaynor), “Straight Up” (originally recorded by Paula Abdul), “Beautiful” (originally recorded by Christina Aguilera), “Speechless” (originally recorded by Lady Gaga), “Crazy For You” (originally recorded by Madonna), and “On the Radio” (originally by Donna Summer).

Rake It In: The Greatest Hits

• This 2nd compilation album from the band was released in April 2017 by Fat Wreck Chords.

• I feel like this one is a “proper” compilation album because it consists almost entirely of tunes that appeared on previous albums.

• It contains 17 tracks and was put together based on the live set that the band had developed over their career.

• It consisted of “The Times They Are a-Changin,” “Rainbow Connection,” “City of New Orleans,” “Summertime,” “All My Loving,” “Straight Up,” “Over the Rainbow,” “Country Roads,” “Sloop John B,” “Jolene,” “Uptown Girl,” “Hats Off to Larry,” “Desperado,” “Lady,” “San Francisco,” “I Believe I Can Fly,” and “End of the Road.”

Blow It….At Madison’s Quinceanera!

• This is the band’s 2nd live album. It was recorded in 2023 at an actual quinceanera in Las Vegas, Nevada. The album was released by, as most of their albums are, Fat Wreck Chords. It was released in June 2024.

• This is the album where the lineup changes. The changes were:

  • Chris Shiflett was replaced on lead guitar by John Reis (frontman from Rocket From the Crypt)

  • Dave Raun was replaced on drums by Andrew Pinching (from Down River Nation and once played for The Damned)

  • Fat Mike was replaced on bass by CJ Ramone

• The music that was covered on this album was fairly diverse and didn’t cover just one genre or time period.

• My favorite tracks from this album were “Changes” (originally by Black Sabbath), “Dancing Queen” (originally from ABBA), “Good 4 U” (originally recorded by Olivia Rodrigo), “I Could Fall In Love” (originally recorded by Selena) and “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (originally recorded by Freddy Fender).

Well, that is their discography. Last time, I ranked all of the album based on my preference. This time, instead of doing that, I am going to list my top 5 favorites from their discography. Mostly because trying to rank all of these….I dunno, I just don’t want to….lol! So here are my top 5, in descending order…

5. Blow It…at Madison’s Quinceanera

4. Take A Break

3. Blow in the Wind

2. Love Their Country

1. Are We Not Men? We Are Diva!