Me First and the Gimme Gimmes!

November 3, 2001 7:16 PM

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes! No, not the children's book, but the punk novelty band, featuring talent from various punk bands, including the bassist from NOFX. They do covers of decidedly non-punk songs, such as Barry Manilow's "I Write the Songs," the themes from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show," and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl".
Their record label offers four free mp3s including "Take Me Home, Country Roads" and "Wild World."
posted by CrunchyFrog (20 comments total)

I ran into this sound a few weeks ago, looking for covers of Billy Joel songs at Audio Galaxy. I don't understand punk. Some of it's okay, but it's like painting with only one color. I acknowledge it's art, but not my kind of art. Then again, I embrace evil.
posted by ZachsMind at 7:45 PM on November 3, 2001

I love these guys! It's definitely a trip the first time you hear them, though. "I remember my first time..." I had just pulled an all-nighter in the campus coffeehouse when the girl behind the register put them on. It took me a while for it to register that the rollicking rocker I was tapping my feet to was "Rainbow Connection."
posted by MonkeyMeat at 8:19 PM on November 3, 2001

I picked up that cover of "Rainbow Connection" from our very own mathowie's personal site. Good stuff.
posted by toddshot at 8:29 PM on November 3, 2001

Me First... is a pickup band that NOFX's Fat Mike started with some of the folks from No Use For a Name and Swingin' Utters (on of my fave punk bands). Funny part about it is that they have some guy from the Fat Wreck Chords mailing room singing for them. About three years ago, my sister-in-law brought over a copy of Have a Ball (their first cd) during Christmas. We spent the night listening to it over and over and laughing hysterically. "Sweet Caroline" never rocked so hard. Great band.
posted by eyeballkid at 8:59 PM on November 3, 2001

I saw them this year at the Warped Tour. They put on a hell of a show. They came out wearing AFI's spooky-punk gear, and they had the crowd going. My personal favorite song would be the cover of "Fire and Rain".
posted by Fahrenheit at 11:13 PM on November 3, 2001

They have so many rocking covers, it's hard to know where to start. They actually make uptown girl sound good. They make it ok to rock out to Mandy. I hear they have a CD of nothing but showtunes covers. Jump on kazaa and collect them all.
posted by mathowie at 11:21 PM on November 3, 2001

Found another free mp3 at Lookout Records, The Boxer originally by Simon & Garfunkel.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:31 AM on November 4, 2001

Boxer cover rocketh.
posted by Optamystic at 2:13 AM on November 4, 2001

Sometimes it's hard to be a Gimme,
Giving all your love to just one band
But if you love them,
Please don't make fun of them,
'Cause after all, they're just a band
posted by jozxyqk at 5:48 AM on November 4, 2001

One of my favorite bands, and well deserving of more exposure. Their first album, Have a Ball, is well worth actually paying money for. And according to Buddyhead, they have a box set of 7"s coming out. Can't wait.
posted by matt8313 at 6:23 AM on November 4, 2001

I also saw them on the Warped Tour this year, and I found myself laughing most the time.

"We're a cover band.....people write songs..for US!"

The bassist from Pennywise was shooting the band with a be-be gun during the whole set too. They do put on a great show. Fat Mike is always hilarious, along with everyone else in the band. Not to mention they also have one of the best band names out there.
posted by Mark at 7:10 AM on November 4, 2001

I've been listening to this band for years, they are absolutely on of my favorites. I thought their most recent album was a little over-produced though, almost too "clean" for punk.
posted by revbrian at 10:00 AM on November 4, 2001

I've always seen them as not much more than novelty. Fun to listen to, but there's no way anything they do is better than the originals they cover.

I wanted to cry when I heard their version of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young".
posted by tomorama at 10:10 AM on November 4, 2001

punk is dead and you killed it.
posted by Satapher at 10:24 AM on November 4, 2001

If you liked Me First, make sure you also check out Moxy Fruvious.
posted by SpecialK at 10:47 AM on November 4, 2001

I discovered these guys on a compilation CD some years ago doing a cover of Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" (I had bought the CD for T.S.O.L.'s song "Code Blue.") The Gimme's have now become one of my fave bands - if for nothing else, they have warped my friend's band to the point where, in addition to covering Gimme's versions of Mandy and Sweet Caroline, they now do a rather thrashy/trashy version of Bette Midler's "The Rose" that is unbelievably hot!

The most recent album was somewhat disappointing at points but they are all worth laying out the cash for - the newest is worth it just for their cover of the 50's do-wop tune "Who Put the Bomp?"!!
posted by RevGreg at 2:27 PM on November 4, 2001

sigh. you all rock.
posted by SentientAI at 6:27 AM on November 5, 2001

Me-Fi rst
posted by kahboom at 6:27 AM on November 5, 2001

I'm sensing a trend here.

Here comes the plug...

There is a local Dallas band who does high-speed punk covers - called The Gobos. They, too, cover Mandy, Rainbow Connection and about a hundred and fifty other songs. They've been at it a long time.

Yes, you can download the album on my site.

I'm also hearing of other cover-types in different cities, and then Alien Ant Farm gets massive success on a rocked-up cover.

I'm glad bands are doing this. I hope they all keep doing it.
posted by TeamBilly at 7:34 AM on November 5, 2001

The Dickies pioneered this genre 20 years ago. Their version of "Nights in White Satin" is the Ur punk cover tune.
posted by whuppy at 8:38 AM on November 5, 2001