Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

As the continued existence of the Warped Tour proves, I get older and the kids stay the same age. And as long as the latter is true, there will also be room for one more three-chord song based on a one-note joke. Hence the seventh full-length of pop-punk covers by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Formed in 1995 by members of NOFX, Lagwagon, and the Swingin’ Utters, among other bands, this troupe set out to own a concept somewhere between lowbrow and unibrow: setting the songs of Sixties and Seventies lite AM to a sloppy blitzkrieg bop. Sure, the Sex Pistols and the Ramones did it first, and certainly with more substance, but they never did it while someone landed a sweet McTwist in the background. If you’re going to sweat through your pants seat enjoying extreme sports, why not sweat to the oldies? With that in mind, Have Another Ball! compiles all the extra tracks from the Gimme Gimmes’ Nineties singles and new-millennium samplers. It features covers of songs by John Denver, Elton John, Carole King, and others, diluted with irony and fortified with riffs from Johnny Ramone and Pat Smear. Will the joke ever run as thin as a vintage punk’s hair? This shtick jumped a 540 over the shark more than a decade ago. Just love it or loathe it, because wasting time debating its merits means the joke’s on you.