Album · Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Have a Ball by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes
Have a Ball is an album by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, released in 1997. 4 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 23 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Uptown Girl”, on 7 lists with a best position of #1513.
Have a Ball, the 1997 debut album from Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, came out on Fat Wreck Chords, and the joke is right there in the tracklist: a San Francisco punk supergroup tearing through golden-oldie pop hits at double speed. Spike Slawson sings, and the lineup around him in those days read Fat Mike, Joey Cape, Chris Shiflett and Dave Raun.
"Sweet Caroline", "I Am a Rock" and "Me & Julio Down by the Schoolyard" all get the buzzsaw treatment, played fast, loud and with a grin, and Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl", first heard in 1983, is the youngest song in the bunch. It's rapid-fire, tongue-in-cheek and far more fun than it has any right to be. The band's name, for the curious, comes from a children's book by Gerald G. Jampolsky and Diane V. Cirincione.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Have a Ball on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Uptown Girl | 7 | #1513 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 2 | I Am A Rock | 7 | #1692 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 3 | Sweet Caroline | 8 | #593 | – | 1999–2024 | |
| 4 | Me & Julio Down By The Schoolyard | 1 | #1971 | – | 1999 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.