The studio core comprises Spike Slawson on vocals, bassist Fat Mike, Joey Cape on guitar and backing vocals, Dave Raun on drums, and Chris Shiflett on guitar (his brother Scott of Face To Face/Viva Death fills in for Chris on tour). Touring members have included Brian Baker (Bad Religion/Minor Threat), Barry DaLive (Crosstops/RKL), Eric Melvin (NOFX), Matthew MacNasty (bagpipes player from the Real McKenzies), and Warren Fitzgerald (The Vandals).
Originally a themed 7" singles project, now each of their full length albums covers a different genre of music spanning the 50's to the 90's. Their first release in 1997 was entitled Have a Ball, followed by Are a Drag in 1999. In 2001 they released Blow in the Wind and two years later released Take a Break. Almost immediately after the release of Take a Break the released a live album Ruin Johnny's Bar Mitzvah The genres they've butchered now include country, on Love Their Country featuring covers of songs made popular by The Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash and others. Their most recent release is a collection of B-sides from their album Have a Ball, simply titled Have Another Ball.
The Gimme Gimmes perform to entertain themselves as much as for the entertainment of their fans. Their albums and concerts are some of the most lighthearted and off the wall musical experiences in the punk world. Concerts are often interrupted between songs to freshen cocktails at the on stage tiki bar. CD liner notes relate the hardships of recording such as Fat Mike getting so caught up in "Wild World" that he believed he was Fat Stevens, a guitar-toting Islamic Extremist, so that when Spike sang "All My Lovin" he mistook it for "Allah my Lovin" and condemned Spike to death for heresy.
The Gimmes are also known for their costumes. Each album has a 'theme' for which they all dress up for the cover art and live shows. Some themes include red suits, metallic suits with fezzes, cheerleader outfits, drag (each Gimme dressed as a character from a musical they took songs from on the cover of Are a Drag: Chris Shiflett was Columbia and Spike was Dr Frank N. Furter from Rocky Horror, Joey Cape was Annie, Fat Mike was Sandy from Grease and Dave Raun was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz). During a Warped Tour they dressed as AFI, to the confusion of many fans. Most recently they have been dressing as cowboys, but are possibly best known for their lurid Hawaiian shirts.
Or their live album, "Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah", the band performed for a crowd of 30 at a Bar Mitzvah. The CD contained video of the actual event and the liner notes were written by attendee Benjamin Rosenblatt who describes the events: "They made a lot of mistakes. They even started a song then stopped, then started again." -track 7 "Strawberry Fields Forever" on the CD.
Tainted Love
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sometimes I feel I've got to
Run away, I've got to
Get away
From the pain
You drive into the heart of me
The love we share
Seems to go nowhere
And I toss and turn
I can't sleep at night
Once I ran to you
Now I run from you
This tainted love you give me
I gave you all a boy could give you
Take my tears
And that's not nearly all
Tainted love
Tainted love
Now I know I've got to
Run away, I've got to
Get away
You don't really want
Anymore from me
To make things right
You need someone
To hold you tight
And you think love is a game
But I'm sorry I don't play that way
Once I ran to you
Now I run from you
This tainted love you give me
I gave you all a boy could give you
Take my tears
And that's not nearly all
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Don't touch me, please
I cannot stand the way you tease
I love you though you hurt me so
Now I've gotta pack my things and go
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
Tainted love
The lyrics of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes's song Tainted Love describe a toxic and unhealthy relationship that has become tainted by pain and hurt. The singer of the song is feeling trapped and unable to escape from the emotional turmoil caused by their partner's actions. They find themselves constantly running away from the pain and heartache, unable to find any solace or peace of mind.
The love shared between the two characters seems to have lost its way, with the relationship going nowhere fast. The singer feels as though they have lost their light and are unable to sleep at night due to the constant emotional turmoil. They are unable to give their partner what they need to make things right and feel as though the love that their partner sees as a game is too painful to play.
The chorus of the song serves as a declaration of the singer's decision to leave the relationship behind. They cannot continue to endure the tainted love that their partner is giving them and must escape in order to find some peace. The singer is not willing to tolerate the teasing and emotional manipulation that their partner is using to keep them in the relationship. The song is a poignant reminder of how toxic relationships can be and how important it is to prioritize one's own emotional health and well-being above anything else.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes I feel I've got to
There are moments where I feel a strong urge to
Run away, I've got to
Escape and leave everything behind
Get away
To find relief from the current situation
From the pain
This pain that fills me up and doesn't let me breathe
You drive into the heart of me
Your actions have pierced through my heart and made me vulnerable
The love we share
The affection we have for each other
Seems to go nowhere
Our relationship doesn't seem to be moving forward
And I've lost my light
I've lost my sense of direction in life since being with you
And I toss and turn
I'm unable to sleep peacefully
I can't sleep at night
Insomnia has become a part of my life
Once I ran to you
There was a time when I sought refuge in you
Now I run from you
Now, I'm running away from you
This tainted love you give me
The love you provide is flawed with unpleasantness
I gave you all a boy could give you
I gave you all my love, despite my shortcomings as a partner
Take my tears
Take my sadness and pain
And that's not nearly all
There's much more unhappiness that you've inflicted on me
You don't really want
You don't desire or yearn for me
Anymore from me
You don't expect anything more from me
To make things right
To fix what's been broken between us
You need someone
You require a person
To hold you tight
To embrace and comfort you
And you think love is a game
You view love as a trivial plaything
But I'm sorry I don't play that way
But I cannot reciprocate that sentiment
Don't touch me, please
I'd prefer if you didn't come close to me
I cannot stand the way you tease
Your teasing is unbearable for me
I love you though you hurt me so
Despite the pain you've caused, my love for you remains
Now I've gotta pack my things and go
I have no option but to leave you
Tainted love
The love we had is now polluted and impure
Tainted love
Our love is flawed and imperfect
Tainted love
Our love is now poisoned
Tainted love
Our love is impure and contaminated
Tainted love
Our love is compromised and tarnished
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@KvnLynch
To those that like this version...Thx. This is not Social Distortion, not Bad Religion, and not Pennywise...It is Shades Apart. Mark, Ed and myself created this cover version sometime around 1994. It was intended for a compilation record of 80's cover songs. The comp never happened so it ended up on our 1995 release called "Save It". If you want to check out our latest song "Thread", go to itunes.apple.com/us/album/thread/id505512997?i=505513072 for a preview. End of Story.
@buddyclem7328
Do you have a YouTube channel?
@pacoglzh
YEAH!!!!! Finally I can hear it on my spotify list. I had this mp3 that has me first and the gimme gimmes as the cover band, thank you for clarify this confusion after many many years. I never heard of your band, but now that I find it, i like a couple of songs.
@bigdrules
That is Shades Apart. This cover was featured on the ESPN X-Games soundtrack.
@CmsrL337
As previously stated many times, this is not Social Distortion, but Shades Apart. I just wanted to say, though, that I always thought that this guy sounds very similar to Greg Graffin from Bad Religion. Anyone else agree?
@janedoe7228
Yes yes yes
@CmsrL337
I love you Jane...
@cacorkins
CmsrL337 Mind=blown. Sounds so much like Mike Ness and even has that Social D feel.
@szalay83
totally thought this was Social Distortion. thanks for the education.
@samygallienne4620
I discovered this song, over a decade ago, because it was labelled as a Bad Religion song on Limewire.