10 Unheralded Covers That Deserve More Recognititon
9. End Of The Road - Me First & The Gimme Gimme's (Original: Boyz II Men)
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes were formed in San Francisco in 1995 and are a punk rock supergroup covers band made up of members of NOFX, Lagwagon, Swingin' Utters and Chris Shifllett of No Use For A Name and a little band you may have heard of called Foo Fighters. Over seven studio albums, they've reinvented songs by artists as diverse as Neil Diamond, Kermit the Frog, Tammy Wynette and R Kelly (amongst many others) in the punk genre.
With a back catalogue that probably merits a list of its own, it was hard to narrow down which song to suggest. I had to think about which one I would recommend to someone as a way to get into the band and even then I could only narrow it down to three. In the end, I decided to go with their cover of the Boyz II Men hit 'End of the Road' because it's probably the best example of everything this band does right.
Often the difference between a successful reinvention and a musical abomination is how you front it out. If you commit totally to the idea, no matter how ludicrous, it has a greater chance of succeeding. Me First are masters of commitment to their idea and, as a result, this cover manages to bring a vocal harmony-heavy R&B hit into the punk genre whilst keeping the harmonies and the feel of the original record.
It's a strong effort that oozes with fun and is the perfect gateway song to becoming a Me First... devotee.