''Are a Drag'' is the second album by

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (often shortened to MFGG or the Gimmes) are a punk rock supergroup and cover band that formed in San Francisco in 1995. The band's lineup consists of Spike Slawson, C. J. Ramone, Joey Cape, Pinch and John Reis. ...

, released in 1999 on the Fat Wreck Chords

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

. The album is made up mainly of

show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...

. The album's title alludes to the fact that most of the songs on the album feature vocalist

Spike Slawson Sean "Spike" Slawson (born April 9, 1970) is an American punk rock musician, a member of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Swingin' Utters, Filthy Thievin' Bastards, Re-Volts, Uke-Hunt, and Los Nuevos Bajos. Early life Having grown up in Pittsb ...

singing songs that were originally performed by female characters in their original stage shows/movies (with the exception of the Phantom's part in "Phantom of the Opera", "Science Fiction/Double Feature" which was sung by a female traditionally, but more popularly by Richard O'Brien in ''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...

'', and "Rainbow Connection"). The album's cover features the members of the band dressed up, in drag, as five characters from the musicals represented in song: a member of ''A Chorus Line'' ("What I Did For Love"), Annie Mudge from ''Annie'' ("Tomorrow"),

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most o ...

from ''The Wizard of Oz'' ("Over the Rainbow"), Sandy Dumbrowski from ''Grease'' ("It's Raining on Prom Night"), and Dr. Frank-N-Furter from ''The Rocky Horror Show'' ("Science Fiction/Double Feature"). Like many other Gimme Gimmes albums, ''Are a Drag'' contains many elements of mash-up - more specifically, musical allusions to punk or power-pop songs in their covers. The intro to the song "My Favorite Things" quotes "Generator", by

Bad Religion Bad Religion is an American punk rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1980. The band's lyrics cover topics related to religion, politics, society, the media and science. Musically, they are noted for their melodic sensibilities and ...

, and at the end of "Tomorrow", Fat Mike can be heard singing "Mommy's alright, daddy's alright, they just seem a little weird" - a lyric from " Surrender" by

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

. Geoff Carter, writing in the

Las Vegas Sun The ''Las Vegas Sun'' is one of the Las Vegas Valley's two daily subscription newspapers. It is owned by the Greenspun family and is affiliated with Greenspun Media Group. The paper published afternoons on weekdays from 1990 to 2005 and is now ...

, described the album as "infectious" and "oh-so-satisfying", though warned that it may become less enjoyable with repeat listening.

Track listing

Personnel

- vocals * Chris Shiflett (a.k.a. Jake Jackson) - lead guitar *

Joey Cape Randall Joseph Cape (born November 16, 1966) is an American singer and musician. Active since 1989, Cape is best known as the frontman of the Punk rock in California, California punk rock band Lagwagon. Cape released his first solo album, ''Br ...

- rhythm guitar *

Fat Mike Michael John Burkett (born January 16, 1967), known professionally as Fat Mike, is an American musician and producer. He was the bassist and lead vocalist for the punk rock band NOFX and the cofounder and bassist of the punk rock supergroup cov ...

- bass *

Dave Raun Dave Raun (born June 7, 1970) a resident of Fresno, California, is the drummer for the seminal California punk rock band Lagwagon. He also filled in on drums for a short period for Sean "SC" Sellers of Good Riddance. Additionally, Raun drums f ...

- drums

Additional musicians

* Karina Denike - backing vocals * Sara K. Fisher - backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 1999 albums Me First and the Gimme Gimmes albums Fat Wreck Chords albums Albums produced by Ryan Greene