The Pogues: Difference between revisions
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The Pogues were founded in [[King's Cross, London|King's Cross]], a district in north [[London]], in 1982 as ''Pogue Mahone'' — "pogue mahone" being the [[Anglicisation]] of the [[Irish language|Irish]] ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my [[arse]]." The band specialised in [[Irish folk music]], often playing with the energy of the [[punk rock]] scene from which several of the members had their roots. |
The Pogues were founded in [[King's Cross, London|King's Cross]], a district in north [[London]], in 1982 as ''Pogue Mahone'' — "pogue mahone" being the [[Anglicisation]] of the [[Irish language|Irish]] ''póg mo thóin'', meaning "kiss my [[arse]]." The band specialised in [[Irish folk music]], often playing with the energy of the [[punk rock]] scene from which several of the members had their roots. |
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Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of [[The Clash]], with whom they played ([[Joe Strummer]] produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional |
Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of [[The Clash]], with whom they played ([[Joe Strummer]] produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional sex instruments such as the [[cock]], [[dildo]], [[vagina]], [[pussy]], [[arsehole]], and more. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of [[Shane MacGowan]],anal sex would become more prominent. The first of The Pogues' albums, [[Red Cocks for Me]] borrows much from the punk tradition of MacGowan's previous band [[The Nipple Erectors]] (later dubbed ''The Nips''). |
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== Band history == |
== Band history == |
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Revision as of 00:20, 28 August 2006
The Pogues | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | King's Cross, London |
| Years active | 1982-1994, 2001 - present. |
The Pogues are a very popular Anglo Irish band of the 1980s and 1990s, whose style was described by Shane MacGowan himself in a TG4 interview as "playing Irish music to a young rock audience". They have a strong following, essentially inventing Celtic Punk and having a large influence on the larger Celtic Fusion scene as well.
The Pogues were founded in King's Cross, a district in north London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone — "pogue mahone" being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse." The band specialised in Irish folk music, often playing with the energy of the punk rock scene from which several of the members had their roots.
Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of The Clash, with whom they played (Joe Strummer produced one of their albums and even joined the group briefly), and used traditional sex instruments such as the cock, dildo, vagina, pussy, arsehole, and more. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of Shane MacGowan,anal sex would become more prominent. The first of The Pogues' albums, Red Cocks for Me borrows much from the punk tradition of MacGowan's previous band The Nipple Erectors (later dubbed The Nips).
Band history
Shane MacGowan (vocals), James Fearnley (accordion) and Spider Stacy (tin whistle) were the original members of the Pogues, in the days when they busked on the streets of London. They were originally formed when Shane MacGowan, in the presence of Spider Stacy, began to play a breakneck version of an Irish Ballad, at around twice the speed of the original. Stacy believed this to be a wonderful idea - although he has since admitted that he suspects MacGowan came up with it on the spot - and the band began.
Before the rest of the group formed, MacGowan and Stacy were rumored to have played impromptu performances on street corners and city buses which attracted local interest to their talent. They later added Jeremy 'Jem' Finer (guitar, banjo), Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band rapidly developed a reputation, started releasing independent work, and ended up opening for The Clash on tour in 1984. Shortening their name to "The Pogues" due to lack of radio play for the curse in their name, they released their first album Red Roses for Me that October.
Phil Chevron (guitar) joined the group soon after, then with the aid of punk and new wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 (The album title is a famous comment attributed, probably falsely [1], to Winston Churchill and others in describing the traditions of the British Royal Navy). The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, though the faces on the characters in Géricault's painting have been replaced with those of the band members. While the first album had featured a higher percentage of traditional songs, Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as "The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn" and "The Old Main Drag," as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl's "Dirty Old Town" and Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda," the latter of which has become more popular than the original recording.
The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the 4 track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist, principal songwriter and creative visionary, Shane MacGowan. Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon after the 1987 release of the single "The Irish Rover" (with the Dubliners).
Success and breakup
The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York") and 1989's Peace and Love. The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (nos. 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was spiralling out of control. Following their next album, Hell's Ditch, MacGowan and the band parted company in 1991.
With his departure, the band was thrown into a state of flux. Without their singer, vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. Two politely received albums followed, the first of which, "Waiting For Herb", contained the band's third and final top twenty single, "Tuesday Morning" which became their best selling single internationally. In 1996, the Pogues disbanded with just three original members remaining.
Post breakup
Shane MacGowan remains the sole member of the band in the spotlight, having founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1994. His autobiography, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, appeared in 2001.
The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed 9 shows in the UK in December 2004. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". Also in December 2004, VH1 Conducted a poll to find the best Christmas song ever, with "Fairytale of New York" coming number one with 2,650 of the 10,000 votes cast - over 25%. Also That December, Channel 4 conducted a poll for the 100 Greatest Christmas Moments - featuring Television Specials, Movies, songs Etc. - "Fairytale of New York" Made number 11 in the list, Beating Christmas Standards such as The Simpsons and Alan Partridge Xmas Specials, John Lennon's "Happy Christmas" and "Home Alone".
In early 2005, VH1 conducted another poll to find the 100 greatest number ones that never were, with The Pogues coming in at number 27.
In July 2005, the band - again including MacGowan - played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic "Fairytale Of New York" on 19th December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity. On December 22nd 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Macoll. Indeed this was the first time the band had played the song live on television. The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD:UK . "Fairytale of New York" was voted the greatest Christmas Record of all time for the second year running in a poll by UK Music Channel VH1, with "Fairytale of New York" taking in a whopping 39% of the overall vote. also, on his Christmas eve BBC Radio 2 show, UK Comedian Ricky Gervais Said of "Fairytale of New York"; "The best Christmas song ever, and one of the best songs ever - it's brilliant." which helped towards a late surge in sales of the single in the Christmas number one race.
In March 2006, the band played their first U.S. dates with Shane in over 15 years. The band played a series of sold-out concerts in Washington D.C., Atlantic City, Boston, and New York. West Coast dates have been added for mid-October 2006 in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and the band plans to tour Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, London, Dublin, and Nottingham in mid-December 2006. Rumors have been going around that the band has been writing new music together though guitarist Phil Chevron admitted that those rumors are false; at that time there were no plans to record new music or an album, with Chevron saying that one way to keep enjoying what they were doing was to avoid making a new album, although he did say that there still is a possibility in the future for new music, but certainly not in the near future.
The band were awarded the life time achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006.
On Easter Sunday 2006, "Fairytale of New York" was Voted the 24th Greatest Lyric of all time by VH1.
Current members
Shane MacGowan – 1982-1991, 2001-
Spider Stacy – 1982-1996, 2001-)
Philip Chevron – 1985-1994, 2001-
James Fearnley – 1982-1993, 2001-
Terry Woods – 1986-1994, 2001-
Jem Finer – 1982 - 1996, 2001-
Andrew Ranken – 1982-1996, 2001-
Daryl Hunt – 1986-1996, 2001-
Former members
Cait O'Riordan – 1982-1986, 2004
Joe Strummer – 1991
Jamie Clarke – 1993-1996
James McNally – 1993-1996
Caroline Lavelle – 1996
Discography
Albums
- Red Roses For Me 1984 - #89 UK
- Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash 1985 - #13 UK
- Poguetry in Motion (EP) 1986 - #29
- If I Should Fall From Grace with God 1988 - #3 UK, #88 US
- Peace and Love 1989 - #5 UK
- Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah (EP) 1990 - #43
- Hell's Ditch 1990 #12 UK
- Waiting For Herb 1993 - #20 UK
- Pogue Mahone 1996
- The Best of The Pogues 1991 -#11 UK
- The Rest Of The Best 1992
- The Very Best Of The Pogues 2001 - #18
- The Ultimate Collection including Live at the Brixton Academy 2001 - #15 UK
- Dirty Old Town: The Platinum Collection 2005
DVD
- The Pogues: Live at The Town & Counrty Club St Patricks Day 1988 2004
- Untitled Pogues Live Reunion Concert 2006-2007
- Untitled Pogues Film/Documentary" 2006-2007
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | UK | |||
| 1985 | "A Pair Of Brown Eyes" | - | - | - | #71 | Rum, Sodomy And The Lash |
| 1985 | "Sally MacLennane" | - | - | - | #51 | Rum, Sodomy And The Lash |
| 1985 | "Dirty Old Town" | - | - | - | #62 | Rum, Sodomy And The Lash |
| 1986 | "Haunted" | - | - | - | #42 | Sid And Nancy Soundtrack |
| 1987 | "Irish Rover" (Featuring The Dubliners) | - | - | - | #8 | Irish Rover Single |
| 1987 | "Fairytale of New York" (Featuring Kirsty MacColl) | - | - | - | #2 | If I Should Fall From Grace With God |
| 1988 | "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" | - | - | - | #58 | If I Should Fall From Grace With God |
| 1988 | "Fiesta" | - | - | - | #24 | If I Should Fall From Grace With God |
| 1989 | "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" | - | #17 | - | #43 | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah |
| 1989 | "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" | - | - | - | #41 | Peace and Love |
| 1990 | "Summer In Siam" | - | - | - | #64 | Hell's Ditch |
| 1990 | "Jack's Heroes" (Featuring The Dubliners) | - | - | - | #63 | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah |
| 1991 | "Sunny Side of the Street" | - | #23 | - | - | Hell's Ditch |
| 1991 | "Rainy Night In Soho (Remix) | - | - | - | #67 | Poguetry in Motion |
| 1991 | "Fairytale of New York" (Re-Issue) | - | - | - | #36 | If I Should Fall From Grace With God |
| 1992 | "Honky Tonk Woman" | - | - | - | #56 | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah |
| 1993 | "Tuesday Morning" | - | - | - | #18 | Waiting For Herb |
| 1993 | "Once Upon a Time" | - | - | - | #66 | Waiting For Herb |
| 2005 | "Fairytale of New York" (Re-Release) | - | - | - | #3 | If I Should Fall From Grace With God |
See also
External links
