The Pogues (from my perspective)

I became aware of the Pogues probably in the 80s, almost positive of this. They were listed in the Columbia House Compact Disc Club and the albums available were I think Mahone and probably Should I Fall from the Grace of God. At this point they were mainstream light popular in Europe and especially in Britain. In the United States they may have had a video or two played on MTV. American punks may have liked them and they may have even toured the states, they probably did at least once. I know at some point I’ve read that they have in the nineties, whether in a zine or online blog posting.

They are known for vehemently opposing any bootleg recordings of their live performances, neither audio or video they permitted. However, if you look online you can find some good audio bootlegs. I recommend downloading these. Honestly who whom would not want to hear an audio bootleg with the drunk crowd singing along and bantering with each other between each track? Or the band drunk and fighting each other? Perhaps that is why they do not like these bootlegs, because of embarassing moments and that they are popular legends across Europe so bootleggers could make a living off the band.

Shane McGowan has some fucked up teeth, that needs to be brought forth. It is probably due to not brushing his teeth and genetics. I have not heard if he consumed lots of meth, but no I think if that were the case he would probably have also some really mangled gums, shape and bloody wise. Could you imagine running in to him in a dark alley outside of a gig? What if you went to see the Pogues at a night club, picture this. You went into the alley to either take a leak or drink some alcohol (some activity involving liquids) and Shane McGowan came outside the alleyway. It is like your first initial reaction would be to be like “what the fuck” but after a few seconds you would be like “holy shit it is Shane McGowan!”. I think running into any of the band members in an alley way would be scary but especially Shane McGowan as it would be an emotional roller coaster. At first you would be scared but then you would feel like holy shit is Shane McGowan. You would feel excitement and then would laugh at it. You probably would want to have a drink afterwards.

From the album If I Should Fall from the Grace of God there is this track called Fairytale of New York. I love this song and it is great that a group of people whom put on Christmas show/parties every year at a particular night club in my town always play this track. It has been a staple of my late night summer porch drinking sessions with Jimmy Jazz. I also get a kick out of the use of the word faggot because most normies would quiver at the hint of anything offensive. I sometimes wonder if my anarcho gay friends would not want to hear this. I should play it sometime for them and then determine once and for all if these people are nothing but stupid posers. Well just even talking about it would be enough to send anyones sensibilites like this into a tizzy. This all would prove again the running corealation between these people’s progressive politics and mental illness.

Their album; Rum, Sodomy and Lash I found in the skuf used section of Everyday Music, the Burnside Avenue location in Downtown Portland, Oregon. I remember listening to it a lot at this house I was living at with some crusty people. They all too loved Pogues already and so it made for a great soundtrack for our drinking large amounts of wine, beer and booze everyday.

Some other activities great for listening to the Pogues: fire juggling, psyching yourself up for petty shoplifting, sitting in a bar and having a sing along with your aging friends, etc. Well you can find other things like drinking on a porch or under a bridge and you have speakers for your mp3 player. Perhaps before you go on a bicycle ride, but make sure you have some really good people and/or a cute girl whom can at least tolerater your pathetic tastes in music/movies/visual art/etc.

Good fucking god I am so glad I did that all in my early twenties but the catch 22 is that your brain is not fully developed until 25 or so the pop psychologists tell you this. My point being is being a drunk punk that early in life can stunt your growth mentally but hey waiting until your later years could also attack you physically and lead to your death. Shane McGowan from the Pogues probably has been a drunk since he was 10 years old so he was fucked from the beginning.

What else can I say? I have yet to listen to anything by them and disliking it. Well when in the late 90s I found some used copies of various albums, including the above mentioned album Mahone. I did not like some of this stuff at first.! I also did not like some of the other stuff. Perhaps I held this standard that the music was going to sound irish folk fused with punk, but had a jazz/swing/big band feel to it. It all sounds good to me now, so what does that say about me? I discovered this stuff and then found Rum, Sodomy and Lash and that filled the void of what I thought this group sounded like. It fucked and warped me for life.

How about just going on Youtube and listening to everything and there should be some live video footage that has made it over the years. Most likely you will only find audio as I am sure McGowan or some other the other band members would have lashed out at someone with a video camera.