Shane MacGowan, singer and founder of the folk punk band The Pogues, died this Thursday (30/11) at the age of 65. The information was spread by the artist’s wife on social media.
He was hospitalized in December 2022 with viral encephalitis and had to spend months in intensive care this year. With chronic health problems, Shane was hospitalized again in July, but was released this month, perhaps to die at home alongside loved ones, which he eventually did.
original punk
The son of an Irishman who grew up in England, he was a true punk, to the point of biting off a piece of his ear during one of the Clash’s first concerts in 1976. The scene was photographed and published by NME magazine, giving fame to the young Shane MacGowan , who took advantage of the fame to form his first punk band, the Nipple Erectors (later Nips).
In parallel, he also founded an anarchist folk trio with Irishmen Peter “Spider” Stacy and Jem Finer called New Republicans. When the Nips disbanded in 1981, the singer turned his attention to the Irish group, gradually adding James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken and bassist and singer Cait O’Riordan. In 1982, the band took the name Pogue Mahone (Irish slang meaning “kiss my ass”). But after a threatened boycott, they changed it to The Pogues.
The golden phase
In 1984 they toured with the Clash and signed to the pioneering independent record label Stiff Records, where they released their debut LP “Red Roses for Me”.
Earning a reputation for playing hysterical shows, the group caught the attention of Elvis Costello, who produced their second album, “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash,” in 1985. Backed by a melancholic cover of Ewan’s “Dirty Old Town” MacColl, the group The album reached number 13 in the UK album charts. But it also represented the farewell of an original member.
O’Riordan married Costello and left the band in 1986, when the group released “Poguetry in Motion,” a four-song EP that included some of MacGowan’s best lyrics. The following year, they collaborated with Irish folk veterans the Dubliners, which earned them their first Top 10 hit in the UK charts: “The Irish Rover”.
Then came the group’s commercial peak, 1988’s “If I Should Fall From Grace With God.” Produced by Steve Lillywhite, producer of U2’s early albums, the album cleaned up the band’s sound and explored greater variety of styles, taking the Pogues. at number 3 in the best-selling albums chart in the UK. The holiday number “Fairytale of New York”, in which MacGowan duetted with Kristy MacColl, ended up becoming the group’s biggest hit.
Influence and decadence
With the exposure he gained while leading the Pogues, MacGowan was responsible for bringing Irish folk music closer to British punk rock. The anarchic posture and screaming voice with rotten teeth, contrasted with guitars, banjo, accordion and flute, combined with politicized lyrics and commitment against British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, influenced several artists who followed, inventing folk punk.
However, the singer’s drinking problem ended up proving bigger than his artistic abilities: he reportedly began drinking at the age of five. In 1991, MacGown was removed from the band he created, being replaced on the next album by his idol Joe Strummer, former leader of the Clash, and on the last album in 1994 by Spider Stacy.
Solo career
MacGowan pursued a solo career, performing with a Pogues-like band, the Popes. Among his most famous songs of the time are the duet with Sinead O’Connor “Haunted” (1995), as well as collaborations with Nick Cave and Jesus & Mary Chain, but the new works do not repeat the success of the 80s .
In the late 1990s he lost most of his teeth and began speaking in an almost incomprehensible growl. In 2001, Sinead O’Connor reported MacGowan to the police for drug possession in a last-ditch effort to save him from an overdose death.
After the scare, he got back on his feet and, during the second half of the 2000s, reformed the Pogues for a series of shows, often playing larger venues than the group performed in their heyday. The band, however, did not return to the studio.
Last year
MacGowan’s last recording was the love ballad “For the Dancing and Dreaming”, made for the soundtrack of the animation “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (2014). But before he died, he was working on new music with the indie band Cronin.
In his last shows he performed in a wheelchair. He sang this way at his 60th birthday celebration in 2018, accompanied by the Pogues and other rock legends such as Nick Cave, Sinead O’Connor, Bono (of U2), Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols), Clem Burke (Blondie), Carl Barat (The Libertines) and actor Johnny Depp.
MacGowan had a tumultuous, decades-long relationship with Dublin journalist Victoria Clarke, starting in the late 1980s. The two collaborated on MacGowan’s quasi-autobiography, “A Drink with Shane MacGowan,” in 2001. Eight years later, they starred in their reality show, “Victoria and Shane Grow Their Own,” which chronicled the couple’s attempts to maintain a vegetable garden. They finally got married in 2018.
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
