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The Pogues

A London band that played Irish traditional songs with punk energy, made Rum Sodomy & the Lash in 1985, and reached number two at Christmas 1987 with Fairytale of New York.

Origin
King's Cross, London, England
Years active
1982-1996, 2001-2014, 2024-present
Genres
Celtic punk, folk punk
Labels
Stiff, MCA, Pogue Mahone, Warner, Island
Also known as
Pogue Mahone

King's Cross

MacGowan, Stacy and Finer had first played together in the late 1970s in an occasional band called the Millwall Chainsaws. The Pogues formed in King's Cross, London, in 1982, and played their first gig at the Pindar of Wakefield on 4 October. They began as Pogue Mahone, an anglicisation of an Irish phrase meaning "kiss my arse". James Fearnley joined shortly afterward, and by the end of October 1982 Cait O'Riordan on bass and John Hasler on drums were in the band. Andrew Ranken replaced Hasler in March 1983.

They fused Irish traditional music with punk, played London pubs and clubs, and came to the attention of Stiff Records when they opened for the Clash on their 1984 tour. After a producer at BBC Radio Scotland complained about the name, the broadcaster David Jensen began calling them the Pogues on air, and the band kept it. Their debut, Red Roses for Me, came out on Stiff in October 1984. It mixed traditional songs with MacGowan originals and reached number 89 in the UK.

Rum Sodomy & the Lash

Elvis Costello was first hired to produce two songs, A Pair of Brown Eyes and Sally MacLennane, and after recording at Elephant Studios in Wapping he agreed to make the whole of Rum Sodomy & the Lash. It came out on 5 August 1985 and reached number 13 in the UK. Philip Chevron joined the band during its making. Costello said he saw his task as capturing the band in their dilapidated glory. The cover is an altered version of Gericault's The Raft of the Medusa, with the band's heads on the figures.

MacGowan's own songs sat beside Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town and Eric Bogle's And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda. NME's David Quantick wrote that it was probably the best LP of 1985. Pitchfork wrote in 2024 that MacGowan and the Pogues "made Irish roots music cool".

Fairytale and Grace

The EP Poguetry in Motion followed in February 1986 and reached number 29, their first UK top 40 hit. O'Riordan left in October 1986 and Darryl Hunt took over on bass, while Terry Woods joined. Stiff went into administration, and the band could not record until they were released from the contract.

They entered RAK Studios in 1987 with Steve Lillywhite producing, and If I Should Fall from Grace with God appeared on 18 January 1988. Chevron and Woods contributed the first original songs on a Pogues album not written by MacGowan or Finer, and the band took in styles from Turkey and Spain. Fairytale of New York, a duet with Kirsty MacColl, was released in November 1987 and went to number one in Ireland and number two in the UK, held off the Christmas top spot by the Pet Shop Boys' Always on My Mind. The album reached number three in the UK and was the band's best seller. Chevron's Thousands Are Sailing, about Irish emigration, has become one of the band's most popular songs.

Later years

Peace and Love followed in 1989, a jazzier record with songs by several band members, and reached number five in the UK. Hell's Ditch, produced by Joe Strummer, came in 1990 and was the last Pogues album to feature MacGowan as a member. The band continued with Joe Strummer and then Stacy as frontmen, and Waiting for Herb appeared in 1993, with Tuesday Morning, written and sung by Stacy, as the band's third and final top twenty single. Their seventh studio album, Pogue Mahone, came out in 1996, the year the band broke up.

They re-formed in late 2001 and toured until 2014, when their last show with MacGowan took place in Landerneau, France, on 9 August. In 2024 Finer, Fearnley and Stacy re-formed at the Hackney Empire in London with guest singers to mark forty years of Red Roses for Me, and in May 2025 they toured the UK playing Rum Sodomy & the Lash in full, their first UK headline tour in 13 years.

Members

Records

Songs

Elvis Costello, Kirsty MacColl, The Dubliners, The Clash

Where to go next

Reference

Writing and criticism

Interviews

Sources

  1. The Pogues, Wikipedia
  2. The Pogues: Rum Sodomy & the Lash, Pitchfork (2024-09-08)
  3. Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say...Poguemahone!!, Pitchfork (2008-07-15)
  4. Fairytale of New York: the story behind the Pogues' classic Christmas anthem, The Guardian (2012-12-06)
  5. Pogues Accordionist Squeezes Out Anarchic Band's Story, Houston Press (2014-06-17)
  6. The Pogues announce 2025 UK and Ireland tour celebrating 40 years of Rum Sodomy & The Lash, NME (2024-11-18)
  7. Poguetry in Motion, Wikipedia