{"id":1870,"date":"2012-12-18T11:26:34","date_gmt":"2012-12-18T16:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/?p=1870"},"modified":"2012-12-18T11:26:34","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T16:26:34","slug":"strummer-week-the-pogues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.nowthissound.com\/ntsib\/2012\/12\/18\/strummer-week-the-pogues\/","title":{"rendered":"Strummer Week: The Pogues"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We continue our week-long Joe Strummer tribute, leading up to the 10-year anniversary of his death on December 22, with a bit about the Pogues. The lives of the Pogues weaved around Joe’s for a number of years, beginning before the Pogues even existed. In the late ’70s, young Shane MacGowan was a visible fixture on the London punk scene, but more as a fan than as a music maker. The first known intersection in the lives of Joe and Shane came on October 23, 1976, at the Clash’s first headlining gig in London at the ICA on the Mall. Part of the reason the date is so memorable involves Shane.<\/p>\n

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\"Cannibalism<\/a><\/p>\n

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Yes, you recognize him: that young man in the pinstriped jacket, with blood later streaming down the side of his head is the same person who would later go on to pen literary and poignant tunes like “Fairytale of New York” and “A Pair of Brown Eyes”.<\/p>\n

A true punk, Shane wouldn’t let a little bloody tussle keep him away from gigs, and he was captured again at a Clash show in 1977.<\/p>\n

\"Clash<\/a><\/p>\n

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In 1984, the Pogues toured in support of their first album Red Roses for Me<\/em>, and a few of those gigs found them opening for the Clash. (This was during the end times of the Clash, after Mick Jones had been kicked out, and the band was collapsing in on itself.)<\/p>\n

In 1986, a tour of Nicaragua was planned that would include Joe, the Pogues, and Elvis Costello. Alex Cox (Repo Man<\/em>, Sid & Nancy<\/em> – the soundtrack to which Joe composed much of, and the Pogues composed the rest) was set to film the tour for a documentary while also scouting for locations for an upcoming film (that film would be Walker<\/em>, to which Joe penned a beautiful, Latin-influenced score – Joe also had a bit part in the film). The tour never came together, but the musicians were recruited for a new idea: the sublimely ridiculous 1987 film Straight to Hell<\/em> (named after the Clash song).<\/p>\n

Straight to Hell<\/em> excerpt
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