Renowned bandleader MacGowan, who penned the beloved Christmas song Fairytale of New York, revitalized rock music by incorporating elements of Irish folk music.
One of the greatest bandleaders of all time, Shane MacGowan was the lead singer and songwriter of the Pogues, a groundbreaking Celtic punk band. He passed away at the age of 65 after a protracted illness. He passed away on November 30 at 3.30 am, according to a family statement. They called him “our most beautiful, darling and dearly beloved.”
Shane will always be the light in my life, the yardstick by which I measure my dreams, and the love of my marriage, according to a statement posted on social media by his wife Victoria Mary Clarke. I am incredibly fortunate to have met him, loved him, and experienced his unending, unconditional love.
Reason of Death (Shane MacGowan)
Shane MacGowan was admitted to the hospital in December 2022 due to viral encephalitis, which resulted in him spending several months in critical care during 2023.
MacGowan’s writing, which drew inspiration from literature, mythology, and the Bible, aimed to introduce the rock world to the power of Irish folk music. As the Pogues were just starting out, he told the NME in 1983 that “it became obvious that everything that could be done with a standard rock format had been done, usually quite badly.” “We just wanted to force music down the throats of a completely pap-oriented pop audience—music with roots, that is just generally stronger, and that has more real anger and emotion.”
The racist “Paddy” stereotype was either reclaimed or reinforced by him in his many writings about Irish culture, nationalism, and the experiences of the Irish diaspora, depending on who you asked. In the 2020 documentary A Few Rounds With Shane MacGowan, Julien Temple addressed his early habit of performing in union jack suits. He stated, “I was ashamed I didn’t have the guts to join the IRA – and the Pogues was my way of overcoming that.”
After five Pogues albums and numerous solo releases, he was recognized in 2018 with the Ivor Novello songwriting inspiration award for his dedication to his craft. Fairytale of New York, a duet by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl, peaked at No. 2 in 1987 and went on to become a Christmas classic. It was their highest charting single.
Among those paying tribute was Irish President Michael Higgins, who wrote: “His words have connected Irish people all over the globe to their culture and history… One of Shane’s greatest contributions is that his songs, in his words, “capture the measure of our dreams”—of so many worlds, especially romantic ones; of the emigrant experience and how to bravely and authentically face its challenges; and of living and witnessing the sides of life that so many choose to ignore.
Shane MacGowan was born on December 25, 1957, which is appropriately close to Tunbridge Wells. His parents were immigrants from Ireland who lived in Kent and traveled throughout the southeast of England. His mother’s side of the family taught him a song every day, and at the age of three, Shane MacGowan gave his first performance. His entire family was involved in music. He told to a newspaper, “They got me up on the kitchen table to sing, and the song went down very well.” “After that, I performed in public on a regular basis.”
The young Shane MacGowan was given a scholarship to Westminster School and was well-known for his literary abilities. However, in his second year, he was expelled for drug possession. He thought about becoming a priest when he was a teenager, but then he discovered punk. “I had fun during the punk era. Extremely joyful,” MacGowan said to Vox. “You refer to it as chaos. It’s not chaos in my opinion. That seems natural to me.
He suffered from the effects of drug and alcohol abuse and started drinking as a child after his family gave him Guinness to help him fall asleep. However, in 1990, he made the claim that “Self-abuse, or whatever you wanna call it, is also incredibly creative.”
He first became well-known in 1976 after an NME article titled “Cannibalism at Clash gig” featured a picture of him during a performance at the ICA in London, showing him with an injured ear. Afterwards going by Shane O’Hooligan, Shane MacGowan started his own punk band, the Nipple Erectors (later renamed the Nips), and recorded a demo for Paul Weller’s Polydor.
In the early 1980s, Shane MacGowan and John Hasler, a latecomer to Nips who had previously been with Madness, split off from the group to form Pogue Mahone, a corruption of the Gaelic phrase “kiss my arse,” along with members of the Millwall Chainsaws. They became known for their intense live performances and changed their name to the Pogues in part due to BBC censorship.
Shane MacGowan surmised that their appeal stemmed from the “timeless” nature of their music. In 1983, he told the NME, “You don’t have to be part of the youth subculture to relate to it – it doesn’t have teen angst or anything so fuckin’ stupid.” “It’s built around powerful melodies, which is what a song is, in my opinion.”
The band’s 1984 debut album, Red Roses for Me, received great reviews. However, the group’s highly volatile lineup—which occasionally included Joe Strummer of the Clash filling in for Shane MacGowan—made it difficult for the group to capitalize on its success. They put out two more timeless albums: If I Should Fall From Grace With God (1988) and Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985), both of which were produced by Elvis Costello.
The group’s fifth album, Hell’s Ditch, came out in 1990 and was the last to include Shane MacGowan. In 1988, after passing out while traveling to see Bob Dylan, he was told he had hepatitis and would die if he continued to drink alcohol. In 1991, MacGowan’s band was fired as a result of his nonattendance at live performances while on tour in Japan.
In 1997, he said to the Telegraph, “By the end of it, I hated every second of it.” They had strayed so far from our original course of action. What we were playing no longer appealed to me. I declined to give in and turn professional.
After relocating to Tipperary from Thailand, MacGowan founded Shane MacGowan and the Popes, a band that put out two studio albums. In 2001, he would return for a complete Pogues reunion that would last until 2014.
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In an attempt to stop MacGowan from using heroin, Sinéad O’Connor reported him to the police for heroin possession in 2000. Even though he was initially angry, MacGowan later thanked O’Connor for helping him stop using drugs. O’Connor lost her 17-year-old son Shane in January of 2022. MacGowan honored her memory by stating, “You have always tried to heal and help.” Clarke shared the couple’s gratitude for “your love and your friendship, your compassion, your humour, and your amazing music” following O’Connor’s July passing.
Thanks to the increase in downloads and later streaming, Fairytale of New York started staging a yearly comeback in the Christmas singles chart in the late 2000s. The song’s use of the word “faggot” sparked intense debate and increased BBC censorship along with its resurgence in popularity; depending on which of its radio stations you tuned in to, the word was occasionally muted from the song.
2018 saw MacGowan defend Fairytale, arguing that the term fit the protagonist. “She’s just meant to be a real character; not every character in songs and stories has to be an angel or even a good person.” Later in life, he dismissed the argument as “ridiculous.”
After suffering a pelvic fracture in 2015 and further falls that injured his knees, he had been reliant on a wheelchair.
Although MacGowan has been working on an unreleased album of original songs and covers with the Irish band Cronin since 2015, his most recent album was The Crock of Gold by the Popes, released in 1997. The Eternal Buzz and the Crock of Gold, an opulent art book that critic Waldemar Januszczak lauded for MacGowan’s “demented, wild, fascinating, scabrous kind of energy,” was among his last artistic creations. The book was sold for £1,000 a copy in order to fund MacGowan’s care.
Clarke, whom MacGowan married in 2018, is his surviving spouse. MacGowan was 24 when they first met, and she was 16. He also claimed to have fathered a son who was born in or around 1991. He told the Telegraph, “I wouldn’t wish myself on any kid as a father.” Father Maurice and sister Siobhan also survive him.
Folk-rock singer-songwriter Frank Turner referred to him as “one of the all-time greats,” while Irish folk group Lankum, nominated for the Mercury Prize, called him “a titan”. Tim Burgess of The Charlatans described him as a “lyrical genius” who was in charge of “some of the most thrilling shows I’ve ever witnessed.”
In one of his last interviews to a newspaper, MacGowan stated that he wanted to live even though he was known for having a death wish, he said “I like life, of course,” he declared.