HOT PRESS ISSUE 47-12: THE POGUES Shane MacGowan

When we were asked by EPIC, the Irish emigration museum, to get involved in curating a seasonal exhibition on the music of The Pogues and Shane MacGowan, with ‘Fairytale of New York’ as a celebratory mid-Winter fulcrum, it was an idea that appealed enormously. The Pogues are one of the greatest Irish bands of all time. But they are, of course, also more than just an Irish band. We spoke to key members of the Pogues camp and people were up for it. In addition to the exhibition – to which we gave the title They Gave The Walls A Talking – we decided that a kind of anti-seasonal seasonal cover story would make sense, with powerful contributions from Jem Finer, Siobhan MacGowan, Steve Lillywhite, Nick Cave, Damien Dempsey – and loads more. It is, we believe, a fitting tribute to a band that changed the way we look at Irish music – and to the songwriting genius who ensured that they delivered a heap of classics, the incomparable Shane MacGowan...