Where do I even begin with Shane MacGowan? The former and eventually reinstated lead singer of the Pogues always seemed like a likely casualty of himself, burning out from hard living that was exacerbated by live performance venue green rooms well stocked with beer and liquor. Through the late nineteen-eighties and early nineties, whenever the band got a prime showcase to perform, say on Saturday Night Live, MacGowan wavered on stage like a slender bamboo pole in a brisk wind. By all indications he lived his life according to the credo suggested by the title of a 1942 Louis Jordan … Continue reading One for Friday: Shane MacGowan and the Popes, “That Woman’s Got Me Drinking”

It’s interesting the way that certain performers hold onto their fame forever, even after death, and how some completely fade away, even if their music survives. Dying young has made so many rock ‘n’ roll stars into permanent icons–Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain–and yet there are those who rarely get a mention, the untimely ends somehow escaping romanticized sadness. Michael Hutchence of INXS was only thirty-seven when he died, just a few years after becoming a full-fledged sex symbol when his band’s album Kick turned into a huge blockbuster. What’s more, his death was ruled a suicide, … Continue reading One for Friday: Max Q, “Way of the World”