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Poet. Entertainer. Pub philosopher. Drunk. These are all the full-time professions of the enigmatic Irish singer / songwriter Shane MacGowan. Although not necessarily in that order. While Shane spent most of his youth in England, he is admittedly Irish through and through, making no qualms about his ill-feelings of England. The young Shane grew up with a love of early American garage / punk bands such as The Stooges and The New York Dolls, but it wasn't until he first saw the Sex Pistols perform that he realized what he had to do. After forming his first punk band The Nipple Erectors, he went on to start the band Pogue Mahone (Gaelic for "kiss my ass"), which coupled Shane's snotty punk attitude with the more traditional sounds of Irish folk music. Later shortening their name to simply The Pogues, MacGowan and company built a fervent following of fans, which also included many stars such as U2, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Sinead O'Connor, Johhny Depp and Nick Cave, among others.

The band's decision to become more progressive in their later years didn't sit too well with MacGowan, who was also at the time becoming more and more unreliable - showing up to gigs drunk beyond repair or, worse yet, not showing up at all - which ultimately led to the band firing him.