The mumbling toothless wreck that is Shane Macgowan
Posted: Thu Aug 17, 2006 8:30 pmBefore I get into my pointless ranting I want to clear up that despite the title of this thread and the fact that I'm a wet behind the mouse n00b or whatever it is this thread isn't an attack on Shane. I've been a fan of Shane and of the pogues for as long as I can remember ( I can only remember up to about five minutes ago but I'm sure I've been a fan longer than that )
Aaaaaaaanyway...
I was bored so I thought I'd look up some of my favourite albums on Amazon and see what other people thought about them, two of my favourites being Hell's ditch and Shane's first solo album the snake. I found that most of the people who reviewed these albums ( and seemed to be big Pogues fans ) seemed to all say how the albums are ruined by Shane's bad voice, that Shane shouldn't have drank so much so he'd be able to give a clearer presentation of his lyrics. This kind of shocked me as I think very differntly about the progression/decay of Shane's voice. The I cam here and was surprised to find the same kind of views.
Understand I'm not attacking any of you here and I can definetly see how you'd miss the early lively yelping Shane but this sentiment of,
'Oh yes he's a great artist but he really should stop getting drunk before gigs and he really should sort his teeth out'
I can't see how people can think that way. To me personally I found that the more Shane showed the signs of his excesses the better he sounded. I mean he may just mumble drunkenly these days but there's so much life gone into that drunken mumble, it tells a story just by itself no matter what the words are. It may be less clear than his early days but to me it's damn more soulful and beautiful.
And now on to the TEETH ( or lack thereof ). Shane's physical condition is an important part of the artist he is. He knows he doesn't look like Johnny Depp, he knows he looks like he's just crawled out of the ground but he'd rather that than play the attractiveness game like so many other bonos and whoeverthefuckelses. He's like one of the true great artists , they were all fucking scruffy ugly bastards. It's a case of martyring yourself, your comfort, your looks, your voice, for the benefit of your audience. To have the strength of your convictions and to die by the bottle as you lived by it.
Any if any of you made it through that rant you're a better thing than I. I know you all respect shane and I wasn't having a go at anyone I just felt it needed to be said as I've been confused at the talk from everywhere I've read that seemed to suggest people think Shane would be better if you could change him just a little for your own comfort, the fact that nobody can change the man is what I respect most about him.
Aaaaaaaanyway...
I was bored so I thought I'd look up some of my favourite albums on Amazon and see what other people thought about them, two of my favourites being Hell's ditch and Shane's first solo album the snake. I found that most of the people who reviewed these albums ( and seemed to be big Pogues fans ) seemed to all say how the albums are ruined by Shane's bad voice, that Shane shouldn't have drank so much so he'd be able to give a clearer presentation of his lyrics. This kind of shocked me as I think very differntly about the progression/decay of Shane's voice. The I cam here and was surprised to find the same kind of views.
Understand I'm not attacking any of you here and I can definetly see how you'd miss the early lively yelping Shane but this sentiment of,
'Oh yes he's a great artist but he really should stop getting drunk before gigs and he really should sort his teeth out'
I can't see how people can think that way. To me personally I found that the more Shane showed the signs of his excesses the better he sounded. I mean he may just mumble drunkenly these days but there's so much life gone into that drunken mumble, it tells a story just by itself no matter what the words are. It may be less clear than his early days but to me it's damn more soulful and beautiful.
And now on to the TEETH ( or lack thereof ). Shane's physical condition is an important part of the artist he is. He knows he doesn't look like Johnny Depp, he knows he looks like he's just crawled out of the ground but he'd rather that than play the attractiveness game like so many other bonos and whoeverthefuckelses. He's like one of the true great artists , they were all fucking scruffy ugly bastards. It's a case of martyring yourself, your comfort, your looks, your voice, for the benefit of your audience. To have the strength of your convictions and to die by the bottle as you lived by it.
Any if any of you made it through that rant you're a better thing than I. I know you all respect shane and I wasn't having a go at anyone I just felt it needed to be said as I've been confused at the talk from everywhere I've read that seemed to suggest people think Shane would be better if you could change him just a little for your own comfort, the fact that nobody can change the man is what I respect most about him.
