What's your very first memory of hearing the Pogues

[Paul]

First song that I heard was Fairytale and then around 2000 I bought IISFFGWG, I liked it but didn't really listen to it a lot.

Fast forward to summer 2001, i'm sitting in a hostel in Byron Bay, Australia and I hear London Calling, but not sung by The Clash, its a different version. They play a load of other songs sung by the same band, I was blown away. Dirty Old Town is the only one I can remember. I ask someone who it is and they say The Pogues, when I get back to England the first thing I do is buy Rum, Sodomy and The Lash and Red Roses For Me. Never Looked back since, my favourite band of all time.

[Niall]

hearing my dad listening to if i should fall grace with god. Turkish song of the damned stood out for the style of the song, as did bottle of smoke for more obvious reasons.I was very young at the time, 10 i think, and liked the idea of swearing in songs Ive been hooked since

[N. Hunt]

I'm a more recent convert to the pogues. I heard some Flogging Molly and was looking at their cds on Amazon where they show other recommended bands, which is where I saw the pogues. I didn't listen to any of the clips though. I toyed with the idea of one of their albums for a while, but the price of those imports kinda turned me off (All my pogues albums were about $25 each). Eventually I bit the bullet and and bought If I Should Fall from Grace at Borders. At first Shanes vocals were too much for my tastes, but they eventually started to grow on me, and before I knew it I was, and still am, listening to the pogues for at least an hour or two each day.

[Heather]

Mine was 1984 listening to the radio. I was 14 and the UK Top 40 had just finished on Radio 1.

The next show was Janice Long I think and the first song she played was Dirty Old Town.

[just a wally]

One night my friend was listening to Metallica and I told him I didn't like Metallica much except for 'Whiskey in the Jar.' I was then told it wasn't even their song and that they covered it from an Irish band. So I typed it in on Kazaa and got the Pogues & Dubliner's version of it, which was credited only to the Pogues. I liked the song well enough as it was different to the music I was used to listening too but didn't think much of it.

Month's later I stumbled home from a bar and, for whatever reason, downloaded as many Pogues songs as I could. I was instantly hooked ('If I Should Fall From Grace...' and 'Thousands Are Sailing' being the two songs that really stood out at the time) and went and bought a couple CD's. Henceforth, my taste in music was completely changed forever ...

[mr.bod]

when i was 16 and heard them sing irish rover with the dubliners. i,m 34 now and have followed them with a passion since. first saw them in sheffield. 9thmay 1988. believe it or not-still got the t-shirt.sometimes gets an airing for work.holier than the pope,but cannot and will not get rid of it. sad i know,but a token of a spirit freeing night.
smoked shit loads of dope with the popes,minus shane, in the leopard car park in doncaster the other year too.had a good drink with them beforehand. top men the lot of em!
anything shane goes near musically is quality!!!

[Drunk N. Sober]

I used to go to this roleplay site, and I entered this pub, and suddenly "Sally MacLenane" started blaring in my headphones. I was taken by shock at first, but after a couple of hearings, I started liking it. Then, I used to talk to TheIrishRover, and eventually he got me convinced to buy a Pogues album. I got "The Best of The Pogues", and latter, their four first albums.

[Kilkenny Cat]

I was at college reading Zigzag maagazine in 1984 and there was review of Dark Streets of London that said this band sounded like a cross between Sex Pistols and The Dubliners or maybe the Chieftains (I must look it up as I used to keep every cutting about the Pogues in those days).

Anyway this sounded pretty interesting so I went to the local Our Price and bought it. Hooked from that moment on

[sevendaymile]

Are Bob Dylan fans all still stoned or what? The only "infamous" thing about our singer on that tour was his absence.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Sadly, I remember that tour well.

First time I heard the Pogues was in the spring of 1986, riding down a Detroit highway getting high with some friends when The Band Played Waltzing Matilda came on the radio. Yes, it actually got radio play outside the UK. I bought Poguetry in Motion and Rum, Sodomy and the Lash - on vinyl - the next day.

[Mr. Joyce]

I was 16 growing up in Texas, and on MTV, they used to have this show called "120 Minutes" that ran from 11 PM - 1 AM on Sunday nights, and all they played was "alternative music" - the Church, Killing Joke, the Mighty Lemon Drops, Lene Lovitch, the Smiths, etc. It was 1987-88 - and they played "Fairytale of NY" around Christmas time.

I went out and bought the album soon thereafter - my dad was a big bluegrass fan, and I liked it too, but hearing that album and those instruments used in that way just blew me away. I had no idea anything like that existed.

[RedRoses]

I remember reading gig reviews in the NME back in 1984/85. I must have heard them at house parties, but I don't remember.

I first heard them live !

I went to see them at Montreal's Club Soda (a small venue) July 4th 1986. A smashing gig, with Spider Stacy yelling "Vive Le Quebec Libre !" in any microphone left unattended (much to the delight of half the crowd and the displeasure of the other half) and Shane McGowan having a beer spraying match with the audience at the end. They started with Repealing of the Licencing Laws if memory serves me well.

Read the rest on the Who's seen the Pogues back in the Days thread.

[goodbar]

either me or my buddy downloaded a few songs on kaaza when i was in middle school. i didn't dig it much until i played it a year or so later. as i recall they were fairytale, matilda, and i think one more. i remember going over to his house and listening to matilda every day for a while until i got the CD.

[Welshie]

Heard London Girl on Radio One, couldnt stop humming it around school next day, one schoolfriend said "dont sing that song have you seen the state of the lead singer" no idea what the name of the band was at the time. Irish Rover hit the charts, then bought Rum Sodomy & The lash the rest as they say is history. Also discovered The Men they couldnt hang, Wolftones, the Dubliners, around the same time. The levellers Christy Moore and Shoglenifty arrived in the 90's.
Cheers
Aled

[Irish Rover]

In my uncle's car when I was four and my brother was two, we heard shane macgowan say shat on on old main drag we repated it all day to grandma, no one was very impressed but me and my brother found it hilarious.

haha

[trashcity]

I was about 14 i guess. it was 1985-86 time. The Clash had split, the 2-tone thing had finished, and other than a few good indie bands and the odd decent hip hop tune, mainstream music appeared to have been taken over by people who looked like hairdressers.
I was more interested in the old soul and reggae records my nans next door neighbour had than most of the contemporary stuff around at that point.

Round at a schoolmates house one night, i noticed a copy of Poguetry in Motion by the record player. I really liked the cover and asked him about it. He said it was some shite his gran had brought home. I played it, loved it, blew my
dinner money on a copy the next day, and here i am 20 years later!