Documentary, Music | 17 March 1988

Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy, Kirsty MacColl

'What we did, right, was we broke open the pop market, right? To trad music, right? Irish trad music, yeah? Now what happened after that I don't know...' So confesses toothy, hard-drinkin' Shane McGowan, lead man with punk-folk megastars the Pogues, the band that has taken traditional Irish folk and ramshackle rock to the bright pop lights of Wembley. In this rather haphazard but proud spirit, the documentary, like the Pogues' career itself, continues: the band and the various famous rockers they've jammed with offering opinions and anecdotes in a surprisingly entertaining and often revealing manner. Even if you have absolutely no interest in the music, the vast array of pasty-faced uglies is really quite stunning.