Ohio Players

Ralph Middlebrooks died in November 1997. In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". Clarence Satchell died in January 1996 after he had a brain aneurysm. The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed 9 shows in the UK in December 2004. [1] (http://snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm) The band did not discredit this rumor at the time, because, as one band member put it later, "that makes you sell more records.". His autobiography, A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend appeared in 2001. There is also an urban legend that has it that a scream on "Love Rollercoaster" that came before the second verse was the sound of someone being killed in the studio while the track was being recorded. Shane MacGowan remains the sole member of the band in the spotlight, having founded The Popes (AKA Shane MacGowan and The Popes) in 1994.

The band became widely known not only for their sound, which has been sampled and copied by countless R&B and hip-hop artists since, but for their sexually provocative album covers, including the cover of 1974's Ecstasy, which featured a man and a woman in a pose of arousal wearing chains and leather, and 1975's Honey, which featured a nude woman holding an overflowing jar of honey and dropping some into her mouth with a ladle. Though he came with strings attached, few would argue that without MacGowan, The Pogues were a band lacking a leader and in search of creative direction. The group's last big hit was "Who'd See Coo," a #1 R&B hit in August 1976. Two politely received but disappointing albums followed until 1996 when the Pogues disbanded. The band had seven more Top 40 hits between 1973 and 1976, including the smashes "Fire" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for two weeks and one week respectively in February 1975) and "Love Rollercoaster" (#1 on both the R&B and pop charts for 1 week in January 1976). Without their singer, vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. The band’s first big hit was “Funky Worm,” which hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and made the pop Top 15 in May 1973. With his departure, the band was thrown into a state of flux.

Bonner sang lead vocals on most of the band's hits. MacGowan and the band parted company in 1991. The band signed with Mercury Records in 1974; by this time their lineup had changed again, with keyboardist Billy Beck instead of Morrison and Jimmy "Diamond" Williams on drums instead of Webster. Their next album Hell's Ditch, produced by The Clash's Joe Strummer, featured Stacy and Finer handling many of the vocal duties. After again reforming with a line-up including Bonner, Satchell, Middlebrooks, Jones, Webster, trumpeter Bruce Napier, trombonist Marvin Pierce, and keyboardist Walter "Junie" Morrison, the Players had a minor hit on the Detroit-based Westbound label in 1971 with "Pain," which reached the Billboard R&B Top 40. The band was at the peak of its commercial success, but MacGowan was spiralling out of control (especially notable during an appearance on the US Saturday Night Live). The group disbanded again in 1970. They managed to get things together to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl "Fairytale of New York") and 1989's Peace and Love (featuring "White City" and "Down All The Days").

They then became famous and got better than any group alive. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist, principal songwriter and creative visionary, Shane MacGowan. The group added two more singers, Bobby Lee Fears and Dutch Robinson, and became the house band for New York City-based Compass Records in 1967. The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the 4 track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O'Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, fomerly of Steeleye Span. The Ohio Untouchables broke up in 1963, with Ward leaving for a solo career, but the core members of the group returned to Dayton and added Gary Webster (drums) and Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner (guitar) in 1964. Their version of Eric Bogle's "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" featured on the album and has become more popular than the original. They formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchables, and initially included members Robert Ward (vocals/guitar), Marshall "Rock" Jones (bass), Clarence "Satch" Satchell (saxophone/guitar), Cornelius Johnson (drums), and Ralph "Pee Wee" Middlebrooks (trumpet/trombone). While the first album had focused mostly on traditional songs, Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up some remarkable pieces of poetic story-telling.

The Ohio Players are a funk band whose heyday was in the mid- to late 1970s. The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa. Phil Chevron (guitar) joined the group soon after, then with the aid of punk and new wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985 (The album title is a reply attributed to Winston Churchill and others in describing the Royal Navy.). Shortening their name to "The Pogues" due to lack of radio play for the curse in their name, they released their first album Red Roses for Me in 1985. The band rapidly developed a reputation, started releasing some indie work, and ended up opening for The Clash on tour in 1984.

During this time they added Jeremy 'Jem' Finer (guitar, banjo), Cait O'Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). Shane MacGowan (vocals), Jim Fearnley (accordion) and Spider Stacy (tin whistle) were the original members of the Pogues, in the days when they busked on the streets of London. In the later incarnations of the band, after the departure of Shane MacGowan, electronic instruments such as the electric guitar would become more prevalent. Their politically-tinged music was reminiscent of The Clash, with whom they played (Joe Strummer produced one of their albums), and utilised traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle, banjo mandolin, accordion, and more.

The Pogues were founded in London in 1982 as Pogue Mahone — "pogue mahone" being the Anglicization of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse." The band specialised in Celtic folk with a side order of punk attitude and featured a largely Irish-born cast. They had a strong following, providing music which remains largely unique to this day. The Pogues were a popular Irish folk/punk band of the 1980s. The Rest Of The Best.

The Best of The Pogues. Pogue Mahone. Waiting For Herb. Hell's Ditch.

Peace and Love. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah. Poguetry in Motion. If I Should Fall From Grace with God.

Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. Red Roses For Me.