Enda McEvoy: Like the granny rule, Pogues' 'Rum' redefined what it meant to be Irish

It's the 40th anniversary of the Pogues' album Rum Sodomy and the Lash. Almost despite themselves they precipitated a discussion about Irishness.

FIESTA: The Pogues in the mid 80s.

Memories of the summer of 40 years ago… 

The rain (ceaseless). Live Aid at Wembley (I wasn’t there). U2 at Croke Park (I was). Getting a loan of Pat Carroll’s copy of Murmur, REM’s debut album (they’d been on the bill at Croke Park), and finding it intriguing if utterly unintelligible lyrically. What in the name of God was the lead singer – Michael Somethingorother; Stripe? – muttering about?