Overpop – The '80s: Before Shane MacGowan was a Pogue and disheartened the optimism of British dentists, he was in the Nips, who were originally the Nipple Erectors, but modified their name due to people being offended by erectors. Shane alternately went by the name “Shane O’Hooligan” in the Nips, a somewhat perspicuous choice of pseudonyms, but nobody filed any objections to that, at least. The Nips were a co-production between Shane and bassist Shanne Bradley, who remained the only constants in the band between 1977 and 1980. Shanne came up with the name, and she vehemently opposed abbreviating it for marketability reasons, but ultimately gave in just to keep the flared trousers quiet.
The Nips were labeled punk, and toured with a lot of the big punk acts of the time, but really resembled more primitive rock and roll and garage music. They came up with “Gabrielle,” which in my sorghum view is a masterpiece, in the declining moments of 1979. It was released as a single in 1980. You can hear the preliminary echoes of the Pogues’ “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah” in the song, which now that I’ve just reheard contains a very sly quote from Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks.” I won’t ruin it for you, just get out your aunt’s ear trumpet and seek it out.
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