Despite their maintainance of Irish identity, The Pogues experienced very meager international success in comparison with U2, and one might explain at least part of this deficit as a result of The Pogues’ maintainance of Irish identity and political directness. For example, some refer to U2’s new identity as post-nationalist in that their music—specifically Bono’s lyrics—contains unviersal themes of spirituality, peace, and unity that appeal to appeal to consumers regardless of their religious affiliation or nationality. Moreover, U2 has mastered the ability to overtly commercialize themselves while incorporating contrived notions of sincerity and audience appreciation into their identity. In this way, the music of U2 represents the modern Irish culture in which the younger, capitalist generations seek peace and unity through secularlization and the common goals associated with democracy and free markets. On the other hand, The Pogues’ music is far more direct in its anti-British, pro-republican message. For example, the director of the Pogues’ music video for “A Pair of Brown Eyes” (1985) had to cut scenes where the lead singer McGowan “expectorates” on a poster of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Moran 2007, 22).
During one interview, McGowan did nothing to mask his political beliefs about the Irish nation when he stated, “(…) I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I don’t believe in a thirty-two county Irish Republic” (McIllhenny 1985). In addition, the The Pogues preserved a clear Irish identity by both performing traditional Irish songs and inventing their own style of Irish folk-punk fusion. As is turns out, however, The Pogues were too “Irish” to continue to appeal to changing international audiences like those of the diasporan countries because, as Moore describes, popular music artists must speak the truth about their own situation along with that of their culture and that of their audience (Moore 2002, 209). Simply put, international audiences could not understand or relate as well to The Pogues’ specifically Irish folk or folk-punk music as they could to U2’s pop/rock musical style and vague lyrics. Finally, because The Pogues support the pro-republican side of the Irish nation-state argument, they do not accurately represent the modern, post-nationalist ideals of globalized Irish culture, and thus their audience becomes even more limited.