Mr. Ranken was studying for a degree in media and sociology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London when he joined the Pogues in 1983, when they were still known as Pogue Mahone and just beginning their rise out of the rowdy, beer-soaked North London pub scene. Nicknamed “The Clobberer,” he played with the Pogues until they broke up in 1996 and then joined them again from 2001 to 2014, when the band dissolved again.