Last week it was the first PTI Geography Symposium down at the RGS.
The event organiser John Wilkinson had selected a diverse range of speakers.
One of them was a musician he loved, and coincidentally so do I. I've blogged quite a few times about Public Service Broadcasting here on the blog.
Image Toby Smith - I'm in the blue shirt between them....
Here's an early promotional film, just ahead of the single release of 'Everest' - from 2012.
It was about this time that I first started listening to them and saw them live for the first time shortly after.
John had persuaded J Willgoose Esq from the band to talk about the influence of people and place on the music that he had produced.
It was great to meet him in person and sit next to him at the evening meal.
We heard about:
the support that he had from the BFI to use their footage
the process of turning footage from the 1953 Everest expedition into a song called 'Everest'
the changing nature of the band's work over the years - although they
the focus on the local and the 'human' and dare I say it the everyday in their work - for example on the 'Every Valley' album they didn't mention Margaret Thatcher and Arthur Scargill, but told stories of families, women and others...
the joy of working with James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers
the importance of connecting with place and people
the fact that he got some of his guitars from Ely
that he studied 'A' level Geography
He didn't mention two EPs that I really like on contrasting themes: the building and launch of the Titanic, and a Dutch ice-skating race...
PS: Since then, J Willgoose Esqhas posted this interesting piece on Patreon describing the creative process with respect to the use of SUNO... an AI tool I have mentioned before... He also describes the creation of 'Spitfire'.
“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid”.
It was the 13th of July, 1985 and the world waited with anticipation as the stage at Wembley Stadium was poised to launch Live Aid. BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner famously declared,
“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid”.
The ground-breaking concert was planned as a “global jukebox” and a continued response from the music industry and fans to the famine in Ethiopia. The concert was truly global, advances in technology allowed for its broadcast to over 150 countries. 72,000 people attended Wembley Stadium and 90,000 packed into the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Estimates of the global TV audience vary, the highest of which (1.9billion) would have equated to around 40% of the world’s population at the time.
Band Aid and Live Aid were conceived to help meet an immediate and pressing humanitarian need. For many, they will always be era-defining moments when music was used as the most powerful unifying tool. The story continued – Visual Aid for Band Aid, Fashion Aid, Sport Aid and then Live 8 – the global series of benefit concerts timed to precede the G8 conference in 2005 featuring more than 1,000 musicians and with an estimated 30 million viewers worldwide. Importantly, government policy change was sparked as the enormous power of unity shown by record-breaking audiences and viewers was harnessed into action. No longer was it possible to turn a blind eye.
Over the past 40 years, the Band Aid Charitable Trust has raised an estimated £480 million. The Trust has utilised these funds to provide emergency aid and support long-term development initiatives, aiming to make a lasting impact on communities in need. The Trust continues to play a significant role in humanitarian efforts, with its fundraising activities and charitable work remaining active.
What are your memories of that day?
I asked that question a month ago, and some of you responded. Thanks!
My wife remembers watching it all day and then her dad forcing them to turn the telly off because it was getting too hot and they had to go outside in the sunshine because it was a lovely sunny day in Leicestershire where they were living at the time.
Her brother was (and still is) a huge Queen fan and was devastated.
Matt's favourite magazine 'Record Collector' jumped on the photos too, and included them in their March 1996 edition! Good to see Ian Anderson in standard pose on the front cover as well.
Matt takes up the story:
All went quiet for a few months and then one evening I received an excited phone call from Dave. “Matthew” he said, “how would you like to go down to London with Paul and Chris for the opening night of the Freddie Mercury Photographic Exhibition at the Albert Hall?"
"Paul’s photos have been chosen to be displayed, and he has a spare ticket and thinks you should go, given that you started all this off”.
I didn’t take any convincing at all, although it was on a Friday night, and I had to be back by the next morning for my 8am shift at the butchers in Conwy!
I left Aberconwy School early on 22 November 1996 and took the train down to London's Euston station, then made my way close to the Royal Albert Hall where Paul and Chris had said they would meet me.
Ten minutes went by and they hadn’t arrived. I could see a queue of fans outside the Hall waiting for the rest of the band and other dignitaries to arrive. I found a payphone and phoned Dave – he didn’t know where they were and just as I was giving up any hope of getting in, they both appeared after an obvious extended session down the pub and were well ‘oiled up’ in true rock ‘n roll fashion!
I remember walking down a red carpet and flashing the visitor passes to the security guards.
This was all too weird for a normal lad from Conwy who six hours earlier had been sat in his A-level geography class!
When we got into the venue, the first person I spotted was Brian May – he is huge and obviously stands out. I couldn’t believe it!
A bit further on was Freddie’s good friend Dave Clark (from the Dave Clark 5), and his onetime girlfriend, Mary Austin!
Paul & Chris headed off to the free bar and so I went off for a wander to have a look at the photos. I had brought a Queen record with me and had purchased a silver marker pen just in case I summoned up the courage to ask anyone for their autograph.
As I was walking up the stairs admiring the photos, Roger Taylor was coming down with his wife. Without thinking, I reached out my hand to shake his hand and said how much I had loved his recent solo album. He grinned, said thanks and then signed my record. His hands were massive – that’s all I remember.
A few moments later, a girl about the same age as me came up and asked which school I went to in London. I was still wearing my Aberconwy uniform and told her that I had come down from Wales because I was with Paul Humberstone who had taken some old photos displayed. She followed me round for a while and was talking about some of the photos and how much she liked them. I told her that I had just met Roger and showed her my signed record. She didn’t seem too impressed and said that we should go and meet her dad as he would be wondering where she was. We walked into the main reception area and she walked me straight up to her dad - Brian May - and introduced me as the kid who had come all the way from Wales.
He said something nice to me; I can’t remember what as I was far too star-struck (and he’s massive) and then he duly signed my record. Two down. Before we interrupted him, he had been speaking to Chris and had apparently remembered him straight away from their Smile days.
At that point, I thought my life was pretty much complete.
I had to keep an eye on the time as I had to get the last train back to Holyhead and that meant that I only had another 30 minutes or so before I had to leave. There were some free food and drinks on offer and so I wandered over to the table to fill up before the journey back.
As I stood there on my own with my plate, a lovely elderly lady beckoned me over and asked if I wanted to sit down with them. She was a bit worried that I was on my own and had spotted the school uniform.
“Come and have a cup of tea with us” she said kindly and took me over to her husband and daughter. “I’m Jer and this is my husband Bomi” she said. And this is our daughter Kash”. I looked at Kash and pretty much realised who she was before being told “We’re Freddie’s mum and dad, and Kash is his sister”.
You can see them in the video at the top of the post, with one of Paul's photos on the wall.
I hope I said something suitable – but I can’t really recall. I remember shaking their hands and talking about Conwy as they had been there on holiday, as well as how much I loved their son’s music (how strange to be saying that). The moment was almost too weird to contemplate: here I was at the Albert Hall in London having tea and sandwiches with Freddie Mercury’s mum, dad and sister. I remember that his dad had very soft hands, and his mum reminded me of my grandma. His sister was the spitting image of her brother.
Soon, the party was over and I was heading back on the train ready for my morning shift at Edwards of Conwy, probably making burgers or washing dishes.
I didn’t talk much to the lads in the butchers the next day about it as they weren’t really Queen fans but I remember being on cloud nine for many days after.
My signed record stayed with me for a few years until I sold it to Piccadilly Records in Manchester in 2002 when I had no money after finishing my degree. I sold it for about £100. I should have sold a kidney instead!
So, the best day of my music life came about because of my Uncle Dave, a shared love of collecting, days spent in a rubbish dump, and his London connections.
“Is this the real life, or is this just fantasy” – that pretty much sums up the 22nd of November 1996 for me!
In the final post in this series, Matt shares his continuing love of Queen.
Matt Podbury is a Geography teacher with nearly a quarter of a century of classroom experience, and he has been teaching at the International School of Toulouse for the last 17 years. Matt authors www.geographypods.com and www.ibgeographypods.org and also works for the IBO. He can be found on Discogs with the user name podders79 and adds a few extra vinyl records to his collection every month.
“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid”.
It was the 13th of July, 1985 and the world waited with anticipation as the stage at Wembley Stadium was poised to launch Live Aid. BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner famously declared,
Everyone remembers this particular set, which was also recreated for the film 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.
More than 150 objects are showcased in the display, with a large proportion being obtained after the V&A put out a public call for items last year.
As per NME, the exhibition is split into four different sections.
The first explores how dance halls and cinemas became purpose-built music venues in the 1980s. Featured items in this section include artefacts linked to the iconic Manchester club The Haçienda, fashions from brands like Dr. Martens and Converse, and even the original 1985 sign for the Astoria, which has been loaned by Damon Albarn.
I plan to visit next Monday as I'm in the V&A anyway for a meeting ahead of the RGS AGM and Awards and summer reception.
From the exhibition guide.Music reflects and feeds emotions. It inspires, comforts, offends and entertains. Music awakens memory and punctuates our present. The Music is Black: A British Story traces the roots and routes of music that has descended from African musical practices and gone on to influence and transform British identity over the past 125 years. It explores where Black music in Britain since 1900 has come from - tracking an ever-evolving sound shaped by British colonialism, transatlantic enslavement and voluntary migration. From lovers rock and Brit funk, to 2 Tone, jungle and grime, this exhibition reveals the creation of Britishborn Black music genres and how they have impacted lives across the country and beyond - how we speak, dress and view the world. The Music is Black is a story of Black struggle, resilience, creativity and joy. It is a story of us all.
Last night. I went to see them play live for the first time as a three-piece. I've seen Bob Mould perform several times: solo and in a trio, but Sugar didn't play very often in the UK. This was the first time they'd played in the UK for over 30 years and they got a great reception from a packed crowd - many of them a similar age to me. This was my first time at the O2 Forum, a converted cinema, and it was flipping hot! I had a seat upstairs which was preferable to standing up for four hours.
I first heard these songs when I was in my 20s and now I'm in my 60s....
Here's a few shots from a very hot and sweaty gig at the O2 Forum, Kentish Town last night. 24 songs in 90 minutes... and lots of distortion.
Images: Alan Parkinson
I had all their albums - there weren't many - and many CD singles too with extra tracks.
Copper Blue is the classic.
Released in 1992, and featuring songs such as 'Hoover Dam'.
They released 'FUEL', and 'B-Sides' and then a short EP album called 'Beaster', which was particularly ferocious.
I loved the fact they played 'Gee Angel' last night too, from FUEL.
And from Beaster they played 'J C Auto'.
I'd actually bought some ear protection for this gig - the first time I've ever worn any, but I already have a bit of tinnitus and could do without it getting a lot worse.
I bought some Loop hearing protection, and after the first three songs (from Copper Blue) I needed to put them in and I have to say that they made a real difference. The sound was sharpened (and the volume reduced 10-15 dB) and they certainly improved the experience. They are recommended.
There were some excellent limited edition posters for sale as well.
Mould, arguably, is the man who brought melody to American hardcore punk, and Sugar continued his desire for big tunes and searing guitars. When he plays alone, it can be hard sometimes to pick out the melodies behind the trebly sheets of guitar, but the ballast of the rhythm section holds the tunes in place, and the pop smarts of If I Can’t Change Your Mind and Gee Angel burst out of the PA.
Perhaps the biggest 'gig' of all is the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Isle of Wonder was the name of the ceremony that was developed by film-director Danny Boyle along with author Frank Cottrell Boyce for the 2012 Olympics in London.
The Wikipedia entry describes the music that was chosen to represent Great Britain.
As has already been blogged, the big moment for me was the appearance of Mike Oldfield.
A sequence from the film Four Weddings and a Funeral was projected behind them; when they kissed, a montage of memorable kisses from film, TV and real life was shown (including one of the first interracial kisses on British television in Emergency Ward 10 and the first lesbian kiss from Brookside, which in some countries, including Saudi Arabia, then became the first lesbian kiss ever shown on pre-watershed television),while "Song 2" by Blur was played.
At the close, while "Heaven" by Emeli Sandé was played, the larger house was raised to reveal Tim Berners-Lee working at a NeXT Computer, like the one on which he invented the World Wide Web. He tweeted "This is for everyone", instantly spelt out in LED lights around the stadium.
The programme explained
"Music connects us with each other and with the most important moments in our lives. One of the things that makes those connections possible is the World Wide Web".
Boyle wanted to honour Berners-Lee for having made the World Wide Web free and available to everyone (hence the tweet), rather than seeking a commercial profit from it.
The fourth guest post from Brendan Conway - scheduled to post during the GA Conference.
Brendan Conway will be at the GA Conference sharing something he's been working on for some time. He is co-presenting with Alistair Hamill.
The indie dance band St Etienne, formed in 1990, have regularly signalled a strong geographical affinity with albums steeped in sense of place such as ‘Finisterre’ (2002) and ‘Home Counties’ (2017) which included tracks inspired by local knowledge of places in the rural-urban fringe of London such as ‘Whyteleafe’, ‘Breakneck Hill’ and ‘Angel of Woodhatch’.
Their album cover for ‘Words and Music’ (2012) is an incredible piece of map art based on Croydon town centre, redesigned by Manchester art collective Dorothy to change all of the road names to songs. Bob Stanley of the band explained the psychogeographical concept.
‘The general theme of the album is marking a route in your life through music—the idea is that you can follow roads on the map and end up with a playlist of different journeys. There are 312 song titles on the map—it's our hometown.’
Can you spot all 312?!
In a similar cartographic vein, in 2023 Bob Stanley, created a compilation album called ‘London A to Z’ for Ace Records.
The selection features places in London, recorded in the 1960s and 1970s. Such compilations can sometimes be disappointing, but not this one. Many of the artists are very well-known although their tracks are usually more obscure. There are many forgotten gems, providing interesting windows back in time. Nick Drake departs from his typical melancholy to deliver the upbeat ‘Mayfair’ (1968) and Norma Tanega celebrates ‘Clapham Junction’(1971) with her characteristic guitar licks. The prolific 1960s hit maker Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) sings about ‘Portobello Road’ which is close to where he grew up in London’s West End.
‘Hampstead Way’ sung by Linda Lewis sounds well ahead of its time. She famously had a five-octave vocal range and had cameo roles in 1960s classic movies ‘A Taste Of Honey’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’.
Several songs have intriguing back stories to explore. For example, ‘London Social Degree’ (1968), covered here by long-time associate of David Bowie, Dana Gillespie. It was written by British singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and musical director Billy Nicholls. Its naive inverted snobbery vibe and anti-intellectual lyrics sound a bit annoying now (a bit like Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick In The Wall’ a decade later), but it's an interesting period piece, originally recorded by Billy Nicholls himself in 1968 on his classic baroque pop album ‘Would You Believe’.
Perhaps the greatest rediscovery on the compilation is ‘Euston Station’(1967), written and sung by the less-well-known and much underrated Barbara Ruskin, which should have been a big hit but failed to chart.
As Bob Stanley suggests in his ‘sleeve notes’, the original A to Z of London ‘invited you to create your own personal map of London’.
Now we can do a similar thing for his compilation using geographical information systems (GIS), so I used Geo Mapper 2D to geo-reference and visualise the locations of all the tracks, demonstrating the capacity of Geo Mapper to ‘Spotimapify’ such data.
Clicking on each location shows a relevant image (usually the record sleeve) and an opportunity to hear an extract from the track by linking through to the Ace Records web page about the compilation.
Brendan Conway is a geography teacher with over thirty years’ experience and led his current school to the GA Centre of Excellence. He has authored a range of learning materials for Oak National Academy, Tutor2U, Collins, BBC Bitesize and has expertise in GIS. Brendan is very interested in the links between geography and music and has written far too many story maps on this theme.
If we are talking about cities - as we have been, then I have always returned to the song 'The Camera Eye' by Rush. It comes from their best album 'Moving Pictures'.
Here's the back of the LP cover.
The song moves between London and New York; two cities known to lyricist Neil Peart.
Here's the performance of the song from the Time Machine Tour - the last time I saw them playing live.
The lyrics and the structure of the song are very well crafted. I also love the music, plenty of Oberheim and bass pedals...
Neil had read the work of John Dos Pasos, in particular his “USA Trilogy”. And in those books, Dos Pasos uses a literary device he calls “the camera eye”. That’s where Neil got the title from. One of the books in the USA trilogy is called “The Big Money”. Neil would later write a song based on that, too.
“The Camera Eye” opens with the sound of a city. It’s a city street scene. According to Geddy Lee, when they were putting together that pastiche of sound effects, one of the clips they used was a bit of audio from “Superman”, the 1978 movie with Christopher Reeve.
We start in New York: “Grim faced and forbidding, their faces closed tight.
An angular mass of New Yorkers
pacing in rhythm race the oncoming night
they chase through the streets of Manhattan.”
And then comes the rain that will connect the two cities together.
Which rock band, still going after over 50 years, recorded their first album here, on Denmark Street, near Tottenham Court Road?
Answers in the comments...
If it helps with a clue, here's what Rough Trade Records said when they opened their store opposite in October 2024...
Denmark Street is often described as the birthplace of the British music industry where iconic artists such as Elton John, Sex Pistols and David Bowie hung out, made music and lived.
I've missed out the answer from the text above.
As part of the wider immersive arts and culture district Outernet London, Denmark St has been preserved and enhanced with new music businesses continuing to open.
Close by is the 2,000-capacity live venue HERE at Outernet, the largest venue in central London since the 1940s, as well two smaller venues aimed at emerging artists including The Lower Third, named in honour of David Bowie’s early band.
OK, so I've already had a Pink Floyd album in this feature, but this is another iconic one.
For decades after this, the building (which is a power station) lay empty after it was decommissioned. There were numerous plans for its redevelopment, but eventually money was raised for its redevelopment.
Here's an image of mine from 2015 when work was underway.
It's now finished and a high-end destination for shopping and entertainment. I recommend the beers and sausage rolls at the Brewery.
There was also the classic escape of an inflatable pig called Algie.
Tickets went on sale on Friday for the UK tour of Jon Anderson and his accompanying musicians 'The Band Geeks'.
I first heard Jon sing live in the 1980s with Yes.
I was able to see the classic line up, with Alan White, Chris Squire, Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. I also saw a range of other musicians play in the line-up, including Buggles-era, and ABWH etc.
More to come when I reach 'Y' in my A-Z of music for February.
I had access to the pre-sale so purchased mine on Wednesday, and went for the classic venue which is the London Palladium.
Here's the band playing the Yes track 'Roundabout'.
For those in the know, the opening notes of this song were also the first part of the theme tune for the Brazil series I used back in the 1980s and into the 1990s.
This particular programme was used for years... called "Skyscrapers and Slums" - a term we would not use today as these are essentially people's homes.
It features Mauro "the show shine boy" who had dreams of being a pilot... one of the great mysteries of the geography world back then - in the days before the internet - was whether he made it...
The Music Is Black: A British Story will span from 1900 to the present day, celebrating everyone from pioneers such as Winifred Atwell and Janet Kay to today’s generation including Stormzy and Little Simz, and explore how artists from Fleetwood Mac to the Beatles adopted elements of the music created by the UK’s Black community.
Drawing on BBC archives, photographs, artefacts, ornaments, paintings, prints, playbills, film and more, the curators promise “immersive AV and large-scale installations” where attenders can walk through different eras and experience multi-sensory modes of storytelling.
The Music is Black: A British Story will look into how migration has influenced music, including how the Windrush movement brought a wave of new sounds from the Caribbean to the UK, birthing the sound system culture which informed the massively successful British clubbing scene and beyond. It will also look at how influences from Black communities in the global south are being heavily featured in today’s chart toppers – such as west African highlife in pop songs, and drum patterns stemming from Caribbean reggae in dance music.
The latest of Carl Lee's guest blog posts - this one on an encounter with the Notting Hill Carnival.
'Greensleeves' Record Sleeve
Hanging above the toilet in my house is a framed copy of Errol Shorter’s ‘Wild inna eighty one style’.
It is a little known 12-inch dub plate but it comes in the iconic record sleeve of Greensleeves Records which in itself is a brief history of reggae music from its roots in Jamaica to its burgeoning popularity in London where the Greensleeves label was launched in 1977.
Image copyright Carl Lee.
If you have never seen the generic cover used by Greensleeves for its 12-inch singles it is a cartoon drawn by the Mancunian illustrator Tony McDermott who is also responsible for the covers of many of the albums that have the Greensleeves imprint. A couple of books cover this body of work by McDermott but for me it is 12-inch sleeve, which has remained the same across nearly five decades, that is the true icon.
The cartoon depicts the historical journey of reggae music from its Jamaican roots to it adoption as an integral part of British music history. It commences in the top left-hand corner with Mento musicians playing on a beach watched over by a white colonial police office with a rural shack off in the distance. Mento was the sound of post-war Jamaica and heavily influenced by what American radio stations were playing. It was a rural sound played with simple instrumentation such as banjos, hand drums and guitars. However that US influence was soon enabling connections to ska and rocksteady with the introduction of electric guitars, electric pianos and amplification and this cover represents that phase with three smartly and identically attired singers who I imagine to be 60s rocksteady trio The Heptones, but on this I could be wrong.
The musical journey then tumbles down the right side of the sleeve in panoply of the stars in the unfolding history of reggae. Just how many stoned folk have stared at it trying to work out who is who?
Identifying Bob Marley is easy but then Doctor Alimantado, Big Youth, Desmond Dekker, I Roy and of course Lee Perry.
There are many more and they are joined by two stern looking London policemen taking notes, oh and is that Joe Strummer at the back?
The journey ends under London’s famous Westway flyover with Arno Goldfinger’s modernist masterwork Trellick Tower looming above it and a pop-up sound-system in the street in homage to Notting Hill Carnival. This is very much not the Notting Hill of the film 'Notting Hill'.
This is a neighbourhood with staggering gradients of inequality. You can move from early Victorian millionaire luxury to social housing estates simply by crossing the road. Meanwhile Gardens could be the imagined location of the last scene on the record cover. It is a small municipal park squeezed up against the Grand Union Canal and the curvy, modernist social housing block of Holmefield House, with the Westway fly-over and Paddington railway line a block away.
It was here amongst the swings and skate board ramps that on the Sunday night of 1983's Notting Hill Carnival that local reggae band Aswad performed.
It was recorded for posterity and is the only live album I own where I was actually in attendance. It became the album "Live and Direct".
It was late afternoon, sunny and warm, a packed audience, and smoky from the grills of jerk-chicken and spliffs. It was on the surface very laid back but Aswad’s performance is full of righteous anger and power driven by a powerful horn section.
It hadn't been that long since 1976 when a riot had marred the last day of Notting Hill Carnival and a watching (participating?) Joe Strummer penned The Clash’s ‘White Riot’.
In 1983, no such tensions arose and a great reggae album was recorded.
Special request to the Harlesden posse, Paddington posse, Brixton posse, Ladbroke Grove posse.
Music as a geographical marker in the dense city.
Of course this Greensleeves Records sleeve is an artefact of a time as well as place.
For me it is imbued with memories such as watching Aswad on that late summer day when I was a mere 20 years old. Today it has been moved onto another level with Brixton Brewery’s Original Rockers lager carrying this iconic record cover as its can label. This was a limited edition beer to celebrate the launch of Greensleeves: "The First 100 Covers Book" by Alexander Newman.
Who’d have thought back in the day?
When I turn around to wash my hands facing me over the sink is another 12 inch dub plate, Pablo Gad’s 1981 Poor Man versus Rich Man dub in its Dub Vendor original sleeve – a photo of their old Clapham Junction shop and in that is another story for maybe another time.
Carl Lee is retired but was a lecturer at The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University, taught A level Geography for 20 years at Sheffield College, is the author of five books about geography and has a PhD in economic geography. He has been nuts about music since buying his first single in 1973: 10cc’s 'Rubber Bullets' if you were wondering.
In February 2006, Guardian Music writer Dorian Lynskey reimagined each Tube line as a musical genre, and each station as an artist.
Every intersection provides an opportunity to celebrate those who mix and transcend musical styles.
For example, where the Pop (Circle), Rock (District) and Reggae (Central) lines intersect, you find The Specials (at Notting Hill Gate). Or at the junction of Funk (Victoria) and Blues & Country (Piccadilly), one finds James Brown (at Finsbury Park).
Dorian Lynskey said: "The different character of each line lent itself to a certain genre.
"Pop, for example, intersects with everything else so that had to be the Circle line. On the other hand, classical music tends to occupy its own sphere, which made it perfect for the Docklands Light Railway."
In May 2025, this was brought up to date, with a new map which was produced by Transport for London (TfL) to help celebrate its 25th anniversary, and described as follows.
Introducing the Grassroots Music Tube Map, a one-of-a-kind visual celebration of the venues, artists, genres, and communities that make London one of the greatest music cities in the world.
This campaign is part of London Creates MUSIC, a powerful initiative bringing together music industry leaders, artists and cultural partners to shine a light on grassroots music and the vital role it plays in our city’s creative and economic life.
Designed to resemble a network of electric cables with a sleek black background, each line has been rebranded to celebrate a different part of the capital’s vibrant music culture:
Alongside this are 25 grassroots music venues, 25 legendary nightclubs, and 25 beloved record shops. These are all mapped out and celebrated as essential landmarks in London’s music journey.
