If you want a gift for The Cure fans that says more than a tour T-shirt does, my Cure discography map art print plots all fourteen studio albums as stations and every credited musician as their own named line. It runs from Three Imaginary Boys in 1979 to Songs of a Lost World in 2024.
What makes it land as a present is that it rewards looking. The person you give it to will find things they half knew, and a few things they did not. Below are seven of them, all pulled from the research sheet the map was built from.
Robert Smith Is the Only Line Calling at All Fourteen Stations
Thirty-three credited musicians appear across the fourteen albums. Only one line runs the full length of the map without a single break, and it belongs to Robert Smith.
What surprised me while compiling it was how much he is credited with playing beyond guitar and vocals. Harmonica on "Subway Song" from the 1979 debut, cello on "Cold" from Pornography, recorder on "The Snakepit" and "Like Cockatoos" from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.
On The Top in 1984, his credit reads vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, organ, recorder, violin, harmonica and production. One album, one man, eight instruments.
Why This Gift for The Cure Fans Lands: Simon Gallup's Line Breaks Exactly Once
Simon Gallup's bass line starts at Seventeen Seconds in 1980, so it never reaches back to the debut. It then runs through Faith and Pornography and stops dead at The Top.
That gap is the most obvious break in the whole print, and it is the first thing people notice once the map is on a wall. He returns at The Head on the Door in 1985 and does not miss another studio album for thirty-nine years.
It is a decent argument for giving the A1 rather than the A2. A gap only reads properly when there is room around the line.
Lol Tolhurst Changes Instrument Twice, Then Stops Being a Line at All
A founding member, and the credits tell his story without any commentary needed from me. Drums on Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography.
Keyboards from The Top in 1984 through The Head on the Door and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. Then, on Disintegration in 1989, he is credited with "other instrument", and that is where his line ends.
Four albums on drums, three on keyboards, one on "other instrument", then nothing. It is one of the few times a credit list has felt like it was writing its own ending.
Porl Thompson Leaves Twice and Comes Back Twice
Porl Thompson has the strangest shape anywhere on this map. He plays lead guitar and backing vocals on the 1979 debut, then disappears for Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography.
He returns on The Top, playing saxophone, stays for The Head on the Door, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Disintegration and Wish, then vanishes again for three albums. His final station is 4:13 Dream in 2008, twenty-nine years after his first.
No other line covers that much of the catalogue while being absent from so much of it.
Twenty Names on Wild Mood Swings, and Three Different Drummers
Wild Mood Swings in 1996 is, by a distance, the busiest station on the map. Twenty credited names converge on it, against three apiece on Faith and Pornography.
Five trumpet players, a trombonist, violins, violas and three arrangers. Jason Cooper arrives as the band's drummer on this record and is still credited "except on" five tracks, with Louis Pavlou taking "Club America" and Mark Price taking "Mint Car", "Trap" and "Treasure".
Songs of a Lost World, twenty-eight years later, carries five names. On the print, you can watch the bundle of lines widen through the mid-nineties and narrow again towards the right-hand edge.
The Names Who Appear on Exactly One Album
Nine musicians on this map are branch lines, calling at a single station and nowhere else. These are the credits fans tend to argue about, so here they are in one place.
| Musician | Album | Credit |
|---|---|---|
| Michael Dempsey | Three Imaginary Boys (1979) | Bass, backing vocals, lead vocal on "Foxy Lady" |
| Matthieu Hartley | Seventeen Seconds (1980) | Keyboards |
| Andy Anderson | The Top (1984) | Drums, percussion |
| Phil Thornalley | The Top (1984) | Bass guitar on live tracks |
| Ron Howe | The Head on the Door (1985) | Saxophone on "A Night Like This" |
| Andrew Brennen | Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987) | Saxophone on "Icing Sugar" and "Hey You!!!" |
| Kate Wilkinson | Wish (1992) | Viola on "To Wish Impossible Things" |
| Smud | 4:13 Dream (2008) | Extra percussion |
| Catsfield Sub Rhythm Trio | 4:13 Dream (2008) | Handclaps |
Michael Dempsey is the one to point out when you hand the print over. He sings lead on "Foxy Lady", the only track on the debut where Robert Smith is not the voice.
Perry Bamonte's Line Ends in 2004
Perry Bamonte's line covers four consecutive albums: Wish in 1992, then Wild Mood Swings, Bloodflowers and The Cure in 2004. Guitar, six-string bass, keyboards and sleeve art direction across those records.
He rejoined the live band in 2022 but is not in the studio credits for Songs of a Lost World, so his line stops where the research says it stops. He died in December 2025 at age 65.
Mapping a band with this much history means credits occasionally turn into memorials. I keep the map factual and let it sit where it falls.
Which Size to Give, and What It Costs
Both sizes are landscape, printed as Giclée on 230gsm textured matte fine art paper, archival and acid-free. Prices start at £42, unframed or in a black wooden frame.
| Size | UK | US / CAN / AUS equivalent | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| A2 | 594 x 420 mm (23 x 16 in) | 24 x 18 in | Hallways, home studios, a first Cure print |
| A1 | 841 x 594 mm (33 x 23 in) | 36 x 24 in | Reading every name, milestone birthdays |
My honest advice: if the person you are buying for wants to read the lines rather than just see the shape, give the A1. Framed in black wood it holds a wall on its own.
The Cure Discography Map Art Print
Fourteen studio albums, thirty-three credited musicians, one map. Giclée on 230gsm archival matte paper, A2 or A1, unframed or black wood frame. From £42.
"Brilliant idea... really like what you've done, Mike." Billy Bragg
"It is truly amazing." Bruce Springsteen Archives, Monmouth University
"Awesome!" Warren Ellis
Related Music Maps
If the fan you are buying for came up through the same scene, two other maps sit naturally beside this one. The Echo and the Bunnymen Discography Map covers a band who started within a year of The Cure and stayed far closer to one sound, and the Joy Division and New Order Map follows a line-up that fractured and reformed rather than rotating around one constant.
The full range sits in the Gifts for Music Fans collection and the Punk and Post-Punk collection.
Questions Cure Fans Ask Before Buying
How many studio albums are on The Cure map?
Fourteen, from Three Imaginary Boys in 1979 to Songs of a Lost World in 2024. Each one is a station, drawn in chronological order across the print.
Who appears on the most Cure albums after Robert Smith?
Simon Gallup, with twelve of the fourteen. He is absent from the 1979 debut and from The Top in 1984, and appears on every album from The Head on the Door onwards.
Do producers get a line on the map?
Only if they are also credited with playing something. David M. Allen produced The Head on the Door and Howard Gray produced "Kyoto Song", and neither is credited on an instrument, so neither gets a line. Robert Smith, Lol Tolhurst and Simon Gallup all carry production credits and play, so their lines stay.
Is Songs of a Lost World included?
Yes, as the final station. Its five credited names are Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Roger O'Donnell, Jason Cooper, and Reeves Gabrels, whose first studio-album credit with the band is this.
What is it printed on?
Giclée on 230gsm premium textured matte fine art paper, archival and acid-free, so the colours hold. A2 or A1, unframed or supplied in a black wooden frame ready to hang.
Giving it to a Cure fan
Fourteen albums, thirty-three credited musicians, forty-five years of line-up changes on one sheet of paper.
Not sure which map they would want? An art print gift card lets them choose their own.
