The Smiths Discography Tube Map Art Print

A gift for Smiths fans who have spent years arguing about which of them needed the other more, because this is two maps on one sheet: Morrissey along the top, Johnny Marr underneath, and the exact station where they separate. They own the four albums already. This is what happened next, in both directions.

Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper, textured matte, archival and acid-free. Available in A2 or A1, with US sizing at 24x18in and 36x24in, unframed or framed. Deeply researched and designed by me in East Sussex.

I plot these in CAD software. Every credited musician becomes a transit line, every album becomes a station, and anyone who appears only once gets a branch line of their own.

I built this one as a composite—two full maps stacked on a single portrait sheet - because the four Smiths albums only tell half the story. Morrissey runs across the top with the band years and his solo catalogue. Marr runs underneath with the band years and everything he played on afterwards.

The stations run chronologically from the 1984 debut, through Meat Is Murder and The Queen Is Dead, to Strangeways, Here We Come. After 1987, the two halves separate and never rejoin, which is the point of the layout: you can put a finger on the split and follow each route out from there.

Why this Smiths discography tube map art makes a gift fans keep

The four albums are the easy part. What no poster or tracklist shows is the shape of the two careers that came out of them, side by side and to the same scale.

Morrissey's half is a narrow bundle of lines running a very long way. Marr's is a wide fan of short ones. You can read the two temperaments in the linework before you reach a single station name.

Contributing musicians on the map

Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce are credited on all four studio albums, an unbroken line-up across an entire catalogue, which is rarer than it sounds and unusual to see on one of my maps.

The debut carries two guests. Paul Carrack, later of Squeeze and Mike and the Mechanics, plays piano and organ on three tracks, and Annalisa Jablonska provides the female voice on Pretty Girls Make Graves and Suffer Little Children.

Morrissey's half opens with Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column and Stephen Street on Viva Hate, then Mark E. Nevin of Fairground Attraction on Kill Uncle, before settling into the line-up that carries most of the catalogue: Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte on guitars, Gary Day on bass, Spencer Cobrin on drums. Boorer runs from 1992 to the most recent records, and Ennio Morricone arranged strings on the track " Ringleader of the Tormentors in 2006.

Marr's half runs wider rather than deeper. He is a full band member in The The alongside Matt Johnson, then a co-writer in Electronic with Bernard Sumner of New Order, with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe guesting and Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk co-writing. Later, he joins Modest Mouse, then The Cribs, before four solo albums of his own.

That contrast is the reason this exists as two maps rather than one.

How do I make each print?

Each one is a Giclée on 230gsm premium fine art paper with a textured matte finish, archival and acid-free, so the colours hold for years. Choose A2 or A1, unframed or framed, ready to hang in a hallway, living room or studio.

FAQ

Why is this print portrait rather than landscape?
Because it is two complete maps stacked on one sheet, Morrissey above and Marr below, so that the split in 1987 lines up vertically.

Did the line-up ever change?
No. Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce are credited on all four studio albums.

Who is Paul Carrack?
A guest on piano and organ on three tracks of the 1984 debut, later known for his work with Squeeze and Mike and the Mechanics.

Which half of the map is busier?
Marr's, in width. He passes through The The, Electronic, Modest Mouse, The Cribs and four solo albums. Morrissey's half is longer but narrower.

What are the framing options?
Unframed, or supplied framed and ready to hang.

Related Music Maps

Browse the full range of gifts for music fans at the Gifts for Music Fans collection and the Smiths collection at mikebellmaps.com.

This print is a composite of two maps that also stand on their own, so if you want one career rather than the split, each is available separately. The Morrissey Discography Map Art Print plots the band years and the full solo catalogue, and the Johnny Marr Discography Map Art Print does the same for the band years and everything afterwards.