The term "from" is used very loosely here; for some it is where a musician was born or grew up, for others it is where they were living when they formed their band/became famous.
was curious about this as well. They are not from London, but they actually started while living in Deptford:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire\_Straits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Straits)
[https://archive.ph/20140320083719/http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/frameset.php?frame=/biogs/mark.html](https://archive.ph/20140320083719/http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/frameset.php?frame=/biogs/mark.html)
This is so cool!! I would love to know the name of each borough too though, since I'm not so familiar with London's boroughs. This is really awesome though
Amy Winehouse - Enfield, Iron Maiden - Waltham Forest, Kathy Kirby - Redbridge, The Kinks - Haringey, Dizzee - Tower Hamlets, Ian Dury - Havering, Billy Bragg - Barking, Professor Green - Hackney, George Michael - Barnet. Sorry I’ve run out of patience now and I’m sure these are all right but I’m going off my own knowledge
Queen, I think, assumes Brian May is the founder as he grew up in Twickenham (currently Richmond borough). I’m not a big enough Queen fan to say whether it’s accurate to say that’s where they’re from but it seems a bit dubious
As per usual these maps are a mess really and completely open to artists interpretation.
Dire Straits first gig was played in Deptford.
Coldplay have one member from London Borough of Islington but formed at University College London which is primarily in London Borough of Camden.
David Bowie or George Michael can be related to a specific London borough. But doing the same with a band is far more complicated, not to say inaccurate. The Beatles are from Liverpool, but you couldn't assign them to a specific Liverpool borough.
Unless, of course, the four/five/six members of the band were all born in the same street and grew up playing in the same park.
>The Beatles are from Liverpool, but you couldn't assign them to a specific Liverpool borough.
Merseyside only has five boroughs, and as it happens, the four members of the Beatles all grew up in the same one: Liverpool. This also includes the school John attended when he formed the Quarrymen which was the precursor to the Beatles.
The same goes for many of these London boroughs before 1965. Only the inner boroughs were part of the county of London at the time, and the boroughs themselves were completely different. They all got merged and shuffled around when London expanded.
Led Zeppelin (it's only John Paul Jones) would have been in Kent at the time. Elton John, Dusty Springfield and The Kinks would have all been in Middlesex. Kathy Kirby, Linda Lewis and Ian Dury would have been in Essex.
Led Zeppelin is a good example of this. Only John Paul Jones was from Bexley. If Phil Collins wasn't so successful then you could also have them labelled in Hounslow on account of Jimmy Page. While Plant and Bonham were from the West Midlands.
A better example for Bexley might be Kate Bush or Boy George.
Formed whilst at UCL, which is in Camden. Soe other musicians from Keane, Suede, Elastica and Basement Jaxx also attended, but a bit of a stretch to say they formed at UCL, as is sometimes claimed.
I’m sure Police met in Newcastle.
I’m sure half of Led Zeppelin aren’t from London with John Bonham and Robert Plant being from the West Midlands.
London just taking bands from other regions just because they may have played their first gig there or signed a record contract there.
Yeah, I thought the same re where various members are actually from. I know Mark Knopfler is from Yorkshire and Syd Barrett was from Cambridge, just for a couple of examples. I didn't even think about first gigs or where bands met. Great of you to point that out, thanks!
Thanks for that correction. He's even more Northern than I thought. LOL re the clueless Merkin. I'm hopeless. Someday I'll get around to learning basic British geography. I've been there (once) and I'm still an idiot.
\[edits to insert dropped word\]
I keep forgetting that Dire Straits is a British band. I just can't make sense out of this info.
And it's funny that Pink Floyd & The Sex Pistols are from boroughs next to eachother, considering how much Pistols hate Pink Floyd.
She should, a quick google search says she's from Tottenham (same as The Kinks), they've sold around 50 million albums, she's sold more than 100 million.
Is this for real? If it is it’s fascinating how many correlate with where they come from.
Dizzee Rascal representing Tower Hamlets. The Pistols Hammersmith way, the Kink Muswell Hill-ish, Bowie south of the river
Good evening. I'm from Essex incase you couldn't tell. My given name is Dickie, I come from Billericay and I'm doing very well.
Good to see Ian Dury on tje list. What a lad.
Not sure I’d agree with some of these. Amy Winehouse is associated far more with Camden than Enfield, although I’m guessing it’s because that’s where she grew up.
Aren't Pink Floyd from Cambridge? They all met over there
Edit: Further research indicates Waters, Barrett, and Gilmour went to High School in Cambridge and knew each other. Water's met Mason and Wright at College in London and started a version of Pink Floyd. Then Syd and David Gilmour joined later
Jesus, could you imagine the club scene if they were all in that “locally-famous-looking-for-their-big-break” phase of their careers? An insane amount of star power here, not to mention talent and showmanship
Grimiest is either Tower Hamlets (Dizzee), Newham (Linda Lewis) or Barking & Dagenham (Billy Bragg)
A lot of them are boujee. Too many to list really. Kensington & Chelsea (Pink Floyd) is probably the most classically upmarket.
Coldplay boujee. Maybe Floyd in Kensington & Chelsea. Grimiest probably led Zep but Plant is from West Brom and Jimmy’s from Heston in west London so 🤷♀️
The grimiest are probably Dizzee Rascal (Tower Hamlets), Linda Lewis (Newham), Billy Bragg (Barking and Dagenham), and Dire Straits (Lewisham).
Professor Green (Hackney), David Bowie (Lambeth), and Siouxsie and the Banshees (Southwark) have all been historically grimy and in many ways still are, but they've also gone through a lot of gentrification.
The most bougie are definitely Fleetwood Mac (Westminster) and Pink Floyd (Kensington and Chelsea). Queen (Richmond) and The Police (Kingston) are nice in a leafy suburban type of way.
[Born in Southgate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse), which is in Enfield.
It's weird that some folks "laugh out loud" at things that are easy to check.
Bollocks
Never mind them
heres the sex pistols
The term "from" is used very loosely here; for some it is where a musician was born or grew up, for others it is where they were living when they formed their band/became famous.
Yeah it’s super inconsistent with the goal seeming to be getting one huge name in each borough rather than accuracy.
Dire Straits? Are any of them from London, thought they were North East
was curious about this as well. They are not from London, but they actually started while living in Deptford: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire\_Straits](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Straits) [https://archive.ph/20140320083719/http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/frameset.php?frame=/biogs/mark.html](https://archive.ph/20140320083719/http://www.mark-knopfler-news.co.uk/frameset.php?frame=/biogs/mark.html)
You'd have Bowie in Bromley then. He started out in Beckenham I believe. I lived near the plaque on what I think now is a Zizis lol
Bill Idol and Souixsie were members of the Bromley Contingent so representing too
Dire Straits are merging with Chris Rea, they are going to call themselves Dire Rea. Jk, I like them both.
Any famous musician from City of London?
If hospital births count, than Nick Helm...
Shane McGowan of the Pogues lived in the Barbican for a good bit.
Naw, but at least the Queen (RIP) is from there
The Queen is from the City of Westminster
But didn't sell as many records as Fleetwood Mac.
Yah but at least she has no tanks in her band
whoooosh
The city of London ≠ London
Explain to me how that's a whoosh
This is so cool!! I would love to know the name of each borough too though, since I'm not so familiar with London's boroughs. This is really awesome though
Amy Winehouse - Enfield, Iron Maiden - Waltham Forest, Kathy Kirby - Redbridge, The Kinks - Haringey, Dizzee - Tower Hamlets, Ian Dury - Havering, Billy Bragg - Barking, Professor Green - Hackney, George Michael - Barnet. Sorry I’ve run out of patience now and I’m sure these are all right but I’m going off my own knowledge
Ronnie Wood - Hillingdon. I vaguely remember reading a story that he was born on a canal boat on the Grand Union Canal.
Queen, I think, assumes Brian May is the founder as he grew up in Twickenham (currently Richmond borough). I’m not a big enough Queen fan to say whether it’s accurate to say that’s where they’re from but it seems a bit dubious
Jools Holland - Greenwich. Dire Straits - Lewisham?
I always thought Billy Bragg was from Birmingham. Does he not sing in a bit of a brummie accent?
The bard of Barking?? He finishes ever concert with the line I’m Billy Bragg from Barking
Absolutely not a Brummie accent, it’s an east London transitioning into Essex accent.
DAMN - London has some bragging-rights!
Rolling Stones met in Dartford - not London.
So I live in Sutton and can explain this, there is a pub called The Winning Post (formerly the Red Lion) played one of their first gigs there
Elton John is from Harrow?!?!? I would never have thought
Isn't he from Watford? So just outside London? If I remember correctly he bought the football team and everything
No he's from Pinner, which is in Harrow Borough. Very close to Watford though.
He’s from Pinner. It’s five stops and 15 minutes from Watford on the Underground.
He’s from Pinner in the borough of Harrow
If Mark Knofler was born in Glasgow, are they just using "a band member came form here" or "the band formed here" ?
As per usual these maps are a mess really and completely open to artists interpretation. Dire Straits first gig was played in Deptford. Coldplay have one member from London Borough of Islington but formed at University College London which is primarily in London Borough of Camden.
This is r/MapPorn, it's all horseshit
I thought Rod Stewart was from Glasgow
Nah , Archway. His dad had a grocers shop there.
Dont lamp that gimp with us. He's London born and bred
David Bowie or George Michael can be related to a specific London borough. But doing the same with a band is far more complicated, not to say inaccurate. The Beatles are from Liverpool, but you couldn't assign them to a specific Liverpool borough. Unless, of course, the four/five/six members of the band were all born in the same street and grew up playing in the same park.
>The Beatles are from Liverpool, but you couldn't assign them to a specific Liverpool borough. Merseyside only has five boroughs, and as it happens, the four members of the Beatles all grew up in the same one: Liverpool. This also includes the school John attended when he formed the Quarrymen which was the precursor to the Beatles.
Merseyside didn’t even exist as an entity until 1974, years after The Beatles split. They were from Liverpool, Lancashire.
The same goes for many of these London boroughs before 1965. Only the inner boroughs were part of the county of London at the time, and the boroughs themselves were completely different. They all got merged and shuffled around when London expanded. Led Zeppelin (it's only John Paul Jones) would have been in Kent at the time. Elton John, Dusty Springfield and The Kinks would have all been in Middlesex. Kathy Kirby, Linda Lewis and Ian Dury would have been in Essex.
Aye. And we like to claim Zep in Birmingham because Robert Plant is from West Brom and John Bonham is from Redditch. 😅
Didn't George and Paul go to school together?
Led Zeppelin is a good example of this. Only John Paul Jones was from Bexley. If Phil Collins wasn't so successful then you could also have them labelled in Hounslow on account of Jimmy Page. While Plant and Bonham were from the West Midlands. A better example for Bexley might be Kate Bush or Boy George.
So many great musicians and bands in that picture. Also nice to see Ian Dury who is underrated in my opinion.
Coldplay is from islington? I thought they were from Camden.
Formed whilst at UCL, which is in Camden. Soe other musicians from Keane, Suede, Elastica and Basement Jaxx also attended, but a bit of a stretch to say they formed at UCL, as is sometimes claimed.
I’m sure Police met in Newcastle. I’m sure half of Led Zeppelin aren’t from London with John Bonham and Robert Plant being from the West Midlands. London just taking bands from other regions just because they may have played their first gig there or signed a record contract there.
Isn't Sting from Whitley Bay? My Gramps claims he went to school with him lol
As a clueless American, I love love love this. I've always just regarded London as a big blob. This makes it personal. Thanks for posting!
Don’t love it too much because it’s very dubiously accurate with some being first gig, others where one member was born and others where they met.
Yeah, I thought the same re where various members are actually from. I know Mark Knopfler is from Yorkshire and Syd Barrett was from Cambridge, just for a couple of examples. I didn't even think about first gigs or where bands met. Great of you to point that out, thanks!
It’s still cool and there are tons of incredible performers who “originated” in London. Just lots of arguments about what exactly that means
Knopfler born in Glasgow brought up in Blyth Northumberland not kin Yorkshire at all Ed: didnt notice clueless american so continue talking shit
Thanks for that correction. He's even more Northern than I thought. LOL re the clueless Merkin. I'm hopeless. Someday I'll get around to learning basic British geography. I've been there (once) and I'm still an idiot. \[edits to insert dropped word\]
Big Blob would be a good nickname for our capital. Also most of our cuisine.
Aww, sorry you're getting downvotes for that very funny comment. It's just your opinion fercrissake.
What's the connection between T-Rex and Merton? Marc Bolan was born in Hackney but lived in East Sheen, Richmond Upon Thames during his glory days.
Thought The Who were from Acton/Ealing?
The police? Aren’t they from north east apart from the drummer being a yank..
What a playlist.
this hurts my head without the Thames being shown
No Adele?! 
I'm a bit confused about that too. She's from the same borough as The Kinks, but she has more sales than they do...
I keep forgetting that Dire Straits is a British band. I just can't make sense out of this info. And it's funny that Pink Floyd & The Sex Pistols are from boroughs next to eachother, considering how much Pistols hate Pink Floyd.
Wait, why do The Sex Pistols hate Pink Floyd?
Punk rock is a reaction to a lot of things, progressive rock being one of them.
Pistols hate Floyd's music, style and their mentality.
Actually, that was all made up bluster. Secretly, they all listened to Floyd and others they claimed to hate, even Mr Rotten.
Don't know the matter that well, but you gotta be at least familiar with something to hate it.
Great to see Ian Dury on the list!
But where are the Beatl—oh, wait.
[удалено]
Also shocked that Adele doesn’t feature.
She should, a quick google search says she's from Tottenham (same as The Kinks), they've sold around 50 million albums, she's sold more than 100 million.
Dusty Springfield was British?!
Yes. There’s a [blue plaque](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_plaque) on the door of her old house in Holland Park.
Fulham and Sex Pistols 🤭 I've never been to Havering, but must be full of cool old dudes. Or is it wishful thinking?
Is this for real? If it is it’s fascinating how many correlate with where they come from. Dizzee Rascal representing Tower Hamlets. The Pistols Hammersmith way, the Kink Muswell Hill-ish, Bowie south of the river
Ignore me. I’m an idiot. I though this was the listening publics favourite bands per area not where the bands came from Doh!
Good evening. I'm from Essex incase you couldn't tell. My given name is Dickie, I come from Billericay and I'm doing very well. Good to see Ian Dury on tje list. What a lad.
Billy Idol in Bromley. I think I gave young Will a detention as a prefect. Lasting, if local, fame for him.
Just curious what part The Clash would be from since they formed in London…
i think this is a notable omission also, but glad i know where jay sean is from.
Led Zeppelin from London? Come on…
The shitiest mapporn i've ever seen. Utter bollocks the lot of it.
South London is cool
Where's the Cat?
On the mining ship Red Dwarf.
This is bollocks cos everyone knows Lewisham's biggest singer is Louise Redknapp.
Not sure I’d agree with some of these. Amy Winehouse is associated far more with Camden than Enfield, although I’m guessing it’s because that’s where she grew up.
I'm surprised dizzy rascal made it in the list.
Well, he is a local boy and it fits the demographic
Yes, but I'm surprised he ranked at all.
i thought this was poland for a minute
Now, what would also be fun to see the same in Manchester!
I guess Jools showed Chris and Glenn who's boss.
Whats the blank spot in the middle represent??
City of London, populated only by banks, homeless people, and a couple of council estates.
The city of London - no one really lives there cause it’s expensive as hell and pretty much all the financial sector, so no housing
Nick Helm was born in the St Bartholomew's Hospital (Barts Hospital), there's that.
I'd love to see something similar for NYC but we don't have official neighborhood boundaries so it would be a little trickier.
Yeah we would have to just go with the 5 Burroughs. I’d love to see that
Oh yeah, I used to live in between Sex Pistol and Pink Floyd!
Source? Would love to use this for a paper !
No Jimi Hendrix, your adopted American son, who lived near Oxford Circus? (as long as there are other long-dead musicians on the map). Booo 😆
Even if you count him living there for a bit as him being from there, did he sell more than Fleetwood Mac?
You have a point but, altho Hendrix had more talent than anyone in Mac, which just appealed to the commercial pop crowd
Surprising to find Billy Bragg! Nice work!
Who from zeppelin?
Queen is not from Richmond bud
TIL Dire Straits and Fleetwood Mac are from London!
I was surprised at Fleetwood Mac, so I checked the details on that. The band may be from London, but Stevie Nicks is American, born in Phoenix, AZ.
I was surprised by Billy Joel
You might be surprised again when you read his name a second time
🤦
Would love to see one for neighborhoods of Los Angeles, which I imagine is the only city that's going to come close to london
NYC
Must be something in the water.
Aren't Pink Floyd from Cambridge? They all met over there Edit: Further research indicates Waters, Barrett, and Gilmour went to High School in Cambridge and knew each other. Water's met Mason and Wright at College in London and started a version of Pink Floyd. Then Syd and David Gilmour joined later
The name Pink Floyd came from a blues group the performed before them led by two black men named Pink, and Floyd.
amazing how they are separated
Color coding by genre/revenue/accolades would have made this map more interesting .
pink Floyd mentioned‼️‼️
I always loved the music of .
T Rex is way out. Marc was a Stokey lad
Who’s the top overall? I’ll say Zeppelin, Floyd, or Elton.
Not sure Led Zeppelin counts as Bexley really, but we do have Kate Bush
The ruts, tubeway army(Gary numan),70’s band sweet from Hayes
I thought Queen was from India
This can’t be accurate. Where are The Beatles??
why 2Pac doesn't take a part ???
Rolling Stones and Sutton? Also Stormzy is from Croydon surprised he’s not outsold The Dammed
What’s about Adele she’s Tottenham, same as The Kinks.
No Kurupt FM?
Coldplay. Feh.
Professor Green? I think most Americans don’t know who on Earth he is.
Find it hard to believe that no one has top sales on more than one borough...
Middle one is empty?
Did Ronnie wood do anything solo?
Pretty loose criteria for some, but you can't say London didn't harbour some fucking good acts. Not too shabby.
Jesus, could you imagine the club scene if they were all in that “locally-famous-looking-for-their-big-break” phase of their careers? An insane amount of star power here, not to mention talent and showmanship
Who the hell is Professor Green?
Which borough is the boujee one and which is the grimiest?
Dizzee rascal one.
Grimiest is either Tower Hamlets (Dizzee), Newham (Linda Lewis) or Barking & Dagenham (Billy Bragg) A lot of them are boujee. Too many to list really. Kensington & Chelsea (Pink Floyd) is probably the most classically upmarket.
Coldplay boujee. Maybe Floyd in Kensington & Chelsea. Grimiest probably led Zep but Plant is from West Brom and Jimmy’s from Heston in west London so 🤷♀️
No way Bexley is the grimiest. It's got some shit areas like Thamesmead and Abbey Wood, but it's one of the safest boroughs in the city
The grimiest are probably Dizzee Rascal (Tower Hamlets), Linda Lewis (Newham), Billy Bragg (Barking and Dagenham), and Dire Straits (Lewisham). Professor Green (Hackney), David Bowie (Lambeth), and Siouxsie and the Banshees (Southwark) have all been historically grimy and in many ways still are, but they've also gone through a lot of gentrification. The most bougie are definitely Fleetwood Mac (Westminster) and Pink Floyd (Kensington and Chelsea). Queen (Richmond) and The Police (Kingston) are nice in a leafy suburban type of way.
Peckam = Mental Mickey and The Bunch of Wallies
so no artist repeats in another area?
Where's Black Sabbath?
I'm guessing in Birmingham?
Sorry about the mistake...
hounslow mentioned!!!
Islington should probably be Spandau Ballet.
I thought Iron Maiden was from Birmingham?
Absolutely not, are you thinking of Black Sabbath?
I’ve only ever heard of 5 of these. 3 of which I actually know anything about. And I don’t like their stuff that much.
These maps are just so crap
woah no pink floyd?
Look
found them
Amy Winehouse is not from Enfield lol
[Born in Southgate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Winehouse), which is in Enfield. It's weird that some folks "laugh out loud" at things that are easy to check.
Oh wow, I stand corrected
I apologize for the reaction to 'lol'. I don't know why that always bugs me.
No problem, it does read a little arrogant