I have to credit President Trump.

He was once interviewed by non other than Ali G. Now some of you young-uns may not know about Ali G, but he was all the rage back in the early 2000s. Played by Sacha Baron Cohen, Ali G is faux character portrayed as a clueless, wannabe gangster from the suburbs of London, using exaggerated slang and ignorance to expose the prejudices, arrogance, or lack of awareness in his interview subjects, particularly politicians, academics and celebrities.

To secure interviews on the Ali G show the production team used clever misdirection: instead of mentioning Ali G they they presented the show as a legitimate documentary program aimed at youth culture or educational outreach. Interviewees were told they would be appearing in a serious program for a prestigious broadcaster (Channel 4 in the UK, HBO in the US), often with vague titles like “youth issues” or “modern culture.” The producers also suggested it would air only locally or have limited reach, downplaying its prominence. This tactic led to many prominent figures unknowingly agreeing to be interviewed by a ridiculous character. This made for famously awkward, revealing, or hilarious moments.

Here is Ali G’s interview with Trump:

And what did we learn from this interview?

Although Trump thinks humans were trading in rocks “hundreds of millions of years ago” he did, correctly as it turns out, identify the most popular thing in the world:

Music.

And that most popular thing in the world is only more popular than one other thing:

Maps!

So, dear reader, I ask you what would happen if you combined the two most popular things in the world, Music and Maps? Well, as I stated in the title of this post, you get one thing:

Pure Deliciousness.

And now there is a place to find this Pure Deliciousness. And it’s a brand new book called “Maps on Vinyl” self published by Damian Saunder, containing not only the artwork of over 400 album covers that contain thought provoking maps, but also the stories behind them.

It turns out Damian has quite the mapping pedigree. He started his career at Penguin Books in Australia, recommending new trends in map design. He later went on to becoming a lead cartographer at the educational publisher, Dorling Kindersley. He then established and worked at his own cartographic design consultancy for nine years before then joining Esri where he co-won a prestigious Henry Johns Award. Following Esri he was briefly the Director of Cartography at National Geographic but for the last eight years has been on the Maps team at Apple ¹, ².

So he knows maps. But Damian has also always had an overwhelming passion for music.

He recounts the story in the introduction to his new book:

AS A TEENAGER, I remember being stopped in my tracks by the riff on ‘Need You Tonight”, from the album Kick, by INXS. That killer hook not only helped rocket the band to the top of the global charts in 1987 but it also launched my almost four-decade love affair with collecting records and obsessively listening to music whenever and wherever possible (Kick was the first record | bought). Yet it has been more than just the music that has captivated me; it is the packaging and artwork of the records-from the typography and photographs to the graphic compositions, and even the locations pictured on the sleeves. From the start, the cover art has provided a way for me to connect visually with my favourite artists and their music, particularly during the time when the only other way of doing so was by reading Smash Hits magazine or watching the ABC’s Countdown music program on Australian television. The sleeve art lives with you as you move through time, making the music feel more personal than some long- discarded magazine article or transient television broadcast.

When I became a professional cartographer I started to explore the relationship between maps and music more deeply. Listening to music has continued to be an important part of my daily life and I have learnt that geography has played an important role in popular music: think of albums such as the Beatles’ Abbey Road, Dylan’s Nashville Skyline and Sonic Youth’s Murray Street. They were all named after the places where they were created. Lyrically, Frank Sinatra (‘New York, New York), Billy Joel (Allentown’) and, more recently, Taylor Swift (‘Cornelia Street’) have all written tracks in honour of their beloved hometowns, favourite destinations or places of interest.

So here we are then. With Damian’s tenacious efforts over a four year period he collected, painstakingly photographed and lovingly collated covers of 415 albums that all contain some form of emotionally moving map. And not only that — he had to get permission from every record publisher to include them. But didn’t stop there: wherever possible he tracked down the designer for each cover to find out how it came to be and the meaning behind it.

There were a few red lines: no paintings of landscapes (not a map) and no satellite or aerial photography (also not a map). Many of the covers selected were based on the band’s origins, but others were based on a band’s journey to new territories, or on imaginary places or simply just a commentary on a world view.

So without further ado — do this: Buy the book. It’s fantastic and you’re simply going to love it.

All proceeds go to Support Act, which is the music industry’s charity, delivering crisis relief services to musicians, managers, crew and music workers across all genres who are unable to work due to ill health, injury, a mental health problem or some other crisis.

So now you’ve perused just a few of the 415 fantastic mappy album covers, I meant what I said: Buy the book!

Thanks for reading.

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Footnotes:

1. Doing what you ask? Oh, you know I can’t say! ↩︎
2. Ok, ok — Damian might be the lead cartographer at Apple Maps. But I can’t possibly comment. ↩︎