Maps of Music History by Dave Muller

I first saw an example of Dave Muller's Rock-n-Roll timeline in an Edward Tufte book on visualization. I was fortunate to see it full-scale at the ICA in Boston a few years ago. I like how he showed the connections between music movements and how one style of music developed from an earlier style of music.

I couldn't find an image of his Rock-n-Roll timeline, but the image here is of another map that he created, which is called As Below, So Above.

Here's the blurb from the ICA webpage:

The work will incorporate a diagrammatic timeline of chart-topping rock hits—found in Reebee Garofalo and Steve Chapple’s book Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Here to Pay(1977)—from the 1950s to 70s, including Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and the Supremes. Reproduced at epic scale, it will be hand-illustrated with rocks, grass, and plants, as if a landscape cut in cross-section. Consecutive years will extend before and after these decades into a timeline horizon. In the "sky" space above, framed paintings resembling stars will radiate the names of music categories—rock's latest offshoots within the Boston music scene. Below the horizon will be illustrations of albums by "underground" artists of cult, if not commercial, fame.

Here's the link to the ICA page on As Below, As Above: http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/muller/

Posted by Sylvia