Ever wondered where The Beatles shot their videos, where Oasis got signed, or where Arctic Monkeys recorded their first demos? Well, like shrines on a musical pilgrimage, you can visit them all in the UK and document your journey as countless others have already done. Here’s where you need to head.
1. Heddon Street, London
Where Ziggy Stardust himself once stood.
2. Cavern Club, Liverpool
This venue was where it all started for The Beatles. In 1973 it was demolished to make way for a railway development but in 1984 it reopened, occupying 75% of the old site and using 15,000 of its original bricks, which had been saved from demolition.
3. The Brixton Bowie mural, Tunstall Road, London
This tribute to Starman in his birthplace has become a pilgrimage site for fans.
4. Leeds University Refectory, Leeds
Recommended
Where The Who recorded their iconic ‘Live at Leeds’ album.
5. Abbey Road, London
If you don’t know why this one’s special, you may as well go home.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTT6ezYFdyl/
6. Knole Park, Kent
This is where The Beatles recorded their trippy videos for ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTUi7e7lDyT/?taken-at=481720110
7. Penny Lane, Liverpool
Speaking of ‘Penny Lane’…
8. Battersea Power Station, London
The very same building on the front cover of Pink Floyd’s ‘Animals’, of course.
9. Aldwych Tube station, London
The creepy tunnel from The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ video isn’t open year-round. You have to get special access these days.
10. Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough
The place on the cover of ‘Coles Corner’, Richard Hawley’s fourth album. Coles Corner itself is in Sheffield.
11. Quadrophenia Alley, 71 East Street, Brighton
Where mods go to pay their respects to the The Who-scored 1979 film.
12. Grove Passage (aka ‘Up The Bracket’ Alley), London
This one is covered in scrawled graffiti that references/is dedicated to the Libertines.
13. Berwick Street, London
What’s the story? Duh – Oasis’ second album cover was shot here.
14. Boardwalk, Sheffield
Sheffield’s Boardwalk venue has closed down – but the place still has a rich rock’n’roll history. Its most recent claim to fame is that Arctic Monkeys’ ‘Beneath The Boardwalk’ demos were recorded in its basement, and you can see them standing outside it here.
It’s now a Lazer Zone…
15. Worthy Farm, Somerset
47 years of music history have seeped into the magical Glastonbury Festival site.
16. 100 Club, London
Where the 1976 punk special took place – including sets from Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Buzzcocks.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTMoMDdjKic
17. King Tut’s, Glasgow
This is where Oasis got signed by Creation Records’ Alan McGee. But a lot of other stuff has happened here too… just look at the stairs.
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18. Salford Lads Club, Salford
It was of course The Smiths that made this place famous by standing here, a shot of which was featured inside their third album ‘The Queen Is Dead’.
19. The Troubadour, London
Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Robert Plant, Jimi Hendrix – they’re just a few of the icons who’ve played in this west London venue. If you go nowadays you might even run into Jimmy Page…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTVGvkcgPfL
20. Kirriemuir
Featuring this lovely statue of AC/DC’s Bon Scott.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHsN_2tjOMd/
21. Spillers Records, Cardiff
The oldest record shop in the world first opened in 1894, selling wax cylinders. Manic Street Preachers love it.
22. Cyprus Avenue, Belfast
Van Morrison’s street of choice in Belfast.
23. Scarborough
The subject of the traditional English tune ‘Scarborough Fair’, which X Factor’s judges might say Simon & Garfunkel ‘made their own’.
24. Yes Tor, Devon
Prog rock band Yes got a photo taken on their namesake hill in Devon, for their album ‘Tormato’.
25. Beachy Head, East Sussex
As seen in Bowie’s ‘Ashes to Ashes‘ video, The Cure’s ‘Just Like Heaven‘ video, and in the final scene of Quadrophenia.