Concept album
Encyclopedia
In music, a concept album is an album
that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised
or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story
. This is in contrast to the practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected (lyrically or otherwise) songs performed by the artist.
's "Dust Bowl Ballads
" is considered to be the first concept album.
Before the advent of rock and roll, concept albums had their original heyday in jazz of the early to mid '50s with artists such as Nat King Cole
and Frank Sinatra
, the latter of whom would record numerous concept albums for Capitol throughout the last half of the '50s such as In The Wee Small Hours
, Come Fly with Me, Where Are You? and Nice 'n' Easy
.
. Starting from 1961's Colorful Ventures (each song had a color in the title), the group became known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music. Ray Charles also issued his Modern Sounds
recordings, which departed from his well-known R&B and soul style to conceptually country music records.
In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: The Beach Boys
' Pet Sounds
was a musical portrayal of Brian Wilson
's state of mind at the time (and a major inspiration to Paul McCartney
). Although it has a unified theme in its emotional content, the writers (Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) have said continuously that it was not necessarily intended to be a narrative. However, later in 1966, Brian Wilson began work on the Smile album, which was intended as a narrative. The album was scrapped before completion, only to be revived in the November of 2011. The Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, Freak Out!
by Frank Zappa
and Face to Face
by The Kinks
, the first collection of Ray Davies
's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people, are conceptually oriented albums. However, out of the albums above, only Pet Sounds attracted a huge commercial audience.
This all changed with The Beatles
' most celebrated album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
in June 1967. With the release of Sgt. Pepper, the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from traditional pop music
and other genres sometimes forgotten.
In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, Sgt. Pepper is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to firstly the idea of aging, then as an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings. These concepts were lost in the final production. While debate exists over the extent to which Sgt. Pepper qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon
and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.
Days of Future Passed
, released the same year as Sgt. Pepper's, was fellow UK musicians The Moody Blues
' first foray into the concept album. Originally presented with an opportunity to rock out Dvořák
's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
by their new stereophonic label, the band instead forged ahead to unify their own orchestral-based threads of a day in the life of a common man.
The Who Sell Out
by The Who
followed with its concept of a pirate radio
broadcast. Within the record, joke commercials recorded by the band and actual jingle
s from recently outlawed pirate radio station Radio London
were interspersed between the songs, ranging from pop songs to hard rock
and psychedelic rock
, culminating with a mini-opera titled "Rael."
In October 1967, the British group Nirvana
released The Story of Simon Simopath
(subtitled "A Science Fiction Pantomime"), an album that tells the story of the title character. It was only a moderate commercial success. The album S.F. Sorrow
(released in December 1968) by British group the Pretty Things
is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept – the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow.
Released in April 1969, was the rock opera
Tommy
composed by Pete Townshend
and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs
(unusual in those days) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first story-based concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the song-cycle style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project Lifehouse, which was abandoned before completion, and with their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia
.
Five months after the release of Tommy, The Kinks
released another concept album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
(September 1969), written by Ray Davies
; though considered by some a rock opera, it was originally conceived as the score for a proposed but never realised BBC television drama. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
(1970), Muswell Hillbillies
(1971), Preservation: Act 1 (1973), Preservation: Act 2 (1974), Soap Opera
(1975) and Schoolboys in Disgrace
(1976).
genre of the 1970s. Pink Floyd
recast itself from its 1960s guise as a psychedelic band into a commercial success with its series of concept albums, most famously with The Dark Side of the Moon
(which, according to the RIAA, is the third best selling album in history) and later with the double album rock opera The Wall
.
From 1975 to 1979, a Canadian progressive power trio, Rush
, released three albums containing sidelong epics, regarded by some as concept albums (though not actually concept albums by strict definition of the term; that is, none of the other songs on the album have anything to do with each other or the 20-minute sidelong epic, so there is no pervasive concept or story). The first of which was released in 1975, titled Caress of Steel
. The second was their breakthrough album, 2112
, released the following year in 1976. Their third was released in 1978, Hemispheres
.
Yes
also produced concept albums during the '70s, most notably Tales from Topographic Oceans
, which would become a defining album of prog rock, but its critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline in popularity and the rise of punk rock.
The group's keyboardist Rick Wakeman
released many concept albums on his own, most notably The Six Wives of Henry VIII
and Journey to the Centre of the Earth
, which was based on the novel by Jules Verne
.
Another progressive rock act, Genesis
, released the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
in 1974, a double disc that told the story of the street punk Rael. Rock musician David Bowie
also made three popular concept albums; The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
, about the fictional character, Ziggy Stardust and his band; Aladdin Sane
; and Diamond Dogs
In the 1970s and 80s, The Alan Parsons Project
was a British progressive rock group which specialized entirely in concept albums.
continued to have multiplatinum albums with their 1981 release Paradise Theater (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's Kilroy Was Here
(a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).
In the 1980s, the concept album became popular among heavy metal
bands bands like Kiss
, and their bombastic offering, 1981's Music from "The Elder", which went on to become the group's poorest selling and charting album in their history. Queensrÿche
fared better later the decade, releasing the rock opera Operation: Mindcrime
in 1988, which tells a story of a young man, Nikki, awoken from a coma suddenly remembering work done as a political assassin. The comedy group Buckner & Garcia
released a novelty concept album, Pac-Man Fever
, that went gold and produced a hit single of the same name; all of the songs on the album pertained to popular video games of the time.
The heavy metal
band King Diamond
gained cult status during the 1980s releasing mostly all concept albums. Releases such as Abigail
, "Them,"
and The Eye
told elaborate sagas of horror and the supernatural
.
In 1985 Kerrang! magazine ran a coverstory on Phenomena, announcing "the return of the concept album". Tom Galley had started the project, and together with his brother Mell and Metalhammer magazine founder Wilfried Rimensberger developed it into an international multi-media rock music project with contributions from a string of rock superstars, that, apart from so far a total of 5 albums, produced the Dreamrunner album and an ongoing following around the world. Phenomena's main story lines are dealing with the supernatural and unexplained, that were also turned in to scripts for musical, rock opera stage productions, feature films and video games. Iron Maiden
also released several concept albums including Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
, which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers.
, however, a number of artists still continued to use the format.
In this decade, the rock band Marilyn Manson
created three rock opera
concept albums, namely Antichrist Superstar
(1996), Mechanical Animals
(1998) and Holy Wood
(2000), which formed an ambitious concept trilogy. Though each one came with individual conceptual backgrounds, they are also meant to be taken together to form a larger abstract storyline. The albums were released in reverse order thus in the larger overarching 'fourth storyline' is divulged in reverse chronological order.
In 1994, industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails
released The Downward Spiral
which focuses on a life going in a downward spiral. In 1996, Meat Loaf
released Welcome to the Neighborhood
, a concept album that tells the story of a relationship.
In 1999, progressive metal band Dream Theater
released Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
, a story concept album. This was a specific follow-up to a song called "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", which was released on the band's 1992 breakthrough album, Images and Words
. While "Pt. 1" introduced a story, further parts of the "Metropolis" story were unseen on that album or subsequent releases for seven years. Although the band had created a twenty-minute follow-up to Part 1 in the mid-nineties, it hadn't been released. After the band gained complete creative control from their record company, they decided to expand their follow-up of the Metropolis story into a full album: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. This album builds on concepts introduced in "Part 1", both lyrically and musically. Although it did not achieve the same levels of commercial success as the band's later releases (it reached #73 on the Billboard 200
), it has been hailed by many fans and critics as Dream Theater's masterpiece and the band's defining album.
The Swedish progressive extreme metal band Opeth
released two concept albums in the late 90s. In 1998 they released My Arms, Your Hearse
, telling the story of a man who has died and become a ghost. Their fourth album Still Life
told the story of an exiled man who has come back to his home town to find the woman he loves.
and other multimedia technologies, bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins
(with the album Machina/The Machines of God
), Coheed And Cambria
(with the Amory Wars as a backing story for every one of their albums), and Nine Inch Nails
(with the album Year Zero
) exploited emergent cultural phenomena such as the alternate reality game
to provide additional web-based content beyond that on the album itself.
In the 2000s, the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars
released two concept albums, 30 Seconds to Mars
(2002) and This Is War
(2009). Also in the 2000s, My Chemical Romance
released three concept albums, the most popular being Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
and The Black Parade
. In 2003, The Protomen
released their debut album Act 1 (The Protomen) which borrows from the story of the Megaman franchise to create a dystopian rock opera. The follow-up album entitled Act II - The Father of Death was released in 2009 and serves as a prequel to Act I by establishing the history of Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and how the world came under the rule of Wily.
Also in the 2000s, pop punk
outfit Green Day
abandoned the pop punk scene and turned to more alternative and progressive rock influences and produced two Grammy-winning concept albums, namely, 2004's American Idiot
and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown
. In 2010, American Idiot became the first punk rock opera
to make it to Broadway
where it has garnered two Tony Awards.
In August 2009, The Antlers
released their first concept album Hospice. It tells the story of an emotionally abusive relationship, explained through the analogy of a hospice worker and terminally-ill patient. It is known for its realism, sadness, and use of expressive instrumental segments.
The chilean alternative duo The Paintings formed in Santiago de Chile, 2009 by Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus released their debut album Tiny Tales Of Tides & Suns in February 2010. It is a concept album about the persistence of matter, energy and memory in the Universe. It is a 10 song work where the last track finishes right at the beginning of the first one. "It is designed to be listened to as a cycle." Their second album TEA. is scheduled to be released in the late trimester of 2011. It is a 2-disc set concept album where each part is sung entirely by a half of the duo. Disc 1 is sung entirely by Eija-Lynn and it is about "a possible future where all the cities on Earth have disappeared under the snow of a centuries long winter. Seeds of trees that have been waiting for ages start to grow, multiply and take over again. It will all be written in their annual rings: the memory of trees. Meanwhile, a human spaceship that was sent out to space long ago when the planetary winter began crashes in some foreign planet and the local civilization buries all evidence of the accident." Disc 2 is sung entirely by Hieronymus and it is "about a possible past where humans have evolved from an alien organic source buried in our planet billions of years ago. All the many species that have existed, have an ancestor in that alien molecule. Through the epochs and in the sand the fossils lie entombed: the memory of sand. Billions of years later, all evidence of that fact has been erased or denied and it is considered just a silly theory. The weather starts to change in a dramatic way leading to a planetary winter and a few space travellers sail out to wander in the cosmic ocean in search of answers about their place in the universe. They end up crashing in a foreign planet."
In May 2010, Ayurveda
released H. luminous. It is a 25-minute, eight-movement, concept piece recorded live in the studio at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. H. luminous takes the listener on a shamanic journey of humankind's transformation and evolution from homo sapiens to homo luminous. The piece was conceptualized by lyricist, Tom Burchinal, and offers an anti-apocalyptic viewpoint of the popularized end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar in 2012. CD sleeves for H. luminous were silk-screened and printed by the band using 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard. The 16-panel album insert features artwork from five Ithaca-based artists and follows the symbolic transformation from homo sapiens to enlightened beings as portrayed in H. luminous. Under Burchinal's direction, Nicoli Schwiep designed both the album cover and insert layout.
In 2007 rapper, Jay-Z
, released American Gangster
, his first concept album, inspired by the movie of the same name, it was met with critical praise.
In addition, Grammy-winning metal
band Mastodon
has released three concept albums, Leviathan
, Blood Mountain
and Crack the Skye
, which, along with their debut album, Remission
, make up a quadrilogy, each representing its own element: water, earth, air and fire, respectively.
British rapper Plan B
released a concept album titled The Defamation of Strickland Banks
in which he plays a soul singer named Strictland Banks.
Progressive metal
band Dominici
, released three albums in 2005, 2007 and 2008. These were story concept albums which named as O3: A Trilogy, Part One, O3: A Trilogy, Part Two, and O3: A Trilogy, Part Three.
English alternative rock
band Coldplay
is scheduled to release a concept album, Mylo Xyloto, in October 2011. Lead singer Chris Martin
says, "It’s based on a love story with a happy ending."
Raleigh, North Carolina heavy metal
band Alesana
is scheduled to release a concept album, A Place Where the Sun Is Silent
, during October 2011. The band has stated the two-disc CD will be based on the seven deadly sins
.
Nightwish
released a concept album entitled Imaginaerum on November 30, 2011. The album tells a story of an old composer on his deathbed, reminiscing of his youth. A movie of the same name is set for release sometime in 2012.
Baltimore, MD heavy metal
band Periphery
plans to release a concept album entitled "Juggernaut" in late 2012.
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
. This is in contrast to the practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected (lyrically or otherwise) songs performed by the artist.
1950s
Woody GuthrieWoody Guthrie
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ballads and improvised works. He frequently performed with the slogan This Machine Kills Fascists displayed on his...
's "Dust Bowl Ballads
Dust Bowl Ballads
Dust Bowl Ballads is an album by Woody Guthrie, recorded for Victor Records during Guthrie's time in New York City in 1940. It was Guthrie's first commercial recording and the most successful album he made. It is sometimes considered the first concept album.The Dust Bowl Ballads was originally...
" is considered to be the first concept album.
Before the advent of rock and roll, concept albums had their original heyday in jazz of the early to mid '50s with artists such as Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
and Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, the latter of whom would record numerous concept albums for Capitol throughout the last half of the '50s such as In The Wee Small Hours
In the Wee Small Hours
In 2003, the album was ranked number 100 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album is also the first album reviewed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery. In 2007, Time Magazine selected it as one of The All-TIME 100 Albums...
, Come Fly with Me, Where Are You? and Nice 'n' Easy
Nice 'n' Easy
Nice 'n' Easy is a 1960 album by Frank Sinatra.All the songs, with the notable exception of the title song, are sung as ballads and were arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle...
.
1960s
Perhaps the first examples from rock were the albums of The VenturesThe Ventures
The Ventures is an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 in Tacoma, Washington. Founded by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, the group in its various incarnations has had an enduring impact on the development of music worldwide. With over 100 million records sold, the group is the best-selling...
. Starting from 1961's Colorful Ventures (each song had a color in the title), the group became known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music. Ray Charles also issued his Modern Sounds
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B and soul musician Ray Charles, released in April 1962 on ABC-Paramount Records. Recording sessions for the album took place in early to mid-February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios...
recordings, which departed from his well-known R&B and soul style to conceptually country music records.
In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
' Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band The Beach Boys, released May 16, 1966, on Capitol Records. It has since been recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s, including songs such as "Wouldn't...
was a musical portrayal of Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
's state of mind at the time (and a major inspiration to Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
). Although it has a unified theme in its emotional content, the writers (Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) have said continuously that it was not necessarily intended to be a narrative. However, later in 1966, Brian Wilson began work on the Smile album, which was intended as a narrative. The album was scrapped before completion, only to be revived in the November of 2011. The Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, Freak Out!
Freak Out!
Freak Out! is the debut album by American band The Mothers of Invention, released June 27, 1966 on Verve Records. Often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums, the album is a satirical expression of frontman Frank Zappa's perception of American pop culture...
by Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
and Face to Face
Face to Face (The Kinks album)
Face to Face, released in 1966 on Pye Records in the United Kingdom and on Reprise Records in the United States, is the fourth UK studio album by The Kinks. A major artistic breakthrough for Kinks' songwriter Ray Davies, the LP represents the first full flowering of Davies' use of narrative,...
by The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
, the first collection of Ray Davies
Ray Davies
Ray Davies, CBE is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave...
's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people, are conceptually oriented albums. However, out of the albums above, only Pet Sounds attracted a huge commercial audience.
This all changed with The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' most celebrated album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
in June 1967. With the release of Sgt. Pepper, the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from traditional pop music
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
and other genres sometimes forgotten.
In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, Sgt. Pepper is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to firstly the idea of aging, then as an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings. These concepts were lost in the final production. While debate exists over the extent to which Sgt. Pepper qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.
Days of Future Passed
Days of Future Passed
Days of Future Passed is the second album and first concept album by The Moody Blues, released in 1967. It was also their first album to feature Justin Hayward and John Lodge, who would play a very strong role in directing the band's sound in the decades to come...
, released the same year as Sgt. Pepper's, was fellow UK musicians The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
' first foray into the concept album. Originally presented with an opportunity to rock out Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World"
Symphony No. 9 (Dvorák)
The Symphony No. 9 in E Minor "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 , popularly known as the New World Symphony, was composed by Antonín Dvořák in 1893 during his visit to the United States from 1892 to 1895. It is by far his most popular symphony, and one of the most popular in the modern repertoire...
by their new stereophonic label, the band instead forged ahead to unify their own orchestral-based threads of a day in the life of a common man.
The Who Sell Out
The Who Sell Out
-Track listing:All songs written by Pete Townshend except where noted. The between song jingles apparently have no official titles and are not listed anywhere on the original album packaging, though they are listed in the inner booklet of the 1995 remaster.Side one...
by The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
followed with its concept of a pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
broadcast. Within the record, joke commercials recorded by the band and actual jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
s from recently outlawed pirate radio station Radio London
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...
were interspersed between the songs, ranging from pop songs to hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
, culminating with a mini-opera titled "Rael."
In October 1967, the British group Nirvana
Nirvana (UK band)
Nirvana were a United Kingdom-based progressive rock band active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Though the band only achieved limited commercial success, they were acclaimed both by music industry professionals and critics...
released The Story of Simon Simopath
The Story Of Simon Simopath
The Story Of Simon Simopath is Nirvana's debut album released by Island Records in 1967. It traces the story from life to death of the titular hero via a series of short songs. The story deals with a boy named Simon Simopath who dreams of having wings. He is unpopular at school, and after reaching...
(subtitled "A Science Fiction Pantomime"), an album that tells the story of the title character. It was only a moderate commercial success. The album S.F. Sorrow
S.F. Sorrow
S.F. Sorrow is the title of the fourth LP by the British rock group The Pretty Things, released in 1968.One of the first rock concept albums, S.F. Sorrow was based on a short story by singer-guitarist Phil May. The album is structured as a song cycle, telling the story of the main character,...
(released in December 1968) by British group the Pretty Things
Pretty Things
The Pretty Things are an English rock and roll band from London, who originally formed in 1963. They took their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing" and, in their early days, were dubbed by the British press the "uglier cousins of the Rolling Stones". Their most commercially successful...
is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept – the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow.
Released in April 1969, was the rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
Tommy
Tommy (rock opera)
Tommy is the fourth album by English rock band The Who, released by Track Records and Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Decca Records/MCA in the United States. A double album telling a loose story about a "deaf, dumb and blind boy" who becomes the leader of a messianic movement, Tommy was...
composed by Pete Townshend
Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford "Pete" Townshend is an English rock guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and author, known principally as the guitarist and songwriter for the rock group The Who, as well as for his own solo career...
and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs
Double album
A double album is an audio album which spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically records and compact discs....
(unusual in those days) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first story-based concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the song-cycle style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project Lifehouse, which was abandoned before completion, and with their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia
Quadrophenia is the sixth studio album by English rock band The Who. Released on 19 October 1973 by Track and Polydor in the UK, and Track and MCA in the US, it is a double album, and the group's second rock opera...
.
Five months after the release of Tommy, The Kinks
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1964. Categorised in the United States as a British Invasion band, The Kinks are recognised as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era. Their music was influenced by a...
released another concept album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Arthur is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Kinks, released in October 1969. Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell; however, the television programme was...
(September 1969), written by Ray Davies
Ray Davies
Ray Davies, CBE is an English rock musician. He is best known as lead singer and songwriter for the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother, Dave...
; though considered by some a rock opera, it was originally conceived as the score for a proposed but never realised BBC television drama. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
Lola versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part OneAlternatively titled Kinks Part One: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround; commonly abbreviated to Lola Versus Powerman is the eighth studio album by British rock band The Kinks, recorded and released in 1970...
(1970), Muswell Hillbillies
Muswell Hillbillies
Muswell Hillbillies is the ninth studio album by the English rock group The Kinks, released in November 1971. The album is named after the Muswell Hill area of North London, where band leader Ray Davies and guitarist Dave Davies grew up and the band formed in the early 1960s.The album centred on...
(1971), Preservation: Act 1 (1973), Preservation: Act 2 (1974), Soap Opera
Soap Opera (album)
Soap Opera or The Kinks Present a Soap Opera is a 1975 concept album by The Kinks.It tells the story of a musician named Starmaker who changes places with an "ordinary man" named Norman in order to better understand life. The album is the third concept album in the band's "theatrical period"...
(1975) and Schoolboys in Disgrace
Schoolboys in Disgrace
Schoolboys in Disgrace or The Kinks Present Schoolboys in Disgrace is a 1975 album by English rock group The Kinks.According to the back cover liner notes, the story which the album presents is as follows:...
(1976).
1970s
Concept albums are considered de rigueur in the progressive rockProgressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
genre of the 1970s. Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
recast itself from its 1960s guise as a psychedelic band into a commercial success with its series of concept albums, most famously with The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
(which, according to the RIAA, is the third best selling album in history) and later with the double album rock opera The Wall
The Wall
The Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
.
From 1975 to 1979, a Canadian progressive power trio, Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
, released three albums containing sidelong epics, regarded by some as concept albums (though not actually concept albums by strict definition of the term; that is, none of the other songs on the album have anything to do with each other or the 20-minute sidelong epic, so there is no pervasive concept or story). The first of which was released in 1975, titled Caress of Steel
Caress of Steel
Caress of Steel is the third studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1975. The album shows more of Rush's adherence to hard progressive rock, as opposed to the blues-based heavy metal and hard rock style of the band's first two albums. Long pieces broken up into various sections and...
. The second was their breakthrough album, 2112
2112 (album)
2112 is the fourth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1976.The album features an eponymous seven-part suite written by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, with lyrics written by Neil Peart telling a dystopian story set in the year 2112. The album is sometimes described as a concept album...
, released the following year in 1976. Their third was released in 1978, Hemispheres
Hemispheres (Rush album)
Hemispheres is the sixth studio album by Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1978. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales and mixed at Trident Studios in London....
.
Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
also produced concept albums during the '70s, most notably Tales from Topographic Oceans
Tales from Topographic Oceans
-2003 CD re-issue:A remastered edition was released in 2003, which restored a two-minute ambient section at the beginning of the album's first song. This section was deleted at the last minute before the album was originally pressed...
, which would become a defining album of prog rock, but its critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline in popularity and the rise of punk rock.
The group's keyboardist Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
released many concept albums on his own, most notably The Six Wives of Henry VIII
The Six Wives of Henry VIII (album)
The Six Wives of Henry VIII is the debut studio album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released in January 1973 on A&M Records. It is an instrumental progressive rock album with its concept based on his interpretations of the musical characteristics of the six wives of Henry...
and Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Journey to the Centre of the Earth (album)
Journey to the Centre of the Earth is the second album from the English keyboardist and composer Rick Wakeman, released through A&M Records in May 1974. The album is a live recording from his second of two sold-out concerts on 18 January 1974 at the Royal Festival Hall in London...
, which was based on the novel by Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
.
Another progressive rock act, Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, released the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway
The Lamb Lies down on Broadway
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway is a double concept album recorded and released in 1974 by the British rock band Genesis. It was their sixth studio album and the last album by the group to feature the involvement of lead singer Peter Gabriel.-Premise:...
in 1974, a double disc that told the story of the street punk Rael. Rock musician David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
also made three popular concept albums; The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is a 1972 concept album by English musician David Bowie, which is loosely based on a story of a rock star named Ziggy Stardust. It peaked at number five in the United Kingdom and number 75 in the United States on the Billboard Music...
, about the fictional character, Ziggy Stardust and his band; Aladdin Sane
Aladdin Sane
Aladdin Sane is the sixth album by David Bowie, released by RCA Records in 1973 . The follow-up to his breakthrough The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, it was the first album Bowie wrote and released as a bona fide rock star...
; and Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs
Diamond Dogs is a concept album by David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. Thematically it was a marriage of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell and Bowie's own glam-tinged vision of a post-apocalyptic world...
In the 1970s and 80s, The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
was a British progressive rock group which specialized entirely in concept albums.
1980s
Though the progressive rock genre was beginning to decrease in popularity, concept albums had become a medium that continued. The progressive bands that were still around were still having major successes with concept albums. StyxStyx (band)
Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....
continued to have multiplatinum albums with their 1981 release Paradise Theater (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's Kilroy Was Here
Kilroy Was Here (album)
Kilroy Was Here is the eleventh album, a rock opera/concept album by the rock band Styx, released on February 28, 1983. The title comes from a famous World War II graffiti "Kilroy was here".-Background:...
(a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).
In the 1980s, the concept album became popular among heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands bands like Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
, and their bombastic offering, 1981's Music from "The Elder", which went on to become the group's poorest selling and charting album in their history. Queensrÿche
Queensrÿche
thumb|250px|right|Queensrÿche's classic line-up performing at the [[Sauna Open Air Metal Festival]] 2011 in [[Tampere]], [[Finland]]. Left to right: bass Eddie Jackson, lead vocals Geoff Tate, drums Scott Rockenfield and guitars Michael Wilton....
fared better later the decade, releasing the rock opera Operation: Mindcrime
Operation: Mindcrime
Operation: Mindcrime is a concept album by American progressive metal band Queensrÿche. Released on May 3, 1988, it is the band's third full-length album. A rock opera, its story follows a man who becomes disillusioned with the society of the time and reluctantly becomes involved with a...
in 1988, which tells a story of a young man, Nikki, awoken from a coma suddenly remembering work done as a political assassin. The comedy group Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia
Buckner & Garcia was a duo consisting of Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia from Akron, Ohio. Their first collaboration was in 1980, when they wrote a novelty Christmas song, "Merry Christmas in the NFL", imagining Howard Cosell as Santa Claus...
released a novelty concept album, Pac-Man Fever
Pac-Man Fever (album)
Pac-Man Fever is a 1982 concept album recorded by Buckner & Garcia. It is also the name of the first song on that album. Each song on the album is about a different classic arcade game, and uses sound effects from that game. The album was released as an LP, a cassette, an 8-track tape, and later...
, that went gold and produced a hit single of the same name; all of the songs on the album pertained to popular video games of the time.
The heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band King Diamond
King Diamond (band)
King Diamond is the heavy metal band that King Diamond formed after the split up of his heavy metal band Mercyful Fate, and the departure of Hank Shermann. He was joined by most members of the then defunct Mercyful Fate. The Satanic focus was replaced by a focus on horror stories...
gained cult status during the 1980s releasing mostly all concept albums. Releases such as Abigail
Abigail (album)
-Remaster bonus tracks:-Personnel:* King Diamond – vocals, producer* Andy LaRocque – guitar* Michael Denner – guitar, assistant producer* Timi Hansen – bass guitar* Mikkey Dee – drums, assistant producer...
, "Them,"
Them (King Diamond album)
-Remaster bonus tracks:-Personnel:*King Diamond - Vocals, Keyboards*Andy LaRocque - Guitar*Pete Blakk - Guitar*Hal Patino - Bass*Mikkey Dee - Drums...
and The Eye
The Eye (King Diamond album)
- Personnel :* King Diamond - vocals, keyboards* Andy LaRocque - guitars* Pete Blakk - guitars* Hal Patino - bass* Snowy Shaw - drums* Roberto Falcao - keyboards...
told elaborate sagas of horror and the supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
.
In 1985 Kerrang! magazine ran a coverstory on Phenomena, announcing "the return of the concept album". Tom Galley had started the project, and together with his brother Mell and Metalhammer magazine founder Wilfried Rimensberger developed it into an international multi-media rock music project with contributions from a string of rock superstars, that, apart from so far a total of 5 albums, produced the Dreamrunner album and an ongoing following around the world. Phenomena's main story lines are dealing with the supernatural and unexplained, that were also turned in to scripts for musical, rock opera stage productions, feature films and video games. Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
also released several concept albums including Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son is the seventh studio album by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released in 1988 by EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US...
, which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers.
1990s
In the 1990s prog rock had all but faded from popular music. With the advent of alternative rockAlternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
, however, a number of artists still continued to use the format.
In this decade, the rock band Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
created three rock opera
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
concept albums, namely Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar
Antichrist Superstar is the second full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on October 8, 1996 in the US through Nothing and Interscope Records. The record's success in mainstream charts propelled the band into a household name and turned its frontman overnight...
(1996), Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals
Mechanical Animals is the third full-length studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released on September 14, 1998, in Australia and on September 15, 1998, in the US, Germany and France through Nothing and Interscope Records and marked the beginning of the band's brief foray into...
(1998) and Holy Wood
Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
Holy Wood is the fourth studio album by American rock band Marilyn Manson, released in November 2000 through Nothing and Interscope Records. The album marked a return to the industrial and alternative metal style of the band's earlier efforts, after the modernized glam rock sound of Mechanical...
(2000), which formed an ambitious concept trilogy. Though each one came with individual conceptual backgrounds, they are also meant to be taken together to form a larger abstract storyline. The albums were released in reverse order thus in the larger overarching 'fourth storyline' is divulged in reverse chronological order.
In 1994, industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
released The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral
The Downward Spiral is the second studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released March 8, 1994, on Interscope Records. It is a concept album detailing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his "downward spiral" to his climactic attempt at suicide...
which focuses on a life going in a downward spiral. In 1996, Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
released Welcome to the Neighborhood
Welcome to the Neighborhood
Welcome to the Neighbourhood is Meat Loaf's seventh studio album, released in 1995 as follow-up to the popular album Bat out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. The album went platinum in the US and UK....
, a concept album that tells the story of a relationship.
In 1999, progressive metal band Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
released Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is the fifth studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released in 1999. It is a concept album that deals with the story of a man named Nicholas and the discovery of his past life, which involves love, murder, and infidelity as Victoria Page...
, a story concept album. This was a specific follow-up to a song called "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", which was released on the band's 1992 breakthrough album, Images and Words
Images and Words
Images and Words is currently ranked #2 on Digital Dream Door's list of the top 100 progressive metal albums of all time. Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes the album at number 8, just after Fear Factory's Demanufacture and before Sepultura's Roots, in his classification of the best metal albums...
. While "Pt. 1" introduced a story, further parts of the "Metropolis" story were unseen on that album or subsequent releases for seven years. Although the band had created a twenty-minute follow-up to Part 1 in the mid-nineties, it hadn't been released. After the band gained complete creative control from their record company, they decided to expand their follow-up of the Metropolis story into a full album: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. This album builds on concepts introduced in "Part 1", both lyrically and musically. Although it did not achieve the same levels of commercial success as the band's later releases (it reached #73 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
), it has been hailed by many fans and critics as Dream Theater's masterpiece and the band's defining album.
The Swedish progressive extreme metal band Opeth
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...
released two concept albums in the late 90s. In 1998 they released My Arms, Your Hearse
My Arms, Your Hearse
My Arms, Your Hearse is Opeth's third studio album, released in 1998. This album marks a large stylistic change from their previous release, Morningrise, especially production-wise...
, telling the story of a man who has died and become a ghost. Their fourth album Still Life
Still Life (Opeth album)
Still Life is the fourth studio album from Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth. The album was produced and engineered by Opeth "under the watchful eye" of Fredrik Nordström.-Style:...
told the story of an exiled man who has come back to his home town to find the woman he loves.
2000s and 2010s
With the advent of the World Wide WebWorld Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
and other multimedia technologies, bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
(with the album Machina/The Machines of God
MACHINA/The Machines of God
Machina/The Machines of God is the fifth album by American alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins, released on February 29, 2000 by Virgin Records. A concept album, it marked the return of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin and was intended to be the band's final official LP release prior to their first...
), Coheed And Cambria
Coheed and Cambria
Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York. Formed in 1995, the group incorporates aspects of progressive rock, punk rock, metal and post-hardcore....
(with the Amory Wars as a backing story for every one of their albums), and Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
(with the album Year Zero
Year Zero (album)
Year Zero is the fifth studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on April 17, 2007, by Interscope Records. Frontman Trent Reznor wrote the album's music and lyrics while touring in support of the group's previous release, With Teeth...
) exploited emergent cultural phenomena such as the alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
to provide additional web-based content beyond that on the album itself.
In the 2000s, the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since 2007, the band has consisted of actor Jared Leto , Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević...
released two concept albums, 30 Seconds to Mars
30 Seconds to Mars (album)
30 Seconds to Mars is the debut studio album by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, released on August 21, 2002. The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue and 30 Seconds to Mars, and was recorded in Los Angeles during 2001 and early 2002...
(2002) and This Is War
This Is War
This Is War is the third studio album by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, released through Virgin Records and EMI on December 8, 2009. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200.- Background and development :...
(2009). Also in the 2000s, My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance
My Chemical Romance is an American alternative rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of punk, emo, glam metal, and progressive rock...
released three concept albums, the most popular being Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
* Track 11 is commonly censored as "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Deathwish"-Charts:-Singles:-Release history:-Personnel:Band*Frank Iero – rhythm guitar, backing vocals*Matt Pelissier – drums*Ray Toro – lead guitar, backing vocals...
and The Black Parade
The Black Parade
The Black Parade is the third studio album by American rock band My Chemical Romance. Released on October 23, 2006 through Reprise Records, it was produced by Rob Cavallo, who has also produced albums for Green Day. The album is the first on which Bob Bryar plays drums. It is a rock opera centering...
. In 2003, The Protomen
The Protomen
The Protomen is an American rock band best known for composing original concept albums loosely based on the popular video game series Mega Man...
released their debut album Act 1 (The Protomen) which borrows from the story of the Megaman franchise to create a dystopian rock opera. The follow-up album entitled Act II - The Father of Death was released in 2009 and serves as a prequel to Act I by establishing the history of Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and how the world came under the rule of Wily.
Also in the 2000s, pop punk
Pop punk
Pop punk is a fusion music genre that combines elements of punk rock with pop music, to varying degrees. Allmusic describes the genre as a strand of alternative rock, which typically merges pop melodies with speedy punk tempos, chord changes and loud guitars...
outfit Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
abandoned the pop punk scene and turned to more alternative and progressive rock influences and produced two Grammy-winning concept albums, namely, 2004's American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
. In 2010, American Idiot became the first punk rock opera
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
to make it to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
where it has garnered two Tony Awards.
In August 2009, The Antlers
The Antlers
The Antlers is the student section of the University of Missouri basketball team.-History:The Antlers were formed in 1976 when a small section of 11 courtside seats in the school's basketball arena at that time, Hearnes Center, was made available to all students. At the time, all other prime level...
released their first concept album Hospice. It tells the story of an emotionally abusive relationship, explained through the analogy of a hospice worker and terminally-ill patient. It is known for its realism, sadness, and use of expressive instrumental segments.
The chilean alternative duo The Paintings formed in Santiago de Chile, 2009 by Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus released their debut album Tiny Tales Of Tides & Suns in February 2010. It is a concept album about the persistence of matter, energy and memory in the Universe. It is a 10 song work where the last track finishes right at the beginning of the first one. "It is designed to be listened to as a cycle." Their second album TEA. is scheduled to be released in the late trimester of 2011. It is a 2-disc set concept album where each part is sung entirely by a half of the duo. Disc 1 is sung entirely by Eija-Lynn and it is about "a possible future where all the cities on Earth have disappeared under the snow of a centuries long winter. Seeds of trees that have been waiting for ages start to grow, multiply and take over again. It will all be written in their annual rings: the memory of trees. Meanwhile, a human spaceship that was sent out to space long ago when the planetary winter began crashes in some foreign planet and the local civilization buries all evidence of the accident." Disc 2 is sung entirely by Hieronymus and it is "about a possible past where humans have evolved from an alien organic source buried in our planet billions of years ago. All the many species that have existed, have an ancestor in that alien molecule. Through the epochs and in the sand the fossils lie entombed: the memory of sand. Billions of years later, all evidence of that fact has been erased or denied and it is considered just a silly theory. The weather starts to change in a dramatic way leading to a planetary winter and a few space travellers sail out to wander in the cosmic ocean in search of answers about their place in the universe. They end up crashing in a foreign planet."
In May 2010, Ayurveda
Ayurveda (band)
Ayurveda is an independent rock-based band with a progressive style that is ambient, heavy, and alternative with electronic and Nepalese influences. They are based out of Ithaca, NY when not on tour. The five member band is: Tom Burchinal , Diwas Gurung , Shikhar R...
released H. luminous. It is a 25-minute, eight-movement, concept piece recorded live in the studio at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. H. luminous takes the listener on a shamanic journey of humankind's transformation and evolution from homo sapiens to homo luminous. The piece was conceptualized by lyricist, Tom Burchinal, and offers an anti-apocalyptic viewpoint of the popularized end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar in 2012. CD sleeves for H. luminous were silk-screened and printed by the band using 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard. The 16-panel album insert features artwork from five Ithaca-based artists and follows the symbolic transformation from homo sapiens to enlightened beings as portrayed in H. luminous. Under Burchinal's direction, Nicoli Schwiep designed both the album cover and insert layout.
In 2007 rapper, Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
, released American Gangster
American Gangster (album)
American Gangster is the tenth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, released November 6, 2007 on Roc-A-Fella Records. It is Jay-Z's last studio release for the Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella Records label and his first concept album, which was inspired by the film of the same name. The album features...
, his first concept album, inspired by the movie of the same name, it was met with critical praise.
In addition, Grammy-winning metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Mastodon
Mastodon (band)
Mastodon is an American heavy metal band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1999. The band is composed of bassist/vocalist Troy Sanders, guitarist/vocalist Brent Hinds, guitarist Bill Kelliher and drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor...
has released three concept albums, Leviathan
Leviathan (album)
Leviathan is a concept album by sludge metal band Mastodon, released in 2004 by Relapse Records. The album is loosely based on the Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick, and the songs "Iron Tusk", "Blood and Thunder", "I Am Ahab" and "Seabeast" were released as singles...
, Blood Mountain
Blood Mountain (album)
-Story notes:* The main character is in search of the Crystal Skull which he hopes to place at the top of Blood Mountain. In the making of DVD, the Crystal Skull is supposed to remove "the reptile brain" causing its owner the ability to achieve the next step of human evolution.* In an interview...
and Crack the Skye
Crack the Skye
Crack the Skye is the fourth studio album by American sludge metal band Mastodon, released on March 24, 2009 through Reprise Records. It features seven tracks and runs at 50 minutes and 6 seconds. The album debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200, selling 41,000 copies in its first week. In...
, which, along with their debut album, Remission
Remission (Mastodon album)
Remission is the first full-length debut album by American sludge metal band Mastodon. It was released on May 28, 2002 through Relapse Records and was re-released on October 21, 2003.-Production:...
, make up a quadrilogy, each representing its own element: water, earth, air and fire, respectively.
British rapper Plan B
Plan B (rapper)
Benjamin Paul Ballance-Drew primarily known as Plan B or Ben Drew, is a British rapper, singer-songwriter, actor and film director from Forest Gate, London. Plan B first emerged as a hip hop artist releasing his critically acclaimed debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words in 2006...
released a concept album titled The Defamation of Strickland Banks
The Defamation of Strickland Banks
The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010. The album is a departure from the sound heard on Plan B's debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, with the rapper's sophomore effort providing a showcase for much...
in which he plays a soul singer named Strictland Banks.
Progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
band Dominici
Dominici
Dominici is a progressive metal band formed in 2005 by former Dream Theater vocalist Charlie Dominici. Their only released work is the O3 Trilogy, a series of three concept albums about the story of a terrorist sleeper cell coming to the United States and falling in love with the country...
, released three albums in 2005, 2007 and 2008. These were story concept albums which named as O3: A Trilogy, Part One, O3: A Trilogy, Part Two, and O3: A Trilogy, Part Three.
English alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
band Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
is scheduled to release a concept album, Mylo Xyloto, in October 2011. Lead singer Chris Martin
Chris Martin
Christopher Anthony John "Chris" Martin is an English song-writer, who is the lead vocalist, pianist and rhythm guitarist of the band Coldplay. He is married to actress Gwyneth Paltrow.-Early life:...
says, "It’s based on a love story with a happy ending."
Raleigh, North Carolina heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Alesana
Alesana
Alesana is an American rock band from Raleigh, North Carolina. Formed in 2004, the group is currently signed to Epitaph Records and have released one EP and four full-length studio albums...
is scheduled to release a concept album, A Place Where the Sun Is Silent
A Place Where the Sun Is Silent
-Personnel:Alesana*Shawn Milke - vocals, rhythm guitar, piano*Dennis Lee - Unclean vocals*Patrick Thompson - lead guitar, backing vocals*Jeremy Bryan - drums, custom percussion*Shane Crump - bass guitar, Unclean vocals*Alex Torres - lead guitar...
, during October 2011. The band has stated the two-disc CD will be based on the seven deadly sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
.
Nightwish
Nightwish
Nightwish is a Finnish symphonic metal band from Kitee, Finland. Formed in 1996 by songwriter and keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, and former vocalist Tarja Turunen, Nightwish's current line-up has five members, although Tarja has been replaced by Anette Olzon and the...
released a concept album entitled Imaginaerum on November 30, 2011. The album tells a story of an old composer on his deathbed, reminiscing of his youth. A movie of the same name is set for release sometime in 2012.
Baltimore, MD heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
band Periphery
Periphery
Periphery may refer to:* Peripheries of Greece, the administrative subdivisions of that country* Periphery * Periphery , by Periphery* Periphery * Periphery countries, a category of less-developed nations...
plans to release a concept album entitled "Juggernaut" in late 2012.