A major British newspaper recently heralded
the return of the concept album. As far as we’re concerned, it never went away. Since first scoring a vintage vinyl copy of David Bowie’s
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, we’ve been suckers for any album with a theme, whether it was about breaking up with a girl or watching the earth getting invaded by cape-wearing space aliens. Here are five of the biggest and best examples of the format.
Frank SinatraIn the Wee Small Hours (1955)Many people consider this collection of after-hours ballads the original concept album. Featuring 16 terminally morose songs written after Sinatra’s relationship with Ava Gardner fell apart, it’s moodier than
Ryan Adams after a two-week bender. Enhanced by the dramatic album cover, highlights like “I’ll Never Be the Same” and Cole Porter’s “What Is This Thing Called Love?” made pop music safe for sensitive men.
The WhoTommy (1969)The British band’s fourth release was the most likely source of inspiration behind those sprawling prog-rock sets that came later by the likes of Genesis and Yes. Guitarist
Pete Townshend’s tale of the “deaf, dumb, and blind boy” who inexplicably becomes something of a cult leader is not exactly easy to digest but its dark themes and sensational bluster make it rise far above similarly ambitious projects. It also contains some of the Who’s best work, including “I’m Free” and “Pinball Wizard.”
David BowieThe Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)Bowie frequently loses the narrative thread but never his artistic intent on this concept album about a
Martian that lands on Earth with the sole purpose of shaking humans out of their mundane day-to-day existence through sex and salvation. Playing up his role as the ultimate glam icon, the singer channels T. Rex, Lou Reed, and the Who in wildly theatrical songs like “Suffragette City” and “Starman.” It remains his most enduring work and provided keyboard player Rick Wakeman plenty of fuel for his next project.
Pink FloydThe Wall (1979)Feeling remorseful after spitting in a fan’s face who tried to scale the netting that separated the band from the audience on its 1977 tour behind Animals, Roger Waters set to work writing the songs for this double-album that explored the isolation and emotional fallout of life on the road. Taking a year to complete,
the album features a set of songs―including “Comfortably Numb,” “Is There Anybody Out There?,” and “In the Flesh”―that finds the band feeling enormously sorry for itself. Radiohead’s famously dour “Meeting People Is Easy” has nothing on this.
Green DayAmerican Idiot (2004)For a California punk trio that basically made a career out of celebrating its ADD, this politically charged rock opera marked a major triumph. Recorded after Green Day recorded and, ahem, “lost” 20 tracks that were meant to go on another album called
Cigarettes and Valentines, the band spent three months coming up with the basic tracks for
American Idiot. Inspired by the Who and musical soundtracks such as
Jesus Christ Superstar and
West Side Story, the group made a
guitar-heavy double-album telling the convoluted story of a character called Jesus of Suburbia. Driven by epic songs like the title track, “Holiday,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends,” the album scored a Grammy for Best Rock Album while a year later “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” won the prize for “Record of the Year.”