Great rock operas!
 

I didn't find a previous thread like this! Reccomend me some, please!

I've already got The Wall and The Black Parade, I heart both of them. I'm also getting Tommy by The Who soon, but other than that I have no idea.

I was gonna mention Tommy :(

Not sure if it counts but Phantom of the Paradise.

KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.

thing-fish

GWAR is kind of rock opera. Not really evident on their albums but, if you watch "Phallus in Wonderland" or "Skul-Hed-Face", they are stories.

King Diamond's solo efforts "Them" and "Conspiracy" is actually a two album Rock Opera. But some don't dig his vocal style.

Oh, yeah, Voivod's "Dimension Hatross" kicks mucho arse. The whole album is a story that is SCI-FI!! Before this album, I thought metal had to be about horns and tails and THE DARKSIDE.


I know it's all metal stuff, but that's what immediately comes to mind. They are good stories, combined with good music, though.

You might wanna look into Tom Waits too.

I guess you can sort-of construe Heavy Metal to be a rock opera, but that'd be reaching FAR.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uaaF83eVig

If you think anything more needs to be said on the subject, then you will burn in hell for eternity on account of your errors.

I don't know. I always thought "Rock Opera" was a story that was told with music. With metal, it seems like the term "concept album" was thrown around a lot, though.

But if "The Wall" and "Tommy" are rock opera, King Diamond's "Them" and "Conspiracy" should be included, as he would perform these albums live from start to finish, using props and sets.

Voivod's album "Dimesion Hatross", when reading the lyrics, is definitely a sci-fi story. Each of the 8 songs on that album furthers the story. What they did with it live, I don't know.

GWAR is probably a bad example. They would tell stories through the music, but not all songs on an album would be part of it.

nightfall in middle-earth counts as a rock opera, right?

Some may disagree, but I think it does qualify, The Residents "Mark Of The Mole" and David Bowie's "Outside".

holy SHIT :eek

I sort of wish there was an actual real rock opera based on Kafka's works, though ;<

HI GUYS I THINK YOU FORGOT JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW LOL

Id love to find a copy of that. :)

psykosonik's self titled album isn't rock opera, but it does tell a story through it if you're into that type of music as well. Good techno was hard to come by in the 90's, yet this still existed.

To breakdown King Diamond a bit further...

5 songs on Diamond's first post-Mercyful Fate album, Fatal Portrait, are all part of the same story: The Candle, The Jonah, The Portrait, Dressed in White, and Haunted. The next King Diamond album, Abigail, is entirely of the same concept, and is arguably his finest effort. Them and Conspiracy are both the same concept. The Spiders Lullabye and Abigail II are also concept albums, with Abigail II a continuation of Abigail.

Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime is an opus "rock opera" concept album, followed by Operation: Mindcrime II.

Fates Warning released an album called No Exit, and the entire second side is all of one concept: The Ivory Gate of Dreams (Innocence, Cold Daze, Daylight Dreamers, Quietus, Ivory Tower, Whispers on the Wind, Acquiescence, Retrospect).

For more instrumental "rock opera" themed concepts: Agalloch put 3 songs on Pale Folklore that are connected, "She Painted Fire Across the Sky (parts 1,2, and 3)".

Continuing in the instrumental vein, Burzum released two albums, Daudi Baldrs and Hlioskjalf that are loosely connected concepts, but can be listened to separately.

These are the albums I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm forgetting.

Unfortunately, finding complete accompanying videos or movies based on these works is impossible. There were single videos made of some of the songs though and you can probably find them on YouTube.

A few days ago, I looked up Rock Opera on Wikipedia, since they are such authorities on it, to see what they had to say about it. Rock Opera, is basically a story, told through music, from the first person perspective, having one or more charcters. A lot of time the characters are named, but it doesn't always have to be so.

There was also mention of metal, kinda sorta qualifying.

To argue FOR metal, The music is usually a lot more technical and some people won't listen to metal because of "that opera singer crap". So, I think, metal shouldn't be so easily dismissed of a genre for Rock Opera.

However, metal or not, if Rock Opera tells a story, through at least one character, in the first person, then these do have to be included.

Residents - "Mark of the Mole" and "GOD in Three Persons"
David Bowie - "Outside"
Almost anything King Diamond has ever done outside of Mercyful Fate.
Voivod - "Dimesion Hatross"

There are those works which are given Rock Opera status, but the main reason I haven't listed them is because I am unfamiliar with them.

The Who - "Tommy"
Jesus Christ Superstar
possibly Pink Floyd - "The Wall" (wiki didn't list them)
Queensryche - "Operation:Mindcrime"

These are all albums where the story is not interupted by extraneous songs such as many of GWAR's releases.

Other suspects of potential Rock Opera may be Rush, King Crimson, Tom Waits, and Helloween. Send me money so I can find out.

so no frank zappa then? I mean i suppose it's not readily classified as "rock" most of the time, but at very least joe's garage and thing-fish both tell stories of a sort

Thing-fish sucks, though

parts of it do yeah but it has its moments!

I wonder if Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter would count. :)

Goddamnit Code-Wheel! Yer right. I forgot about Joe's Garage.

Spot on.

Dream Theater's "Scenes from a Memory"

thread over

honestly, guys, I love dream theater.

honestly, guys, I love this guy.