# Decline of the 'concept album' as an art form **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592 "2017-01-30T16:01:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/21 "2017-01-31T08:28:37Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > The Sword had a very 70s-sounding hard rock SF concept album with [_Warp Riders_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApA3Z5KfOPo&list=PL2E2D77AA3559D6D4) in 2010, and it’s fucking epic. :smack: I forgot to mention: you shoulda gobsmacked 'em with [Tres Brujas](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk9uevsHvAE). ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/22 "2017-01-31T15:59:19Z")
A fairly new one: Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth”. Great album. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/23 "2017-01-31T16:34:21Z")
PJ Harvey’s “Let England Shake” appears to be songs about WWI (or the Great War). Excellent album, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/24 "2017-01-31T17:08:36Z")
My favorite album, period, is _Quadrophenia_. It spoke to me the first time I heard it and has not lost any of its appeal almost 45 years on. In general I’m a big fan of Pete’s concept albums…even _Psychoderelict_. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/25 "2017-01-31T17:16:23Z")
One doesn’t have to squint very hard at all to see Lord Huron’s two studio albums, \*Lonesome Dreams \*(2012) and \*Strange Trails \*(2015), as conceptual. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/26 "2017-01-31T17:18:54Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > In many sub-genres of metal, actually. > > Aye, that was one of the metal albums I’d’ve mentioned too. With the execrable exception of Night City it’s a fantastic album; I reviewed it on my blog back then. > > Mastodon’s _Leviathon_, _Blood Mountain_ and _Crack The Skye_ are all concept albums. > > Coheed & Cambria pretty much only exists to tell about The Amory Wars. > > Opeth’s _Still Life_ is excellent but for me their best is the _Damnation_ half of their double album concept with _Deliverance_. Love that ddamn album. > > Texas headbangers Upon A Burning Body released a couple of awesome concept albums a few years back, one based on Pacino movies and another based on Robert Rodriguez’s movies. > > There’s loads of concept albums still being made. On a slightly older (and less heavy) note, there’s also Queensryche’s masterpiece “Operation Mindcrime” and also WASP’s “The Crimson Idol.” Operation Mindcrime is still one of my favorite albums - great from start to finish. ---
**Author:** ![Dahnlor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahnlor/32/533_2.png) [@Dahnlor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahnlor)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/27 "2017-01-31T17:25:42Z")
We should also not forget last year’s _The Astonishing_ by Dream Theater, not to mention their excellent _Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory_ from 1999. ---
**Author:** ![CrimeThink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@CrimeThink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrimeThink)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/28 "2017-01-31T17:44:29Z")
Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral is my favorite album of all time and it is a concept album. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/29 "2017-01-31T18:30:04Z")
Perhaps little heralded but a favourite of mine is [“Jordan: The Comeback”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xh5fhT0mPI&list=PLLqSiyDwUx1o-gaoamsgbCgt0rfWNbm9f) By Prefab Sprout. Perhaps not as much a cohesive whole of some of those already mentioned but beautiful, weird and ambitious. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/30 "2017-01-31T18:58:03Z")
Has anyone here besides me heard Godley and Creme’s [Consequences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consequences_(Godley_%26_Creme_album))? It’s a wonderful mess of an album with the classic (?) line spoken by Peter Cook, _“It’s not a good omen when your goldfish commits suicide.”_ ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/31 "2017-01-31T20:07:02Z")
‘A grand don’t come for free’ by The Streets is a 2004 garage concept album. It belongs to the genre hip hopera! ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/32 "2017-01-31T20:51:23Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > ‘A grand don’t come for free’ by The Streets is a 2004 garage concept album. It belongs to the genre hip hopera! Good call, I love that album “Dry your Eyes” and “could well be in” are classics. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/33 "2017-01-31T21:15:54Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > I think this misses the point a little. It was designed to be a “rock opera” and opera plots are very often (always?) ridiculously implausible and melodramatic bullshit. That’s sort of part of the art form. > > I have to say I dislike opera style plots intensely, but complaining that an opera (or rock opera) has a bullshit plot is like complaining that the blues always uses the blues progression. That’s what it _is_. You may well be right, I frankly never saw it that way and was never quite clear what the difference between a rock “opera” or a mere concept album with a story-arc was. But then, I don’t know one single opera plot, because well, I don’t understand the singers at all, no matter if they sing in German or English (my two languages) or Italian, it’s all Greek to me ;). And I was never interested enough to read plot synopses, opera’s just not my cuppa. But I see the similarity in Tommy’s score with the musical pomposity of opera, so I can understand that Townshend wanted to go for an opera style libretto too, and if as you say implausibility is a key characteristic, then he succeeded. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/34 "2017-02-01T00:45:08Z")
Judas Priest recorded [_Nostradamus_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostradamus_(album)) about 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/35 "2017-02-01T01:51:33Z")
in my experience, I don’t like concept albums because any time a band I like has done one, it’s sucked. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/36 "2017-02-01T04:21:37Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Although its heyday is past, the concept album is not dead. See, for example, Paste Magazine’s 2010 list of [The 18 Best Concept Albums of the 21st Century (So Far)](https://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2010/11/the-18-best-concept-albums-of-the-21st-century-so-far.html) or TVTropes’ [list of concept albums by decade](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ConceptAlbum). I have to say you definitely don’t see a lot of concept albums like you had during the golden age of prog rock and heavy metal. Albums like Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Rush’s 2112, Queensryche’s Operation Mindcrime, The Who’s Tommy, The Beatles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Clubs Band, so on and so forth But Green Day’s American Idiot, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs and many of the others on that list are fantastic concept albums as well. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/37 "2017-02-01T04:35:59Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Part of it may be due to the lack of an outlet for them - the concept album existed at the same time as freeform FM radio, it was not unusual to hear an entire album side on stations like KAAY from Little Rock. That was a rock station at one time? Back in the late 1980s, it was a wacko right-wing Christian station that I could get in the late evenings all the way up in Iowa, where I worked second shift as a data entry operator. There was one really insane guy that I used to listen to because he was strange enough to be entertaining. > **[KAAY](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAAY)** > > KAAY (1090 AM) is a commercial radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas, owned by Cumulus Media. It airs a Christian radio format of instruction and preaching, with most of the schedule made up of brokered programming featuring local and national religious leaders, including Charles Stanley, Jim Daly, John F. MacArthur, and Albert Pendarvis. Overnight, automated contemporary Christian music is heard. The station's studios are located in West Little Rock, and the transmitter is located off McD KAAY ... This sounds like a commemoration of an event resembling what could best be described as the WKRP format change in reverse. > **[Former employees of KAAY mark anniversary of 'the day the music died'](https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2015-04-06/former-employees-of-kaay-mark-anniversary-of-the-day-the-music-died)** > > 30 years after the legendary top 40 station changed formats, many former staffers and listeners gathered to mark the occasion. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/38 "2017-02-01T05:19:27Z")
I nominate _Wish You Were Here_ as the best. ---
**Author:** ![OsageOrange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6a8cbe/32.png) [@OsageOrange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OsageOrange)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/39 "2017-02-09T00:21:39Z")
Okay, I know I’m gonna get some good-natured flak for this…but my favorite concept album is “Tales From Topographic Oceans” by Yes. Pretentious, sure, and over-hyped in its time, but it has aged well. For a more recent, and perhaps more palatable example, I give you “Felicite Thos” by Magma (the French prog band, not the Polish club duo!). Melodic and interesting, and only 30 minutes long. There’s no rule that you _have_ to use all the space available on a CD… ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2017, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592/40 "2017-02-09T01:16:02Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yes, Nightwish released Imaginaerum in 2011 and it is one of my favorite albums of all time. [It also has a movie that goes along with it.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSzosRWOrys) [Seriously, let me reiterate how important this album is. It has an article that just went up today telling the story behind it. It’s a hugely important album in the Symphonic Metal world.](http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-11-30/the-story-behind-nightwish-magical-imaginaerum-album) > [@CrimeThink](#): > > Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral is my favorite album of all time and it is a concept album. It’s a great album. It’s a concept album? Huh. What makes it one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decline-of-the-concept-album-as-an-art-form/778592.md?page=3)