Lookin' for some show tunes for my iPod...

[minor7flat5]

@Miss Purl McKnittington

I can’t believe no one has mentioned Jesus Christ, Superstar yet. I have the London revival cast recording, but both the original cast recording and the 1970s movie recording are good.

I definitely second Avenue Q. And Bat Boy: The Musical and Little Shop of Horrors. I like the movie soundtrack over the cast recording for that last one.

This isn’t quite rock opera or musical, but I think you might like Wicked. As far as I know, the only recording is the original cast recording with Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. I find myself singing “Popular” fairly frequently, and I enjoy all the musicals in your OP.

If you like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, you might want to grab Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell album. I believe it was originally supposed to be a musical, but instead got turned into an album.

Ah yes… I somehow forgot to mention that I have two versions of Jesus Christ, Superstar.
Excellent soundtrack! I sometimes listen to that one while on long runs; it lasts a little over 10 miles.

I have Bat out of Hell, so if you say that Rocky Horror is similar, I think I’ll like it.

@Kythereia

I’ve got the soundtrack for Wicked, which is pretty good…

I see others have seconded this, and coffinjumper says that the Pippin dude wrote this one; I’ll have to check it out!

@Eyebrows Of Doom

Another rock-ish show I like is Taboo, the Boy George musical. Get the Broadway version, not London, as that one has Raul Esparza and an additional song.

If you like Stephen Schwartz (Pippin, Godspell, Wicked), another one by him I like is Children of Eden.

You have Rent on your list, so you will probably enjoy tick…tick… BOOM!, which is also by Jonathan Larson.

I love ALW’s Phantom. I think the music is beautiful and it’s the same kind of sung-through show as what you have.

Try a Sondheim or two. They’re different than the shows you’ve listed, but they are brilliant and I find Sondheim to be very catchy. Sweeney Todd, the original recording w/ Angela Lansbury & Len Cariou, is a masterpiece.

I’m going to have to check out Sweeney Todd. My friend who recommended Godspell and Pippin also mentioned Sweeney Todd.
Is tick…tick… BOOM! as energetic as Rent?

I see that Assassins! has also been mentioned by a couple. Cool.

Thanks for all the good advice folks.
I definitely am interested in knowing what is the definitive version of a recommendation, and life is even better if it’s on Amazon MP3.

[Eyebrows_0f_Doom]

@minor7flat5

Is tick…tick… BOOM! as energetic as Rent?

Hmm, I don’t know if I’d say that. tick…tick… BOOM! was an Off-Broadway show with a cast of only three people, based on Larson’s own struggles of living in NYC in the '80s & '90s while trying to write music & find himself as an artist. Some of the music is very similar in feel to RENT, but on a smaller scale.

You can check out audio clips of all the songs here