A Brief History of the Concept Album 

Unfortunately I didn't have nearly enough time to shout out all the amazing concept albums in this video. What's a favorite of yours that I missed?

An overlooked concept album from The Who's catalog is The Who Sell Out. It's a fun album designed to be a pirate radio broadcast, complete with commercials the band wrote. And the front and back covers are pop art at its most fun.

Finally, a Concept video about Concept Albums.

Everything Everywhere at the End of Time by The Caretaker is an epic 6 Stage Concept Album exploring dementia and it’s effects. It’s beautifully haunting.

Sad that the 70s prog scene didn't get much of a mention. Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick and Yes' Close to the Edge I think are the epitome of concept albums.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have a discography full of concept albums. Many of their albums share the same universe fans call the Gizzverse, and other albums such as Infest the Rats' Nest and Fishing for Fishies follow concepts about the environment.

I’ve always felt the “death of the album” narrative was always an overly cynical view point because it dismisses albums as merely a way collection of songs and not an experience itself that people take the value in. I think that people’s standards for albums have increased in the streaming era than when everything had to be physical because now more people expect them to be cohesive experiences and are less forgiving to “skips” now that you can just save your favorite songs into your own personal playlist.

One of the most underrated concept albums is Time by Electric Light Orchestra, way ahead of its time in sound/production and packed with incredible songs

Danger days is a unique example of being a radio broadcast from an alternate dystopian future. Despite not having a specific story, it maintains the identity of the persona the band took on as the killjoys.

Happy to see Deltron 3030 was shouted out in this one. Fantastic and wonderfully unique record.

Just wanted to mention King Gizzard's many concept albums throughout the 2010s, but if I were to mention just one, it has to be Nonagon Infinity, an album with a narrative that prolongs through 9 tracks, linked together in a single sequence, with no stop, not even at the very end of the album, which can be looped back to the beginning of the opening track seamlessly, creating in fact THE nonagon infinity

I love concept albums, my favourite concept album is The rainbow goblins by masayoshi Takanaka it’s just such an incredibly put together album the music is astounding as the narration is beautiful anyone who hasn’t listened to it I’d recommend it a listen

You briefly mention The Beach Boys in your video. I’m pretty confident that their 1966 album Pet Sounds could easily fit into the Concept Album vein. It’s an album whose main theme is that of a young man who’s just become an adult. The songs deal with the joys, trials and tribulations of life outside of mom and dad’s house. Not to mention, Pet Sounds was the album that inspired The Beatles to make Sgt. Pepper.

The kinks definitely deserve a shoutout on concept albums especially with village green preservation society and arthur

"Days Of Future Passed" by The Moody Blues is such constantly overlooked even though it's widely considered to be one of the first "true concept albums" where everything is connected flows into each other on both sides....It's also one of the first "pop" albums to fully utilize surround sound, as well as one of the most influential psychedelic-progressive albums ever released.

Got to shout out some of my favorite concept albums not mentioned. The Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed", Rush "2112", and Yes "Close to the Edge". All fairly early on in the Prog and concept album movement, but all are incredible works of art.

Arthur by the Kinks is one of my favourite albums, and arguably one of the best concept albums ever. It follows the titular Arthur as he is born into the late Victorian era, fights in World War One, explores the boom of the interwar years and later WW2 years, ending with Shangri-La, a song about how he feels unfulfilled having bought his ideal house with nothing to do, and Arthur, a song about his entire life and the struggles he endured throughout. It's a really moving album as you watch a man live and die in about thirty minutes. If you are reading this, go listen to "Arthur or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire". It's incredible.

For sure Ethel Cain’s “ Preachers Daughter “ album is a amazing listen and story. I remember the first time I listened to it and just felt drained afterward , each song is amazing and just it’s a perfect concept album.

I'm a 2000 kid so I have to say that "American Idiot" is my favorite one. It changed the way of my view of concept albums and gave me so much inspiration as a writer.

Village Green Preservation Society and Arthur by The Kinks are really good underrated concept albums.

2112 by Rush will forever be my favorite concept album.

I’ve listened to Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 4 times this year and it’s incredible. I can’t get enough of it

I would have to say Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick is my favorite. Released in 1972, thanks to my older sister, I got to listen to it endlessly back then. Being a 9 year old kid, I got an early taste of prog rock!!

Clockwork Angles by Rush. One of my favourite albums ever. I saw them live on that tour. It is one of my favourite memories.

Ayreon is also a fantastic prog band who, like coheed and cambria, have a running sci-fi theme through some of their albums, as well as a few more grounded albums with their own concepts.

A recent concept album I’m obsessed with is The Lumineers’s “III” which tells the story of 3 generations of a family dealing with addiction. And they filmed cinematic music videos for them like a feature film.

As far as prog goes, my favourites gotta be The Mars Volta's De-Loused in the Comatorium & Frances the Mute. Two incredible story-based albums, especially the latter, telling the story of a drug dealer trying to find out what happened to his mother. Both absolutely mind-blowing.

Lloyd Webber's *Jesus Christ Superstar* was a concept (double) album before it was a rock musical on the stage and screen. Lloyd Webber's later musicals crystallized into a "musical sound", but the first one was made with contemporary session musicians and has a more "rocky" sound. Try listen to Murray Head's take on "Heaven on Their Minds"

Almost every Modest Mouse is album is a concept album. Lonesome Crowded West is probably the most complete example but my personal favourite is We Were Dead, where this kind of nautical existentialism is implied in every track in a way that really ties the whole thing together despite different subjects in each song.

An early concept album is Days of Future Passed walking us through a day. Every song linked to a part of the day

Concept albums that gets mentioned a lot are Pink Floyd's The Wall, Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral and Green Day's American Idiot as well as Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. A story matters in the song but it's what they're about that attracts us as the listener/audience.

Kudos for mentioning Zappa & The Mothers, as I think some of my favourite concept albums would be by them. There's "We're Only In It For The Money" from 1968 which is a biting satire of the psychedelic rock movement. It was also a huge milestone in the history of the concept album as there was never before an album that was so cohesive and so flowing as it. There's also "Uncle Meat" which served as the soundtrack to an imaginary film, but also served as a holistic and sardonic celebration of The Mothers' career. Showcasing the many different aspects of The Mothers' music, from art rock, to jazz rock, to free jazz, to doo-wop, to musique concrete, to charming and well paced skits, and more. Also, there's an album by "Camel" called "The Snow Goose," which brilliantly tells a haunting and emotional tale through pure instrumentals alone.

I think it was Rick Wakeman who confessed that a lot of double albums (including ones he worked on) had a sides worth of 'filler' because of the format creating space that had to be filled with something. He was defending the CD as liberating as you could create a more cohesive piece and not worry about the format induced breaks of making 2 or 4 approx. 20 minute acts.

As well as "Splendor & Misery", Clipping also released the twin horror-themed albums "There Existed an Addiction to Blood" and "Visions of Bodies Being Burned", where each track is like its own mini horror movie. They run the gamut of horror genres: psychological on "Check the Lock", Saw-esque torture porn on "The Show", found footage on "She Bad", even Lovecraftian cosmic horror on "Enlacing". But they approach all of these styles from fresh and unique angles. "Visions..." in particular might honestly be my favourite rap record this century.

One of the first concept albums imo is Nirvana (UK 60's band) - The Story of Simon Simopath. It tells the story of a boy who travels into space and various fantasy realms, though it is also implied that the boy is insane and escaping mentally into another world.

Don’t ya love it when a medium is declared to be dead because of newer tech? As a comic fan, I feel satisfaction when it’s proven wrong.

The concept behind Sgt Pepper was that the Beatles were not the Beatles, playing a kaleidoscope of styles, sounds and experiences.

One really cool concept album, and a personal favourite of mine, is Mother Earth’s Plantasia. It’s just such a cute little electronic album made entirely with a Moog synth. I highly recommend it if you’re into synths. To quote the cover itself: “Warm earth music for plants and people who love them.”

Electra Heart by MARINA is my favorite concept album. She was able to make an entire story for Electra Heart and tying some songs together with the archetypes was GENIUS

Love the inclusion of Drive-By Truckers “Southern Rock Opera”. That’s one of the best concept albums ever in my opinion. They keep the songs as simple Hard/Southern Rock all while being this complex concept album. Also, it is the only album I know of written completely about another band and kids growing up, in that area, at that time’s experience with them.

Been watching for awhile, your graphics and aesthetics are looking SUPER clean here well done

My favorite is Twenty One Pilots’ ‘TRENCH’ which continues the story into ‘SCALED AND ICY’ through music videos, hidden websites with clues, and secret messages in the music.

Mary robins NEEDS to talked about more when we talk about music history, he changed so much…

No love for jeff waynes war of the worlds? Surely one of the greatest concept albums ever.

I remember working on my concept EP/album this past year. My concept mostly are about a person becoming isolated from society, becoming mentally deranged, and learning about the theme of self-discovery. It's called The Chronicles of Problems with Internal Consciousness, if you want to check it out. I was really inspired by The Wall, The Black Parade, Pure Comedy (by Father John Misty), American Idiot, and Dark Side of The Moon.

While not an entire album, there is a song cycle in what became a single, "Like To Get To Know You" by Spanky & Our Gang. When you hear the original piece, it runs for several minutes, and there is an odd but sweet story being told.

Days of future passed by the moody blues is always missed in this conversation.

One of my favorite concept albums that you didn’t mention is the truly bizarre *Everywhere At The End of Time* by The Caretaker. Haunting.

has only been out for a little over a year but Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road is a masterpiece and I truly believe will go down in history as one of the best concept albums of all time

I swear man, everytime you upload a video I discover a new song that I love. Thank you! Wounderful stuff

Technically the first rock opera is "The Story Of Simon Simopath" in 1967. It was made by a small band called Nirvana (not the Cobain one) and it featured a fantasy/ sci-fi story

One of my favorite concept albums is in the classical genre. The Kronos Quartet working with David Krakauer and the composer Osvaldo Golijov made an album called "The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind". Which is about the visions of the kabbalah scholar Isaac the Blind. It's completely instrumental and I love it.

Two of my favorite concept albums are Kate Bush's Hounds Of Love and Never For Ever. I think she's a master at storytelling.

Serge Gainsbourg's "Histoire(s) de Melody Nelson" is a recent discovery due to Jane Birkin's recent passing. It's an absolute masterpiece.

Congratulations on 1 million subs. You deserve it. Great channel, love your videos, stories and narrations.

I've always been a huge fan of concept albums, but your video really helped me to understand them on a deeper level. I learned a ton about the history of this genre, and I also discovered some new albums that I'm excited to listen to! I especially appreciated the way you highlighted some of the most important concept albums from the past years. It was really cool to see how this has evolved over time. I also thought your video was really well-made. The editing was great, and the information was presented in a clear and concise way. Thanks again for making such a great video! I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about concept albums

This is just a question as the album had a huge impact on me as a child, but Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds. Is it a concept album, a soundtrack, a musical, a rock opera? I literally don't know, but the double cassette of that got me through many a boring car journey, gave me a lot of weird dreams and inspired my love of Sci-Fi! Interested how people would classify it!

Moody Blues definitely deserves a shoutout for their entire discography being concept albums. Quadrophenia and American Idiot will always hold a special place in my heart from my teenage years. Gotta shoutout Good Kid Maad City of course. Pink Floyd's Dark Side, the Wall, and even to a lesser extent Animals as well. Silversun Pickup's album Swoon is a loose concept album about having an anxiety attack but you wouldn't really notice until later cuz the songs are so great that they stand on their own. I can't help but hear OK Computer as a concept album about the modern world and struggling to find one's place within the system, becoming disenfranchised with everything around you. Thrice's the Alchemy Index is definitely up there. Each side is about a different element (Fire, Water, Air, Earth) exploring different genres and musical styles for each element, and every closer using the same rhythmic rhyming cadence while personifying each element as the narrator of the song. Absolutely brilliant.

Glad to see a video on concept albums. If you do a follow up would love to see you include more examples from R&B, jazz, and metal. Metal especially has tons of concept albums, bands like Mastodon, TesseracT, Dark Throne, Behemoth, Archspire, and so many others are well known for having their albums tell full narrative stories and it’s really great

Mentioning Coheed and Cambria instead of Rhapsody of Fire stings. They have put out only concept albums since their start and combined the perfect metal genre for storytelling with it. Another good mention is Blind Guardian. They have put out one concept album called Beyond the Red Mirror which continues the story of an earlier trio of songs. The catch is that the world for this concept album is a place of stories and almost every Blind Guardian song is about some story (where their nickname as Bards comes from). And you can go on an insane journey finding out how every single they've ever put out actually ties in to the story of the concept album. It's frankly incredible how many connections people have been able to link to this album. There's a forum thread where it feels like you're reading some sort of great conspiracy seeing how every song ties in the story. And like some songs are obvious, while others are so obscure and hard to piece to together, but when you do, it becomes pretty obvious they have a part in the story. I have never been more blown away by a band then when I found this out. The band itself has never said anything about this which is even more wild. Like how insane it is to reveal after 25 years that your entire catalogue is not random songs, but actually all parts of a much much bigger story.

I always thought of Public Enemy's Nation of Millions, Fear of a Black Planet, and Apocalypse 91 as concept albums - each engaging a facet of their political message and each exploring a singular sonic approach. Fair to say they were my intro to concept albums.

king gizzard and the lizard wizard?! they literally have so much lore behind their music and so many different concept albums with different genres and sounds

Legitamently, when some of the albums were mentioned I cheered! plus I think this is such a great video, Polyphonic, you deserve the 1M subs.

Loved all of the concept albums you were able to get to in this video fwiw! (Especially as a big Coheed fan)

Concept albums are without a doubt the coolest thing to ever happen in the music industry. Just the idea of telling a story through a number of songs is simply genius. My favorite concept albums have to be: Mastodon's "Leviathan", "Blood Mountain" and "Crack the Skye" Avenged Sevenfold's "The Stage" The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" Against Me's "Transgender Dysphoria Blues" Black Veil Brides' "Wretched and Divine: The Story of the Wild Ones" The Eagles' "Hotel California" Green Day's "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown" Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" The Mars Volta's "De-Loused in the Comatorium" Nightwish's "Imaginaerum" Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon" and "The Wall" Shinedown's "Attention Attention" and "Planet Zero" Thirty Seconds to Mars' "This Is War"

While they have a few concept albums, I think King Gizzard’s Murder of the Universe is an interesting take on a concept album. They present the story in an interesting way. Didn’t get it much at first, but I think it has my favorite instrumentation by the band.

I think one glaring omission is Janet Jackson’s albums “Control”, “Rhythm Nation 1814”, and most notably “The Velvet Rope”, which really influenced the sound structure of future releases of both alt/R&B and pop records going forward, especially in a time when singles and music videos were pushed heavily to the forefront, there was an intense focus on central theme for each project that connected the music, videos, and touring material, which trickled its way into pretty much every act we see today

I'm so glad to see you have mentioned two of my favorite bands that are seldom heard of in the music world as talented creators and performers: Porcupine Tree and Coheed & Cambria. Thanks for bringing them to light

Elton John's 1975 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC AND THE BROWN DIRT COWBOY. Cohesive, beautifully produced and the EJ Band was firing on all cylinders.

Disappointed that you went all in on The Beatles and The Who without mentioning the iconic concept album from '67, The Moody Blues "Days of Future Passed". My favorite prog bands from the 70's site that album far more than The Who for their influences.

Love the style, theme and atmosphere of your videos

The Alan Parsons Project were unmatched in their accomplishments regarding the concept album, as that genre essentially defined their existence, beginning with the Edgar Alan Poe concept album, Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, which was released on May 20th, 1976. This was followed with the July 8th, 1977 release of the album, "I Robot", which followed the concept of author Isaac Asimov's science fiction Robot stories, which explored philosophical themes on Artificial Intelligence. The Alan Parsons Project continued on after this releasing even more outstanding concept albums that are well worth exploring.

Streaming seems more ideal for concept albim. Theres the listeners opportunity to listen whenever and the artist ability fill fill it out with more material. Also setting a concept albumn to suffle and seeing how it might reinterpret it

I really appreciate your videos and usually agree with facts you cite, so pardon my quibble, but I wouldn’t say that 2008 was the “beginning of the iPod era”; I’d say that it’s more like 2002 since the first iPod was released at the end of 2001 and THAT was a bit after digital music file sharing had already started to change the way some acquired and listened to music on their computers and on pre-Apple MP3 players (with the first portable MP3 player arriving in 1997.)

literally screamed at 14:40 because demon days, illinoise, and hazards of love are some of my favorite albums ever

Shout-out for mentioning De La Soul. My favorite hip-hop group of all-time. Their first three albums with Prince Paul are essential listening. I also took notes of a bunch of other albums I need to listen to. And no, the album isn't dying. Not only has vinyl seen a huge resurgence, but CDs are gaining traction again as well. The more people that are seeing the limitations of digital distribution, the more important preservation of physical media becomes.

No mention of The Kinks’ many many early concept albums and rock operas?? From ‘68 to ‘71 is a four run streak of distinct and unique concept albums. Their finest work.

Lou Reed’s Berlin is personally my favorite concept album

Dawg you have no idea how much I LOVE concept albums, thank you for making another banger

Amazing video. The Kinks Arthur is another amazing early Rock Opera. You covered a lot different aspect and genres of the concept album. Keep up the great work.

I love concept albums. Recently my favorite one has been "The Hazards of Love" by The Decemberists.

I think almost every album King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have done could be classified as a concept album. Especially Murder of the Universe.

Thank you for including Zappa.

Thrice made an incredible 4-disc concept album in 2 releases called the Alchemy Index. Disc 1 & 2 are titled Fire & Water, while 3 & 4 are Air & Earth. Each disc plays music that captures the quintessence of the element they represent.

You mentioned Queensryche, but I HAVE to emphasize how good of a concept album "Operation: Mindcrime" is. I've covered over 150 concept albums on my podcast and Operation: Mindcrime is tight, well executed, and leaves you with just enough to wonder about.

Wow Noah, you really outdid yourself here. This is excellent. Very well done yet again.

I really love your videos, man. Keep it up!

Always love a good Coheed shout-out.

I wouldn’t say billy corgan is wrong. Artists make concept albums but most people just listen to the hits

Porcupine Trees Fear of a blank planet is a prophetic look into the dangers of the digital age numbing younger generations. I was happy to see you mention PT as I believe their iconic 3 Album run during the 2000s is one of the best examples of concept records in the modern day.

One of my favorite modern concept album the Lemon Twigs' Go To School. Great album start to finish

no mention of the quintessential rock opera - the Bat Out of Hell trilogy by Meat Loaf with Jim Steinman! also, Ayreon's entire discography consists of concept albums, and some of them even interconnect!

I also feel that artists will go to making more concept albums because it has more substance to it than than a list of songs that’s have a similar vibe .. people will be more willing to listen all the way through

Liked the video before even watching it. I LOVE concept albums❤

Islands - Return To The Sea Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear NMH - Aeroplane Ween - The Mollusk Tom Waits - (Pick one)

Bowie had a long run of concept albums in the 70s. Obviously Ziggy Stardust, the sequel Aladdin Sane, the postapocalyptic Diamond Dogs, Station to Station had The Thin White Duke (the real "concept" of that album being cocaine), Lodger was a world tour, etc... His later stuff also had a lot of cohesion. 1. Outside is an industrial concept album, Black Tie White Noise is his house music album, Earthling is his drum and bass album, Heathen is a darker art rock response to 9/11, and Blackstar is a wonderful melancholic jazz-rock album about reaching the end of his life and career. He was one of the artists that helped solidify the album as having a cohesive aesthetic and overall mood and sound.

wait people think albums are dead? thats absolutely insane to me. When I hear a song I like my first instinct is to go to the album to find.... more songs like it

Love the Zappa/Mothers shout out!!! I would love to see more content about that genius. Love your stuff, keep it up ❤

A most excellent video. Extra points for when you talk about ones you havent mentioned with photos of some of my favorites like of montreal. Another I would add to the list is the Trials of Vanoccupanther by Midlake

Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral was another important one in the 90's. Every song serves a slightly different purpose in telling the overall story. Also good to see Frank Zappa getting his due credit!