1960s and origins A number of rock artists became interested in the idea of creating a rock opera in the 1960s. An early use of the term “opera” in the context of rock music dates from 1963, when
Frank Zappa said "We're preparing the world's first rock and roll teen-age opera for [CBS]" to describe a work in progress,
I Was a Teenage Malt Shop. Zappa can be heard discussing his opera in a radio program: a recording of which is included on the album ''
Joe's Xmasage, on the track The Uncle Frankie Show
. Don Van Vliet was to be cast as a character named "Captain Beefheart". Zappa abandoned the project in 1964 after a demo tape with a few of the songs was rejected by CBS. In 1967 The Mothers of Invention second album Absolutely Free (recorded in 1966), included two “underground oratorios” Absolutely Free
and The M.O.I American Pageant
(with librettos available by mail order), composed, arranged, and conducted by Frank Zappa. Some of the songs from I Was a Teenage Malt Shop
appeared in the oratorio The M.O.I. American Pageant
(e.g. "Status Back Baby
") and other songs from the uncompleted opera appeared on later albums (e.g. I Was a Teen-age Malt Shop
on the album Mystery Disc and My Guitar Wants to Kill your Mama
on the album Weasels Ripped My Flesh). In 1979, Zappa wrote and produced the rock opera Joe's Garage''. Another early use of the term, the July 4, 1966, edition of
RPM Magazine (published in Toronto) reported that "
Bruce Cockburn and Mr William Hawkins (songwriter and poet)|[William] Hawkins are working on a Rock Opera, operating on the premise that to write you need only 'something to say'."
Mark Wirtz explored the idea in a project
A Teenage Opera, from which an early song "
Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)" recorded by
Keith West was released and became a hit song in 1967. However, the album for the rock opera was not released until 1996, and it was only fully realised and staged in 2017.
The Story of Simon Simopath: A Science Fiction Pantomime is the debut album by the British band
Nirvana, and an early concept album from 1967. Songwriters
Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos formed Nirvana as a vehicle to perform their songs live. A short story on the album’s back cover helps tie the songs together in a narrative that some consider an early example of a rock opera. The tale follows the life of Simon Simopath, a lonely boy who wanted to grow wings and fly. One reviewer dismissed the “silly story” but described the songs as a “uniformly solid set of well-constructed psych-pop tunes with attractive melodies and rich, semi-orchestrated arrangements.” Another critic cites
Donovan,
The Incredible String Band, and
Pet Sounds-era
Beach Boys, as well as rock, pop, folk,
baroque, and
classical music as influences. Nirvana had limited success with
Simon Simopath.
The Pretty Things released their album
S. F. Sorrow in 1968, regarded by many as the first rock opera. The story follows the life of Sebastian F. Sorrow, from his birth on a starless night, to his disillusioned old age. Vocalist and lyricist,
Phil May, said he had not heard of
Nirvana or
The Story of Simon Simopath at that time. Although the album was a progressive and innovative effort with well-crafted songs, it was not a commercial success and did not chart. The band’s record label,
EMI, provided little support for the album, did not promote it as a rock opera, and released it in Great Britan soon after the release of
The Beatles White Album and
The Rolling Stone’s
Beggars Banquet which overshadowed
S.F. Sorrow. Additionally, the relatively complicated studio production could not be replicated in live performances at that time and there was no tour for the album. It was not released in the US until 1969, months after the release of
The Who’s
Tommy. and manager
Kit Lambert with gold records for
Tommy The Who’s double album
Tommy, released in May of 1969, was the first fully realized record to be explicitly billed as a rock opera. It was both a commercial and critical success. The album tells the story of Tommy Walker, a "deaf, dumb and blind kid."
Tommy displays the titular character's experiences with life and his relationship with his family. Although the band's songwriter and guitarist
Pete Townshend denied taking any influence from
S.F. Sorrow, critics have compared
Tommy to it. The
Tommy album developed into other media, including a
Seattle Opera production in 1971, an
orchestral version by
Lou Reizner in 1972, a
film 1975, and a
Broadway musical in 1992. The original album has sold 20 million copies and has been inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame. The Who had previously explored the concept of a rock opera in 1966, with their nine minute, six-movement track ''
A Quick One, While He's Away sometimes referred to as a “mini-rock opera”. The Who released a second rock opera, Quadrophenia'' in 1973.
The Kinks made significant contributions to the genre.
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire), written by
Ray Davies, was initiated in January of 1969 as the soundtrack for a
Granada Television play in collaboration with
Julian Mitchell. Although the television production never came to fruition, the album was released independently in October 1969, but it was largely overshadowed by the success of The Who’s
Tommy which preceded
Arthur by five months.
Arthur, vaguely reflecting some autobiographical aspects of the composer’s life, is a nostalgic look at a family living in post-
World War II London suburbs.
Arthur was followed by a series of rock operas/narrative concept albums by the Kinks including:
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970) about a songwriter and the music business; ''
Everybody's in Show-Biz (1972) about a touring musician and life on the road; Preservation Act 1 (1973) and Preservation Act 2 (1974), on dystopian politics; Soap Opera (1975), and Schoolboys in Disgrace'' (1975).
1970s (ca. 1973-74) of
The Kinks in character as "Mr Flash" from his rock opera
Preservation A rock opera that experienced commercial recording and Broadway success is
Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), written by
Andrew Lloyd Webber and
Tim Rice, and in respect of which Lloyd Webber said "the piece was written as a rock album from the outset and set out from the start to tell the story through the music itself." In 1972,
David Bowie released the rock opera
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
Lou Reed’s third solo album
Berlin, released in October 1973, consists of 10 songs telling the story of Caroline and her tragic decent into excess, abuse, and decadence. There were originally plans for a stage adaptation of the album at the time of its release, but these never materialized. A
concert film, ''
Berlin: Live at St. Ann's Warehouse'' directed by
Julian Schnabel, was recorded in 2006, premiered at the
Venice Film Festival in 2007, followed by a general release and live album in 2008. Lou Reed's
Berlin was preceded by several relatively long form, narrative songs such as
The Gift and ''Lady Godiva's Operation
from The Velvet Underground’s, White Light/White Heat album released January 1968, and The Murder Mystery
from The Velvet Underground'' album 1969, in which original
short stories by Reed were set to music by the band. The progressive rock band
Genesis released
The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in 1974, their last album to feature lead vocalist
Peter Gabriel. The album tells a story devised by Gabriel, centered around a troubled youth from New York City who is taken through a series of surreal and symbolic experiences that ultimately lead to his transformation and spiritual awakening.
Bat Out of Hell (1977) is a rock album by
Meat Loaf that remains one of the
best-selling albums of all time, having sold over 50 million copies worldwide. It is certified
14× Platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). As of June 2019, it has spent 522 weeks in the
UK Albums Chart, the second longest chart run by a studio album.
Rolling Stone ranked it at number 343 on its list of the
500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
A musical based on
Bat Out of Hell, staged by
Jay Scheib, opened at the
Manchester Opera House in 2017. The album's producer,
Jim Steinman, coined the term
Wagnerian rock after composer
Richard Wagner to describe the genre of the record.
The Wall, a double album released by
Pink Floyd in 1979, is an archetypal example of a rock opera and among the most successful.
The Wall chronicles the story of Pink, a character who ultimately constructs an emotional wall to protect himself after being driven into insanity as a result of traumatic life experiences. The album was included in
Rolling Stones lists of the
greatest albums of all time in 2003, 2012, and 2020. James Guthrie, the album's engineer, won the 1980
Grammy award for Best Engineered Recording (non-classical), and the album was nominated for the
Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album was subsequently made into a 1982 film entitled
Pink Floyd – The Wall. An elaborate
1980–1981 concert tour was conducted by the band after the album's release and bassist
Roger Waters reincarnated the tour twice; once in
Berlin in 1990 to commemorate the fall of the
Berlin Wall and again around the world from
2010–2013, a series of shows that became the highest-grossing tour by a solo musician.
1980s and beyond '', which he played at the King's Hill and at the A rap opera by the
Fat Boys,
On and On, was produced in 1989. In 1999,
progressive metal band
Dream Theater released their album
Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, which has been regarded as Rock Opera. The album tells the story of Nicholas, a man getting flashbacks from a previous life, as he undergoes hypnosis sessions to recall the memories of Victoria, a young girl who he discovers was murdered as a violent result of a love affair.
Green Day produced a
punk rock opera
American Idiot in 2004, followed by
21st Century Breakdown in 2009. In 2005
The Protomen debuted, by band
the Protomen, who toured in-character performing the dystopian rock opera. Because of the
science fiction elements of the plot, their music has been called "sci-fi rock". A prequel rock opera
Act II: The Father of Death was released 2009 and a sequel
Act III: This City Made Us in 2026.
Act III debuted at number nine on the
Billboard Top Album Sales chart for the end of January. For the same time period, the Protomen charted at number four on
Emerging Artists. In an effort to appeal to more modern audiences, opera companies have welcomed more pop and rock influences. The resulting rock operas have met varying degrees of success as the worlds of
high art and
low art mix. In Russian music, the term
zong-opera (Зонг-опера) is sometimes used, since the first Soviet-Russian rock-opera
Orpheus and Eurydice was described with this term, though the term "rock-opera" was already known in the Soviet rock music circles. == Style ==