rock opera

The tradition & historical record

A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs, especially a concept album, with lyrics that relate to a common story. The use of various character roles within the song lyrics is a common storytelling device. The success of rock opera has inspired similar works in other musical styles, such as rap opera. Unlike classical opera, rock operas are typically not scripted for theatrical production, similar to a classical oratorio, though some have been adapted as rock musicals. ¹

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's 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 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. ¹

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 descent 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. ¹

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. ¹

According to Fleming, rock operas are more akin to a cantata or suite, because they are not usually acted out,[or more accurately oratorios, which are typically operas that are not usually acted out]. Similarly, Andrew Clements of The Guardian called Tommy a subversively labeled musical. Clements states that lyrics drive rock operas, which makes them not a true form of opera. Responding to accusations that rock operas are pretentious and overblown, Pete Townshend wrote that pop music by its very nature rejects such characteristics and is an inherently simple form. Townshend said that the only goal of pop music is to reach audiences, and rock operas are merely one more way to do so. Peter Kiesewalter, on the other hand, said that rock music and opera are "both overblown, massive spectacles" that cover the same themes. Kiesewalter, who was originally not a fan of opera, did not think the two styles would mix well together, but his modernized operas with rock music surprised him with their popularity at the East Village Opera Company. The performance of these works on Broadway has also courted controversy; Anne Midgette of The New York Times called them musicals with "no more than the addition of a keyboard and a drum set". ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Rock opera”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

rock opera is work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 15 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²