![]() ![]() 1 in 19 countries and has sold over 14 million copies worldwide. ![]() It thrilled fans and also connected the band with a younger generation who were drawn to the coming-of-age themes and the main character, the anti-hero Jesus of Suburbia. The album American Idiot was released in 2004 to major acclaim. Inspired by the work of The Who and musicals like West Side Story, Green Day began creating a modern day rock opera. After much deliberation, the band came to the realization that the lost tracks didn’t represent their best work so they took a completely new direction. It’s hard to imagine how any good could have come of such a blow, but in this case it seems the theft was a blessing in disguise. The master tracks for what was to be their seventh studio album were stolen. Jump ahead a couple of generations to 2003 and we see American punk-rock band Green Day coming to a crossroads. Bowie famously took the concept outside the recording studio by creating a stage character for himself (Ziggy Stardust) which then influenced an entire fashion movement (glam rock). Consider David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972) just three years later. In the years following the release of Tommy, the concept album remained a staple of the pop and rock scene. Stratford mounted a revival of the show in their 2013 season to rave reviews. Tommy was eventually turned into a film and then a full Broadway stage production, developed by former Stratford Festival Artistic Director Des McAnuff and Pete Townsend. However, in 1969, Pete Townsend and The Who took the idea to the next level when they released one of the most famous concept albums of our time, the rock opera Tommy. Since Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl Ballads (1940), the concept album has enjoyed a starring role in studio recordings spanning musical genres from folk and jazz in the 40s and 50s, to the pop and rock scene in the 60s and 70s, and on to today.Įarly concept albums were often a compilation of songs held together with a theme. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |