Musical storytelling: The everlasting appeal of concept albums

Even in an era of digital dominance, these albums continue to resonate with audiences and artists alike

Cyclical trends and revolutionary technologies constantly reshape the music industry. But one unusual trend refuses to fade – the concept album. From the era of vinyl to the advent of the digital age, the idea of an album that centres on a unified theme, narrative, or musical idea still resonates with audiences and artists. 

The concept album's origin traces back to the mid-20th century as recording technology evolved to play full-length releases, allowing artists to conceptualise deeper and more complex pieces. Folk singer Woody Guthrie's seminal Dust Bowl Ballads from 1940 is an early example of the form. Through its poignant melodies, the album portrayed the desolation and hardship of life in the American Dust Bowl and set a high precedent for narrative-driven music. 

But it wasn't until 1967, when the most popular band in the world released their most famous record, that the concept album became mainstream. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles stormed the global stage with a previously unheard-of cohesion and thematic unity in pop music. Each track on the album contributed to its vibrant, psychedelic mosaic, encompassing the collective identity of a fictional band. This groundbreaking work challenged established norms and heralded the new era of the concept album.

Sgt. Pepper's opened the door for many 60s bands to push their musical and thematic complexity to the next level. The Beach Boys played Pet Sounds, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention dove into a Freak Out!, and The Kinks formed The Village Green Preservation Society. And there were, of course, The Who, who released the trio of Tommy, The Who Sell Out, and Quadrophenia.

Throughout the 70s and 80s, the concept album was a mark of an artist delving into more serious subject matter – as with Marvin Gaye's civil rights record What's Going On and Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 – or cementing their place in pop culture – like David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and Prince's Purple Rain.

The concept album was also crucial to the development of progressive rock, with albums such as King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King, Genesis's The Lamb Lies Dying on Broadway and Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick serving as a launch point for experimentation that pushed the genre forward. Then, of course, there was Pink Floyd's transformative The Wall. Exploring profound themes of abandonment and personal isolation, the album demonstrated how artists could use music to navigate complex human emotions. The album's narrative, visual artwork, and subsequent stage adaptations illustrated the multidisciplinary potential of concept albums.

While concept albums initially flourished within the rock genre, they also found fertile ground in hip-hop. Great storytellers emerged, using the format to present stark narratives of human struggle. Danny Brown's Atrocity Exhibition offers a harrowing depiction of addiction, while Kendrick Lamar's Good Kid, M.A.A.D City portrays a cinematic journey through America's ghettoised slums. These albums illustrate the power of concept albums to reflect socio-political realities, connecting listeners to raw, human experiences.

But hip-hop's concept albums weren't afraid to go light and funny too, like MF Doom's MM..Food or Kanye West's debut The College Dropout. Though bursting with that same creative energy, they swerved towards comedy, like when Doom and Mr Fantastik make fun of rappers for confessing to crimes in their music on 'Rapp Snitch Knishes', or Kanye taking schoolkids on a tour of why they shouldn't be ashamed of dealing drugs on 'We Don't Care'.

In the hands of different artists, the concept album became a palette of styles, approaches, and emotions. They encompassed the gritty desperation of Dirt by Alice in Chains or The Downward Spiral by Nine Inch Nails, the grand projects of The Magnetic Fields writing 69 Love Songs or Sufjan Stevens's (now abandoned) albums for every US state, and personal accounts of parental abuse on The Sunset Tree by The Mountain Goats and infidelity on Beyonce's Lemonade. 

The breadth of tones, ideas, and forms of the concept album points to the true reason for their continued appeal - our primal love for storytelling. 

With our tendency to seek patterns and construct explanations, storytelling seems encoded into our DNA. No wonder we would link the abstract emotional depth unique to music to more concrete themes and narratives. Concept albums are an outlet for the multidisciplinary ambitions of artists. Our experiences with music aren't limited to the tracks but also the album artwork, music videos, live performances, and even liner notes. These are integral parts of the creation and presentation of narratives through music.

In the decades since the concept album became popular, the technology of listening to music has transformed undeniably. But, despite the original technology of the LP record being their point of origin, the concept album still exists. The digital realm offers artists numerous new ways to immerse fans in the themes of their multimedia projects in novel ways. 

Taylor Swift's moody lyric videos augment the emotional undertones of her songs. Arcade Fire's interactive web experiences invite audiences to participate actively in their musical stories. Twenty-One Pilots' Augmented Reality world-building merges the digital with a narrative at an entirely new level. 

The continued survival of the concept album is a testament to our fundamental love for storytelling and music's unique ability to express emotional depth. As we embrace new technologies, these multidimensional projects will keep thriving, delivering richer, more immersive narratives. Their evolution, from vinyl records to digital streams, from individual songs to immersive AR experiences, embodies the transformative power of music itself - an art form that continuously adapts, innovates, and endures.

 This article is part of Stripe, bdnews24.com's special publication focusing on culture and society from a youth perspective.