Rock opera Totally Explained

Everything about Rock Opera totally explained

Rock operas, concept albums, song cycles and oratorios all differ from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are unrelated to each other in terms of storyline. The rock opera style sometimes overlaps with concept albums, song cycles and oratorios. More recent developments include metal opera and rap opera (sometimes also called hip-hopera). The category a particular work falls into is, to some extent, defined by the intent and self-definition of the work by its creator, as long as the creator's interpretation doesn't stray too far from the accepted definition of what constitutes a rock opera. The formal distinction may be that the rock opera tells a coherent (if sometimes sketchy) story, often with first-person lyrics sung by characters; while a concept album or song cycle sets a mood or maintains a theme. Some albums share characteristics of more than one category. Tommy, one of the best known rock operas, also had a rock musical production. On a technical note, it's often inaccurately stated that the phrase "rock opera" is, in terms of both music and theater, a misnomer. The term is only a misnomer when it's incorrectly applied to a work that has been miscategorized. Opera consists of individual singers acting out a specific character within a drama. The same is also true of a legitimate rock opera. If a work consists of singers who sing a story, but don't act it out, it isn't a rock opera, and shouldn't in the traditional sense, be categorized as such.

1960s

The July 4, 1966 edition of RPM Magazine (published in Toronto) notes 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'." Nevertheless, the term rock opera is generally thought of as having originated from an informal gathering of Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who, and some friends at some point that same year. (Townshend is said to have played a comedy tape to his friends called Gratis Amatis, and one of his friends is said to have made the comment that the odd song was a "rock opera". Kit Lambert, the Who's producer, is then believed to have said "Now there's an idea!")
   Whatever the origin of the term, the earliest completed and recorded example of a 'rock opera' appeared later in 1966 - Townshend's "A Quick One While He's Away" on The Who's second album, A Quick One. It was a nine-minute suite of short songs telling the operatic story of the seduction of a young girl guide (Townshend) by an engine driver named Ivor (played by John Entwistle). Then an Alley, also known as The Beat Opera, was conceived and staged by Tito Schipa, Jr., composer and director, son of the tenor Tito Schipa, at the Piper Club in Rome, Italy, in May 1967. While Then an Alley, an adaptation of 18 Bob Dylan songs made to fit into a scenic background, made a moderate splash in its country of origin, it went completely unnoticed elsewhere in the world. Schipa Jr. later went on to write and stage the work Orfeo 9 at the Sistina Theater in Rome. It became the first ever staged original Italian rock opera when it debuted in January 1970. Orfeo 9 became a double album and a film under the musical direction of future Academy Award winner Bill Conti.
   In 1968 British rock band, The Pretty Things released S.F. Sorrow, the first attempt by a rock band at a single, narrative-based thematic concept expressed over an album's worth of songs. S.F. Sorrow outlined a coming of age story focused on protagonist Sebastian F. Sorrow, although the storyline wasn't as coherent as those to be found in later rock operas.
   In 1969 Pete Townshend and The Who released Tommy, the first of The Who's two full-scale rock operas (the other is Quadrophenia), and the first musical work explicitly billed as a rock opera. [Insome older publications it's called Tommy (1914–1984).] The album was largely composed by Townshend, with two tracks contributed by bassist John Entwistle and one attributed to drummer Keith Moon, although actually written by Townshend. An earlier song by blues artist Sonny Boy Williamson II, "Eyesight to the Blind", was also incorporated. Tommy remains one of the most famous rock operas, with concert, film, ballet, and theatrical productions mounted over the course of four decades. The Who would later release another rock opera, Quadrophenia (1973), also made into a film, and a mini rock-opera, Wire & Glass (2006), from Townshend's larger concept of The Boy Who Heard Music, and included on The Who's 2006 album Endless Wire.

1970s and later

Townshend's rock opera influenced many, including composer Andrew Lloyd Webber who, with lyricist Tim Rice, composed Jesus Christ Superstar which was first recorded and released as a concept album in 1970. The money made from album sales was used to fund the subsequent stage production in late 1971, which had been Lloyd Webber and Rice's original vision. Jesus Christ Superstar was explicitly billed as a "rock opera" and though it first appeared in recorded form, it became far more famous as a Broadway musical, leading it to be called a "rock musical", blurring the distinction between the two terms. Webber and Rice's last collaboration was Evita, which is supposedly considered a rock opera, along with Broadway musical styled songs. The show (like Jesus Christ Superstar) is told entirely in song and, at first, producers thought that it would be a flop on the Broadway stage. However, it won seven Tony Awards, including "Best Musical". Genesis wrote the rock opera The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, about a juvenile delinquent called Rael who lives in New York and enters in the underground world, searching for a missing part of himself, the story rolls into lust, deep creatures, madness and redemption.
1n 1975 Queen released the hit single "Bohemian Rhapsody" a mini rock opera composed of three different sections. Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall, written primarily by Roger Waters, sold nineteen million copies. As with Tommy, The Wall has been staged as an elaborate theatre performance; by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981, and by Waters in 1990 (at the Berlin Wall). The plot was also used for the feature film Pink Floyd The Wall, and Waters has been adapting the story for a Broadway-style production. In 1996, John Miner staged the rock opera Heavens Cafe at the Flamingo Theater in Las Vegas, and again in Los Angeles in 2004.
Some heavy metal bands have released albums inspired by rock operas; often in a progressive metal framework. In some cases they've overlapped considerably with the format of metal concept albums. Considered by many educated musicians the quintessential story-telling band, Queensrÿche's fourth album expanded the genre from their previous three rock operas by bridging rock opera with real opera and a stage production complete with the story playing on jumbotrons in live versions and DVD releases. Albums by W.A.S.P. (The Crimson Idol,, ), Savatage, Dream Theater, Ayreon, Kamelot, Pain of Salvation, King Diamond, and the album Elven Manuscript are a few examples of metal opera albums. The Italian progressive metal band Rhapsody of Fire (formerly "Rhapsody") released several complementary albums that each continued a single mega-"DragonRock" opera. Punk rock opera is a term coined by the punk band Green Day to describe their 2004 album, American Idiot. Rock operas have been written in other languages as well, such as Gaia II - La Voz Dormida in 2005 by the Spanish rock group Mägo de Oz. On September 22, 2005 rock band Ludo released a rock opera entitled Broken Bride. In 2006, New Jersey rock quintet My Chemical Romance released an alternative rock opera, titled The Black Parade, about a man dying from cancer. Another one is a project by Edguy's singer and main songwriter Tobias Sammet. The opera is called Avantasia and features many other well known rock musicians. In 2008, Pop/R&B singer,Ciara, released a "crunk opera" single titled "High Price" from her album Fantasy Ride.

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