1970s
Townshend's Tommy 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. The last collaboration of Rice and Lloyd Webber 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 was nominated for five Tony Awards, including "Best Musical".
In 1972, David Bowie released his rock opera The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, the story of a rock star who is told by aliens to write music in the years preceding the end of the world. The next year, The Who released their second full rock opera Quadrophenia. It is about a mid-1960s teen living with a personality disorder. Also in 1973, Lou Reed released Berlin, a tragic rock opera about a doomed couple, which addresses themes of drug use, depression and suicide. In 1974, Genesis released the rock opera The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a surreal story about a young man on a journey of self-discovery.
In 1978, composer and record producer Jeff Wayne released a musical version of H. G. Wells's Victorian apocalyptic science fiction novel The War of the Worlds, in which a number of high profile singers and musicians featured such as David Essex, who worked with Wayne as a producer on his solo career, Moody Blues singer Justin Hayward, Thin Lizzy vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, and Julie Covington who had previously sung in Evita. The plot was narrated throughout by an unnamed journalist protagonist played by Richard Burton.
In 1979, Pink Floyd's rock opera The Wall, written primarily by Roger Waters, was released. The Wall has been staged as an elaborate theatre performance by Pink Floyd in 1980 and 1981, by Waters in 1990 in Berlin, and in 2010, 2011, and 2012 by Waters as a worldwide solo tour. It is one of the highest rated and most well known rock operas. The plot was also used for the feature film Pink Floyd The Wall, and Waters is currently adapting the story for a Broadway production. The Wall is one of the best selling rock operas to date.
1979 also saw the release of Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, a three act rock opera about the life of a young musician named Joe, set in a dystopian future where music was made illegal, inspired in part by the Iranian Revolution, which outlawed public musical expression. The album also takes jabs at Scientology.
Read more about this topic: Rock Opera