History Main / RockOpera

* ''Music/ClockworkAngels'' (Music/{{Rush}})

* ''Music/{{Abigail}}'' by Music/KingDiamond tells a horror story about the rebirth of a stillborn demon baby from an unfaithful wife, who was pushed down the stairs by her husband.

* ''Music/{{Abigail}}'' (Music/KingDiamond)

* To a certain extent, the Music/{{Madness}} album ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'' could be considered as one (although the songs aren't technically rock). The first track is called ''Overture'', which introduces a lot of the melodic ideas which appear later on and leads directly into ''We Are London''. Most of the songs on the album - such as ''Sugar and Spice'' and ''NW5'' - tell stories about either growing up in London or travelling through London (except for ''Africa'', which instead ends with an instrumental extract of the title track). ''The Liberty of Norton Folgate'' itself is a ten minute long story about the sights, sounds and history of the eponymous area of London.

* ''Music/TwentyOneTwelve'' (Music/{{Rush}})

* The cut VillainSong "Biggering" from ''WesternAnimation/TheLorax''.

* ''Music/{{Alice}}'' (Music/TomWaits)

* Music/TomWaits has four. ''Music/TheBlackRider'' is based on von Weber's opera ''Theatre/DerFreischuetz''. ''Theatre/{{Woyzeck}}'' (on the album ''Music/BloodMoney'') is based on Büchner's play of the same name. ''Music/{{Alice}}'' is basically ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'' but weirder and with Creator/LewisCarroll as one of the main characters, and ''Music/FranksWildYears'' is an original story about following your dreams and failing.

* ''The Story of Simon Simopath'', a 1967 album by Nirvana (not ''that'' Music/{{Nirvana}}, [[NamesTheSame the British psychedelic band]]), is said by [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] to be the [[UrExample earliest example]] of a rock album containing a single unified narrative.

* ''Music/TheDownwardSpiral'' and ''Music/YearZero'', by Music/NineInchNails

!!Rock Operas with their own page

!!Other examples

* ''The Story of Simon Simopath'', a 1967 album by Nirvana (not ''that'' Music/{{Nirvana}}, [[NamesTheSame the British psychedelic band]]), is said by [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] to be the [[UrExample earliest example]] of a rock album containing a single unified narrative.

* Rick Wakeman had the chutzpah to make a musical version of ... ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' by Creator/GeorgeOrwell! Recommended for aficionados of Rock Opera. Wakeman's discography also includes rock operas based on ''Journey To The Center Of The Earth'' and the legend of Myth/KingArthur, along with an instrumental ConceptAlbum about the wives of UsefulNotes/HenryVIII.

The "opera"-ness of the form varies significantly. Some present the point of view of a single (possibly unnamed) character, while others have explicitly-named characters interacting with each other in song (and likely performed by different singers). Wiki/TheOtherWiki's entry for ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' suggests that "rock cantata" or "rock song cycle" might be a more accurate term, since a rock opera is purely a musical performance that is not necessarily intended to be staged or acted out. This is odd, since ''Tommy'' was the [[UrExample first]] [[TropeMakers widely]] [[TropeCodifier heard]] Rock Opera, and was farther on the opera side of this scale.

* ''Music/SomethingBroke'', a 15-minute long musical adaptation of the infamous ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/{{Cupcakes}}'' that expands on why Pinkie Pie decided to torture and cook Rainbow Dash.

* The oft forgotten ''Music/SFSorrow'' by the '60s British group, Music/ThePrettyThings. S.F. Sorrow tells the story of Sebastian F. Sorrow, who endures World War I, and then returns to his love, who is killed in a dirigible accident. Sorrow falls into a severe state of depression, and is then taken on a journey by the mythical Baron Saturday. The Baron throws Sorrow into a room of mirrors, where he sees the horrible truths and revelations of his life, ending with Sorrow secluding himself from society and building a mental and emotional wall. And this was ten years before Roger Waters had even thought of The Wall yet. Notable for being considered one of the first Rock Operas. Produced at Abbey Road, during the same time Music/TheBeatles were recording ''Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand'' and Music/PinkFloyd were recording ''Music/ThePiperAtTheGatesOfDawn''.
* ''The Story of Simon Simopath'', a 1967 album by Nirvana (not ''that'' Music/{{Nirvana}}, [[NamesTheSame the other Nirvana]]), is said by [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] to be the [[UrExample earliest example]] of a rock album containing a single unified narrative.

* Music/{{Mothy}} takes this trope UpToEleven-almost every song he's ever written is part of a massive storyline (called the Music/EvilliousChronicles) which spans over 1000 years. There are tie-in novels, manga, and short stories to explain each song. The story is...[[JigsawPuzzlePlot complicated.]]

* ''Music/{{Snow}}'' (Music/SpocksBeard)

* ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' (Music/{{Genesis}})

* ''Theatre/{{Chess}}'' ([[Music/{{ABBA}} Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus]]/Creator/TimRice)

* ''Clone High'' did an episode that was billed as a Rock Opera. Jack Black basically convinces all the kids that smoking raisins gets you high, with the typical "dangers of drugs" story as a result. It was very trippy and paid tribute to ''Music/{{Tommy}}'' and The Beatles a couple of times. The music was actually pretty good.

* ''Music/{{Hadestown}}'' (Creator/AnaisMitchell)

* ''Music/{{Hadestown}}'' (Anaïs Mitchell)

* ''Music/TwentyOneTwelve'' is the most well-known of Music/{{Rush}}'s operatic suites, but the group has produced a number of others, including ''By-Tor and the Snow Dog'', ''Xanadu'', ''The Fountain of Lamneth'', ''Cygnus X-1'', ''Music/{{Hemispheres}}'' and ''The Necromancer'' (which contains several ''[[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings LOTR]]'' [[ShoutOut references]]).
** They also did a trilogy of pieces collectively called "fear" (yes, lower-case "f" and all). Strangely, the three parts were not only on three different albums, but appeared ''in reverse order'' of their numbering.
*** Then they put a semi-official "Part 4" on ''Music/VaporTrails'' years after the other three parts were released.
** ''Cygnus X-1'' and ''Hemispheres'' could be considered companion pieces, as the hero from the former shows up in the middle of the latter [[spoiler:after his ship is destroyed by the titular black hole.]]
** Their 2012 album ''Music/ClockworkAngels'' was their first concept album since ''Hemispheres'', and adapted into a novel by sci-fi author Kevin J. Anderson. In turn, drummer Neil Peart reads the audiobook adaptation of the novel.
* ''Ambo'' by [[VideoGame/{{MYST}} Robyn Miller]] and Keith Moore. Seen [[http://tinselman.com/ambo.html here.]]
* ''Music/AmericanIdiot'' and ''Music/TwentyFirstCenturyBreakdown'' by Music/GreenDay.
* Music/ArjenAnthonyLucassen's band Music/{{Ayreon}} is built on this trope. ALL his works tie together, somehow- at least, right up through the current album, 01011001, wherein it may or may not be AllJustADream. Of course, Arjen loves to fuck with our perceptions of reality like this- his first album as Ayreon, The Final Experiment, tells a (presumably fictitious god we hope) story about visions of man's doom in 2084 being sent back to a blind minstrel in Arthurian England. That whole album is a musically-rendered tale of CassandraTruth. His successive works are... just as strange, in particular Into the Electric Castle. Amazing storytelling, trippy story. If you can actually FIND his work anywhere, give it a listen (but make sure you've got a couple hours free, he likes double albums).
** Arjen Also gives us his latest solo project ''Music/LostInTheNewReal'' (2012), which is about a man awaking in the far future finding his terminal illness cured. The new world blurs the lines of the real and the online, the virtual, and he explores this world, falls in love with a futuristic version of clippy, and begins to question what is actually real. In the end, after going through an existential crisis, [[spoiler:he figures out he's just a machine himself, a mind experiment that isn't real, and asks to be shut off.]]

* Tobias Sammet's Music/{{Avantasia}} project is also this. Over six albums there are three different stories: ''The Metal Opera'' (The Metal Opera Parts I & II), which is about a 1600's monk of the Dominican Order who starts out trying to save his sister from witchcraft accusations and winds up having to save the world of imagination (called Avantasia) as well. ''The Wicked Trilogy'' (The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon) is a more ambiguous story about an unnamed artist dealing with his vices in the face of success, and ''The Mystery of Time'' is about a scientist in a haunted Victorian English town who has to deal with the conflict of his emotions and reasoning, mysterious dreams, an eccentric nobleman, the apparent evaporation of time, and a clock that he just can't fix (it leaves on a cliffhanger but a sequel was confirmed).

* ''Days of Rising Doom'' by the supergroup Aina, bonus points as it was their ''only'' album.
* Pretty much every album by Music/CoheedAndCambria tells the story of ''The Armory Wars'' (the band name itself is part of the plot).

* The second side of ''Music/HoundsOfLove'' by Music/KateBush consists of ''The Ninth Wave'', a mini-rock opera about a woman struggling to survive while lost at sea.
* ''Music/{{Imaginos}}'', by Music/BlueOysterCult, which finally received a sequel, ''Music/ImaginosIIBombsOverGermany'', in 2021.
** Almost all of the songs written for the group by its manager/lyricist Sandy Pearlman were part of an operatic MythArc, of which ''Imaginos'' is merely a ''fragment''.

* Music/FrankZappa's ''Music/JoesGarage'', ''Film/TwoHundredMotels'', ''Music/ThingFish'', ''Billy The Mountain'' on ''Music/JustAnotherBandFromLA'', ''The Adventures of Greggery Peccary'' on ''Music/StudioTan'' and ''Music/{{Lather}}'', and the seven minute mini-rock opera ''Brown Shoes Don't Make It'' from ''Music/AbsolutelyFree''.
* ''Music/JunoAndAvos'', a Soviet Rock Opera by Music/AlexeiRybnikov and Andrey Voznesenskiy.
* ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' by Music/{{Genesis}}
** ''Music/SuppersReady'' from their album ''Foxtrot'' also counts.
* ''Music/KilroyWasHere'' by Music/{{Styx}}

* ''Magica'' by Music/{{Dio}}

* ''Music/TheWall'' by Music/PinkFloyd. Basically, we go through the life of a boy who had a [[DisappearedDad very]] [[SadistTeacher unhappy]] [[MyBelovedSmother childhood]] grow up into a rockstar with severe emotional issues, who then cuts himself off from the world via an emotional wall, and becomes a self styled neo-nazi dictator, before realizing how far gone he is, and putting himself on trial in his mind, in which the judge orders him to tear down the eponymous wall.

* The double album ''Snow'' by Spock's Beard tells the story of the rise and fall of an albino psychic healer. He sets up a ministry in central park tries to use his gifts to help everyone he can. Slowly he burns out though and when he is harshly rejected by a woman he has fallen in love with he breaks down. Eventually he almost dies of a drug overdose, but wakes up in a hospital surrounded by the people he saved and god basically telling him to take it easy. The religious imagery in the album can be seen as a forerunner to the lead singer leaving the band to focus on christian rock.

* ''Misty Beethoven: The Musical!'' is a rock-opera remake of 70's porn ''The Opening of Misty Beethoven'', which was in turn based on the musical ''My Fair Lady''.
* ''Music/{{Dirt}}'' by Music/AliceInChains tell of an addict's battle with drugs and death. (Ironically, it ended the same for the singer in real life)
* After many, many, ''many'' loose {{Concept Album}}s such as ''Music/TheRiseAndFallOfZiggyStardustAndTheSpidersFromMars'' (''Music/DiamondDogs'' would have been TheMusical adaptation of ''1984'' but for copyright negotiations), Music/DavidBowie finally wrote a full-fledged Rock Opera with 1995's ''1. Music/{{Outside}}''. It was intended to be the first part of a [[TrueArtIsIncomprehensible non-linear]] concept trilogy (with ''2. Contamination'' and ''3. Afrikaans'' the followups). This told the story of a detective in a {{Cyberpunk}} {{Dystopia}} investigating a rash of murders committed as art. The album wasn't a blockbuster, the U.S. double-bill tour he did with Music/NineInchNails mostly brought out fans who left during Bowie's second-half set, and the sequels were quietly dropped. That said, ''Outside'' did yield some of his better-known songs of TheNineties (''Film/Se7en'' used "The Heart's Filthy Lesson" as a theme of sorts, and a remix of "Hallo Spaceboy" with Pet Shop Boys was a hit) and brought a lot of fans who'd given up on him in TheEighties back around.

* Theatre/{{Hadestown}}, written by Anaïs Mitchell, is a re-telling of the Orpheus legend set in a vaguely Depression-era US. The album draws extensively from folk, blues and jazz traditions and boasts a cast of well-known folk and indie-folk vocalists, ranging from Justin Vernon and Ani DiFranco to Greg Brown and Ben Knox Miller.