History Main / ConceptAlbum

* [[Music/{{OFWGKTA}} Tyler, the Creator]]'s Bastard is all told to his school psychiatrist and deals with his personal issues like being a literal bastard.
** This leads directly into Goblin, a sequel album about Tyler having another session with his Psychiatrist and dealing with new issues and the lifestyle that fame brings, eventually ending with him [[spoiler:breaking down, killing the other members of Odd Future and realizing his psychiatrist and all his alter egos are a figment of his imagination.]]
** Wolf acts as a prequel to both of these, involving a Summer Camp for Youths with mental issues named Camp Flog Gnaw run by the same Psychiatrist from Bastard and Goblin, and revolving around a psychopathic drug dealer named Sam, a new addition to the camp named Wolf, and a girl named Salem who acts as a love interest to both characters.

* Music/DorianElectra's ''My Agenda'' is built around observing toxic masculinity through the POV of a man practicing it, but observed through a [[PlayedForLaughs tongue-in-cheek]] queer lens. The album follows a loose narrative of the protagonist's regressive views on [[EntitledToHaveYou gender]], [[HeteronormativeCrusader sexuality]], and [[ConspiracyTheorist reality in general]] while gradually deconstructing his own [[RealMenHateAffection deeply-conflicting]] [[DesperatelyCravesAffection desire for affection]].

* Music/{{Gorillaz}} have ''Music/DemonDays'', dealing with modern culture and war.

** ''Carousel (An Examination of the Shadow, Creekflow, and its Life as an Afterthought)'' is about a lot of things according to WordOfGod[[note]]Though [[https://twitter.com/VyletPony/status/1621718588251078656 here]] is a tweet from her clarifying what it's [[{{Jossed}} not]][[/note]], but sea has left it up to viewer interpretation. The basic plot, however, is this: Vylet finds a magic carousel at the fair that lets her talk to her "shadow", who is evidently ''not'' happy with her.

* ''Music/NewsAt11'' by 猫 シ Corp. is another {{vaporwave}} concept album, sourcing music from American TV broadcasts from September 11th, 2001, [[JustBeforeTheEnd just hours — if not minutes — before]] the [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror you-know-what changed the course of American history forever]]. The soundscapes formed are made as an audio collage of the of calm, almost innocent banality of American media at the time, [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom sidestepping mentions of the attacks]] but ironically highlighting their importance in [[EndOfAnEra the end of the nostalgic age]] that vaporwave is built on.

** Lee himself got into the spirit when he released his [[HeavyMithril symphonic metal]] album ''[[Music/{{Charlemagne}} Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross]]'', based on the life of the Holy Roman Emperor. It, likewise, is ''awesome'''.

* Music/AliceCooper has released four concept albums during the '70s: ''Welcome To My Nightmare'' (About the nightmares of a disturbed man named Steven), ''Goes To Hell'' (Alice is sent to hell and tries to convince the Devil he doesn't belong there), ''From The Inside'' (About Cooper's time spent in a mental institution trying to cure his alcoholism), and ''School's Out'' (Mostly songs about the teen experience).

* A ''lot'' of Music/RushBand's records are in fact {{Concept Album}}s. Their titles are usually puns relating to the theme of the album.

* Music/TheMegas' music and concept albums are based on the original Mega Man games, with their ''The Belmonts'' EP drawing on the ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}'' mythos instead.

** ''Music/KidA'' is a slightly more clear-cut example, but not by much. Theories abound as to whether there's a story arc in the album; Thom Yorke even suggested that it was about [[CloningBlues the first human clone]], [[ShrugOfGod but this has never been definitively confirmed]].

* Music/MaudlinOfTheWell's ''Bath'' and ''Leaving Your Body Map'' may be one of the few cases to combine this with TheWalrusWasPaul. For information, FaceOfTheBand Toby Driver has stated that there is a puzzle buried in the music, lyrics, and packaging to the two albums. "The Secret Song", a subsequent release by the band, was intended to help unlock the puzzle. This was in 2001. As of 2019, no one has successfully figured it out.

* Music/LinkinPark gets in on this with ''A Thousand Suns''. It's basically about the fears of war. Naturally professional opinions and [[BrokenBase fan opinions]] are divided.

* ''Time Out'' by the Dave Brubeck Quartet featured songs all in [[UncommonTime unusual time signatures]]. The first song, "Blue Rondo ala Turk" is in 9/8, played as "''1''-2-''1''-2-''1''-2 ''1''-2-3". The third song, saxophonist Paul Desmond's famous "Take Five", is in 5/4. "Kathy's Waltz" is in 3/4, but the drums and piano solo are in ''4''/4. And so on.

* This is indeed much older than the modern incarnation of albums. Before albums we had symphonies, concertos, sonatas and suites. Any one of those could revolve around a concept. They were at the very least pieces of music that went in a specific sequence and went well together, but may actually had concepts or stories to tell as well. Listen to Vivaldi's ''The Four Seasons'' (1720s!) or Handel's ''Messiah'' (1740s). Suites in the more modern sense of the word (originating around the early 1900s) are probably the best precursor to the concept album. Unlike sonatas, concertos or symphonies a suite has no requirements on structure or instruments beyond having multiple pieces. Many suites were selections from ballets, plays, operas or even film, but they didn't have to be. Gustav Holst's ''The Planets'' (1920s) is just a collection of pieces about each planet in an astrological sense. Had it come two or three decades later it would certainly have earned the label of a concept album.

* Music/AkikoShikata's ''Harmonia'' is built around the theme of the FourElementEnsemble: the wind part (track 1 to 4) focuses on the feelings of traveling and flying in the sky; the fire part (5 to 8) has tense songs with heavy electric instrumentations and dark lyrics; the water part (9 to 12) contrasts it with soothing songs and light instrumentations; the earth part (13 to 15) has a "tribal dance" feel to it. Each part is introduced by a short interlude titled "Chouwa ~ something", all four of which form the first verse of ''Chouwa ~ Harmonia'', the penultimate track. ''Harmonia ~ Mihatenu Chi he'' brings all this together in a joyful conclusion.

* ''Erdenstern'' is a German group producing 'music for your head cnema' - sound tracks usable in role-playing games. Each album by Erdenstern followes a certain theme, such as seafaring (Into the Blue), cold and ice (Into the White) or high-tech SF (Into the Grrey). The sepatrate tracks are seamlessly loopable, but just having them sorfted by themes is very useful.

* All of Classical-[[ChristmasSongs Christmas]]/Rock fusion group Music/TransSiberianOrchestra's albums are concept albums, as they all have a story built into them. the narrations can be found in the liner notes for each album. this makes their concerts VERY entertaining, as they go through the story, complete with narration, accompanied by some of the [[GreatBallsOfFire best light shows known to mankind.]]

* Music/PatricioReyYSusRedonditosDeRicota's 2000 album ''Momo Sampler'' is a picture of Argentina's society around the time it was done, with different characters from all the different walks of society being represented in every song, from the lower and indigent classes ("Una piba con la remera de Greenpeace", "Rato molhado", "La murga de la virgencita") to those in the middle class whose interests vary from the weird but innocuous ([[ADateWithRosiePalms "Morta punto com"]]) to the outright dangerous ("Sheriff", about a woman obsessed with what was called [[PoliceBrutality "gatillo fácil" and "mano dura"]]). The opener "El templo de Momo" even calls this version of Argentina's society a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murga "murga"]].

** ''Doom Days'', the most obviously conceptual, tells the story of a couple who spend a night out partying to distract themselves from the increasing bleakness of world events. Not only are two of the songs, "Quarter Past Midnight" and "4 AM," titled with the times when they take place, but the images on the Website/YouTube official audio versions of the songs give each song a canonical time.

* At least three of Music/Bastille's albums so far have been concept albums.

** ''Wild World'' continues this but adds in themes of political and societal turmoil.
** ''Doom Days'', the most obviously conceptual, tells the story of two people who spend a night out partying to escape the increasing bleakness of world events. Not only are two of the songs, "Quarter Past Midnight" and "4 AM," titled with the times when they take place, but the images on the YouTube official audio versions of the songs give each song a canonical time.

* At least three of [[Music/Bastille]]'s albums so far have been concept albums.