The Lost Art of the Concept Album
From humble beginnings in the world of single 45’s to the development of full album listening back to a sea of singles, have we lost the art the concept album?
How we listen to music is an art in itself. There are so many ways to enjoy. Passive listening to the radio or a playlist based on vibes/genre, actively picking each song to curate a mood, listening to the same song over and over, shuffling an artist’s discography or, my personal favorite, album listening. Start to finish, digesting the album as a project.
I got into album listening about a year ago when I decided I wanted to understand an artist’s music in context with their other songs. I have found this to be very rewarding. Themes, transitions, and story are all within individual songs but also exist on the wider landscape of an album in its entirety. In my exploration, I did start to notice that some albums felt more cohesive than others, and I’m not just talking about sonically. An album can have a variety of styles represented while maintaining its concept, hence the idea of the concept album. I noticed that a lot of albums, especially those released in the modern era of streaming, lack this conceptual touch.
The idea of the concept album became more popular in the 60s and 70s when artists in the rock genre decided they wanted to veer away from pumping out mainstream singles. Truthfully, this idea has its roots in earlier years with compilation records based on type of song, like love songs for example, or records filled with covers from a specific composer like Gershwin. This was less common in Rock N’ Roll, which was largely popularized through single 45’s and radio play. A two-to-three-minute song and get the hell outta there! Rock began to change their approach to this with artists like Frank Zappa, The Beatles and The Who as they began to experiment with traditional album structure and create storylines for their albums.
Concept albums increased a lot in popularity and have expanded into almost every genre. From Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On To Jay-Z’s American Gangster, the idea of the concept album has delivered us projects that have shaped music culture forever. But what does that look like today?
Streaming services have taken over, and it’s much more common for someone to put their favorite songs on a playlist than it is for them to buy or listen to an album all the way through. Now more than ever with TikTok, a trend on a social media platform can popularize one song, or even just a section of a song in a way that feels cheap. Of course, singles will always be important, and playlist curation is good for the soul but there must be a place for full albums too. It’s good to take things slower sometimes. The fast-paced, hit mentality of streaming and social media discourages larger creative processes and hinders complex storytelling. I also feel that it underestimates the capability of the listener. Honestly, I think that in the deficit of concept albums, the ones that do come out tend to do well. Recent albums like CHROMAKOPIA by Tyler, The Creator or Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé have received wide range success and praise for their story telling ability and continuity.
Nothing good is gone forever, and I know we haven’t seen the last of the concept album. Sometimes it is up to us as listeners to be more active and conscious of the way we consume music. It’s up to us to support what we want to see and not get lost in the stream machine.
Written by Alexa Marie
Edited by David Nathaniel