The Concept Album. Is there any album which has a narrative any more?

Are there any albums which tell a story any more?

I remember the first time I listened to The Slim Shady LP by Eminem in 2000-and-something. I had been discussing my music tastes with some friends from school, and I had mentioned that I liked one of the songs in the charts at the time but I didn't know who it was by. My friend then had me hum it to them and revealed that it was by this 'M&M' chap, a white American rapper. Anyway, I was told to go home and listen to The Slim Shady LP and The Marshall Mathers LP by this new model in my life, but on one condition: I had to listen to the tracks in order, all in one go.

So, I set aside a few hours in the evening and switched onto YouTube (this was pre-censorship of any copyrighted songs) and I looked for a playlist. I was blown away by it. Listening to the LPs was like reading a book, or watching a film, but I could just close my eyes and listen. I was astounded - I still am astounded. Eminem changed the way I listened to music. No more skipping songs to get to my favourite one on an album, no more turning on 'shuffle' on my new iPod, instead I was listening to albums the way they were made to be listened to - in order.


Sadly, I soon found out that despite listening to albums 'the way they were made to be listened to', most albums weren't made to be listened to in order. Most pop albums which I was exposed to without the aid of Spotify or music channels, which arrived with Freeview, were made to accompany the hit singles which were played on the radio. Artists spent many more hours of their time perfecting a single flagship track for the radio, that the rest of the listing on their albums suffered as a result.

Soon, I was turned on to the notion of a 'concept album' (link to Wikipedia), an album which contains a narrative or follows a single unified theme. I learned of The Who Sells Out, the album which defines my childhood dipping into the classic rock sounds of the 60s and 70s, and contains jingles and excerpts from real pirate radio stations including the  (then recently) shut down 'Radio London' pirate station. Sell Out contains tonnes of songs based around adverts at the time, such as "It's smooth sailing, with the highly successful sound of wonderful Radio London" on the track Odorono, and the sound reminds me of Banksy, the world-famous UK street artist, and his thoughts on advertising:

Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use.

Two years later, The Who would release Tommy, a rock opera composed by Pete Townshend, the first story-based album of the rock era to achieve commercial success. It paved the way for the 'concept album' to take the world by stage.

Since the 90s, there has been a distinct lack of concept albums. Nothing seems narrative in the day and age where anybody can press 'shuffle' on their iPod, or buy single tracks from an online store whilst ignoring the rest of the album. Bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson (& the Spooky Kids) continue to produce these albums, but admittedly the market which these artists cater to is slim. Personally, I love the concept album. It has given me so much entertainment, and has endless replayability, and - if the artist it good enough at telling a story - once you play the first track, you have to listen to the rest of the album!