Rock Opera 101
is a short series I wrote in the summer of 2025 spinning off from my research on the Who’s Tommy. It was initially released in video essay format on YouTube, perusable here.
A piece on S.F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things is currently in drafting limbo as well and will be featured here if I ever get it done.
A brief rumination on the “concept album” and the sixties
Sgt. Pepper’s ✦ Brian Wilson ✦ the myths of cultural history
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From showtunes to melodrama: storytelling and poetry in sixties pop
The Poetry of Rock ✦ Anthony Newley ✦ the Great American Songbook ✦ female pop stars
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On three early rock operas: “A Teenage Opera”,
“Simon Simopath”, and “The Magic Garden”
Mark Wirtz ✦ Nirvana ✦ the Fifth Dimension and Jimmy Webb