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Hey .. A quick one while he's away and Rael

There are musicals that are composed in the style of rock, and there are rock artists that write music and lyrics in the style of opera. Whether a musical and an opera are the same thing is an interesting side conversation: could JCS be considered a rock opera if staged on Broadway but never at the Met?

On that note, is Hair a rock opera or rock musical; why would JCS be a rock opera and not Hair?

The Kinks were doing cohesive full length "operas" before The Who. I submit "Arthur or the decline and fall of the British Empire". Also S. F. Sorrow by the Pretty Things.

yes you should have a definition of punk...it is one of the most abused and overused words in the english language...punk:white kids as bush:liberty,freedom

I listened to "Tommy" and "The Wall" when they were new. 30 years later, my daughter and her friends discovered them with no help from me. It may not be Beethoven, but it's got some kind of staying power.

I'd rather have rock operas than books of poems or novels by musicians. If they want narrative or interrelated themes, let them do it with what they do best.

"A Prince Among Thieves" by Prince Paul is an underrated record.

Kool Keith, Big Daddy Kane, Chubb Rock, Biz Markie, De La Soul, Everlast, Sadat X, Xzibit, Kid Creole, Special Ed, Chris Rock, RZA and Buckshot....plus great production from Prince Paul of course...

Words are futile in the face of hearing RKelly. Why didn't you just put this on right off John -- there wouldn't be anything left to dicusss.

Point, game, set, match.

Awful, simply awful.

As unlistenable as it can be at times, I still have a soft spot for Rasputina's "Oh Perilous World." Yes, the 9/11 parable is almost trite at this point, but you just have to love a dual narrative/alternate history story involving Mary Todd Lincoln and the mutiny on the Bounty.

For teenager in the seventies Soviet Union just the combination of words "Rock" and "Opera" sounded subversive. Oh how precious was that forth copy of a Jesus Christ Superstar tape! Who cares if it was opera or operetta!

How many of you recall Rock-a-bye Hamlet on Broadway starring the mother of Al Pacino's twins?

Daltry wasn't the only singer on Quadrophenia. Pete Townshend and Kieth Moon were also present as vocal characters.

I don't know if this would be considered a rock opera, but I loved Passing Strange. I think I would like more like this on, and off-bway, if not at the Met.

What's important about just declaring a label g without any connection to reality -- without it being deserved??

Asking the question betrays Ann Powers' position.

Sean Manning's dismissal of '70s progressive rock is typical of a certain attitude toward rock, specifically that to try to make interesting and challenging music in rock is futile, stupid and pretentious.

Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush, recently wrote the following on his blog:

"The genre called 'progressive rock' is much maligned today .... but at its best progressive rock stood for an honesty that is rarely present in popular music today. 'Never mind the bollocks' was a defiant tag of the punk movement that detoured rock’s fashions to a more simplistic, concise, and confrontational approach—which assuredly has its place—but all the same, notwithstanding the overblown introversion some 'prog' bands spiraled into, and the gimmicky, clichéd preciousness of some of the pretenders, the essence of the music—its drive—was a dedication to making the best music you could. And that ought to have its place, too."

My votes for the best:

Quadrophenia & Lamb Lies Down on Broadway

plus a very unlikely new classic:

Judas Priest - Nostradamus

key tracks: the title track & "Pestilence & Plague" in which Rob Halford actually sings of the Fall of Man in both English and Italian!

Please play some of that if possible.

What makes it a "rock opera" is the lousy, unoriginal and boring music, the banal, done-to-hell lyrics, and the overall lack of talent.

Perfect!

what genre is neil young's Greendale?

If we're considering a Rock Opera as an album structured around characters and a discernible storyline...then I propose that Husker Du's Zen Arcade is one of the greatest.

That's definitely not the sound of a band on a downward slide bored with it's idiom. And hey , it's 10,000 more punk that that Green Day you're playing.

Pinball wizard turned messiah?? Oh THAT'S what Tommy was about!! Never knew that -- and glad I never knew... 'cause it really wasn't worth knowing.

And for anyone who DID know -- get a life, a REAL life.

Then there is Spock's Beard's "Snow"

And Angra's "Temple of Shadows"

Also, Masta Ace's "Disposable Arts" Hip-Hopera. Brilliant.

I humbly submit Dream Theater's "Metropolis Part II - Scenes from a Memory" as an example of a rock opera done right - great music propelling a compelling story.