The 11 Worst Concept Albums

Today, I found a list of the eleven worst concept albums, published by Aux Weekly.

In my musical history, I have rarely encountered obvious concept albums and rarely come to admire them, with the exception of

• Parliament's Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebo Syndrome and Mothership Connection (about a fantasy war for the survival of funk)
• Buffy Sainte-Marie's Illuminations (first eight songs) and Kate Bush's Hounds of Love (about spiritual quests for liberation)
• Patti Smith's Easter (about sin and redemption - tribute to the Decadents)
• Renaissance's Ashes Are Burning (about the birth and death of the earth) and Turn of the Cards (two side, one romantic and light, the other extremely dark protest songs)

The actual list of worse concept albums was:

1. Garth Brooks: Garth Brooks in…
2. Neil Young: Trans
3. Lou Reed: Metal Machine Music
4. KISS: Music from The Elder
5. Pete Townshend: Psychoderelict
6. Styx: Kilroy Was Here
7. Tori Amos: American Doll Posse
8. Green Day: 21st Century Breakdown
9. Michael Jackson: Ben
10. Madonna: I'm Breathless
11. The Fiery Furnaces: Rehearsing My Choir

On the whole, this list is flawed because too many albums are either soundtracks or rock operas rather than proper concept albums. On the other hand, the lyrics given for "Rehearsing My Choir" do sound really silly as a viewpoint on a religious upbringing as the siblings who make up Fiery Furnaces had. Tori's American Doll Posse is a rather silly way of having five figures in Greek mythology viz:

1. Artemis
2. Persephone
3. Athena
4. Aphrodite
5. Demeter and Dionysos (whom Tori herself represents)

Green Day's album makes sense: I have never been impressed by the silly lyrics of "Minority" which can loosely be seen as the basis for the subsequent rock-opera forays of the band.