Talk:List of concept albums

Inclusion criteria
I want to clean up this article, but just checking ahead of time - is there any sort of inclusion criteria so far? Judging by the current state, I'd say no.

Any input? At the bare minimum, I feel like there should be at least one reliable source verifying that it is a concept album. Sergecross73  msg me  19:19, 19 July 2016 (UTC)
 * 1) At least one reliable source must be present, explicitly and directly calling it a concept album.
 * 2) The album must have its own article.

List so far... Sergecross73  msg me  19:22, 19 July 2016 (UTC)


 * Looking through, it looks like a similar approach was suggested, but never implemented, over 8 years ago. It doesn't appear like anyone's moving on this, so I'm moving forward with implementing it. I've put a notice at the top of the page. Feel free to discuss. Sergecross73   msg me


 * I've been working on implementing this for the last few months. Seems to be an effective way of enforcing WP:V and trimming out WP:OR-based entries. (If I had to guess, I bet there were a lot people who erroneously went "Well, artist X put out album Y as a concept album, so maybe they're all concept albums. Let's add them all!) The only issue is the article's massive size - so this is taking a while. But it'll get there. Or even if it doesn't, the article will still be improved. Sergecross73   msg me  13:12, 22 September 2016 (UTC)

I also wonder what are the rules regarding countries and/or languages? I know about some czech concept albums, but I guess they are not known around the world. Belenor (talk) 08:55, 11 October 2016 (UTC)
 * The standard would be the same - the band and album would have to have their own article, and you'd need a reliable source directly and literally calling it a concept album. Sergecross73   msg me  12:43, 11 October 2016 (UTC)

Table format testing

 * This is good. Would be nice to have a genre column in there also. And if my below proposal of sorting by date doesn't go through, then a 'year released' column. 02:38, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Thirty Seconds to Mars
Wouldn’t it be best to moving them to the “T” section? Their official name isn’t 30 Seconds to Mars. ~SML •  TP   22:02, 26 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I hadn’t noticed that. Yeah, unless we’re missing something, you’re probably right. Sergecross73   msg me  01:43, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Okay, well I’m moving it to the “T” section.  ~SML  •  TP  02:07, 27 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Sounds good. Sergecross73   msg me  02:09, 27 July 2018 (UTC)

The Ventures – The Colorful Ventures
The album doesn’t have a page..  ~SML  •  TP  15:56, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks. It should be removed. FYI, this has been a 2+ year project of mine to source or remove every entry in the list. And I’ve made a lot of progress - it started with like 10 refs, and now it’s like around 500. But outside of the occasional skipping around, I’ve been doing a lot of it in alphabetical order. So if you see issues towards the bottom of the list, it could just be that I haven’t gotten that far yet. Sergecross73   msg me  16:02, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Okay, I can help you if you’d like me to, I could go from “Z” to “A”.  ~SML  •  TP  16:12, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Sure, that’d be helpful, if you want. Its easy to get burned out on it, because it gets a bit repetitive if you do it for too long, so I recommend doing it off and on, but you’re free to do as much as you want of course. It is nice that it’s closer to ever before to being completely sourced. Sergecross73   msg me  16:42, 28 July 2018 (UTC)


 * Should there be the English translation for Harmonium’s concept album Si on avait besoin d'une cinquième saison?  ~SML  •  TP  20:07, 28 July 2018 (UTC)
 * I either added it, or retained it, while cleaning up the list a ways back. I thought it helped, as the French title doesn't really mean anything to the average English reader - the translation gives the reader a little more indication about what the concept is. Also, the source given not only verified the concept album status, but also the translation more or less too. Sergecross73   msg me  13:21, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Well the translation is already in the page, so I think if a reader wanted to know the translation, they could just click and read the first sentence. And the Spanish concept albums don’t have the translation, nor the Burzum albums. So I think people looking for it’s translation can simply go to the album’s page.  ~SML  •  TP  13:27, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Feel free to remove it. Sergecross73   msg me  13:36, 30 July 2018 (UTC)
 * Thanks.  ~SML  •  TP  13:39, 30 July 2018 (UTC)

Frank zappa other concept albums
What I wanted to spread is that There's no other Frank zappa concept album accept one. Considering the fact the that made slots of concept albums. Examples such as Apostrophe, Joes garage, thing fish, and many others. Also I think he should the F section of the alphabet. Thank you and have a good day. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.89.161.72 (talk) 11:05, 26 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Just find a reliable source that classify them as a concept album and they’re free to go on. Sergecross73   msg me  13:08, 26 March 2019 (UTC)

Ordering the list by year released
I wanted to propose that this list should not be ordered by the alphabet, but the year that the album came out. Anyone searching for a particular album can use their browser's search, so there isn't much advantage to sorting alphabetically. Sorting by date allows people to see the progression of themes of concept albums and their relationship with each other a lot easier, as well as allow people to pick albums from a time period. Ikiwi (talk) 02:38, 17 February 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't necessarily disagree, but it would be quite the undertaking to implement, between the large number of entries, and that the release years aren't even listed at this article yet. Sergecross73   msg me  17:36, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Should scrapped concept albums be included?
This might seem useless but for an example with Weezer they were planning on making a Rock Opera called “Songs from the Black Hole” but it was scrapped and instead Pinkerton was made. There are probably many more examples of this but should these unreleased albums be put on the list? Ghccoolj (talk) 16:24, 25 May 2023 (UTC)


 * I've never thought about it much. I suppose since that other editor added years to all the entries, it would be easy enough to indicate if one didn't come out by adding a "(cancelled)" or something at the end.
 * That said, one of of inclusion criteria for the list is that both the artist and the album have their own Wikipedia article. So I imagine there would never be very many cancelled ones on the list, as cancelled album articles are relatively rare, and cancelled concept album articles even more rare. Sergecross73   msg me  16:40, 25 May 2023 (UTC)

Repeated poorly sourced entries
Starting a talk page discussion this because someone keeps account/IP hopping to re-add the problematic entries. A prime example is this edit, which add's Soundgarden's Superunknown album. Many problems here.
 * 1) That college essay is 76 pages long. It is not proper sourcing to vaguely point to a 76 page document. It needs a specific page number at the very least.
 * 2) I'm not sure a college essay is a reliable source to begin with.
 * 3) Is this a WP:FRINGE theory? Superunknown is currently a Good Article and makes no mention of it being a concept album. Nor have I commonly (or ever) heard it be referred to as a concept album.

I'm open to hearing some counterpoints, but barring any new information being presented, it doesn't belong in the article as is. Sergecross73  msg me  17:34, 10 November 2023 (UTC)