Talk:Rock opera

Would Imaginaerum by Nightwish be a rock opera?
According to the definition, I would probably classify the Nightwish's production Imaginaerum as rock opera: the movie of the same name was produced at the same time as the album (there are subtle differences; I haven't seen the movie yet, though) and they were clearly inspired on each other. The music alone was performed on stage, although not in the sense of Jesus Christ Superstar (where the movie version was based and inspired on the stage production) — more similar, I think, to Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story which are performed independently of the play/movie.

I understand there can be a fine dividing line between a "movie soundtrack" and an opera. In the case of Imaginaerum, I would claim that the music by itself tells a story — it stands alone, it's not "subject" to the movie, but inspires it and gives it an unifying whole. On the other hand, the movie Imaginaerum might just be a " musical" and not an "opera". Again, there is a fine dividing line between both genres, specially when musicals are performed both on stage and on the silver screen.

What do you think?

Gwyneth Llewelyn (talk) 11:13, 2 March 2014 (UTC)
 * "Rock opera" has always been a bit of a misnomer, or at least misleading, because rock operas are more akin to song cycles or oratorios than operas in form, a point made in the archive. Obviously, rock opera overlaps quite a bit with musicals, too. Nightwish's albums never even have dedicated vocalists for each role, unlike Ayreon's. So don't worry about the term "opera" too much. Rock opera and operatic rock (like Tarja's solo music) keep being confused, so much that it would be better if a different term were used. --Florian Blaschke (talk) 01:28, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

"Operation Mindcrime"
The article really should mention the rock opera "Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche. The album tells the story of a hit man, seduced into an underworld of violent political conspiracies through a combination of cult brainwashing and drug addiction. The story follows his attempts to break free and his affair with another member of the cult, and concludes with his ultimate downfall. "Operation Mindcrime" tells a much more coherent story than many of the other rock opera albums mentioned in the article. ("A Night at the Opera," for example, tells no coherent story at all, and arguably does not merit inclusion in this particular article, even though it is truly a most excellent album in its own right.) I don't have the vital stats for "Operation Mindcrime" in front of me at the moment, but if you do, please add the reference to this article. Cheers! 50.43.51.186 (talk) 05:44, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

Avantasia
Avantasia is a power metal supergroup formed by Tobias Sammet where the albums are often labeled as "metal operas," especially the first two albums with literally their names. They deserve some mentioning here. Yungstirjoey666 (talk) 06:38, 6 January 2023 (UTC)

Why isn’t “Thick as a Brick” listed?
Surely Jethro Tull’s “Thick as a Brick” qualifies? Why isn’t it listed? ChinaGamerGuy (talk) 21:42, 23 March 2024 (UTC)

We should probably remove "The Rocky Horror Show" and "A Night at the Opera" sections.
While The Rocky Horror Show is a rock musical, it's a rock musical, not an opera. It also can't be classified as a rock opera because it was never an album and was first a stage production.

As for A Night at the Opera, I'm not 100% sure so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the album actually tells any sort of story. The "Operation Mindcrime" topic mentions this fact as well, and on its Wikipedia page it doesn't mention anywhere the terms "rock opera" or even "concept album". "Bohemian Rhapsody", although a good song, doesn't tell a straightforward story as a mini-opera like "A Quick One, While He's Away" so it shouldn't be here either. I don't have anything against these but I'm just saying we should probably remove them as they don't fall into the category of "rock opera." P8cman (talk) 02:17, 22 June 2024 (UTC)
 * ✅. Thanks for the note. Binksternet (talk) 03:16, 22 June 2024 (UTC)