Rock operas and concept albums are pretty common in rock music, but some feature such interesting ideas that a cinematic depiction of them would be really good in feature films would really do them justice, with the band’s music further adding to that concept.

Concept albums require a lot of patience and dedication to listen. Song and poetry, even though concise in form, are perhaps the most powerful medium to tell a story or convey deeper emotions. Their lyrical qualities combined with music, add a new level of feeling , immersion and layer to narratives.


A concept album, therefore, develops its storyline with each song. In a way, a concept album is like a mini-series where each song is an episode, providing us with the opportunity to binge-listen to our heart’s content. However, a concept album doesn’t always need a character to hold its narration together. It can be unified by a common theme on which all the songs are based. Neither does the content of the album need to be strictly lyrical, it can be instrumental or compositional as well.


Top 20 greatest concept albums that deserve their own feature film adaptations (No order of preference here):




1. 2112 - Rush
2. The Wall – Pink Floyd
3. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
4. Tommy – The Who
5. The Incident – Porcupine Tree
6. Downward Spiral – Nine Inch Nails
7. American Idiot – Green Day
8. The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway – Genesis
9. The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie
10. Joe’s Garage – Frank Zappa
11. Welcome To My Nightmare – Alice Cooper
12. The Waterdown – Frank Sinatra
13. The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance
14. Berlin – Lou Reed
15. Snow – Spock’s Beard
16. Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness – Coheed and Cambria
17. Three Friends – Gentle Giant
18. Ok Computer – Radiohead
19. Thick As A Brick – Jethro Tull
20. Tales From Topographic Oceans - Yes