Rock Operas
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Rock Operas
A rock opera is a collection of rock music songs with lyrics that relate to a common story. Rock operas are typically released as concept albums and are not scripted for acting, which distinguishes them from operas, although several have been adapted as rock musicals. The use of various character roles within the song lyrics is a common storytelling device. The success of the rock opera genre has inspired similar works in other musical styles, such as rap opera. History A number of rock artists became interested in the idea of creating a rock opera in the 1960s. Early use of the terms rock opera and teenage opera date from 1963, when Frank Zappa used both phrases to describe a work in progress, ''I Was a Teenage Malt Shop''. Zappa can be heard discussing his rock opera in a radio program: a recording of a which is included on the album ''Joe's Xmasage'', on the track ''The Uncle Frankie Show''. Captain Beefheart, Don Van Vliet was to be cast as a character named “Captain Beef ...
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The Who's Tommy (5171688334)
''The Who's Tommy'' is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Pete Townshend and a book by Townshend and Des McAnuff. It is based on the 1969 rock opera ''Tommy (The Who album), Tommy'' by The Who. Productions The musical opened at La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, on 1 July 1992. The Broadway theatre debut was at the St. James Theatre on 29 March 1993 with 27 previews running through 10 April. The show then officially opened on 22 April 1993 and closed on 17 June 1995, after 900 performances. Produced by Sir George Martin and directed by Des McAnuff, with choreography by Wayne Cilento, and groundbreaking iconic projections by Wendall K. Harrington, the original cast included Michael Cerveris (Tommy), Marcia Mitzman (Mrs. Walker), Jonathan Dokuchitz (Captain Walker), Paul Kandel (Uncle Ernie) and Cheryl Freeman (The Gypsy/Acid Queen), plus an ensemble that included Alice Ripley, Christian Hoff, Norm Lewis, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Michael McElroy (actor), Michael McElro ...
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A Teenage Opera
''A Teenage Opera'' is a musical project from the 1960s, created by record producer Mark Wirtz. The first song released from the project was "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera" ("Grocer Jack") recorded by Keith West in 1967. The album was not released until 1996, and a stage show was performed in 2017. History According to Wirtz, he had been working on an idea for a rock opera since January 1966, when he was experimenting in his London studio and produced a piece of music entitled "A Touch of Velvet – A Sting of Brass", under the name of "Mood Mosaic". He was asked to join EMI as an in-house record producer and he accepted, starting in January 1967. He had already seen Pink Floyd start their career and he personally recommended them to be signed but thought the task of producing them would be better left to fellow producer Norman Smith. Wirtz decided to work with another band he had enjoyed, The In Crowd, who soon changed their name to Tomorrow. According to Wirtz, he dr ...
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Seattle Opera
Seattle Opera is an American opera company based in Seattle, Washington. The company's season runs from August through late May, comprising five or six operas of eight to ten performances each, often featuring double casts in major roles to allow for successive evening presentations. Since August 2003, Seattle Opera has performed at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (capacity: 2,967), which was built on the site of the old Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center. The company's current general director is James Robinson. History Glynn Ross founded the company in 1963, and served as its first general director until 1983. From the outset, Ross saw opera as something that had to be sold using similar techniques to those used to sell popular entertainment: To sell opera…you have to get their attention with a little razzle-dazzle. You've got to be simpatico. You have to be able to communicate, and you have to deliver your message with the best possible product you can manage.Quoted in . In ...
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Pete Townshend
Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend (; born 19 May 1945) is an English musician. He is the co-founder, guitarist, keyboardist, second lead vocalist, principal songwriter and leader of the Who, one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s. His aggressive playing style, poetic songwriting techniques and authorship of two rock operas with the Who, as well as other projects, have earned him critical acclaim. Townshend has written more than 100 songs for 12 of the Who's studio albums. These include concept albums, the rock operas ''Tommy (The Who album), Tommy'' (1969) and ''Quadrophenia'' (1973), plus popular rock radio staples such as ''Who's Next'' (1971); as well as dozens more that appeared as non-album singles, bonus tracks on reissues, and tracks on rarities compilation albums such as ''Odds & Sods'' (1974). He has also written more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles and Theme music, television theme songs. While known ...
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Tommy (The Who Album)
''Tommy'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 17 May 1969. Written primarily by guitarist Pete Townshend, ''Tommy'' is a double album and an early rock opera that tells the story of the fictional Tommy Walker and his path to becoming a spiritual leader and messianic figure. Townshend came up with the concept of ''Tommy'' after being introduced to the work of Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, and he attempted to translate Baba's ideas into music. Recording of the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of ''Tommy'', which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the University of Leeds, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The live performances of ''T ...
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The Who
The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of the most influential rock bands of the 20th century, their contributions to rock music include the development of the Marshall Stack, Marshall stack, large public address systems, the use of synthesizers, Entwistle's and Moon's influential playing styles, Townshend's Guitar feedback, feedback and power chord guitar technique, and the development of the rock opera. They are cited as an influence by many hard rock, punk rock, punk, power pop and mod (subculture), mod bands. The Who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. The Who evolved from an earlier group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod (subculture), mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by Instrument destruction, destr ...
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Allegheny Mountains, the paper formed under its present title in 1927 from the consolidation of the ''Pittsburgh Gazette Times'' and ''The Pittsburgh Post''. The ''Post-Gazette'' ended daily print publication in 2018 and has cut down to two print editions per week (Sunday and Thursday), going Online newspaper, online-only the rest of the week. In the 2010s, the editorial tone of the paper shifted from Liberalism in the United States, liberal to Conservatism in the United States, conservative, particularly after the editorial pages of the paper were consolidated in 2018 with ''The Blade (Toledo, Ohio), The Blade'' of Toledo, Ohio. After the consolidation, Keith Burris, the pro-Donald Trump, Trump editori ...
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The Pretty Things
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ...
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The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ...
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Nirvana (British Band)
Nirvana are a pop rock band formed in London in 1966. In 1985, the band reformed. Members of the band sued the American band Nirvana over the usage of the name, reaching an out-of-court settlement. History 1966–1971: Early years Nirvana was created as the performing arm of the London-based songwriting partnership of Irish musician Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Greek composer Alex Spyropoulos (born George Alex Spyropoulos, 1941, Athens) and English producer Ray Singer (born 1946). On their recordings, Campbell-Lyons, Ray Singer and Spyropoulos supplied all the vocals. Campbell-Lyons contributed on guitars, and Spyropoulos contributed on some keyboards. Musically, Campbell-Lyons and Spyropoulos blended rock, pop, folk, jazz, Latin rhythms and classical music, primarily augmented by baroque chamber-style arrangements. In October 1967, they released their first album, a concept album produced by Chris Blackwell titled '' The Story of Simon Simopath''. The album was one of t ...
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The Story Of Simon Simopath
''The Story of Simon Simopath'' is the debut album by British psychedelic band Nirvana (British band), Nirvana, released by Island Records in 1967. Described by ''Melody Makers Chris Welch as a "science fiction pantomime album", the songs are linked with a story on the back cover which details the dream of Simon Simopath to fly. In constructing a narrative storyline to connect the songs, ''The Story of Simon Simopath'' can be considered the very first full-length rock opera, predating both The Pretty Things' December 1968 entry ''S.F. Sorrow'' and The Who's May 1969 release ''Tommy (The Who album), Tommy'' by over a year. "Pentecost Hotel" was released as a single with the non-album b-side, "Feelin' Shattered". "Wings of Love" was the next single, also with a non-album b-side, "Requiem to John Coltrane". "Girl in the Park", from the second album, ''All of Us'', featured the b-side, "C Side In Ocho Rios", which is an instrumental version of "In the Courtyard of the Stars". Story ...
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The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston as ''The Atlantic Monthly'', a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Its founders included Francis H. Underwood and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier. James Russell Lowell was its first editor. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the magazine also published the annual ''The Atlantic Monthly Almanac''. The magazine was purchased in 1999 by businessman David G. Bradley, who fashioned it into a general editorial magazine primarily aimed at serious national readers and " thought leaders"; in 201 ...
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