Underground Radio

In the growing category of albums I never realized were rock operas, we must add Lou Reed's epic Berlin. This one of Reed's best and most haunting albums. It tells the story of a dysfunctional couple's struggle with…

I admit, I'm a sucker for rock operas. And if you throw in some HP Lovecraft, well then you've definitely got my attention. "Dreams in the Witch House" is a full-blooded modern rock opera based on one of…

This next one is a bit of an odd-ball to me. It's not exactly a rock opera, but it's close enough to warrant examination. "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County" came together in 2013 as a joint project of…

Crack The Sky is one of those rare bands that shined brightly in the '70s and then all but disappeared from public consciousness, despite the fact that they continued to record and tour. Their namesake debut album scored impressive…

American Idiot is one of those very rare cases where a band decides to create a rock opera and it actually worked. Not only was "American Idiot" a great album, it catapulted Green Day from a niche punk band…

I happened to stumble across the song "This is Junk" by Brainpool while listening to a running podcast back in 2008. It's a catchy number that sounded to me like Ted Leo and the Pharmacists with a top-40 radio vibe…

When I was in high school Styx was everywhere. They had litany of songs (or arguably the same song over and over) that landed in heavy rotation on radio, at parties and dances. I mean you couldn't avoid "Lady,"…

Although KISS had established themselves as highly theatrical three-chord rockers in the early '70s and rose to great heights with their "Alive" album, by the end of the decade they'd started to lose their way. By 1978…

For a lot of people, Joe’s Garage remains one of the most approachable of Frank Zappa’s works. Technically a triple album when released on vinyl in 1979, it's long since been reissued as a double CD combining Acts I, II…

If you know one thing about the obscure prog rock band Klaatu, it's that in the late 1970s they were rumored to be the Beatles. Of course, that wasn't the case, as legions of Beatles fans later…

Here's a surprise: I never realized David Bowie's masterpiece "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders from Mars" was a rock opera. It's such a good album it stands on its own in a way…

Wishbone Ash is one of those epic '70s bands that burned brightly for a few years, releasing top 10 albums, playing stadiums worldwide and then seemingly vanished. If you weren't listening to prog rock in '72 or maybe '74 you…