The 5 Most Famous Psychedelic Rock Concept Albums

In this blog post, we take a look at the 5 most famous psychedelic rock concept albums and explore what made them so successful.

The 5 Most Famous Psychedelic Rock Concept Albums

Psychedelic rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the mid-1960s. The style is characterize by a preoccupation with extended instrumental solos, Mellotron and synthesizer sounds, and experimental production techniques. Concept albums are albums that are “unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical.” In this article, we will be discussing the 5 most famous psychedelic rock concept albums.

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
The Kinks – Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
The Who – Tommy
Pink Floyd – The Wall

Psychedelic rock, or “psychedelia” for short, was a musical movement that emerged in the mid-1960s and reached the peak of its popularity in the late 1960s. The style is defined by its use of distorted guitars, feedback, and other effects, and its experimentation with new sounds and textures.

While there are many great psychedelic rock albums, some stand out above the rest. Here are five of the most famous psychedelic rock concept albums.

The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

Often cited as one of the best albums of all time, Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by American rock band The Beach Boys, released on May 16, 1966. It initially met with a lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States, peaking at number 10 in the Billboard 200, a somewhat lower placement than the band’s preceding albums. In the United Kingdom, the album was hailed by critics and peaked at number 2 in the UK Top 40 Albums Chart, becoming the band’s highest-charting LP in Britain. Lead guitarist and principal songwriter Brian Wilson was responsible for much of the album’s production and creative direction; he suffered frequent nervous breakdowns during this period and as a result was unable to tour with his bandmates for several months.

All but two of its tracks were written by Wilson or co-written with his frequent collaborators Tony Asher and Mike Love; one track, “Sloop John B”, was written by traditional pop composer Ritchie Adams with Felice Bryant, while another track “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” was co-written with Asher and Gary Usher. Its title refers to Brian Wilson’s love for recording studios and audio equipment; he spent considerable time during production seeking new ways to realize his musical ambitions.

Pet Sounds has frequently been cited as a landmark work in popular music and one of the first concept albums. Its influence varied widely on subsequent artists: David Bowie named it his favorite album ever in 2002, while Thom Yorke of Radiohead said it made him “want to sing better.”

The Who – Tommy

The Who – Tommy (1969)
Tommy is The Who’s fourth studio album and their first concept album. Released in May of 1969, the double album is a rock opera that tells the story of a “deaf, dumb, and blind” boy who becomes a pinball champion.

The album was an instant critical and commercial success, reaching number four on the Billboard 200 in the US and number two in the UK. Tommy was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1970 and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon

Released in 1973, Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most popular and well-known concept albums of all time. The album’s central themes are mental illness, greed, the passage of time, and death. These themes are explored through the use of various sound effects and experimental recording techniques. The album was a commercial and critical success, spending 741 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart.

Led Zeppelin – Houses of the Holy

Houses of the Holy is the fifth studio album by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 28 March 1973 by Atlantic Records. The cover artwork for the album was inspired by the concept of a “supernatural mothership” appearing over a city, as seen in close-up on the inside gatefold.

The album previously held the record for the longest delay between release and certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, only being officially certified 14x platinum in 2002, 29 years after its release. In 2016, it was ranked 11th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Albums of All Time”.