The Who‘s Tommy pioneered the “rock opera.” Pink Floyd perfected it with The Wall.
Like Tommy, The Wall is a sprawling two-album work. Running more than 80 minutes, The Wall covers a lot of musical ground – ballads, pseudo-opera, rock, and even dabbles in disco. The Wall is Pink Floyd’s, or at least Roger Waters’, magnum opus.
Since The Wall came out when I was nine years old, it’s hard to remember a world before it existed. It’s just always been part of the classic rock canon, right? Even though it was ever-present on the radio, at least snippets of it, it wasn’t until I was well into high school that I got a copy of the full album. And then I listened to The Wall over and over again.