Ride This Train - Johnny Cash (1960): Album about railroads and trains.
Little Deuce Coupe - The Beach Boys (1963): Songs about America’s car culture.
Moonlight Sinatra - Frank Sinatra (1965): Every song has “moon” in its title.
Face to Face - The Kinks (1966): Deals with the failures and frustrations of life.
Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys (1966): Brian Wilson’s autobiography of life and love.
Freak Out! - Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention (1966): Documents the underground “freak” subculture and rock scene in Los Angeles at the time.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles (1967): Based on fictional characters in a fictional band. Answer to The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album.
Their Satanic Majesties Request - The Rolling Stones (1967): Explicit drug use with an occult inspired theme. Answer to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album.
At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash (1968): Cash sings songs about crime, imprisonment, and execution, to a live audience of prisoners at Folsom Prison.
Tommy - The Who (1969): The story of a deaf, dumb, and blind pinball wizard.
Whats Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971): Confusion, struggle, and social turmoil during the changing times of the late 60′s and early 70′s.
Aqualung - Jethro Tull (1971): Lyrics question and criticize organized religion.
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd (1973): Deals with the pressures of life.
Tales From Topographic Oceans - Yes (1973): The songs that make up the album are based on ancient Hindu scriptures.
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd (1975): Based solely on former band member Syd Barrett’s battle with drug addiction and insane mental state.
Hotel California - The Eagles (1976): Deals with the struggles of temptation.
Exile in Guyville - Liz Phair (1993): Counters each song on The Rolling Stones’ album Exile on Main Street.
Pinkerton - Weezer (1996): A story about searching for and finding true love. Many of the songs were inspired by the opera, Madame Butterfly.
OK Computer - Radiohead (1997): Loosely based on 1984 by George Orwell. Songs document life in a dehumanized technological society.
Maroon - Barenaked Ladies (2000): About a rock star struggling with depression.
Last DJ - Tom Petty (2002): Reveals the greediness of the music industry.
Get Behind Me Satan - The White Stripes (2005): All songs deal with truth.
