10 Insane Plots From Concept Albums
9. Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
The brainchild of Peter Gabriel, this album is one of many concept albums set in and around Broadway. Gabriel’s plot concerns a disaffected Puerto-Rican gang member called Rael, who has a spiritual awakening after witnessing a lamb lying down on the New York street (so far, so obvious).
But Rael is then absorbed by a floating movie screen, and transported to a cave in the underworld. Things get weirder - an ensuing dream sequence portrays his heart being shaved, and before long he is awake and having sex with a pool of snake creatures called Lamia (don't you hate it when that happens?). Post-coitus, they drink his blood and die. He then becomes a Slipperman - a grotesque, deformed victim of the Lamia (which Gabriel dressed as during live shows). But, fear not, all he has to do to revert is to castrate himself and wear his (dis)member around his neck.
The album ends with Rael choosing to ignore a portal back to New York in order to rescue his drowning brother John. But, in a twist worthy of a student art film, he finds that John has his own face. It really makes you think. Makes you think stuff like “why did I buy this album?”, for instance.