10 Insane Plots From Concept Albums
8. Frank Zappa - Thing-Fish
Few artists in history have been as dedicated to the concept album as Frank Zappa, and the album Thing-Fish is undoubtedly his maddest experiment - an absurd, caustic attack on middle-class bigotry that baffled everyone who heard it.
As with any work of weird art worth its salt, its concept defies simple explanation; suffice to say, it involves an evil prince (he moonlights as a theatre critic, of course) who has created a disease that will rid the world of African Americans and homosexuals. Unfortunately, this backfires, and creates a world of “potato-headed”, duck-faced mutants who take to Broadway (they recall Gabriel’s Slippermen just a bit).
It satire may seem broad and underdeveloped today, but it makes for a bracing, bonkers listen, at least - although it’s probably for the best that Zappa’s accompanying Broadway musical was never developed.