10 Strangest Concept Albums

Frank Zappa was as prolific as he was inventive. His extensive back catalogue of work includes over 60 albums plus feature-length movies, music videos and art.

Never one to take the commercial route, Zappa's Joe's Garage, a triple-part high-concept rock opera, is about as left-field as they come. It was originally released as two separate albums (in September and November of 1979) and later bundled into vinyl and CD box sets.

Featuring Zappa's trademark mix of jazz, dirty rhythm and blues, garage rock and experimentation, the record follows the story of the eponymous hero, as told by 'the central scrutinizer.'

Joe lives in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, a normal everyman who starts his own rock group, has a series of unsuccessful romantic encounters, loses his money to a government-controlled religion, goes to prison, is released back into a future where music has been criminalized, and slides into madness.