Albums That Are Origin Stories for People or Characters?

Are there any other albums besides pic related that are origin stories for people or characters? Thanks.

...

Thanks. Bump.

here's a bump

what do you mean?

Well Spiderland is obviously a sort of fanfic-esque origin story for Captain Beefheart.

Protomen is the obvious one.

.....!?????!!?!??

Please elaborate

Holy shit... This actually makes some sense

Okay, so here goes nothing:

Tracks 1 and 2 don't make any explicit references to Beefheart.

"Breadcrumb Trails" indicates a young person in the prime of their life, able to get a girl, and have fun at a theme park. A kid who is ambitious enough and courageous to go on an impromptu date.

"Nosferatu Man" is only apparently detached from this. But if you think of it as an exploration of the psyche of the same kid, you'll see that this kid is very highly eccentric and has very strange ways of viewing his relationship. Beefheart is eccentric, but the picture is only just starting to form.

"Don, Aman" drives this home. Captain Beefheart's real name was Don Van Vliet. It conveys Don as a social outcast, which he almost certainly was. It conveys a person now suffering in mundane social situations because of the eccentricities displayed in "Nosferatu Man". Don even "howls" in the lyrics, a reference to the fact that van Vliet's vocal style was influenced by blues musician Howling Wolf.

"Washer" compounds the suffering by Don as he becomes more isolated due to his eccentricities. There's even a subtle reference to TRM: "Don't let this moonlight leave me." is an allusion to the song "Moonlight on Vermont", in which Beefheart speaks of the power of Moonlight and how it is his "old time religion, that's good enough for me". The lamentation of the moonlight leaving in "Washer" means that Don's existential/religious beliefs are collapsing from the social isolation that started in Don, Aman and is caused by his eccentric character.

"For Dinner" is just instrumental filler from the perspective of this story, but it's useful to use it to see why exactly the music is so dark. The music is purposefully antithetical in spirit but similar in some subtle ways to Trout Mask Replica. TRM is extremely chaotic and jubilant, whereas Spiderland is extremely methodical and dark.

(contd.)

bitch u crazy

The similarities between TRM and Spiderland are primarily:

1) Some parts of TRM have extremely meticulous rhythms like in Spiderland, mostly in the renditions of Hair Pie.

2) Spiderland contains the same disjointed guitar chords as in TRM.

Point #2 shows that this album is about somebody who is quiet and afraid but has a streak in him which is unhinged. In other words, before Don van Vliet becomes Captain Beefheart.

And this brings us to what should be obvious by now: "Good Morning, Captain" refers to Don's transformation into Captain Beefheart.

If Spiderland is about just one character, then the song is already referring to Don as the Captain. It is a hallucinatory episode in which the Captain finds a child. This is just playing on the common cliche that children are very divergent and creative thinkers.

The Captain finds the child, and laments "I miss you!" as he realizes that he is most comfortable with himself when he doesn't suppress child-like playfulness.

Don suffers through the entire album because his inner child was lost as he grew into adolescence. His spontaneity, youthfulness, and eccentricity displayed in the first two tracks makes him suffer as he tries to socially please others and survive by discarding these properties in "Don, Aman" and "Washer".

After reaching a low point of suffering in the dismal "For Dinner", Don introspectively discovers his inner child in "Good Morning Captain". The title is another way of saying "Don has found his inner child, and it's a new day. Captain Beefheart has been born."

...

>obviously

Literally what

Well I explained it.

The Protomen's first Album.

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3

>obviously

Holy shit man. I kind of doubt it having seen the documentary, but if I hadn't I would be sold on this.

Way to go, Stretch Armstrong.

blurryface is an obvious choice i guess

It's art. You can interpret it however you want, even if nobody in their right mind would imagine that this was the artist's intent

Oh I'm laffin

Not debating that, just concerned you might sprain a muscle with all that stretching.

>Don even "howls" in the lyrics, a reference to the fact that van Vliet's vocal style was influenced by blues musician Howling Wolf.