Abstract

The concept album, a musical form in which the songs on an album are narratively or thematically linked to tell a story, achieved its preeminence at a time of great social, political, and economic change. This project examines the relationship three concept albums bear to the political and economic doctrine of neoliberalism, and traces the ways these works respond to the trickle-down effects of neoliberal ideology within the social sphere. The first album, The Wall, was released in 1979, and engages with the doctrine of Thatcherism, widely regarded as one of the powerful originators of neoliberal governance, as well as its causes and social consequences. The analysis next moves to more contemporary examples, examining the Titus Andronicus’s 2010 album The Monitor and Marillion’s 2016 release Fuck Everyone and Run to map the ways in which neoliberalism, and the discourses it engenders, have shifted and mutated in response to historical and economic stimuli.