Sometimes it's fun to write a group of songs around a specific theme. You could think of the great musicals, where each successive song supported the story line, or just a collection of tunes about a specific subject. Like a group of paintings in an art class where everyone is looking at the same pile of subjects, every still life will look different-the same goes for songs written in this way, even if by the same composer. Here are a few ideas to get you going in this writing style.
TELL A STORY
"Tommy" by The Who and "Kilroy Was Here" by Styx come to mind when I think about rock musicals. Both albums told a story and all the tunes helped convey that story along. Better yet, all were pretty decent tunes on their own outside the context of the play. You might even try writing your "book"-the text part of the story-first to then decide when would be the best time to insert a song for best dramatic effect, and what that song should be about. You can also do the reverse-write a group of songs about the life of some invented person or about an event, and then write a story around those songs. Both ways have been done, and, in fact, sometimes complete musicals have been written about a single song, and the rest of the tunes added later, and lately, one Broadway musical is being performed that takes the songs of an already written album and has written a story where the plotline follows the order of the songs in the album. There are also biographical plays that have been done using an artist's or group's work as the framework and a play has been written around their songs and the artist or group performing those songs and/or explaining how they were written. Give each a try, at least as an exercise. You may find you love writing in this style, and there are always local theatrical groups that would probably be willing to give your work a try. If it gets a good audience response, you may have some hits on your hands. Many folks didn't see "Chess", or remember the play, but the song "One Night in Bangkok" still gets lots of airplay on the 80's stations.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT?
Seeing how it effectively destroyed a member of their group, Pink Floyd couldn't help but write an album about the effects of madness, and "Dark Side of the Moon" became one of the biggest hits of all time for their trouble. If you have a subject you are particularly passionate about, you are assured of writing well about it, since it is a subject that you know about intimately. Pour all your emotions into it, both from the songwriting and lyrical levels, and it's certain that you will touch others who have had similar experiences and likes about your chosen subject. Write a bunch of songs about it, and don't bother to worry about if they are good or not, just try pumping out as many as you can. Once you have a nice little pile of recordings, you can always get some buddies together and listen to them all and get some feedback as to which are the best written and make those into your final album or two.
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