For example, Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall part 1 and part 2.
Basically all of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s discography.
I’m not sure if this exactly fits what you’re looking for, but the following 5 albums by The Dear Hunter are connected through a shared storyline [1]:
- Act I: The Lake South, The River North [2]
- Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading [3]
- Act III: Life and Death [4]
- Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise [5]
- Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional [6]
References
- Type: Article. Title: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Wikipedia”. Published: 2025-07-04T01:59Z. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:27Z. URI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dear_Hunter.
- Type: Text. Location: ¶2.
Most of the band’s albums, starting with their 2006 debut album Act I: The Lake South, the River North, are concept albums and a part of a common storyline, planned to conclude with a sixth installment. The most recent addition is 2016’s Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional. Additionally, they have released albums unrelated to the Acts; […]
- Type: Text. Location: ¶2.
- Type: Album. Title: “Act I: The Lake South, The River North”. Author: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Spotify”. Published: 2007-05-22. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:29Z. URI: https://open.spotify.com/album/7k0iFGkqIWyOBZBaBCAYg7.
- Type: Album. Title: “Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading”. Author: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Spotify”. Published: 2007-05-22. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:29Z. URI: https://open.spotify.com/album/3bxQpENBvT3gHgM9Q7Z20K.
- Type: Album. Title: “Act III: Life and Death”. Author: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Spotify”. Published: 2009-06-23. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:29Z. URI: https://open.spotify.com/album/5B5cJTkPpZRzKMWegoKE78.
- Type: Album. Title: “Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise”. Author: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Spotify”. Published: 2015-09-04. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:29Z. URI: https://open.spotify.com/album/0TCkVVN1AfEtMP3IjVD1Zi.
- Type: Album. Title: “Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional”. Author: “The Dear Hunter”. Publisher: “Spotify”. Published: 2016-09-16. Accessed: 2025-08-03T05:29Z. URI: https://open.spotify.com/album/72N545TE36DqJHiyE0YLGE.
Did you use some program to format references like that?
Megadeth with Hanger 18 and later in their career Return to Hanger.
Sandstorm by Darude has a song right before it on his album called “the calm before the storm” and I actually enjoy it quite a bit.
Darude Sandstorm lore? Wow lol I’ll keep this on my list to listen too 😂
They’re not that popular compared to Pink Floyd or David Bowie, but there’s a band called The Dear Hunter that have 5 albums called Act I through Act V that are one continuous story of a guy’s life.
So in that sense every song on those albums are a sequel and prequel to every other, but some of the musical themes and motifs are more obviously reintroduced, referenced, and re-applied in new contexts as the albums go on.
They have albums that aren’t those 5, which are not in the canon, by the way.
What’s your favorite color? I’m torn between green and orange.
Honestly, I was kinda “meh” on the colours 😅
At first I thought it was maybe a “I like their earlier work” sorta thing, that can sometimes happen with bands, but when I looked up the release dates I was surprised to discover the spectrum came out between III and IV, but I like III and love IV and V, so I guess it’s not that!
I guess maybe the identity of the Acts is just enough that they have something colours lack for me? I don’t know what, but they’ve never grabbed me. Oh well, such is taste!
Primus has the four Fisherman’s Chronicles songs.
- John the Fisherman
- Fish On
- The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon
- Last Salmon Man
Another thing that might count as an example is that Wings’ Band on the Run and Helen Wheels both mention a character named Sailor Sam.
Edit: Added to post.
It’s post-Primus but Les also has Rumble of the Diesel about fishing. Dude just loves fishin
I’ve got to find a digitally saved copy of the original Cheesy Primus Home Video (I lost the VHS years ago) because it included ample footage of the band on a fishing trip.
Dream Theater has a song called Metropolis Part 1. Originally they didn’t plan to have any additional parts, but it worked out that eventually they decided to follow it up. Instead of a single song, they did a whole album: Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory. And I think it’s their best work.
David Bowie wrote a continuation to “Space Oddity” (“Ashes to Ashes”) and the original also inspired a few songs by other artists that directly reference it (“Major Tom (Coming Home)” by Peter Schilling, “Hallo Spaceboy” by Pet Shop Boys).
major tom also shows up in the music video for blackstar
Tool Parabol - Parabola
Sounds interesting, I shall listen to this 😎
Opeth - Patterns in the Ivy and Patterns in the Ivy II. The latter is so beautiful, could’ve easily been on BWP too imo
Judy is a Punk and Return of Jackie &Judy by the Ramones. Also Havana Affair and This Ain’t Havana by the Ramones.
Anecdotally, I’ve heard The Police’s Synchronicity II on the radio way, way more than Synchronicity I. They’re both bangers though.
GUNSHIP
The Decemberists
The Crane Wife 1 & 2
The Crane Wife 3The Unicorns
I Don’t Wanna Die
Ready To DieHandsome Boy Modeling School
Look At This Face (Oh My God They’re Gorgeous)
Modeling SucksHold up, tech noir… 2??? Thank you so much for introducing this to my life
Can’t say I’ve heard of them, but I will listen to these, thanks for your recommendation 🤘🏽
Metallica has the unforgiven, unforgiven 2, and unforgiven 3
The Smashing Pumpkins- “1979” and “Perfect”.
People said “Perfect” sounded so much like “1979” that the music video was intentionally made to be a sequel to the latter.
EDIT: The Smashing Pumpkins are my favorite band. If you can find a copy of Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991–2000) (a DVD collection of music videos and other goodies; acted as a companion to Rotten Apples), I recommend it. There is extensive audio commentary on the videos. For example, Stéphane Sednaoui who directed “Today”, claimed to had never listen to the song before the first day of filming. “1979” in particular had master tapes got destroyed after someone left them on the roof of their car, so the entire video had to be re-shot. “Perfect” commentary, Corgan makes the connection to the similarities with “1979”; all but one of the original teenage actors from the first video returned. There is a short film version of “Try” that featured a different ending to “Try, Try, Try”. A few live recordings are included, among them “Fuck You (An Ode to No One)” from the final Metro show when they broke up and “Geek USA” (a special mix that utilized maximum volume on the audio system).
To this day I still haven’t heard any of their songs, this might be the day I listen to their songs 😅
If you dive in, here’s one that I love that I feel is a bit of a departure from their more typical formula with some very pleasant strings
Didn’t they also have
The beginning is the end is the beginning & The end is the beginning is the end
?
“The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” is an alternate version.
EDIT: The tracks on the single for “The End Is the Beginning Is the End” are all alternate versions.
Oh right on