Throughout the sad and fetid 1990s, there was a real sense among indie types that you had to play it dumb. The idea of anything as ambitious as a rock opera was completely laughable -- the whole thing would smack of effort. As the decade turned, the trends turned more toward your more well-scrubbed literate types, and it ended up getting a mite too twee up in here. The new groups might be more willing to take on a bigger challenge, but the results would probably involve 18th century whaling towns or a man who loves and owl or some such nonsense. But the #5 album, the Drive-By Truckers' Southern Rock Opera, manages to plow right down the middle sweet spot between ambition and earthiness.By taking the mythos surrounding boogie boys Lynyrd Skynyrd and using it to illustrate one young man's relationship with the South, its people and its culture, chief Trucker Patterson Hood created an American Quadrophenia. Hood wrestles with the stereotypes that exist, and in the process moved the band from a borderline alt-country novelty act up into the next tier of songwriters. Along the way, Hood is ably abetted by his longtime counterpart/secret weapon Mike Cooley, who turns in songs that perfectly complement the storyline, even if they don't necessarily further the "plot" of the opera.
To my way of thinking, the Truckers would extend their songwriting further on later albums, especially A Blessing and a Curse. But this initial leap forward, conceived and recorded just as the decades were changing hands, is what merits inclusion on the big list.
01 Let There Be Rock.mp3
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