Music

The Spider-Man Rock Opera from 1975? Yep.

Alan Cross 0 Comments

Long, long before U2 decided to sink a fortune into a Broadway musical, someone decided that it would be a good idea to record a concept album based on Peter Parker’s arachnid alt-ego.

It was 1975.  Marvel Comics was all-powerful and was willing to try all sorts of things.  They teamed with a label called Lifesong Records–no, I’d never heard of them, either–to create a rock opera entitled Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero.

Music was provided by a Virginian band called Crack the Sky.  The album features twelve tracks centred around what it feels like to be, well, a spider-man. Spicing things up is spoken word commentary from Stan Lee.

Has anyone ever even heard of this album before? More of the gory details can be found here.  And thanks to special comics correspondent Brent Chittenden for unearthing this, er, gem.

For a sample of what this record sounds like, click past the jump.

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38011 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

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