How The Dark Side of the Moon’s unified themes broke the concept album wide open

Before The Dark Side of the Moon, concept albums were common but rarely this airtight. Bands like the Who and the Kinks had told stories across a record, but Dark Side wove its themes—mental health, death, time, greed—into the musical fabric itself. Every track flowed into the next, heartbeats and cash registers reappeared as motifs, and the lyrics formed a single