A musical challenge!
 

A friend and I have discussed the nature of music as compared to other art forms, and decided that in the long term it's the most difficult of them all. And then I thought about comic books and realized there's something missing in the field of music:

Works of substantial length!

Forget The Ring of the Nibelung, it's a three-day snorefest. Why isn't there a musical radio drama that takes three years to listen to? Or thirty? And remains riveting to the listener throughout?

The answer is simple: No one have had the balls/ovarian fortitude/artistic vision to make it!

Until now.

Here's my proposal. All volunteers are to gather somewhere - maybe in that country we were doing last month - and live together reality show style. Except without the popularity contests. And we'll learn to play instruments, and figure out the story, and how to make music that lasts for years without getting stale and without becoming unrecognizable. And then the work will begin.

Does that sound tough? Of course. It's the greatest Goddamned challenge ever devised in the history of creative works. Does it sound impossible? Then you need to get out of here now, quitter. Baby. Weaksauce.

Okay, I'm not going to call anyone names. I'll just point out that if this idea is too big for you then you should be ashamed. We have the possibility here to rock (heh) the world's foundation, to do something greater and better than even Tenacious D could dream of.

With that, I'll open the floor to questions of practical, philosophical or romantic nature, and suggestions of names for the band and/or the project/genre; after this little bit of chat log that led up to this historic post:
What do you say? It's been like, three days since we did something like this.

The Invisible Queen Project.

I'll do drums. Anyone can do drums.

I can play the saxophone! I can totally jam with it too...kinda....Well I can do the pink panther song

Awesome. I think we need two saxes, one refined and one improvising.

The instrument choices are wide open though. It's probably going to take me ten years to learn anything, and anyone can learn anything in that time. I just like cellos.

And The Invisible Queen Project? Doesn't really roll of the tongue. I confess I don't want this to be "my" thing. Sure I demand to be immortalized as the inventor of the genre to end genres, whatever we're going to call it, but the band and the work are not and will never be mine; they're ours, and they're us.

Edited name ideas:
Invisible Music
Ministry of Monsters

NPF Invisible Band Jamboree!

Large-scale and musical in nature, won't ever be noticed by anyone on account of not getting off the ground. No other name will be acceptable.

Kinda confused on the issue of comic books as a work of substantial length though since okay, while they're being written and drawn, i.e. during their active runtime, it takes years to get through a story but once they're all out and collected you can read the entirety of, say, Sandman and it takes you two, three days tops.

Whatever, might as well aim high. I have a bass. You may consider me part of the rhythm section.

Well, Sandman is only 76 issues. Superman is up to 700 or something. . .

Are we talking a single 'song' that you listen to in parts, or a series of concept albums that you release like once a month for three years or what?

EDIT: Ok, re-read but still confused. A musical radio drama. Ok so like a 'Peter and the Wolf' with a 3 year run time?

That comparison will serve, I guess. Though ideally it'll be more focused on music than on story, and it'll last until we're all dead of old age.

Granted but I don't think these are actually one big storyline, there have to be some reboots and side stories and whatnot in there. And if you had all those 700 issues at hand you could still read them in a fraction of the time it took for them to get published. You would then, of course, go insane.

anyway the point of my inquiry really is, are we talking about something with an actual 3-year runtime, uninterrupted start to finish, or like something where we release an episode once a month or a week or a day for three years?

e: I guess that clears that up.

... well we'll obviously have to take turns.