Serge Gainsbourg
1971–1977: Concept albums

Following the success of "Je t'aime... moi non plus", his record company had expected Gainsbourg to produce another hit. But after having already made a fortune, he was uninterested, deciding to "move onto something serious". The result was his 1971 concept album Histoire de Melody Nelson, which tells the story of an illicit relationship between the narrator and the teenage Melody Nelson after running her over in his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. The album heavily features Gainsbourg's distinctive half-spoken, half-sung vocal delivery, loose drums, guitar, and bass evoking funk music, and lush string and choral arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier. Despite only selling around 15,000 copies upon release, it has become highly influential and is often considered his magnum opus. An accompanying television special starring Gainsbourg and Birkin was also broadcast.

He suffered a heart attack in May 1973, but refused to cut back on his smoking and drinking. Gainsbourg's next record Vu de l'extérieur (1973) was not strictly a concept album like its predecessor and follow-ups, despite its focus on scatology throughout. It largely failed to connect with critics and listeners. In that year, Gainsbourg also wrote all of the tracks on Birkin's debut solo album Di doo dah and he would continue to write for her until his death. In 1975, Gainsbourg released the darkly comic album Rock Around the Bunker, performed in an upbeat 1950s rock and roll style and written on the subject of Nazi Germany and the Second World War, drawing from his experiences as a Jewish child in occupied France. The next year saw the release of yet another concept album, L'Homme à tête de chou (The Cabbage Head Man), a nickname used by Gainsbourg himself in reference to his large ears. This album marked Gainsbourg's first foray into the Jamaican reggae genre, a style he would revisit for his next two albums.

In 1976, Gainsbourg also made his directorial debut with Je t'aime moi non plus, an offbeat drama named after his song of the same name. It starred Birkin in the lead role, with American actor Joe Dallesandro playing the gay man she falls in love with. The film received positive critical notices from the French press and acclaimed director François Truffaut. Having previously turned down the offer to score the popular softcore pornography film Emmanuelle (1974), he agreed to do so for one of its sequels Goodbye Emmanuelle in 1977.
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