From [link|http://www.classicalarchives.com/dict/opera.html|http://www.classical...m/dict/opera.html],

opera (It., work, but actually plural of Lat. opus, a work; Fr. op\ufffdra; Ger. Oper). The term is an abbreviation of opera in musica. Opera is a drama set to mus. to be sung with instr. acc. by singers usually in costume. Recit. or spoken dialogue may separate the numbers, but the essence of opera is that the mus. is integral and is not incidental, as in a \ufffdmusical\ufffd or play with mus.

So, to answer your question, your husband is mostly right.

I like to use the old joke, "Opera is when a guy gets stabbed in the back and instead of bleeding, he sings."

I could write a novel on what importance Tommy, Quadrophenia, the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, etc... had on my formative years, but suffice it to say that Tommy broke through the "musical snobbery" that opera must be sung in Italian or German with "classical" instrumentation. Not to mention that the story is as provocative as almost any of the classic operas.

Before Dylan and the Beatles, most white performers didn't write. And by and large, popular music was about doing the nasty (or clever metaphors that suggested doing the nasty) or asking God's forgiveness for doing the nasty. Notice that I used the word "popular" music. Dylan was influenced by folkies who were writing poignant lyrics, the Beatles were influenced by many American folkies and R&B performers. The net effect of all this was that for a period of about 10 years, the music bness was run by musicians as their agents/marketers didn't know what would sell, sell, sell... It led to a mini golden age in music. By the late 70's though, the music bness started back and the artistry left. There are a few exceptions, but by and large, the music industry puts out only prepackaged predigested drivel. The suits hire the musicians to play that crap that their tired assed late middle aged asses can do the nasty to once a month.

Or to quote Tom Petty from his last album,

Artist : Tom Petty
Song : Joe

my name's Joe I'm the ceo
yeah, I'm the man
makes the big wheels roll
I'm the hand on
the green light switch
you get to be famous
I get to be rich

go get me a kid
with a good-looking face
bring me a kid
can remember his place
some hungry poet
son of a bitch
he gets to be famous I get to be rich

or bring me a girl
they're always the best
you put 'em on stage
and you have 'em undress
some angel whore
who can learn a guitar lick
hey, that's what I call music

well they'll come lookin' for money
when public gets bored
but we'll fight 'em with lawyer
they could never afford
yeah, I'll make her look
like a spoiled little bitch
she gets to be famous
I get to be rich

or bring me a girl
they're always the best
you put 'em on stage
and you have 'em undress
some angel whore
who can learn a guitar lick
hey, that's what I call music

so burnt-out johnny
thinks our books are shifty
what good's that alchI to me
when he's fifty
we could move catalog
if he'd only die quicker
send my regards to the gig
and a case of good liquor
he gets to be famous
I get to be rich
he gets to be famous
I get to be rich

my name's Joe , I 'm the ceo
I 'm the man who makes
the big wheels roll