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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: Scottjf8 on March 18, 2017, 09:58:30 AM
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What was an early thought about the band or music before you "learned the truth".
Mine is.. first album I heard was I&W and I thought Metropolis Pt 1 was a long ass song.
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Lol, when I first heard their music, the awesomeness and the epic, cinematic quality of it, made me imagine the guys as these reclusive, dark, anti-social geniuses who spend all their time in some underground studio.
Little did I know they were easy going, friendly, down to earth American dudes.
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Boring. Back in 2006, Surrounded was the only song I ever heard by the band as I was already into Symphony X and I found out through Amazon reviews that they "borrowed" the intro from Surrounded on Through the Looking Glass. Anyway, I had bought Live at Budokan based on a recommendation by a CD shop owner and tried listening to it, but nothing was really sticking, and part of it was that the songs were so damn long! Looking at the track list and seeing the lengths was actually intimidating. I remember TTTSTA was the only song I happened to enjoy, but I returned the album pretty quickly.
Because I liked Surrounded so much, I did continue to pursue the band, and downloaded all their albums. The rest is history. This was more of how I got into the band, but yeah. Boring, and I didn't like James' voice that much.
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I got exposed to DT through my EE study group during college. The guy whose place we were learning at put DT on time after time, and I haaaated it. Particularly, just like Zook, I couldn't stand James' voice. But, initially the excellent music motivated me to listen to it, and over time I learned to like James' voice.
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When I first got into DT.... well, I didn't, because the song I heard from them were really not of my liking.
I'm not ancient but I'm around enough to have lived in the cassette tapes era, so when my cousin was copying cassettes for me, he used to fill up the space with Dream Theater songs since he was already a fan. It's not that I didn't like them, they were just not doing anything for me (I remember considering Hollow Years and Anna Lee decent ballads but that was it).
It took me four months or so of listening to The Mirror to finally go "Hey, actually this song isn't that bad..." and become interested, so The Mirror holds the merit of being the song that had the avalanche effect to expose me to DT and make me a fan ever since.
It was 1999 btw, by autumn I was a full dedicated fan and I was looking forward to their new album; I still didn't have easy internet access so I knew nothing, really NOTHING about the album, only the release date. So imagine me walking into the store in autumn 1999 looking for "the new DT album", whatever that was.... I'll let you figure out the rest ;D
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My first exposeure to DT was actually seeing them in concert. I saw them open for Iron maiden in 1992. My first initial thoughts were:
1. The drummer is amazing, and
2. The bass player is a madman
I know #2 looks like a strange comment, but we were right in front of JM, and in those days, he played at the foot of the stage and shook his head a bit. He looked like some disco ninja warrior about to take over the world with a bass guitar.
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My first exposeure to DT was actually seeing them in concert. I saw them open for Iron maiden in 1992. My first initial thoughts were:
1. The drummer is amazing, and
2. The bass player is a madman
I know #2 looks like a strange comment, but we were right in front of JM, and in those days, he played at the foot of the stage and shook his head a bit. He looked like some disco ninja warrior about to take over the world with a bass guitar.
He still looks like that.
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I first got into DT through my cousin. He was really into Rush and went on a quest to find a band similar. The internet was only a couple years old then if I recall, but he found DT through an online search. He bought Images and Words but didn't care for it because it was too heavy for him. He gave it to me because I was into heavier stuff. One listen and I was hooked and Pull me Under is still my favorite song from DT.
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When I first got into DT (back in 1989), I never realized how crappy the production was on the album.
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He looked like some disco ninja warrior about to take over the world with a bass guitar.
Well, mission accomplished.
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When I first got into DT (back in 1989), I never realized how crappy the production was on the album.
lol, same here. I was lucky enough that the legend that was Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1 Rock Show played A Fortune in Lies and Only a Matter of Time on his show and and my first thought was "This is it" - the music I had always been searching for. Loved Maiden, Metallica, Rush etc. and DT seemed to be a mesh of everything that I loved.
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The first thing I thought was that Labrie's vocals sounded very feminine.
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First time was when I discovered LatM. Blown away from the first. I had already heard about them but couldn't put my hands on I&W, so I did it backwards : LatM, I&W, WDaDU. Never looked back since then.
B.Lee
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When I first heard DT in '95 it was like a musical adrenaline shot in my ears! After 20+ plus of being a die hard music fan, I found myself stuck just listening to my '70's material, because I felt the '80's were pretty uninspired (for the most part) and the '90's was the start of grunge (which I despised...and still do). It was hearing DT and getting back into the music scene with prog metal and everything that followed. ALL due to DT! Thanks guys :metal
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The first time I heard Dream Theater changed my entire life. Everything that I thought I knew about music was completely turned on it's head, and my life actually felt complete. No other band or artist has ever had that much of an impact on me save for maybe Metallica. My entire songwriting style also changed as I became more and more of a fan of the band through the years, going from a thrash metal guy who focused mostly on cool sounding riffs that were all extremely similar to each other to a guy who works very hard on crafting emotional, epic, and well thought out songs. I became a much better musician because of them.
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I wondered who their crappy-ass producer was that couldn't edit Pull Me Under the right way.
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Early 1999. I had a college roommate for a semester that was an exchange student from Mexico City. His friend was also an exchange student, and they both liked rock and metal music. So they recommended that I listen to Dream Theater - they played me a snippet of the live version of Peruvian Skies, when it switches to a jam of Enter Sandman for a few seconds. I thought it was cool, so I found a used copy of Images and Words in a record store near campus.
I also thought the ending to Pull Me Under was way too abrupt.
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I honestly don't remember what I thought about Pull Me Under's ending, but since I was young at the time and prog metal stood for me for "weird complex unusual stuff", I think I just took for granted that that's the way it was meant to be, whatever the reason.
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I never heard of DT, illegally downloaded Metropolis in early 2004, and then went and saw them in concert about an hour later having only heard that song. Been here ever since.
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I heard PMU on the radio in 1992 and ordered the CD right away. I saw them in 1993 in Warwick, R.I. and I've followed them since.
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I was reading Iron Maiden's wikipedia page while I was working in my college's computer lab. I read that a band called Dream Theater performed all of The Number of the Beast live. I found an illegal download of it since I could not find it anywhere else and was blown away by the performance. Also loved the version of Gangland which was completely different and really awesome. I found the guitar playing to be out of this world and I needed to listen to some of their original music, which lead me to Octavarium, their newest release at the time which was a bit much for me as I had not listened to such long songs before.
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I first got into DT through a friend back in 1996. He lent me Images and Words - Live in Tokyo VHS tape and I frozen after my first listenning to Under a Glass Moon, one of my favorite songs of all times!
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First I said, wow fantastic band but man, all those years I did not know them (started in 2009).
I liked every musicians, especially Portnoy because of his sound and his interaction with the crowd (I soon bought Scenes Live).
I loved their amazing melodies and harmonies. I loved John's playing, his ability of being soft at times and be darn heavy and fast after.
The only thing I was not sure I would like was James's voice but I got ok with it and kind of the right voice for the band.
Went over all their songs on the net, bought a few records, went to a few shows, I was hooked, then. A great band. Bought some of their solo albums, read as much about them, about their story. It was a big discovery for me.
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My buddy saw Score on VH1 around the time it came out and got hooked. Wouldn't stop talking about it.. so I, who was big into Pink Floyd and Metallica, Downloaded a bunch of tracks from a sketchy limewire like site. Turns out a couple of the tracks were actually from Jame's solo album and mislabeled as 8VRM songs. So I listened to those a lot, plus ACOS, The Mirror, and the live version of Peruvian Skies a lot on Youtube. Fast forward a few months later and another friend burned me copies of 8VRM, Awake, and like Images and Words IIRC.
I then became hooked.
The rest was history.
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I&W was kind of a blind purchase back in '92 (not completely, because a friend of mine spoke highly of them).
I listened to it at home hoping it was good. The intro to PMU was nice, the guitar playing especially drew me in and when James began to sing I thought this was something special and I was hooked. And had a new favorite band.
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It's funny, my earliest thought about DT - based on comments I'd read before actually hearing the music - was that DT is not a band for "normal" people like me, only for musicians or nerds with a high IQ :laugh:
But I listened to them anyway, I had fallen in love with JLBs voice on Ayreons Human Equation album in 2007 and wanted to know who that singer is. After listening to some songs from DTs (then) newest album SC I knew I found my favourite band. The next album I got was SFAM and after that I had to get everything... I just wish I had discovered them in 1992.
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Unfortunately, I don't remember the first Dream Theater song I heard. I was in my first year of college in 1999 and I walked into a friend's dorm room and he asked me if I ever heard of Dream Theater. I vaguely recall a bunch of notes swirling around but that's it.
I wasn't amazed by what I heard but I must've liked it enough to have passed by the "D" section in the CDs at Best Buy a couple years later and thought, "Let me look for one of their CDs". I picked up Images and Words and almost put it back after I saw what the band looked like on the back :lol In those days I was listening to Metallica, Iron Maiden, SLAYER, Nile, Megadeth, Iced Earth, & Nevermore. I don't remember if any other DT albums were there. I bought Images and Words that day.
Within a few weeks I bought Awake, Metropolis Part II, Live Scenes From New York, and Falling Into Infinity.
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I read a review of Awake in newspaper or magazine. It made me go to the local CD-store where I bought the album.
Being a 15 year old guy listening to Guns 'n Roses, Metallica I remember being blown away by the DT-sound, the drums, the solo's..
The first songs I liked were Caught in a Web, Innocence Faded and Lifting Shadows of A Dream mainly because those are the most accessible.
After a few weeks I went back to the record store to buy I&W and was even more impressed by Metropolis & Learning to Live.
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One of my close friends was in the small group of Petrucci guitar students in the late 80's and early 90's. He played me stuff from WDADU every now and then, but I was in the middle of my hair band obsession (I still sorta am!!!)
When I&W came out, we were going to a Knicks game and he played "Learning to Live." After telling him that I thought parts of it sounded like STYX!!!???!! I was hooked. I soon went to see them at Sparks (RIP) and the rest is history.
So, though I heard them in the 80's, it wasn't until 1992 that I appreciated them.
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So, though I heard them in the 80's, it wasn't until 1992 that I appreciated them.
I have a similar experience.
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I was with a friend in college looking at a magazine article saying how Petrucci was a big Lifeson fan, my friend mentioned how the bass player was all over the fret board on a video he saw on MTV. I went to the music store, maybe Sam Goody's and bought I&W without hearing a note. Have been my second favorite band(behind Rush) ever since. I think that was 1993.
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Summer 1996. A friend put in A Change of Seasons, and it blew my mind. Immediately went out and got Awake and Images and Words...
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When I first heard/got into DT, I didn't know anything about prog at all. I was into classic rock, hair metal, and virtuoso guitarists (Satch, Vai, Eric Johnson). The first thing I thought about DT was that this was a band FULL of virtuosos like Satch, but on every instrument. That was the initial draw.
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HAHA noobs... I was born into a family of Dream Theater fans. Beat that! :lol
But for real, one day (after being obsessed with Styx my whole life, then later getting into Rush and Iron Maiden) I realized I should probably give what is supposedly the greatest band ever a closer listen. At one point, while Pull Me Under was playing in the car, I noticed that maybe LaBrie's vocals actually don't suck... In fact if you listen closely they're bloody amazing. Then I started listening to songs and I got totally hooked. One interesting memory is that while going back through songs that I had already heard in the background, certain little aspects of songs stuck out as things I distinctly remembered hearing before. Namely, "praying for TIIIME to disappear" in UAGM, the choruses of Forsaken and A Rite of Passage, and most powerful of all- the lead guitar melody in In the Presence of Enemies. I also hated the chorus of 6:00 before getting into DT until finally I was actually listening and the whole song made sense to me and was AWESOME no matter how hard I tried to deny it.
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after being obsessed with Styx my whole life
Never read these words in this sequence before, ever.
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:lol
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after being obsessed with Styx my whole life
Never read these words in this sequence before, ever.
Hey, you back off of Styx Bub. :lol
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Hey, I'm not attacking Styx, or anyone else. Just never heard of anyone being obsessed with them, that's all.
I like Styx a lot.
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Some people like Styx. Some people do not. Nobody likes Styx a lot.
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Some people like Styx. Some people do not. Nobody likes Styx a lot.
"Styx was one of the greatest American rock bands, and they only a bad wrap because most critics are cynical assholes."
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Nobody likes Styx a lot.
I like Styx a lot.
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Some people like Styx. Some people do not. Nobody likes Styx a lot.
Babe I'm leaving
I must be on my way
The time is drawing near
My train is going
I see it in your eyes
The love, the need, your tears
But I'll be lonely without you
And I'll need your love to see me through
So please believe me
My heart is in your hands
And I'll be missing you
'Cause you know it's you babe
Whenever I get weary
And I've had enough
Feel like giving up
You know it's you babe
Giving me the courage
And the strength I need
Please believe that it's true
Babe, I love you
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The three album run of Pieces Of Eight-The Grand Illusion-Paradise Theater is amazing!
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The three album run of Pieces Of Eight-The Grand Illusion-Paradise Theater is amazing!
While you are right, Tim, in that all of these albums are amazing, the run actually includes Cornerstone.
The Grand Illusion (1977)
Pieces of Eight (1978)
Cornerstone (1979)
Paradise Theatre (1980)
And, really, you could include Equinox (1975) and Crystal Ball (1976) in that group as well. Styx had an amazing run of album from 75-80.
I am also obsessed with Styx.
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Don't know why I thought Cornerstone was earlier...
Total respect for Styx here.
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What can I do?
Pictures of you still make me cry
Trying to live without your love
It's so hard to do
Some nights I wake up
I look at your pillow
Hoping that I'll see you there
But I get up each day
Not much to say
I've nowhere to go
Loneliness fills me up inside
Cause I'm missing you
So if you'll give us a chance to remember
The love we had once together
Wait and See
Time is all that we really need
I'm praying you won't say no
I mean to tell you
Don't let it end
Baby, we could have so much more
Don't let it end
Honey please don't walk out that door
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More....more......more.......more.....
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STYX IS THE BOMMMBB
If you like Dream Theater you should listen to the Styx albums Serpent is Rising and Cyclorama, they're freaking amazing. Then Pieces of Eight and Paradise Theater.
Styx music is like if Flying Colors wrote in hundred different styles over 3 decades, except they're even better live than on the record (especially the last 17 years).
You CANNOT beat Styx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHNNG50tZp8
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What can I do?
Pictures of you still make me cry
Trying to live without your love
It's so hard to do
Some nights I wake up
I look at your pillow
Hoping that I'll see you there
But I get up each day
Not much to say
I've nowhere to go
Loneliness fills me up inside
Cause I'm missing you
So if you'll give us a chance to remember
The love we had once together
Wait and See
Time is all that we really need
I'm praying you won't say no
I mean to tell you
Don't let it end
Baby, we could have so much more
Don't let it end
Honey please don't walk out that door
Do mr Roboto next. Thanks Casey.
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I remember reading on another forum, years ago, that 'Dream Theater are the best band' - I think it was a thread about Rush.
Next, I bought 'Score' when idly browsing in a record shop. Played it a bit, mainly the first disc, and loved 'The Spirit Carries On'. Didn't do much else with them, apart from buying 'Greatest Hit'.
Then last year, while idly looking on Amazon (with I think a gift voucher to spend) I came across 'The Astonishing' and bought it. Loved it. Didn't stop playing it. Took two plane flights to see it live, did the VIP meet and greet thing and was then hooked. Over the last year I've listened to nothing else, and have bought their entire back catalogue (studio recordings anyway). I listen to them virtually every day, either in the car, or in the gym. Scenes is my favourite - if I had to listen to one album for the rest of my life that would be it. More recently I have really gotten into ADTOE.
I now tell everyone about them. I took my two oldest kids to see the I&W25 show last week. I'm right now wearing the T-shirt!
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Some people like Styx. Some people do not. Nobody likes Styx a lot.
Wrong statement. Just like saying nobody likes Journey a lot. Of course many people do.
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The three album run of Pieces Of Eight-The Grand Illusion-Paradise Theater is amazing!
While you are right, Tim, in that all of these albums are amazing, the run actually includes Cornerstone.
The Grand Illusion (1977)
Pieces of Eight (1978)
Cornerstone (1979)
Paradise Theatre (1980)
And, really, you could include Equinox (1975) and Crystal Ball (1976) in that group as well. Styx had an amazing run of album from 75-80.
I am also obsessed with Styx.
Man did I love those guys. Great vocals, harmonies, perfect catchy choruses. From 75 to 81, they made 6 albums easily very good to great. THEY are the reason I learned to play guitar.
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Can this just become the second Styx thread? :lol
When I first got into DT they were the first and only band in 10 years to match Styx. Never, until I heard DT, had a band tied Styx for first place. The next closest thing would have been select songs by Queen, but not a catalog.
The three album run of Pieces Of Eight-The Grand Illusion-Paradise Theater is amazing!
While you are right, Tim, in that all of these albums are amazing, the run actually includes Cornerstone.
The Grand Illusion (1977)
Pieces of Eight (1978)
Cornerstone (1979)
Paradise Theatre (1980)
And, really, you could include Equinox (1975) and Crystal Ball (1976) in that group as well. Styx had an amazing run of album from 75-80.
I am also obsessed with Styx.
Man did I love those guys. Great vocals, harmonies, perfect catchy choruses. From 75 to 81, they made 6 albums easily very good to great. THEY are the reason I learned to play guitar.
That's awesome, man! They made a huge impact on the musician (and overall person :D) I became as well. Can't go wrong with Equinox through Paradise Theatre.... Or Serpent is Rising and Cyclorama :biggrin:
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Can this just become the second Styx thread? :lol
Please god no.
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:lol
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Can this just become the second Styx thread? :lol
Please god no.
(https://www.clipartkid.com/images/134/2nd-place-ribbon-clip-art-wallpapers-pictures-suqvOy-clipart.png)
(https://www.secretofessence.com/wpsecret/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/M-7.jpg)
(https://www.superiorthreads.com/media/uploads/2011/01/11/images/King-Tut-Group-Shot1-L.jpg)
#DealWithIt :hat
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Fun fact: I had my first girlfriend when I was 16 and I only liked her because her favorite band was Styx, so people would ask me "You have a girlfriend??" and I'd answer with "YES AND SHE LIKES STYX!!!" and people always thought I was saying something else
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after being obsessed with Styx my whole life
Never read these words in this sequence before, ever.
Clearly, you haven't run across the woman who was driving in this car next to me a few weeks ago. This has not been photoshop'd.
(https://www.blackenedtrading.net/uploads/IMG_1743.JPG)
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Wow. That's actually pretty cool.
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There was stuff on the side and front, too. I'd never seen anything like it. I was driving next to this car a few days after reading the "never read these words in this sequence before, ever" comment. Luckily, she was going to the exact same shopping area I was. When I was leaving, I took a drive-by picture to post in response. It took me this long to re-find the thread.
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:lol That is true commitment to DTF. Hats off to you, sir!
Judging from the www.styxworld.com sticker on her window, it looks like she runs either their official site or a fan site. I should contact her, admin to admin, and let her know her work is appreciated here at DTF. :)
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At the time (about 2012) I was looking for new bands to get into. Megadeth was my favorite band and I was a huge fan of Metallica, Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin especially. But I wanted to find that new band to obsess over. Dream Theater was a band that I had heard of from my dad and from a few other people, and I decided to check them out. I checked out Images and Words because it was said to be their most popular. At first I wasn't feeling it too much. I thought it was alright, but a bit too "Rush-like". Not that I hated Rush, I actually quite like them...but Rush was never a band that made me go "oh shit this band is amazing" like the others have. Anyway, I thought it was interesting enough so I decided to check out another album. I saw Systematic Chaos at a store and I picked it up. Now, being a metal fan, this album hit me a lot more than Images and Words did, and I started to like them a bit more. After that I bought Octavarium and I liked them EVEN MORE. I can't remember the order after that, but it was definitely a band that took me a really long time to fully appreciate. I hated Awake the first time I heard it, now it's one of my favorites by them. Dramatic Turn of Events was "meh" to me at first, now I love it. It's one of those bands you really have to invest a lot of time into. Now they're my second favorite band of all time...sorry, nothing will ever replace Megadeth for me.
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Thinking of going to see Styx and REO June 21. Knowing my luck, I'll purchase tix for this show then Dream Theater will announce North American tour dates. DT is more of a priority so I'm still waiting.
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It's one of those bands you really have to invest a lot of time into.
Totally agree.
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I was going to comment something related to the thread title but seeing this has become the second Styx thread I'm gonna say Styx has some nice tunes, never been much into them but once in a while I'll pop one of their albums.
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I had no initial dislike for DT. Listening to I&W for the first time, JP's amazing guitar playing was the immediate draw. James' voice was obviously the quintessential, high pitched 80's hair metal style and the song arrangements were amazingly complex and diverse. I learned the truth immediately.
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(I saw the above car when 'The Grand Illusion/Pieces of Eight' tour visited Baltimore...)
But I digress. Went to the Pier Six Pavilion for the first time after moving here to see Queensryche in '03. Never heard of DT. And, of course was surprised when Qryche came on first. Went out the next day and fell in love with disc 2 of 'Six Degrees', bought I&W and 'Awake' about two months later. My next purchase was 8vm its first week out, and then finally got my hand on 'Scenes'.
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after being obsessed with Styx my whole life
Never read these words in this sequence before, ever.
Clearly, you haven't run across the woman who was driving in this car next to me a few weeks ago. This has not been photoshop'd.
(https://www.blackenedtrading.net/uploads/IMG_1743.JPG)
Which mall is that? Looks familiar.
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wait, who turned my innocent thread into a Styx love fest?
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:lol
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Hopefully a "working man" will show up next.
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Hopefully a "working man" will show up next.
In a Red Barchetta?
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Bunch of fkin renegades.
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He's just a boy.
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Styx fans? More like cum-stained collars after a night of regret.
"No please. I'm not that kind of man."
"But the night is still so DeYoung."
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Hopefully a "working man" will show up next.
In a Red Barchetta?
At the Speed of Love! :biggrin:
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A few blue collar men I'd assume.
Styx fans? More like cum-stained collars after a night of regret.
"No please. I'm not that kind of man."
"But the night is still so DeYoung."
It's youuuuuu babe.
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This is getting a bit ridiculous now. Clearly you guys have too much time on your hands . . .
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This is getting a bit ridiculous now. Clearly you guys have too much time on your hands . . .
Just remember that it's a grand illusion.
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after being obsessed with Styx my whole life
Never read these words in this sequence before, ever.
Clearly, you haven't run across the woman who was driving in this car next to me a few weeks ago. This has not been photoshop'd.
(https://www.blackenedtrading.net/uploads/IMG_1743.JPG)
Which mall is that? Looks familiar.
Morris Plains, NJ - Kohl's shopping plaza on Rt. 10
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This is getting a bit ridiculous now. Clearly you guys have too much time on your hands . . .
Just remember that it's a grand illusion.
C'mon, guys... Don't let it end!
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This past weekend I saw a dude wearing a Styx T-shirt - to a Metallica show.