How did you get into DT?

[AcidLameLTE]

my dad was a fan.  I didn't like them at first, then I became a drummer, and started appreciating music more instead of just liking pop.  Now I hate pop, and dt is one of the only bands I listen to anymore.  Nothing else can compare.

Give it time.

such very strong words...

i was the same way.. here i am... several years later.. blasting k-pop at home and in my car...

Same here, except now it's Britpop.

Ewwwwww!

[TL]

A friend showed me a bit of the LSFNY DVD. The first song I heard was Overture 1928, and I was blown away. I'd never heard anything like that before. About halfway through Strange Deja Vu, I was hooked.

[hefdaddy42]

I heard Pull Me Under on the radio in 1992.  I went out and bought Images & Words, and I've been hooked ever since.

[guenhwyvarmky]

I was an old-school prog fan (Yes, Gabriel-era Genesis, Gentle Giant, etc.) and from that was a huge Tony Levin fan.  I went to see him play with some oddly-named band, Liquid Tension Experiment (1st LTE show ever, btw). 

After the concert was over, I picked my jaw up off the floor and walked over to Tower Records and bought I&W, Awake, and FII.  Listened to them all that night, and I've been a huge fan ever since.

[Portrucci]

stumbled across The Dark Eternal Night music video from Road Runner (them playing it in-studio). At the time I was just starting drums and Mike Portnoy blew me away. 

[Zydar]

I was an old-school prog fan (Yes, Gabriel-era Genesis, Gentle Giant, etc.) and from that was a huge Tony Levin fan.  I went to see him play with some oddly-named band, Liquid Tension Experiment (1st LTE show ever, btw). 

After the concert was over, I picked my jaw up off the floor and walked over to Tower Records and bought I&W, Awake, and FII.  Listened to them all that night, and I've been a huge fan ever since.

Great story. Welcome to DTF!

[VFS]

It was 2004 and my desktop computer kept shutting off. Then it started not turning on at all, so I got on my laptop and searched google for "hardware forum" to see if I could get some advice.

I found Hardware Analysis, started posting there, got to know someone there who helped me switch out my motherboard on my laptop and then stayed friends with him.

We talked about music at one point and he told me his favorite band of all time was Dream Theater. I hadn't heard of them, so he sent me About to Crash, Solitary Shell, Misunderstood, Endless Sacrifice, and Wait for Sleep.

I freaked out and have been hooked ever since. Immediately ordered their back catalogue of studio albums (except WDADU) from Columbia House ("12 CDs for the price of one" deal).

When he stopped messaging me a couple of months later, I opened MSN one day to see if he was even online and saw that his title said "https://www.dreamtheater.net/bb/" so I went there to see if he was around, started reading, signed up, and never turned back. That was May 24, 2004. Just about five years now.

[YtseBitsySpider]

hmm......

In highschool...mid to late 90's this guy handed me a Prince Purple Rain tape with hockey tape over the recording holes.....he's taped over it with something he called Dream Theater...When Dream And Day Unite....it was a musical epiphany. Then nothing happened for a few years..no internet..really I didn't track them....walking through a record store one day and there was I&W sitting there on the new release shelf...

[Shadow2222]

I wish I had some cool story, but the truth is last September, I had just got Rock Band 2 for my 17th birthday. I already had Rock Band 1 and had downloaded Constant Motion (simply because it sounded hard to play on Expert guitar). I honestly thought the song sucked, but my friend kept asking me to play it because he liked to see me play (or should I say butcher?) the solo. He hated the song itself though (he was just starting to like metal).

Anyways, then I saw that this band had a song in RB2, so I started thinking to myself, "oh no here we go again," so I started to play Panic Attack. I actually kind of liked it. Even though I wasn't sold yet, I thought, "I have to look up these musicians, they play like crazy. I wonder if they can play live." I looked "Dream Theater Live" up on YouTube, and it was the Score (2nd disc) version of Another Day. I was blown away, but I thought I looked up the wrong band, because Another Day sounded nothing like Constant Motion.

Fast forward about two months, and I hadn't really researched them anymore. My friend was over and asked me to play Constant Motion again. I said, "Fine, but I swear I'm never playing this song again after this." I played it, and something clicked this time. I really was enjoying the song. I looked up Dream Theater again, looked up some of their other stuff and noticed that they had a song on Guitar Hero World Tour (I had it but hadn't unlocked the song yet). I played through the game and finally got to "Pull Me Under."

My life changed after I heard that song. I immediately ran out and chanced it: I bought all of their albums from Images and Words to Systematic Chaos (they were cheap at my local cd store). I sat down and spent a whole day just listening to the albums.

Fast forward another few months, and here I am, with all of their albums, dvds, and most of their Ytsejam releases. Whew, sorry I went on so long. But yeah, I have to thank Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour for getting me into Dream Theater.

[Lynxo]

I think I stumbled across the name Dream Theater on an Iron Maiden message forum. I bought Images & Words since it seemed to be everybody's favorite album...and only listened through Pull Me Under before getting bored. (Yeah, I was one of those who thought that my CD was broken. ) I came back to the CD months later and found out that it was everything I've ever looked for in music and haven't looked back since.

[j]

But yeah, I have to thank Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour for getting me into Dream Theater.

No shame in that, dude.  Welcome!   

I don't know if I would have been open-minded enough to investigate DT further if I had only heard Constant Motion and Panic Attack (or even Pull Me Under), so props to you for giving the rest of their stuff a shot even though those two songs didn't grab you.

-J

[Arcaeus]

I actually don't quite remember... Although I think it started with power metal. Two or three years ago, I knew this cool power metal obsessed dude from the Netherlands who sent me four songs (I still remember them... Forever by Kamelot, Emerald Sword by Rhapsody, Guardian by Black Majesty, and The Road Goes Ever On by Wuthering Heights).

Power metal, for a short while, became my favorite genre, and Kamelot soon became my favorite band, and soon got into the more progressive side of them. Again I don't remember exactly how this came to Dream Theater, but I believe it was as simple as seeing their name in the list of "If you like this band you may also like..." on a review site (or perhaps Kamelot led to Symphony X, and a review for Symphony X led to that).

Anyways, I downloaded The Glass Prison and The Spirit Carries On and there was no turning back... now I own all their albums and they're my second favorite band

[ResultsMayVary]

I was given a copy of Octavarium the day after it came out in 2005 by my friend. I was planning on listening to the whole album before i decided whether or not it "struck" with my musical interests. I got to where the whole band comes in on The Root of All Evil. That's all it took.

[Zook]

As for Iced Earth, I forgot about them until a few years later when I decided to see if lightning could strike twice, and I turned it off after two songs. I often wonder if I'd ever have given DT a try if I went with Iced Earth first.

What did you do, listen to the first album? Did the vocals start off as, "WHUT DO I SEEEEEYUUUUUUUUHHHH"?

Anyway, I think I first heard of Dream Theater on an unofficial Offspring message board. opinions were mixed, but ultimately they seemed to be a boring band, and the singer sounds like a girl. Who want's to listen to that? Well, then while discovering Symphony X, I read a review on amazon stating that the beginning of Through The Looking Glass takes the beginning from Surrounded, atleast the keyboards. So I downloaded both songs, and lo and behold, they had the same intro.. kinda. Well, I kept Surrounded, put it on some mix CDs, but that was it for Dream Theater. I moved on to Symphony X and Kamelot.

A few months later at a CD store, I stumbled across the DT section, and picked up Live At Budokan. I asked the owner if he has heard of them, and he told me they're like a heavier Rush. At the time I didn't like Rush, but I did get Rush vibes from Surrounded (not anymore) so I bought the CD. It wasn't long before I traded it in unfortunately because I just couldn't get into the songs. I do remember liking The Test That Stumped Them All... But not enough. I also remember looking at the track lengths and thinking, "holy shit".

So I was really liking Surrounded by this point, and Dream Theater just had to have more songs I could like, so I downloaded their entire discography, (after reading more reviews of other albums) and I believe I started with Images And Words. I even remember the torrent file I downloaded. The file said Pull Me Under is corrupt or something to that affect. Well, it did sound like the file got cut off, so I simply faded the end out. Images And Words became a constant play, and I soon went on to check out the other albums.

I've since bought all of their studio albums, and all but the Chaos In Motion DVD. Maybe if I find it for like $2 I'll get it...

Dream Theater is my favorite band and far from boring.

[legenden1]

I got hooked when I saw Pull me under on Headbangers Ball in 1992. At that point the music climate was terrible so to hear that fantastic song among the crap on HB made me buy the album the next day. Since then DT has been nr 1 and I´ve been buying all albums on releasedate and seen all tours from Awake and forward. Don´t see how any band could ever take over that nr 1 spot with me.

[Plasmastrike]

Honestly, I don't know.  I was 14 years old when Train Of Thought came out, a freshman in high school, and rarely bought CDs, ever. I don't know how I even heard of the name Dream Theater nor why I bought that album.  I suppose it was fate.

The rest is history.  I listened to Train Of Thought for about two years and not discovering any of their other material.  I was under the impression they were just a progressive heavy metal band.  I proceeded to get Octavarium and then explored the rest of their discography.  Upon this journey, I've discovered some of the best music ever. 

[Genowyn]

I was at the mall and I had some extra money, walked into the CD store and Systematic Chaos was the only album that was by a band I knew was good/had heard some things about that I had enough for.

[Chino]

I had just transferred to a new school and knew nobody. I over heard some people in my electronics class talking about how exceited they were to be seeing DT that night. I remember thinking to myself "how good can they really be if I have never heard of them". I went home after school and downloaded Metropolis and was blown away. Only hearing that one song, I asked my dad if he wanted to go to a concert that night. He asked who, I said Dream Theater. He looked them up online really quick and saw that JP was the guitar player, he had recognized the name from all his guitar magazines. We both went to the show just a few hours later. They opened with As I Am and I pee'd my pants. I was hooked ever since.

[BlobVanDam]

I had just transferred to a new school and knew nobody. I over heard some people in my electronics class talking about how exceited they were to be seeing DT that night. I remember thinking to myself "how good can they really be if I have never heard of them". I went home after school and downloaded Metropolis and was blown away. Only hearing that one song, I asked my dad if he wanted to go to a concert that night. He asked who, I said Dream Theater. He looked them up online really quick and saw that JP was the guitar player, he had recognized the name from all his guitar magazines. We both went to the show just a few hours later. They opened with As I Am and I pee'd my pants. I was hooked ever since.

That is awesome

[Wrath42147]

i was getting into metal 4 yrs ago an d my uncle burned me the cds

[Bombardana]

I had just transferred to a new school and knew nobody. I over heard some people in my electronics class talking about how exceited they were to be seeing DT that night. I remember thinking to myself "how good can they really be if I have never heard of them". I went home after school and downloaded Metropolis and was blown away. Only hearing that one song, I asked my dad if he wanted to go to a concert that night. He asked who, I said Dream Theater. He looked them up online really quick and saw that JP was the guitar player, he had recognized the name from all his guitar magazines. We both went to the show just a few hours later. They opened with As I Am and I pee'd my pants. I was hooked ever since.

I think you win the thread

[BFRedrocks]

I heard Pull Me Under on the radio in 1992.  I went out and bought Images & Words, and I've been hooked ever since.  Seriously.

[Global Laziness]

I've posted this story here before, but I'll share it again:

Back in the summer of 2006, I really wanted to buy a new album but I only had a ten dollar bill. CDs in Canada usually cost somewhere in the realm of fifteen dollars (before tax) unless they're on sale, so I knew that finding anything would be a stretch.

When I got to the music store, I slowly made my way through the artists on my MP3 player and subsequently searched that artist's section on the shelf hoping for something cheap. Eventually I reached a terrible-quality bootleg of Dream Theater covering Damage Inc. that, looking back, I have absolutely no recollection of ever consciously downloading. Moving to the Dream Theater section, I discovered Awake was listed at the ridiculously low price of $7.99 (plus tax), which I could just afford. And it wasn't even on sale!

I listened to Awake all summer and never looked back. Nine albums later, it has remained my favourite.

[blackngold29]

I've posted this story here before, but I'll share it again:

Back in the summer of 2006, I really wanted to buy a new album but I only had a ten dollar bill. CDs in Canada usually cost somewhere in the realm of fifteen dollars (before tax) unless they're on sale, so I knew that finding anything would be a stretch.

When I got to the music store, I slowly made my way through the artists on my MP3 player and subsequently searched that artist's section on the shelf hoping for something cheap. Eventually I reached a terrible-quality bootleg of Dream Theater covering Damage Inc. that, looking back, I have absolutely no recollection of ever consciously downloading. Moving to the Dream Theater section, I discovered Awake was listed at the ridiculously low price of $7.99 (plus tax), which I could just afford. And it wasn't even on sale!

I listened to Awake all summer and never looked back. Nine albums later, it has remained my favourite.

Awake was my first too. After the Budokan DVD. Great album.

[Global Laziness]

I've posted this story here before, but I'll share it again:

Back in the summer of 2006, I really wanted to buy a new album but I only had a ten dollar bill. CDs in Canada usually cost somewhere in the realm of fifteen dollars (before tax) unless they're on sale, so I knew that finding anything would be a stretch.

When I got to the music store, I slowly made my way through the artists on my MP3 player and subsequently searched that artist's section on the shelf hoping for something cheap. Eventually I reached a terrible-quality bootleg of Dream Theater covering Damage Inc. that, looking back, I have absolutely no recollection of ever consciously downloading. Moving to the Dream Theater section, I discovered Awake was listed at the ridiculously low price of $7.99 (plus tax), which I could just afford. And it wasn't even on sale!

I listened to Awake all summer and never looked back. Nine albums later, it has remained my favourite.

Awake was my first too. After the Budokan DVD. Great album.

If Budokan came first, what encouraged you to pick up Awake? There aren't any Awake songs on that DVD.

[yeshaberto]

I only get to see the guy who got me into DT (back in the Images days) every five years or so, and I had lunch with him yesterday.  He said he went to see DT for the Scenes tour and he walked out.  Some time back he decided to get into folk music and now he is touring as a folk singer.  I am all for people enjoying the music they like, it was just sad to not be able to share the DT joy with him as we used to.

[blackngold29]

I've posted this story here before, but I'll share it again:

Back in the summer of 2006, I really wanted to buy a new album but I only had a ten dollar bill. CDs in Canada usually cost somewhere in the realm of fifteen dollars (before tax) unless they're on sale, so I knew that finding anything would be a stretch.

When I got to the music store, I slowly made my way through the artists on my MP3 player and subsequently searched that artist's section on the shelf hoping for something cheap. Eventually I reached a terrible-quality bootleg of Dream Theater covering Damage Inc. that, looking back, I have absolutely no recollection of ever consciously downloading. Moving to the Dream Theater section, I discovered Awake was listed at the ridiculously low price of $7.99 (plus tax), which I could just afford. And it wasn't even on sale!

I listened to Awake all summer and never looked back. Nine albums later, it has remained my favourite.

Awake was my first too. After the Budokan DVD. Great album.

If Budokan came first, what encouraged you to pick up Awake? There aren't any Awake songs on that DVD.

I'm trying to remember why I picked it out, they must have had a few of their albums at the store. I'm gonna guess that it was the cheapest one they had.... I can't really remember though. lol, whatever it was it was a good choice. I remember I actually still had a handheld CD player and I listened to it in the car. After watching Budokan though, I was hooked. I liked some heavier music at that point, but I remember looking at the back cover and thinking "Only 18 songs? This'll only be about an hour." Couldn't stay awake past the keyboard solo at 2am. I learned that night that some bands have songs that last longer than 3 minutes.

[KevShmev]

Back in '98, I caught John Myung's stand-up at a local comedy forum one night, and the owner told me that he was in "some band that sounds like Europe," so I found out the name of the band the next day, immediately downloaded "You Not Me," and after being amazed by its awesomeness and listening to it like 20 times in a row, I went out and bought a Dream Theater cd.  And the rest is history.

[blackngold29]

Back in '98, I caught John Myung's stand-up at a local comedy forum one night, and the owner told me that he was in "some band that sounds like Europe," so I found out the name of the band the next day, immediately downloaded "You Not Me," and after being amazed by its awesomeness and listening to it like 20 times in a row, I went out and bought a Dream Theater cd.  And the rest is history.

What was his best joke? 

[ctoddb]

I was in my second year of college, 1993-94, and my roommate and I had almost the EXACT same musical tastes (hard rock). He played me Images & Words and then let me borrow it, and after I had fully consumed and digested that, he let me borrow Awake. Then he bought ACOS and I loved that one, too.

After college, I had sort of lost touch with what DT was up to, and was browsing in a record store & came across FII. Snatched it up and liked a few songs (since then, the album has really grown on me). Then it wasn't until I was a stay-at-home Dad with my baby daughter for nine months that I had time to browse the Net and looked DT up--I saw they had a new album coming out (SFAM) so I put the date on my calendar. Hearing that it was a concept album really excited me because one of my all-time favorite albums at that time was Queensr˙che's Operation: Mindcrime, and there were definitely comparisons between QR's and DT's sound already. So SFAM was my first anticipated DT album. I remember listening to it a few times and it really had to grow on me, but now it is my favorite DT album.

I have what I feel is a very logical musical taste progression (no pun intended): KISS/70s classic rock as a kid; Stryper/80s hair bands as a teen; King's X/Collective Soul early college; then to Dream Theater, which for me is the pinnacle of my musical journey thus far.

I'm sure I'll find another threat to list my favorite bands, so I'll spare you that here. 

[Global Laziness]

Back in '98, I caught John Myung's stand-up at a local comedy forum one night, and the owner told me that he was in "some band that sounds like Europe," so I found out the name of the band the next day, immediately downloaded "You Not Me," and after being amazed by its awesomeness and listening to it like 20 times in a row, I went out and bought a Dream Theater cd.  And the rest is history.

POTY nomination.

[SinisterMinisterX]

I saw "Lie" on MTV when Awake came out. Blew my mind. Bought I&W and Awake the next day.

[Rolling Down]

In 1985 I formed a progressive rockband and during the next couple of years I was the guitarist, manager and producer of this band. We were really inspired bij Marillion's Misplaces Childhood when we formed the band. In 1989, after some gigs and releasing our music om tapes, I was reading the reviews in some magazines and allong with those I read a review of WDADU. I immediately bought the album and liked it. But it was really I&W in 1992 that blew me away. After listening to this album a lot, and attending the 1993 European DT concerts, I knew that this was exactly the music I liked the most and that this was the music I really wanted to play. But our bands technical skills were really far to low. So, we quite the band............and I kept listening to DT music and going to their gigs as much as I can.

[aurorablind]

It was in 2002, i think.. I was 16. I went to see my uncle, who is really into old prog-rock, for a weekend.
He said that if i liked metal, but wanted to challenge myself as a listener, and a musician (im a guitarist), i had to check out this dvd (LSFNY).
So, he showed it to me.. I was blown away.. Went and bought it myself, with the a change of seasons cd (was the song that really cought my attention), and i have been a big fan since! 

[Jamariquay]

   
Re: How did you get into DT?

I threw some tuna into JP's house to distract him, put on a Yogi Bear suit, walked into the studio as the other guys were rehearsing, and nobody said a thing.