Author Topic: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?  (Read 6008 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline ACID_FOX

  • DTF's Offical Arctic Monkeys Fanboy.
  • Posts: 1408
  • Gender: Male
  • But You're Just Fiction, And I'm A Twisted Boy.
Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« on: March 21, 2010, 12:58:39 PM »
Just wondering how many people have been listening to DT since the start, or have come in at a later date. Due to the quality of WDADU, I know it's safe to say the majority began listening to DT with at least I&W or later, but I'm curious to see who's really hardcore concerning DT :P
I only like ablums that I can xanascholithoun.

Offline hefdaddy42

  • Et in Arcadia Ego
  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 52780
  • Gender: Male
  • Postwhore Emeritus
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2010, 01:20:50 PM »
Setlist Scotty, I believe.  Maybe TAC as well.
Hef is right on all things. Except for when I disagree with him. In which case he's probably still right.

Offline GuineaPig

  • Posts: 3754
  • Gender: Male
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2010, 01:51:21 PM »
Bruce Dickinson  :P
"In the beginning, the universe was created. This made a lot of people very angry, and has been widely regarded as a bad idea."

Offline ytserush

  • Posts: 5376
  • Like clockwork...
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2010, 05:04:50 PM »
Yes.

The well worn tale about how I discovered them appears below:



"The Spirit Of Rush Fanzine Number 8 which I bought in New York City about August 1989. On the back inside cover was a Dream Theater feature and When Dream and Day Unite album review that was reprinted from an issue of Kerrang (Never found out what issue it was)

There weren't too many recent bands recording music that I liked in the late 80s save for maybe Kings X, Queensryche, Faith No More and Living Colour.

The feature and review mentioned influences such as Rush, The Dixie Dregs, Kansas, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and at that time it didn't seem like anyone new was recording music with those influences so I was easily suckered in.

I couldn't find the CD anywhere and was forced to spend $17 at a mall chain store for it. I listened to it constantly for about 3 solid months until Presto came out. I never heard another word about them until I stumbled on their mispelled name on the marquee at the Ritz November 14, 1989 opening for the Hogarth-fronted Marillion's debut in New York City.

Yes, I was lucky.

Never heard a word about them again until I found a promo copy of Images and Words for $5 at a spring 1992 record show. It took me a while to get used to James' voice since I'd been listening to Charlie for about 3 years, but I got used to it. James has improved SO much since then.

Anyway, I'll leave you with this amusing quote (I'm not sure who is responsible for it but I think it was the editor) regarding When Dream And Day Unite from The Spirit Of Rush Number 9 (Fall 1989)

"The aforementioned opener (A Fortune In Lies) sums up the album completely--a dense hard rockers paradise with more time changes than the entire Rush and Yes back catalogs put together. A drummer who puts Neil Peart to shame, a vocalist fully capable of holding his own and a sound so full that it actually takes 20 plays to hear everything that's going on in the mix, and all this perfectly crafted and laid down on tape in just four weeks.
Quite frankly, this album rubbishes at least three Rush albums, and the entire Yes series, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery being the only album I can think of in the same league. I never thought it would happen, but this album makes something like Signals sound resolutely boring; I know I'm going to get hate mail for saying so, but I have to be honest...
If Geddy, Neil and Alex have heard this album, then they probably reacted in one of two ways--become blubbering nervous wrecks, in the knowledge they have some serious young competition, or (hopefully) they have pulled out their fingers in order to show that they can indeed rise to the occasion. This album will either bring out the best in our friends or finish them off..."

That quote was what sold me being a Rush fan."



First CD 1989: When Dream And Day Unite
First Cassette 1992: When Dream and Day Unite promo
First Vinyl 1990: When Dream and Day Unite
First CD single 1990: Afterlife promo
First Cassette single 1992: Another Day
First Video 1993: Live At The Marquee
First DVD 2001: Metropolis 2000 Scenes From New York
First Concert: 11/14/89 Dream Theater opens for Marillion at the old Ritz in New York City

Offline yeshaberto

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 8986
  • Gender: Male
  • Somebody Get Me A Doctor! - VH
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2010, 05:25:52 PM »
cool story and cool quote

Offline Setlist Scotty

  • Posts: 4472
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2010, 07:25:52 PM »
Setlist Scotty, I believe. 

Correctomundo. Long story short, read about WDaDU in RIP! magazine (I believe the June 89 issue with Lita and Doro on the cover) where the reviewer (SL Duff) gave it a bad review. The magical words that they sounded like (among other bands) "a whole buncha Rush" was enough for me to pick up the album (Rush being my fave band at the time). Been a fan ever since.
As a basic rule, if you hate it, you must solely blame Portnoy. If it's good, then you must downplay MP's contribution to the band as not being important anyway, or claim he's just lying. It's the DTF way.

Offline ZBomber

  • "The Analogy Guy"
  • Posts: 5502
  • Gender: Male
  • A Farewell to Kings
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2010, 11:46:14 PM »
Awesome story ytse. Whoever wrote that quote must have been horrified when Presto came out.  :lol

Offline EstyMaJ

  • Posts: 253
  • Gender: Male
  • 011001100
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2010, 05:17:21 AM »
Yup it was my first and actually , I remember a friend i worked with his brother who also was a guitar player had him bring it in for me to check it out , then i found out IAW was comming out a few weeks later!! so from there on i was hooked

Offline YtseBitsySpider

  • **retired from DTF**
  • EZBoard Elder
  • *****
  • Posts: 5162
  • Gender: Male
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2010, 05:24:14 AM »
It was my first.

It was givin to me circa 89~90. The guy had dubbed it over a store bought Prince Purple Rain tape, by putting hockey tape over those non-recording tabs. However there wasn't enough room for all of WDADU and I didn't know I was missing Ytsejam and Those Who Help to Set the Sun until after Images and Words came out.
Take care everyone - Bet you all didn't even notice I was gone.

Happy Lives to you all.

Offline bosk1

  • King of Misdirection
  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Posts: 12786
  • Bow down to Boskaryus
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2010, 07:19:34 AM »
Long story short, read about WDaDU in RIP! magazine (I believe the June 89 issue with Lita and Doro on the cover)...

I don't remember the WDADU review, but I sure remember that cover!  :biggrin:
"The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie."

Online Zydar

  • Creep With Tonality
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 19210
  • Gender: Male
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #10 on: March 22, 2010, 07:57:27 AM »
If WDADU was my first DT album, then I doubt I would have enough interest to follow their carreer any further. Luckily my first was I&W, bought it in 2001.
Zydar is my new hero.  I just laughed so hard I nearly shat.

Offline black_biff_stadler

  • 6th place finalist at New Orleans Skullet Fest 2010
  • DT.net Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 13848
  • Gender: Male
  • blackwater_floyd, get it?
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #11 on: March 22, 2010, 08:20:48 AM »
Four different albums have varying degrees of proper claim as to which is my first DT album.

Images and Words-the first I ever heard back in '95(didn't take at first but eventually did four years later)

Awake-the first I ever bought(disappointed though since I had a hardon the size of a rolled-up living room rug for Pull Me Under at the time and I bought it on impulse at Blockbuster Music since that was the only DT they had.) I thought it was only okay at first but a few months later when I got into about half of the non-PMU I&W material I wound up also getting into Erotomania big time and soon all the other pieces fell in place.

Scenes From a Memory-the latest DT album at the time I finally got into them as well as the first burned cd I ever got of theirs.

When Dream and Day Unite-The first DT cd I ever bought intentionally for what it was as opposed to the blind impulse buy that Awake was. It's kind of ironic how I got into the album too since it all had to do with this awesome instrumental bonanza called Ytse Jam that I saw on a borrowed VHS of Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.



Users who've sigged me (Join today!): LCArenas, Jakartabassplayer, LeeHarveyKennedy, Global Laziness, Portrucci, obscure, FlyingBIZKIT, alirocker08, senecadawg2, DebraKadabra, JayOctavarium, Cedar redaC, (almost) bout to crash, ? (the forum member, not the fucking punctuation mark), Zeltar, lonestar, ASacrificedSon

Offline Dublagent66

  • Devouring consciousness...
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 9695
  • Gender: Male
  • ...Digesting power
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #12 on: March 22, 2010, 08:30:11 AM »
I&W for me, but I don't think it matters when someone started listening to DT for them to be a hardcore fan.  I've been a hardcore Rush fan since 1986.
"Two things are infinite; the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Albert Einstein
"There's not a pill you can take.  There's not a class you can go to.  Stupid is foreva."  -Ron White

Offline jmarkwilson

  • Posts: 145
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #13 on: March 22, 2010, 08:36:16 AM »
It wasmy first DT album,friend lent me it in early 1990,loved it went out and bought it.

Offline BRGM

  • DTF.org Member
  • *
  • Posts: 1739
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #14 on: March 22, 2010, 10:20:05 AM »
My First DT album was Octavarium! :D I thougt it was awesome :D it actually is awesome, second album though was WDADU...I was like...ehm...is this the same band?

Offline Samsara

  • Queensr˙che Biographer and Historian
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 8722
  • Gender: Male
  • Driving the nail into my head. Memory flows...
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #15 on: March 22, 2010, 11:24:15 AM »
Long story short, read about WDaDU in RIP! magazine (I believe the June 89 issue with Lita and Doro on the cover)...

I don't remember the WDADU review, but I sure remember that cover!  :biggrin:

Last I checked, it moved from your childhood bedroom wall, to your home office wall.   :lol

And as for what album I started listening to DT...nope, wasn't WDADU. For me, it was:

1st - A Change of Seasons
2nd - Awake
3rd - I&W

After that, starting with FII, I bought every record in succession. I finally bought WDADU a few years back.
Roads to Madness: The Touring History of Queensr˙che (1981-1997) - Out in May 2024!

www.roadstomadness.com

Offline yorost

  • Inactive
  • Posts: 7862
  • Gender: Male
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2010, 01:25:07 PM »
How old are those of you that did get it prior to Images and Words being released?

I wonder what any of us around my age would have thought of them if we had picked up When Dream and Day Unite back when it was released.  I would have been 9 and that was probably around the time I loved Motley Crue.

Offline Setlist Scotty

  • Posts: 4472
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2010, 06:20:13 PM »
How old are those of you that did get it prior to Images and Words being released?

I wonder what any of us around my age would have thought of them if we had picked up When Dream and Day Unite back when it was released.  I would have been 9 and that was probably around the time I loved Motley Crue.

I'm 38 now and was 17 when I picked up WDaDU.
As a basic rule, if you hate it, you must solely blame Portnoy. If it's good, then you must downplay MP's contribution to the band as not being important anyway, or claim he's just lying. It's the DTF way.

Offline yeshaberto

  • DT.net Veteran
  • ****
  • Posts: 8986
  • Gender: Male
  • Somebody Get Me A Doctor! - VH
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2010, 07:40:58 PM »
I was Images-born, but I hate to admit now that I doubt I was musically mature enough at that time to have enjoyed WDADU...I am glad I didn't hear it first (at that time) because I probably would not have given them a second chance.  When a friend first played PMU for me, I was instantly blown away and forever musically changed

Offline ytserush

  • Posts: 5376
  • Like clockwork...
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2010, 09:31:06 PM »
Awesome story ytse. Whoever wrote that quote must have been horrified when Presto came out.  :lol

Thanks. I suppose they must have been.

That was only the third time I had been completetly swept off of my feet by band. The first two were Rush and Marillion.   

I have to admit that I was horrified by the Presto tour. (At least the shows I saw. Geddy, Alex and Neil looked bored up there most of the time) Worst Rush tour ever. Must have been their midlife crisis. Finally retired In The Mood after that tour too.

Offline cygnusaz

  • Posts: 64
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2010, 10:45:54 PM »
When I was 17, a senior in high school in 1989 my girlfriend wanted to see Marillion who I couldn't stand. I finally agreed to go with her, and we took the train down to Manhattan from the Westchester suburbs. We got to The Ritz, and they almost didn't let us in because she was 16 ! Marillion at the time were more 'alternative', kind of like The Cure at least we thought so. Definately nothing like DT.

We eventually got it and were standing around when Dream Theater came on. This was when the original lead singer was with them, and we actually were making fun of Charlie! We thought he was the cheesiest old man we'd ever seen, lol. Ah a teenagers perspective... However, I did really like the music and was pretty blown away by the playing. I remember Petrucci very well and thought he was an incredible guitar player. By the end of their short set I was pretty into them, but I couldn't find their CD anywhere.

They barely spoke during the show at all, Mike was not the 'Mike' we know and love now, lol. He never said a word, Charlie did all the talking and it was very brief. 

Unfortunatley I couldn't find their cassette or CD for another year. Finally when I was in college I found WDADU at a local record shop, this was late 1990. I bought it, and remembered why we laughed at Charlie's vocals. Honestly I probably listened to it two times, and was done because while the music was great - Charlie sucked, lol. 

Two years went by and I forgot DT even existed. Then I head 'Pull Me Under' on the radio, I couldn't believe it when they said it was DT !!! I knew right away they got a new lead singer and rushed out to buy the CASSETTE of I & W !! Back then no one had CD players in their car - if you wanted to listen to music in your car it was cassette or radio, lol.

I was hooked, and have never looked back. I since bought every DT album on the day of release, and seen every single tour - technically starting with that opening gig way back in 1989. We didn't even know who the opener was that night. If you had told me 20 odd years later I would still be into them, and see them pretty much every year, and that they would be as successful as they are I would have never believed you, lol. 

I now live in Phoenix, and am fortunate that they are coming here in June as BC & SL is the only tour I've never seen. Over the years there are only a handful of DT songs I haven't seen done live... I put together a list about a year ago:

(I've seen everything off WDADU, I & W, and Awake except SDV)

Space Dyed Vest
Take Away My Pain
Dissapear
Vacant
The Answer Lies Within
These Walls
Forsaken
Prophets of War
Repentance

all of BC & SL (that will change soon!)

That's it, I've seen them do every other song at some point or another!!

I can't imagine my life since 1992 without this band. Simple as that.

Offline cygnusaz

  • Posts: 64
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #21 on: March 22, 2010, 10:48:11 PM »
I listened to it constantly for about 3 solid months until Presto came out. I never heard another word about them until I stumbled on their mispelled name on the marquee at the Ritz November 14, 1989 opening for the Hogarth-fronted Marillion's debut in New York City.


You and I were at the same show - this is the one I mentioned in my previous post. Small world eh? If you remember a bunch of punk/ new wave kids laughing and pointing at Charlie, that was my group, lol.

Offline Phantasmatron

  • Peanut Butter Advocate and Jelly Enthusiast
  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 3730
  • Gender: Male
  • What the Jenkins?!
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #22 on: March 22, 2010, 10:49:06 PM »
Wow.  It's a lot of fun reading all these stories of fans who got in more or less on the ground floor.  I wish I'd been able to do that, but sadly, I was only 2 when WDADU came out.

Good thread.  :tup

Offline EstyMaJ

  • Posts: 253
  • Gender: Male
  • 011001100
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #23 on: March 23, 2010, 04:48:55 AM »
How old are those of you that did get it prior to Images and Words being released?

I wonder what any of us around my age would have thought of them if we had picked up When Dream and Day Unite back when it was released.  I would have been 9 and that was probably around the time I loved Motley Crue.

Im old 43 lucky enough but old LOL

Online TAC

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 74079
  • Gender: Male
  • Arthritic Metal Horns
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #24 on: March 24, 2010, 07:07:58 AM »
I've told this story a few times already but...
I was doing a Metal Show on my colege radio station every Sunday night (I graduated college in '90). In 1989, while going through the New Records bin, I saw this album by Dream Theater. I thought, wow, that's a great name for a band. The front cover was very gay, and the band photo was even worse. But while I had another song playing, I figured I'd check DT out "in cue"...which was used to cue up songs, but it's a very phonicly challenged setting. It sounded kind of artsy, as the keyboards really dominated the output. I thought..oh well.. and I put it back never to think of it again. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Flash forward to 6/8/92 and I go see Iron Maiden in NYC. We get there early to get a good spot which means standing through some sucky no name band. Sure enough it was some band that I'd never heard of before.Well DT blew me away. It would be another month before their album (I&W) was released, so I bought it asap.

Then sometime in early to mid 93, I'm aware they had a first album with a first singer, so I order it through mail order. Well, when I ever opened up the package and saw the CD cover I nearly shit! It was the very album I had in my hands 4 years earlier. I had never made the connection. :facepalm:

I'm 41 now, so I was 23 when I saw DT open for Maiden. They've basically been the soundtrack to my adult life.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline cygnusaz

  • Posts: 64
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #25 on: March 24, 2010, 10:06:30 PM »
I was 17 when WDADU unite came out, and 20 when I & W came out... Man, it seems like another lifetime ago, lol

Offline ytserush

  • Posts: 5376
  • Like clockwork...
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #26 on: March 31, 2010, 04:29:40 PM »
I listened to it constantly for about 3 solid months until Presto came out. I never heard another word about them until I stumbled on their mispelled name on the marquee at the Ritz November 14, 1989 opening for the Hogarth-fronted Marillion's debut in New York City.


You and I were at the same show - this is the one I mentioned in my previous post. Small world eh? If you remember a bunch of punk/ new wave kids laughing and pointing at Charlie, that was my group, lol.


Small world. 

Sorry, I don't remember that. I went with a friend who was a Marillion fan and I couldn't believe my good fortune when we rounded the corner and saw "Dream Theatre" spelled out on the marquee of the old Ritz.  For some reason, I didn't remember that they opened with an earlier version of Metropolis that night either, but the tape doesn't lie.

I wanted a Marillion shirt that night, but ended up with the Dream Theater shirt instead (Only had enough money for one that night.) Still have it. Got the Marillion shirt at the "Buster Douglas" gig that February.

Offline lucky7

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 623
  • Gender: Female
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #27 on: April 08, 2010, 09:27:54 PM »
This is a great thread.
I am 33 now, but back then I was into a lot more heavier music. The first DT cd was Train of Thought just after its release, now I own everything except......When dream and day unite.....one day soon  :laugh:

Offline ACID_FOX

  • DTF's Offical Arctic Monkeys Fanboy.
  • Posts: 1408
  • Gender: Male
  • But You're Just Fiction, And I'm A Twisted Boy.
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #28 on: April 12, 2010, 07:00:49 AM »
This is a great thread.
I am 33 now, but back then I was into a lot more heavier music. The first DT cd was Train of Thought just after its release, now I own everything except......When dream and day unite.....one day soon  :laugh:

Haha, ToT was my first album too, I didn't even know what Prog was at the time :P
I only like ablums that I can xanascholithoun.

Offline Rich Wilson

  • Forum VIP
  • *****
  • Posts: 234
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #29 on: April 12, 2010, 08:54:12 AM »
Yup - I came across DT at the back of end '88 when Radio 1 here in the UK played a track of WDADU on their Friday Night Rock Show. It's been quite a ride!

Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #30 on: April 23, 2010, 08:08:15 AM »
The first album I discovered of Dream Theater was Systematic Chaos. Great album. I heard In the Presence of Enemies Part 1 in a music store at my mall, and I bought that album that day and I've never turned away from them since.  :metal :metal

Offline Destiny Of Chaos

  • DTF.org Alumni
  • ****
  • Posts: 14474
  • Gender: Male
Re: Was Anybody's First DT Album Actually WDADU?
« Reply #31 on: April 24, 2010, 05:02:01 PM »
My step dad brought home Images & Words cassette tapes. The first album that was released while I was a fan was Falling Into Infinity.