I'm sure there are myriad of other bands that have weirder things than a nickname. For example Avenge Sevenfold with there alternate names. Not much weirder but that's what they go by. James only has a nickname, A7X has alternate identities.
Edit: Korn with the masks, Kiss with the face paint. etc..
Great point. When it comes down to it, though, Dream Theater are one of those bands who actually play to their strengths by being serious.
With respect,
yawnsville!*
The Dark Eternal Night in-studio video seems to have been taken down, now - god knows why, maybe the label were embarrassed by the low resolution - but for a very long time it was their highest rated YouTube video by
light years. People dig the crap out of that stuff. Dream Theater have occasionally played about at the brooding genius thing - not nearly as often, in my opinion, as you've stated - but it frankly never quite worked for them. Awake was probably the closest they got, and it was a full-on commercial flop. They're at their best when they drop the pretence, and just write Dream Theater music. Images and Words had moments of earnestness, but they were balanced by a major-key funk singalong like Take the Time and the riffy madness of Under a Glass Moon. SfaM is bold and hokey, total vaudeville kitsch told in the simplest possible terms, and Six Degrees is the album that brought us The Test That Stumped Them All, of all songs. It's all call-and-return, falsetto vocals, pompous overtures and brutal riffs - a huge, barely restrained explosion of musical colour.
Dream Theater have never seen themselves as tortured artists, save perhaps for a few minutes in 1994. They've always,
always been ambitious rockers. Interested in writing clever music, sure, but fun music. Anthemic, riffy, frequently indulgent - more James Cameron than Chris Nolan. I don't think it's a coincidence that their popularity's tended to spike higher the bolshier and more extravagant they've been. It's what Dream Theater
is.
*Disclaimer: This is wilful glibness to make a point, rather than a genuine reaction to your post - which, though I disagree with it, I do value as an opinion, and am always, always happy to hear more of, cos it's very interesting, and you speak it well. Keep doin' what you do best, PC.