WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DREAM THEATER SONG?

[bosk1]

No, this is what we call a "ban," actually.  But I can understand your confusion.

[chaossystem]

You should have included "can't pick just one" as an option.

How MANY songs-if you know-are on your list?

The great master of the Polls has spoken.
Now, KNEEL!!

These kind of snarky comments are getting a little out of hand.

Thanks, Hef!

[AngelBack]

Surrounded

My favorite does change from time to time but for the most part Zook has answered the poll for me.

[hefdaddy42]

Thanks, Hef!

You're welcome.

[JiM-Xtreme]

Learning to Live always does it for me.

Tbh, I'm surprised Octavarium is winning so decisively at the moment!

[bosk1]

Tbh, I'm surprised Octavarium is winning so decisively at the moment!

Um...it is leading by 4 votes.  How is that "decisive?"

[lithium112]

These Walls

That's interesting, as I don't think I've ever heard someone pick this as their top DT song. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but don't see it as Top 20 material. What makes this your fave?

[Octavarious]

Octavarium. Though I love almost all of their songs, I would not want to change a single second of this one.

Fully aligned.

[JiM-Xtreme]

Tbh, I'm surprised Octavarium is winning so decisively at the moment!

Um...it is leading by 4 votes.  How is that "decisive?"

Oops... well, to be honest, I wasn't looking at the numbers. Only the pretty bars.

Well, at the time of this post it is now 7 votes clear of ACOS, so... 

[bosk1]

Okay, you win.  7 is decisive. 

[gmillerdrake]

It's nearly impossible to pic a 'favorite'.....and although LTL is one of my all time favorites I voted for 'Blind Faith' because.....welll....I really like that song.

[Dave_Manchester]

Voted for The Count of Tuscany (when I finally located the bloody thing on the list), because while I accept the qualms some fans have about the track (chiefly the lyrics), I still think it showcases the absolute best of this band. Have they written 'better' overall songs? Yes, no doubt. Surrounded, Misunderstood, Learning To Live, Trial of Tears, Home, Speak To Me, Lifting Shadows Off A Dream, Breaking All Illusions...all masterpieces of song-writing. But there's something about TCOT which really hits me deeply, especially the opening and closing 3 or 4 minutes.

In truth though, looking through the list of songs in the poll reminds me once more what an absolutely incredible band Dream Theater is. Such a uniquely strong body of work.

[mikeyd23]

I gotta go with SDOIT. It's too good, and represents (in my mind) all the best parts of DT; prog, metal, melody, epicness, etc...

Depending on the day though 8V, Blind Faith, Metropolis, or LtL could take my vote easily.

[Setlist Scotty]

Learning To Live

[BlobVanDam]

These Walls

That's interesting, as I don't think I've ever heard someone pick this as their top DT song. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but don't see it as Top 20 material. What makes this your fave?

Even though it's not my favourite, These Walls is definitely top 20 material for me.
It's such a well constructed shorter structure song, with great riffs (including the keyboard riff), strong melodies, a catchy chorus, a tasteful short guitar solo, and that big outro.
I remember instantly loving that song when the radio edit came out, then being disappointed that it wasn't representative of the rest of the album.

[Lucien]

These Walls

That's interesting, as I don't think I've ever heard someone pick this as their top DT song. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but don't see it as Top 20 material. What makes this your fave?

Even though it's not my favourite, These Walls is definitely top 20 material for me.
It's such a well constructed shorter structure song, with great riffs (including the keyboard riff), strong melodies, a catchy chorus, a tasteful short guitar solo, and that big outro.
I remember instantly loving that song when the radio edit came out, then being disappointed that it wasn't representative of the rest of the album.

It's one of the first DT songs I ever heard (not the first, that was Octavarium). I think the atmosphere of that song alone makes it stand out among the entire DT discography, even in its own album. Dream Theater at their most melodic.

[Jaffa]

Take the Time.

[?]

Space-Dye Vest

[energythief]

Home, without question.

[Eldomm]

Only a Matter of Time

[Mladen]

Metropolis, and will probably always be.

[puppyonacid]

This is still the wrong way to do it.

Much as Chaos System's threads annoy the heck out of me, his idea was closer to doing it properly.

You do each album but offer two votes. You vote for two songs from each. That gives second favourites a chance to come through.

Also, you do each album one at a time. That way people aren't overloaded with threads and the front page forum at DTF doesn't look like something off of opinion.org.

Once albums are done, you then put all 24 (or so) songs into one poll and ask everyone to pick their top 3 or 5 or whatever. You're funneling it down each time.

Like I said, say Metropolis is everybody's second favourite song but no ones out right favourite. That means itd probably be the overall forum favourite song. Giving everyone only one vote can't reflect that.

I voted Metropolis anyway 

[RaiseTheKnife]

all time, for me, in this order:

1) Raise the Knife
2) Lines in the Sand
3) Voices

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This is still the wrong way to do it.

Much as Chaos System's threads annoy the heck out of me, his idea was closer to doing it properly.

You do each album but offer two votes. You vote for two songs from each. That gives second favourites a chance to come through.

Also, you do each album one at a time. That way people aren't overloaded with threads and the front page forum at DTF doesn't look like something off of opinion.org.

Once albums are done, you then put all 24 (or so) songs into one poll and ask everyone to pick their top 3 or 5 or whatever. You're funneling it down each time.

Like I said, say Metropolis is everybody's second favourite song but no ones out right favourite. That means itd probably be the overall forum favourite song. Giving everyone only one vote can't reflect that.

I voted Metropolis anyway 

The wrong way to do it? This poll is asking people to vote for their favorite song. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Also, this is one thread, which means that people aren't overloaded with threads.

[puppyonacid]

This is still the wrong way to do it.

Much as Chaos System's threads annoy the heck out of me, his idea was closer to doing it properly.

You do each album but offer two votes. You vote for two songs from each. That gives second favourites a chance to come through.

Also, you do each album one at a time. That way people aren't overloaded with threads and the front page forum at DTF doesn't look like something off of opinion.org.

Once albums are done, you then put all 24 (or so) songs into one poll and ask everyone to pick their top 3 or 5 or whatever. You're funneling it down each time.

Like I said, say Metropolis is everybody's second favourite song but no ones out right favourite. That means itd probably be the overall forum favourite song. Giving everyone only one vote can't reflect that.

I voted Metropolis anyway 

The wrong way to do it? This poll is asking people to vote for their favorite song. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Also, this is one thread, which means that people aren't overloaded with threads.

My post was written way more confrontational than I meant - I didn't mean any. But, I stand by my point.

[RoeDent]

I still think the League is our definitive way of finding the forum's favourite DT song. I know it's long-winded, but it needs to be. Victory is all the more sweeter when it's taken a long time to get there.

[BlobVanDam]

I didn't even know the polls section was still a thing. Haven't looked in there since I came back to the forum. The DT side is a much larger and more representative sample size than what the polls section gets, so it makes sense to have any such voting here.

[RoeDent]

Like I said, say Metropolis is everybody's second favourite song but no ones out right favourite. That means itd probably be the overall forum favourite song. Giving everyone only one vote can't reflect that.

It's not my 2nd favourite. Octavarium is my 2nd favourite. Metropolis is 4th, behind LTL.

Also, if people aren't aware of Polls & Survivors, we need to get them over there and voting this season! Spread the word! Help make this the most decisive League ever! Just scroll down a bit beyond your DT-side comfort zone and join the party! (And if you like PT, pop in there as well *shamelessplug*)

[puppyonacid]

 

It was an example. Just an example.

[TheGreatPretender]

Well, it really depends on the kind of data a person wants. In order to get an idea of DT's most beloved songs, yes, 2 or 3 choices would be needed.
This particular case, what it can determine is the one song that the most people consider their #1 favorite. And then a song that the second biggest number of people consider their #1 favorite. It's a different kind of statistic, but it's still useful... Well, as useful as "which songs to DT fans like" can be.

[puppyonacid]

True

To be honest, even my way doesn't work.

Let's say TSCO is the 4th most popular song on Scenes - but TSCO itself is more popular than any song from When Dream and Day Unite.

Yet the final poll would show two songs from When Dream and Day Unite that appear more popular than TSCO.

I'm really not sure how you could construct it other than a league as mentioned.

The other way would be to do this poll but people vote one song off at a time. It'd take forever but - I guess it could work.

[Destiny Of Chaos]

This is still the wrong way to do it.

Much as Chaos System's threads annoy the heck out of me, his idea was closer to doing it properly.

You do each album but offer two votes. You vote for two songs from each. That gives second favourites a chance to come through.

Also, you do each album one at a time. That way people aren't overloaded with threads and the front page forum at DTF doesn't look like something off of opinion.org.

Once albums are done, you then put all 24 (or so) songs into one poll and ask everyone to pick their top 3 or 5 or whatever. You're funneling it down each time.

Like I said, say Metropolis is everybody's second favourite song but no ones out right favourite. That means itd probably be the overall forum favourite song. Giving everyone only one vote can't reflect that.

I voted Metropolis anyway 

The wrong way to do it? This poll is asking people to vote for their favorite song. Seems pretty straightforward to me. Also, this is one thread, which means that people aren't overloaded with threads.

My post was written way more confrontational than I meant - I didn't mean any. But, I stand by my point.

No worries.

With this simple poll we can see that right this second,  more participants have Octavarium as their favorite song than any other song.  It doesn't get any easier than that. Sure everyone could hold that Song X is their 2nd favorite song and perhaps it would average out better than Octavarium over the long run. It just boils down to personal preference of analysis. But if more people have Octavarium as their absolute favorite song... then that's good enough for me.

I still think the League is our definitive way of finding the forum's favourite DT song. I know it's long-winded, but it needs to be. Victory is all the more sweeter when it's taken a long time to get there.

I try to look at DT the League as just for fun/entertainment purposes. The P&S forum doesn't see nearly the traffic that the DT forum does.

 

I didn't even know the polls section was still a thing. Haven't looked in there since I came back to the forum. The DT side is a much larger and more representative sample size than what the polls section gets, so it makes sense to have any such voting here.

Yeah, this.

[TheGreatPretender]

True

To be honest, even my way doesn't work.

Let's say TSCO is the 4th most popular song on Scenes - but TSCO itself is more popular than any song from When Dream and Day Unite.

Yet the final poll would show two songs from When Dream and Day Unite that appear more popular than TSCO.

I'm really not sure how you could construct it other than a league as mentioned.

The other way would be to do this poll but people vote one song off at a time. It'd take forever but - I guess it could work.

The one way it would truly work, as I see it, is if everyone participating ranked every single song from most to least favorite, and then figuring out the average placement for each and every song.

[puppyonacid]

On you go then 

[TheGreatPretender]

Yeah, I'm not gonna do that.