How did you get into DT?

[RobertD]

Thought I'd start a topic.May have been done already.
How did everyone get into DT.Myself I discovered them by seeing JP at G3,and after a little research found out he had a band.In my opinion JP is the best guitarist on the scene today.Not only because of his technical proficeincy but also because of the raw emotion he applies to his phrases.

[DannyVaz]

To be blatantly honest, The Glass Prison was the only intense heavy metal song on my friends MP3 player that didn't have swear words in it.

And since then my 8 year old brain has just never been the same.

[blackngold29]

I feel bad that I didn't hear about them sooner, but basically I watched them play Instrumedely. Then suddenly Rudess did that ragtime thing, that was all it took.

[icysk8r]

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.

[antigoon]

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.

[Otnip]

My brother showed me TGP back when it was released. Thought it was badass, and I would kinda long to listen to the song again. The rest of SDOIT just didn't click with me at that age though.

Then, I bought Systematic Chaos in November, just to kinda recheck them out since I started listening to Symphony X. Listened to it half asleep on a car ride and woke up in love  

[ZBomber]

I was having a band practice with my friend last summer. We all liked Rush, so my guitarist recommended this band called Dream Theater. I had heard of them before because another friend showed me a live version of Glass Prison, however, JLB's voice completely turned me off (and that performance STILL sucks... bad way to learn about DT). Anyway, I trusted this friend's musical tastes, so I agreed to listen to it. When I was driving him back home, he popped in Scenes from a Memory. I was in love. Been an avid fan since then and haven't looked back.

[brakkum]

I was drivin around with my drummer, and Solitary Shell came on. I was interested, but didn't pursue. Then a guitarist friend of ours started putting Octavarium on all the time the winter after it's release. I decided to go to a live show, and have been hooked since.

[Super Dude]

If I had a nickel for every thread like this started at this forum ever.....

Anyway, here's the deal.  Back in August 2005, I invited a friend of mine to my house to chill out, and so I could steal some of his music (at that point, about 80% of the music I listened to was by an artist he'd recommended).

Of three burned CDs he brought for me to rip, one was Train of Thought and the other was Awake.  That day, he tried to turn me on to Train of Thought by way of This Dying Soul.  The intro bored me to death because it seemed like a lot of noise for not much depth, and then seeing that there was still 10 minutes left to the song I decided no way.  However, I let him rip it anyway because he said I'd change my mind eventually.

So I kept Train of Thought on my computer and put my iTunes into shuffle mode while I played my favorite multiplayer FPS of the time (still is), Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.  During one of my matches, In the Name of God came up, and I decided I didn't wanna have to exit the game, skip the track, and then get back into the game.  I listened for a while and it got to the techno-sounds on JR's keyboard (just before "Justifying violence/Citing from the holy book"); now I thought that was fucking cool.  I decided to keep listening, and I fell in love with ItNoG.  I then discovered and loved SoC and Vacant, though the other tracks did take a while with me.

On a mad dash for more, I came back to the copy of Awake he burned me.  I popped it into, loved the first four tracks, and the rest is history.

[King Postwhore]

I heard Pull me Under on the Radio in 1992 got the album, saw them on tour and have been hooked since!

[j]

1. One day I came across the name "Dream Theater" on the internet.  I thought it was a cool band name, but nothing more.

2. Several months later, I was somehow reminded that I had had a mild interest in at least checking out this band, solely because of the name.  I read a little about them and liked the descriptions of their music that I found, despite being a musical retard.  Still, I was very skeptical and had low expectations, because most music is shitty.

3. I downloaded several of their songs that I thought had cool names (man, I just realized that I used this lame criteria to determine everything I did when discovering DT), like In the Presence of Enemies, Stream of Consciousness, and Metropolis.  I was pretty much blown away, and gradually listened to all of their stuff and bought it.

4. The end.

-J

[Super Dude]

What were you searching that you came across Dream Theater so out of the blue like that?

[rumborak]

Lots of lube.

rumborak

[Super Dude]

 

[perfectchaos180]

After years of barely going deep into the metal genre (the extent of my metal was metallica and megadeth) my friend started recommending me stuff from different genres. Cool stuff here and there but nothing that blew me away.

One random summer night 3 years ago he decides to send me a Dream Theater song, Fatal Tragedy. I listened to it and it was just everything I had ever wanted in a song... Most bands take me awhile to attach to, but this just clicked instantly. The rest is history. 

[zmazar]

My ex-girlfriend's friend had them playing in his car on the way to bowling.  I heard Portnoy's drums and was like, "Dude who is this!?"  He told me Dream Theater.  I got Images and Words and Train of Thought, loved them both.  That was 2004.

It pisses me off that I can't remember the song that was playing in the car.  

[xterp]

heard them on Pandora.

[j]

What were you searching that you came across Dream Theater so out of the blue like that?

  That's a good question, and I have no idea dude.  I think actually I had heard of this guy John Petrucci being cited as "best guitarist ever" by some people, and when I was reading about him, I saw the band's name.  It's all kinda fuzzy, this was like a year ago.   

-J

[LeeHarveyKennedy]

Back around senior year of high school/early freshman year of college, I was seeing two bands referenced seemingly everywhere I went online. One was DT, the other was Iced Earth. Deciding I may as well give it a try, I picked up A Change of Seasons on a whim shortly before Christmas break of freshman year, and my mind was blown. I instantly collected every other CD I could.

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.

*Edit* Technically, I heard them in sophomore year of high school when I watched my brother's History of Trunks DBZ DVD, and thought to myself "Maybe I should check this Dream Theater band out. . ." I then promptly forgot about them, but still recognized the songs when I bought SFAM years later.

[Elsydeon]

I remember it like it was yesterday, I was in the car going up to Maine for thanksgiving. My brother had me listen to The Glass prison, I loved it. At the time the rest of 6doit didn't click for me, so I kinda forgot about them for a while.....until I heard train of thought and I was sold.

[emindead]

A friend of mine was a huge fan. I never paid attention but did download some songs: and listened to them in my mini disc: which I'm looking for the songs I had in there... (I'm listening to that mini disc... and you have no idea how COOL the transition from "Fuck Her Gently" by Tenacious D to "Love Song" by Tesla is. It's perfect!).

OK, so, I had "Fatal Tragedy", "Home" and "Pull Me Under". I listened to this disc ALL the time.
One summer this friend of mine lent me some of his CDs and in there there was Metropolis Pt: 2. I popped it in, lying on a bed (:tard). I closed my eyes and my life changed. The album even told me to OPEN MY EYES. Best musical experience I've ever had in my life. I then listened to LSFNY, bought the DVD at Blockbuster (which was really odd to find it there). The rest is history.

[blackngold29]

From this point on, if anyone asks me to introduce them to DT I'll just show them this. Anyone know where that's from?

[yeshaberto]

A friend who shared musical tastes with me raced over to my house with a cassette tape he had just bought after hearing Pull Me Under on the radio...he was so jazzed and I couldn't believe my ears.  I have been a fan ever since and my fanboism has only grown over the years...

[BlobVanDam]

My brother bought SDOIT shortly after it came out after reading a magazine review that compared TGP to Metallica. Never heard of em before. I pretty much stole the album the day he got it, and DT have been my favourite band ever since, that has been my favourite DT album ever since, and TGP is still my favourite DT song

[Zydar]

I heard mp3s of 6:00 and Caught In A Web when I was taking my European Computer Driving License back in late 2000 - they were among the other mp3s in the shared folder on that student network. I liked what I heard and bought IaW and Awake. Listened a couple of times to both, I liked IaW a lot but never really got into Awake - more than the first songs. I put them back on the shelf for a few years.

Fast forward to spring 2007 when I heard some songs from Octavarium, got really interested again, started to listen to IaW again - loved it! - and the rest is history. I have been kind of obsessed by DT since then. I've been catching up on their entire catalogue over these two years.

[tri.ad]

In October 2005, I read a lot about it on a music forum and decided to buy Images And Words and Awake. Took a while to get used to them, but now they're one of my favourite bands.

[Dellers]

No matter what I've done the last few years, lots of people everywhere have been listening to DT. I thought I should check it out, and they are now one of my favorite bands. It took some time to get into their music, but now I think it's great.

[j]

No matter what I've done the last few years, lots of people everywhere have been listening to DT.

What the shit?   

You must live in a place that is far, far away from me.

-J

[Scrub206]

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...

[Dream Team]

I have to give some credit to the Metallica message board circa 2003! Actually, before then I had read reviews of DT on some metal websites but was worried they weren't going to be "heavy" enough for me (since I was an '80s thrash fan) but my tastes have broadened since then. Anyway, this guy on the Metallica board kept name-dropping Petrucci in the Hammett threads so FINALLY I took the plunge. Since Images and Words seemed to be their highest-rated album I started with that one. I'm glad I did so I didn't need to try to get into the band's catalog in reverse order. Anyway, it took a few listens for I & W to click, but when it did I realized DT was everything I had been lookng for in music.

[Dublagent66]

In 1992, a friend loaned me a copy of I&W.  The rest is history.....   

[Super Dude]

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.

[Tsev Eyd Ecaps]

Its a bit of a buzz kill but here we go.  Back in 06, a friend of one of my very good friends committed suicide.  He was a huge Dream Theater fan and actually got to go to RCMH earlier that year and see the performance on Score.  Anyways, after he passed away my buddies made a tribute video for him with The Spirit Carries On as the audio.  I thought it was beautiful and the solo blew me away.  So I saw them live, bought every album, and here i am now with the Majesty logo on my arm and Honor Thy Father lyrics on my chest.  Sorry for the story if anyone is bothered by it.

[TAC]

I heard Pull me Under on the Radio in 1992 got the album, saw them on tour and have been hooked since!

King, were you at those early Axis shows?


For me, I went to see Iron Maiden at the Ritz on 6/8/92. We got there early to get a good spot, which meant having to endure the opening band.
But then this group called Dream Theater hit the stage, and my musical life was changed forever!
My first 2 thoughts:
1. The drummer is awesome
2. The bass player is a madman
Serioulsy!

[Kartmaze]

For me it was actually through a friend who showed me LTE - Acid Rain.
Then things escalated.