Average Song Length?

[Jaffa]

I'm just curious if anyone's tried to work it out.  The average length of a Dream Theater song. 

[RuRoRul]

Missing some unreleased stuff (and counting Six Degrees as a single song even though they are separate tracks) comes to around 9 minutes, so I'm guessing 8 minutes or so.

[kennedymichael]

Missing some unreleased stuff (and counting Six Degrees as a single song even though they are separate tracks) comes to around 9 minutes, so I'm guessing 8 minutes or so.

I would agree.  My calculations come to 8:48.  Just for the 10 "official" albums.

[JayOctavarium]

I remember when I thought Jesus of Suburbia was a long song... haha

[pmahoney1337]

I remember when I thought Jesus of Suburbia was a long song... haha

Lol, I used to be amazed by the length of that song. Now it's nothing.

[jsem]

When people talk about Free Bird being a long song I lol.

[RuRoRul]

Last year I met a friend of mine from school on the train and we ended up talking about how we usually listen to music on the train, and I mentioned how I like to listen to longer songs when travelling since you've got the time and it makes the journey seem faster.

Then he was like "Yeah this one song I listen to goes on for about 6 minutes".

[jsem]

Last year I met a friend of mine from school on the train and we ended up talking about how we usually listen to music on the train, and I mentioned how I like to listen to longer songs when travelling since you've got the time and it makes the journey seem faster.

Then he was like "Yeah this one song I listen to goes on for about 6 minutes".

[Mladen]

I remember when I thought Jesus of Suburbia was a long song... haha

Wow, me too. Good times. 

But then again, it is a long song, isn't it? It varies from band to band - for Dream Theater it wouldn't be, but if I put on a Weezer record and realize one of the song is 10 minutes long, I'd think: ''Man, that's one long song.''

[Jaffa]

I remember the exact same thing.  American Idiot came out, and I was all, 'WHOA this song goes on FOREVER!'  Now I'm pretty sure that Dream Theater has one or two songs with INTROS longer than Jesus of Suburbia.  =D

Anyway, thanks for the info, guys!

[jsem]

I remember the exact same thing.  American Idiot came out, and I was all, 'WHOA this song goes on FOREVER!'  Now I'm pretty sure that Dream Theater has one or two songs with INTROS longer than Jesus of Suburbia.  =D

Anyway, thanks for the info, guys!

That might be a stretch. Overture is probably dt's longest "intro" at something like 5½ mins.

[VioletS16]

I thought PMU was a long song. PMSL.

About 7-8 minutes by my calculations.

[Dublagent66]

My guess would've been between 8 and 9 mins.

[Frosthawk]

I would guess somewhere between 7:30 and 8:30. But if the calculation is 8:48 welp then I guess that's wrong!

Also I've been listening to Genesis and Dire Straits since I was 6, so the concept of a song stretching 10 minutes has never been unusual to me. So whenever I see someone freaking out over a 6 minute long song it just seems really strange.

[jsem]

Yeah. Once I was listening to Sweet Child of Mine in school, and one of the girls that I was listening said "This intro is really long, it never ends".

My reaction:

It's not even a minute long. I had to stop for a sec and lol.

[Riceball]

8 minutes 48 seconds.

Thats if you count 6 Degrees as one song, Scenes as 12 songs and ITPOE as 2 songs.

[Jamesman42]

Are you guys counting A Change of Seasons?

[Riceball]

I am, and considering we both got the same outcome I guess the other dude did too.

Excluding ACOS, its 8:38.

[Global Laziness]

I remember when I thought Jesus of Suburbia was a long song... haha

Lol, I used to be amazed by the length of that song. Now it's nothing.

It still feels long because Green Day doesn't know how to write long songs.

[FretMuppet]

Last year I met a friend of mine from school on the train and we ended up talking about how we usually listen to music on the train, and I mentioned how I like to listen to longer songs when travelling since you've got the time and it makes the journey seem faster.

Then he was like "Yeah this one song I listen to goes on for about 6 minutes".

I swear this guy looks like Petrucci

[jsem]

You're right.


I will never be open again.

[Sixtease]

Counting all regular studio albums starting with When Dream and Day Unite, ending with Black Clouds and Silver Linings, no lives, no Greatest Hit, no bootlegs. Out of ACOS, just the title song is included. Counting Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence CD2 as 1 song, and In the Presence of Enemies also as 1 song.

The total playlist length is 12:37:29. There are 93 tracks. Subtract 7 for SDOIT and 1 for ITPOE. This is 45,449 seconds in 85 songs, which is 534.694118 seconds per song.

Thus: The average Dream Theater studio song is 8:55 long.

The average Dream Theater studio track would be 8:09.

[kennedymichael]

Counting all regular studio albums starting with When Dream and Day Unite, ending with Black Clouds and Silver Linings, no lives, no Greatest Hit, no bootlegs. Out of ACOS, just the title song is included. Counting Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence CD2 as 1 song, and In the Presence of Enemies also as 1 song.

The total playlist length is 12:37:29. There are 93 tracks. Subtract 7 for SDOIT and 1 for ITPOE. This is 45,449 seconds in 85 songs, which is 534.694118 seconds per song.

Thus: The average Dream Theater studio song is 8:55 long.

The average Dream Theater studio track would be 8:09.

I would agree with this.  I did include ACoS but counted ITPOE as two songs.  Between 8 and 9 minutes depending on how you define a song.

If we wanted to we could call Metropolis and the twelve step suite one song and their average would be over 11 minutes.  But we would all have to agree on the definition of a song - and that will never happen.