During which "era" did you become a fan?

[Elite]

2002/3, though I didn't realise that until the release of Systematic Chaos.

[MajorMatt]

Think it was around 2000/1 for me, my father bought IAW and I fell in love, he then bought SFAM a few days later, and then the LSFNY DVD. I was hooked, from then on I sought to acquire every CD/DVD and related side project stuff and completely immersed myself in DT and the genre as a whole.

[KrashOmnis]

...a cross between Rush and Metallica.

ToT era.  At the time I was realizing there was much more to music that what was on my cd rack and when I asked a friend of mine what to listen to he asked me what my favorite bands were.

"Metallica and Rush."
"Oh, then you'd like Dream Theater."

Went home and tried to find them on the internet and listened to Anna Lee and was was going to give up on them but decided to give the benefit of the doubt, and listened to This Dying Soul next.  At the time I was all about heavy so ToT was an excellent album to get me into them.  Slowly I realized that I liked almost every single song they'd ever made.  Dream Theater became my favorite band for life nigh instantly. 

[Implode]

Went home and tried to find them on the internet and listened to Anna Lee and was was going to give up on them but decided to give the benefit of the doubt, and listened to This Dying Soul next.

I like Anna Lee, but that is definitely not a choice of a song to represent the band. I wonder how many people have been turned off by situations like that. Glad you stuck with it and listened to another! Also, welcome!

[ehra]

Scenes From A Memory was their most recent album when my dad and I got into them, but Awake, Images and Words, and WDADU were the first albums we got.

[KrashOmnis]

Glad you stuck with it listened to another! Also, welcome!

Thanks!  ToT was just so deliciously technical, I was so hooked.

I like Anna Lee now as well.  Must just be a thing because now when I hear of a new band I often manage to find their worst song to listen to on youtube. 

[SjundeInseglet]

I got on board about a year before "Falling Into Infinity" came out (and I was already a full-blown DT diehard when that happened... and had even attended a clinic JP did for Ibanez where he played against a couple FII demos). It must have been around May of 1996 or so and I was almost 17 then (and almost 33 now). Time sure flies...

It was slightly before the age of the internet and (like many other guitar enthusiasts) I used to diligently buy a few guitar (well, actually more than a few) magazines which I then avidly read (though many were kind of thin in content). JP used to be featured in a lot of those guitar rags (alongside usually complimentary comments) and (as everyone here knows) was even a regular columnist for Guitar World. That's how I came across JP and his band. I read one of his columns (I think it was the one he did about borrowing warm-up exercices from other stringed instruments... where he also mentioned that he had been out on tour with Elton John and other unlikely artists) and I thoroughly enjoyed his articulate take on guitar playing and the way he waxed eloquently on music. I always dug this side of him.

I guess I was kind of won over by then and I just thought to myself that I really had to check out his actual playing and his band... and so I did. 16 years later, I'm still here (and I have been lurking these forums for the last 11 years or so) and I'm still listening (and I still care about the band's output... ADToE really restored my faith in the band and I'm really, really looking forward to everything this particular lineup of the band has in store for us).

[wkiml]

Shortly after I&W came out.  I still remember how cool it was that Pull Me Under, Take the Time and Another Day all had videos that were played on MTV.

this for me

[nikostheater]

I became a fan during the A Change Of Seasons era.Great times.

[Progalot]

I didn't quite become a fan around the release of an album. Instead I became a fan about halfway through 2010 because I finally started listening to SFAM, which I had received via a friend quite a few years before (along with SC). I had listened to SC when I received it but did not like it. However when I started listening to SFAM in 2010 I became hooked and listened to Dream Theater for the following six months (no other bands during this time).

[nicmos]

heard Pull Me Under on the radio in '92, when I was in 11th grade.  I told my brother he had to listen to this new song.  Shortly thereafter, for my birthday, he bought me the cassette of Images and Words.  (I didn't have a cd player until Christmas '93.)  good memories.

[IdoSC]

A few months after the Chaos in Motion DVD came out. My first album was (Greatest Hits) Images and Words, and the first new release I was present in was Black Clouds.

[Jarzombek]

1997. Falling Into Infinity era.

[ytserush]

Stop me if you've heard this one.......



"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.

[mrjazzguitar]

I got into them in between the releases of Train of Thought and Octavarium. My first show was the Score Radio City show, and the first album I followed the release of was Systematic Chaos.

[Zook]

Stop me if you've heard this one.......



"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.

I tried, but you just kept fucking talking anyway!

[Onno]

Right after BC&SL came out. I was blown away by that album, and still love it as much. However, it's probably in the bottom half of my ranking of DT albums.

[SeRoX]

I guess between 2001-2002 era which I can say, SFAM era, I guess. I heard Pull Me Under on the radio and my whole life changed.

[Elite]

Right after BC&SL came out. I was blown away by that album, and still love it as much. However, it's probably in the bottom half of my ranking of DT albums.

Where it should be. Honestly, I can't see why anyone would become a DT fan by listening to BC&SL first. That album to me isn't what Dream Theater is about and is definitely my least favourite DT album, or in theseoafs words, BC&SL is the worst album DT has made, according to me.

[Pols Voice]

Part of my problem with Octavarium, SC, and BC&SL is that I felt the band was getting a bit stale and repetitive. That wouldn't be as much of a problem if I heard those albums first. If BC&SL was my first DT album, I'd probably like The Shattered Fortress a lot more, for instance.

[TheGreatPretender]

Part of my problem with Octavarium, SC, and BC&SL is that I felt the band was getting a bit stale and repetitive. That wouldn't be as much of a problem if I heard those albums first. If BC&SL was my first DT album, I'd probably like The Shattered Fortress a lot more, for instance.

If anything, I'd say that from 6 Degrees to Octavarium, those three have very similar audio dynamics to them. Whereas, once they got signed with Roadrunner, they adapted a more powerful, heavier sound, starting with SC.

[YtseCullen]

My friend bought me tickets for the Edmonton and Calgary shows of the PN09 concert. So right around BCSL came out was when I got into them and that and SC were the first two albums I bought. I'm kind of happy I came in then because I absolutely loved those two albums, and then the more I discovered the more I fell in love. Discovering Dream Theater really was an epic thing for me!

[Aythesryche]

My mother gave me a copy of Images & Words shortly after it came out when I was in my early teens and I fell in love with it. So, Images & Words era.

[cosmicwxdude]

Awake was my first.  I was into Yes and only Yes from the 80s to the 90s and a guy from work wondered if I liked DT and I said, "Who?"  I wasn't really a metal dude...heavy symphonic stuff but not metal so the warming up wasn't immediate and their black leather sort of intimidated me  , but I ended up loving the lp and was getting more into heavier stuff in the mid 90s and have been following them ever since...only to find out that leather was all show...They're all pussy cats   

[Onno]

Right after BC&SL came out. I was blown away by that album, and still love it as much. However, it's probably in the bottom half of my ranking of DT albums.

Where it should be. Honestly, I can't see why anyone would become a DT fan by listening to BC&SL first. That album to me isn't what Dream Theater is about and is definitely my least favourite DT album, or in theseoafs words, BC&SL is the worst album DT has made, according to me.

Nah, WDADU is still my least favourite.

[BlobVanDam]

Right after BC&SL came out. I was blown away by that album, and still love it as much. However, it's probably in the bottom half of my ranking of DT albums.

Where it should be. Honestly, I can't see why anyone would become a DT fan by listening to BC&SL first. That album to me isn't what Dream Theater is about and is definitely my least favourite DT album, or in theseoafs words, BC&SL is the worst album DT has made, according to me.

I can perfectly see why someone could become a fan with BCASL, and obviously Onno is proof of that.

[RazielSR]

In 2004, ToT was my first album. My fav album is Awake.

[Kwyjibo]

In the transition between Images & Words and Awake.

A friend of my sister called me one day and said that he had two tickets for a band named Dream Theater and if I wanted to go with him, because the original ticket holder was sick. I asked him what they sound like, because I hadn't heard of them and he replied that they sound like a mixture of Iron Maiden (the heavyness) and Yes (the proginess). Being a fan of both Maiden and Yes I was interested but unfornately couldn't make it because of other commitments. The concert in question was the European leg of the Images and Words tour in 1993.

Some months later I was at the local record store and they had both WDADU and I&W for sale. Remembering what my sister's friend said about them I thought, well, let's give it a try and bought I&W without ever hearing a single note. This was in fact the first time thatI ever bought a record where I haven't heard anything before. I chose I&W because I liked the album cover better, lucky me  . I don't know what would have happened if my first record of DT would have been WDADU.

So anyway, I went home, put the disc in the player, not knowing what to expect and listened closely. Wow, cool intro. Cool guitars and now great drumming and nice keyboards. Now if only the singer is good I'm gonna like this a lot. Then James began singing and I was completely hooked. The next week I bought WDADU and Live At the Marquee and while I liked them I was a bit disappointed especially with WDADU. But I played the shit out of I&W and from then on bought every new DT album on the first day.

Then came Awake and my first DT concert on the Waking up the world tour (2/11/1995 Düsseldorf, Philipshalle). I remember that I thought that Kevin Moore had cut his hair and that he looked different from the photos in the booklet, until I had a closer look and realized that this, in fact, wasn't even Kevin Moore but someone else and I was very surprised. But then this were the days before the internet and info on bands like Dream Theater, who weren't excactly mainstream, were hard to get.

[chrisbDTM]

My mother gave me a copy of Images & Words shortly after it came out when I was in my early teens and I fell in love with it. So, Images & Words era.

awesome mom

[SeRoX]

My mother gave me a copy of Images & Words shortly after it came out when I was in my early teens and I fell in love with it. So, Images & Words era.

Awesome mom is awesome.

[Progmetty]

Summer of '89 after reading a review about WDaDU in RIP! magazine (the review was bad, but likened it to Yngwie, Kansas, Metallica and a whole bunch of Rush, so I had to get it). Been a fan ever since picking up the album brand new.

You're probably the oldest fan on DTF! 

[CrimsonSunrise]

Right when Awake came out.  A friend of mine talked me into blindly buying the CD.  Suffice to say it was a major musical turning point in my life   At the time I was 31

I envy you sir. I'd give anything to see them live during the early 90's era- it was such an exciting period for the band. The same goes for the SFAM era.

Sadly enough, I was never able to see them live till 6DOIT    I was always out to sea working during the 90's it seemed when they came around.  I never got to see ACOS live, which is like a knife through the soul seeing it's my favorite piece by ANY band.

[CodyWanKenobi]

I became a fan in the "Portnoy chokehold era".

[TheGreatPretender]

I became a fan in the "Portnoy chokehold era".

I'm just imagining Portnoy as some kind of dictator.

[BlobVanDam]

I became a fan in the "Portnoy chokehold era".

That's not a thing.