DT Album Wins Rolling Stone Poll

[ResultsMayVary]

"If we had kept in all the Dream Theater albums, Images and Words would be number two, and Awake, Octavarium and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence would also be listed here."

Amazing.

+1

[gagedez]

Rush is a Band and a few other Rush blogs posted the link but no one at RS got their panties in a wad over that

About this - can someone tell me where RS is apparently annoyed about DT posting the link?  On the SFAM write-up, they explicity say it is a totally kosher move...

RS has always had some sort of grudge against DT for some reason. It happened in another poll several months ago as well. They just straight-up insulted them in both articles.

What was said? For the record I have no respect for Rolling Stone magazine. It all vanished after I saw it's list of the 100 greatest guitarists ever.

[Jamariquay]

So basically, RS made a poll for best prog album, then makes fun of DT for promoting the poll, and by extension, the majority of people who participated in said poll (the people who voted for DT in the first place)?

Someone really doesn't like DT.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

It's amazing to me that Rolling Stone doesn't seem to like fans. They like they guy who has 2000 albums in his collection and listens to Pink Floyd once every six months, but they hate the guy who only has 300 albums in his collection and lives, breathes, and dies Rush. It's so funny to see them take subtle digs at Dream Theater fans, as if to say, "You losers who actually care about your band and will do anything to support them."

[El JoNNo]

I this made me wonder how many Facebook followers DT have... So I looked them up, and other bands for contrast.

Pink Floyd - 19, 140, 348
The Rolling Stones - 10, 716, 589
Iron Maiden - 6, 632, 017
Dream Theater - 2, 667, 762
Rush - 1, 595, 867
King Crimson - 217, 193
Genisis - 16, 183

I'd say DT is doing pretty damn good for Facebook followers!

[Dark Castle]

So Rush, Genesis, and King Crimson get to have multiple spots, but Dream Theater doesn't?


I'm so glad I stopped reading RS a few years ago, they're a very arrogant publication, and the rare time they'd review a metal album, they were very snobby about them.

[DebraKadabra]

So basically, RS made a poll for best prog album, then makes fun of DT for promoting the poll, and by extension, the majority of people who participated in said poll (the people who voted for DT in the first place)?

Someone really doesn't like DT.

Apparently RS thinks it's still "hip" or cute to hate on bands that they don't force feed down everyone's throats (I'm looking at YOU, U2... R.E.M.... Bruce... ) but have a large and/or dedicated fanbase.  Go away, RS - your 15 minutes was up in the 70s...

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I'd rather read Rolling Stone than Pitchfork though. Pitchfork is like Rolling Stone on steroids.

[Jaffa]

Several

RS has always had some sort of grudge against DT for some reason. It happened in another poll several months ago as well. They just straight-up insulted them in both articles.

Okay, but I still don't see what was wrong with anythnig they said in this poll.  The D. Theater/Dream T. thing was very lighthearted.  They say that promoting the poll skewed the results, but they also make it clear that DT didn't do anything wrong and that their actions were 'totally kosher.'  They chose to lump all DT albums together as one because a top ten list with one band taking up half of it would be very boring. 

I'm not a big fan of the RS publication, but I don't see what they did here that's leaving a bad taste in so many people's mouths.


But, whatever.  Point is, way to go DT.  SFAM is an amazing album.   

[ZKX-2099]

Rush is a Band and a few other Rush blogs posted the link but no one at RS got their panties in a wad over that

About this - can someone tell me where RS is apparently annoyed about DT posting the link?  On the SFAM write-up, they explicity say it is a totally kosher move...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm

[Elite]

Wow. Just wow.

Metropolis 2 isn't even close to being DT's best album.

[Aythesryche]

Wow. Just wow.

Metropolis 2 isn't even close to being DT's best album.

I'm sure the entire world is right behind ya on that one, man.

[ResultsMayVary]

Its probably just by luck that the majority of DT fans who voted tend to like SFAM the best. I personally would have went with SDOIT, but its whatever. I'm glad to see SFAM on top since RS decided to get rid of all the other DT albums that placed in the top 10.

[KevShmev]

Wow. Just wow.

Metropolis 2 isn't even close to being DT's best album.

That's not the point.  I am always amused when fans miss the point of stuff like this. You think you'd be happy to see a DT album in there (and in a mainstream poll, I&W or Scenes is gonna be the ones up there, if any), and at number one no less, but no.  It boggles the mind.

To clarify what I am talking about, I can probably name 70-80 Dream Theater songs I like more than On the Backs of Angels, but when it got nominated for a grammy (which was cool for the recognition, not because the grammys mean anything), did I say, "Pfft, that song isn't even that good"?  No.  I focused on it being a cool thing that DT got nominated.  Same thing here.  Just be happy a DT album is in there. 

[The Letter M]

Wow. Just wow.

Metropolis 2 isn't even close to being DT's best album.

That's not the point.  I am always amused when fans miss the point of stuff like this. You think you'd be happy to see a DT album in there (and in a mainstream poll, I&W or Scenes is gonna be the ones up there, if any), and at number one no less, but no.  It boggles the mind.

To clarify what I am talking about, I can probably name 70-80 Dream Theater songs I like more than On the Backs of Angels, but when it got nominated for a grammy (which was cool for the recognition, not because the grammys mean anything), did I say, "Pfft, that song isn't even that good"?  No.  I focused on it being a cool thing that DT got nominated.  Same thing here.  Just be happy a DT album is in there.

Excellent point about recognition. That alone should be worth the praise, not the choice in question. And relating to Grammy Nominations, look at Rush - all of their nominations (to my knowledge) have been instrumentals, but none of their instrumentals nominated were anywhere near being the best song on their respective albums at the time. Sure, I love "Leave That Thing Alone" just as much as the next person, but I like "Animate" or "Nobody's Hero" or even "Cold Fire" more than the instrumental.

As a fan of music that isn't often praised in the mainstream, I'm just happy to hear DT get mentioned in it every now and then. Besides, they're up against 70's prog giants like Yes, Genesis and King Crimson.

I also think it's unfair to call DT out on this because they informed their fanbase of the poll. Fans of music vote in the poll, all DT did was let their fans know the poll existed. Besides, you can't blame them for being one of two mostly active bands on that list (the other being Rush) - KC and Genesis are out of the picture, and for many fans of the band, they had their best material in the 70's. And while Yes is still active, some fans would say they're merely a shadow of their former selves, especially without Jon Anderson and/or Rick Wakeman, and like KC and Genesis, many fans would consider their best material to be in the 70's.

Rush (and to a certain extent, Dream Theater) have evolved over time, and while the 3 albums of theirs in this poll are from their 70's/80's output, they're still cranking out the numbers in record sales AND ticket sales. I bet you if Rush had sent out this poll to their fans, they would have voted in droves and the whole Top 10 would have been mostly, if not all, Rush albums.

Anyways, I've gone pretty off track here, so...back to the topic at hand - YAY DREAM THEATER!!! Besides, polls like this are pointless - internet fanbases will always create a bias. This poll alone only takes the more "popular" prog bands from the height of 70's prog - there's no Marillion, or Porcupine Tree, with Dream Theater being the only representative of recent prog output. Besides the DT fans that voted in this poll, it's clear that the majority of the voters were those who grew up in the 70's with King Crimson, Genesis, Yes and Rush, choosing their albums as their favorites. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it just ends up looking like half of the Top 10 at ProgArchives - what I like to call the "So You Want To Start A Prog Collection?" list. I mean, every fan goes through that list - I did. I just thought it was so predictable...until I saw Scenes From A Memory.

-Marc.

[skydivingninja]

Rush is a Band and a few other Rush blogs posted the link but no one at RS got their panties in a wad over that

About this - can someone tell me where RS is apparently annoyed about DT posting the link?  On the SFAM write-up, they explicity say it is a totally kosher move...

The last poll they did (best metal bands or something) they said the only reason they were on there was because they tweeted about it.  The beginning of this poll seemed to imply the same. 

[?]

Haha, DT fans truly are active in the internet! I think RS did the right thing by listing only SFAM, it would've been unfair towards the other bands to include all the five or six DT albums in the list, especially since many of the other albums are even more classic and important in the history of prog than the DT records.

[Bill Carson]

Have no problem with SFAM being top spot but really think, fan votes aside, Images & Words should be in that top 10 somewhere on merit.
I would argue that it is old enough now to be seen as a standard bearer of its time, re-inventing the prog genre.
It got people to not only get into DT but to also go back in time and discover Rush, Yes etc.
I'm not saying its DT's best album but what I am saying is that its DT's most influential album. And by my reckoning demands a place in anyone's top ten prog albums of all time.

[El JoNNo]

Each band should have had only one album; the highest voted album. I understand it is a poll on the albums merit alone but only having one album per band prevents what they singled DT out for.

[iamtheeviltwin]

Each band should have had only one album; the highest voted album. I understand it is a poll on the albums merit alone but only having one album per band prevents what they singled DT out for.

This was my gripe about the "poll" and the write-up.  In the intro they imply that the reason they wrapped all the DT votes into one entry was to keep them from dominating the poll, and while I was reading through it I was like hey Rush...then look another Rush album...and there is another Rush album...I would have loved to see some more diversity in the list, but hey just glad to see DT at the top.

[Dublagent66]

It would be interesting to see the results based on album sales.  In that case, SFAM probably wouldn't even be in the top 10.  Having said that, it's cool to see SFAM in the #1 spot and I do like that album a lot, but let's get real.  Considering the other albums in that poll, SFAM seems totally out of place.  Especially when there are 3 Rush albums in the same poll of which, IMHO are all better than SFAM.  Seems very awkward.  Oh well, good on ya DT.

[Nekov]

It would be interesting to see the results based on album sales.

Well, that wouldn't be very fair considering SFAM has been out there for less than 15 years while ITCOTCK has been out for more than 40.

[Dublagent66]

Obviously, it was just a hypothetical.  The same criteria would have to be used for each album (sales within the first 5 years of release or whatever).