Has Anyone Every Done Speculative Fiction on the Band?

[MonagFam]

I was just curious if anyone has ever thought about what DT would be like if (generally personnel changes)....

Kevin Moore stayed with the band for at least another album
Sherinian went beyond FII
Portnoy left earlier
Portnoy would remain in the band through current
Someone else made the band and not Mangini
<Whatever strikes you as interesting>

Just sort of fun what-if scenarios on what may/may not have changed about the direction of the band/music. 

[Perpetual Change]

Hey!

For what it's worth, 90 percent of the posts on this side (including a large chunk of mine) definitely qualify as "speculative fiction" 

Welcome to DTF 

[puppyonacid]

I guess many of those "what ifs?" have been talked about. I guess it might be fun keeping them to one thread.

I wonder sometimes if their longevity is due to the fact that they have had member changes that stopped things getting stale?

Who knows really? I do wonder sometimes what the band would sound like now and how big they'd be if they still the I&W line up. Having said that though, if KM hadn't left after Awake, I'd say it's pretty certain he would have left during the whole FII debacle (by that I mean the label interference and not the album which I think stands up well as part of DTs back catalogue).

[Evermind]

I'm quite sure this doesn't qualify but there was someone who dreamed of JLB biting his jeans.

[lonestar]

Hey!

For what it's worth, 90 percent of the posts on this side (including a large chunk of mine) definitely qualify as "speculative fiction" 

Welcome to DTF 

[commanderbob]

I looked it up and it looks like someone has:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4472532/1/Dream-Theater-and-the-Holy-OLP

 

[TheGreatPretender]

Kevin Moore stayed with the band for at least another album - The band would no longer exist. In addition to all that crap that they had to endure during the FII sessions, with the label pushing them to do things they don't want, if KM bit the bullet and stayed on, it would add even more friction between him and MP, with KM probably wanting to do more atmospheric keyboards, and MP wanting to do the usual Prog-Rock thing, so as a result, there'd be a lot of infighting and MP really would have disbanded DT.


Sherinian went beyond FII - Part of the reason he got fired was because he was focusing too much on the Rock'n'Roll showmanship, so if he stayed on, apart from still making awesome music, maye DT would have embraced that Rock'n'Roll Showmanship, and as a result, became a mainstream band with a funny image.


Portnoy left earlier - Earlier... Let's say after Octavarium. It's entirely possible that MM would still ended up being the new drummer, since after then, he didn't do any more JLB albums. Although with one of the most prominent and outspoken members gone, I wonder if RR would have passed on signing them, in fears that the new line up wouldn't last.


Portnoy would remain in the band through current - The progression of the music would have been a little more consistent, and we'd probably hear the "next step" in MP's vocal contributions. It would be a very balls and chunk album with JLB's part diminishing somewhat and MP steering the band into his own direction, all the while, not even being all that into it.


Someone else made the band and not Mangini - Marco makes the band. Being from Germany, he flies in to record the new album but aside from that, has little input on the music. ADTOE stays pretty much the same. OR: Peter Wildoer makes the band, DT becomes faster and more technical and aggressive than ever.


If Charlie Dominici remained in the band, they would have continued to toil in obscurity and Pull Me Under would never have become a hit. I probably would never have even listened to them.

[Sycsa]

The only fictional scenario I'm really interested in is Virgil getting the gig and DT giving him full reign and creative control, including him in the writing process, somewhat adjusting the music to his style. On paper, that sounds like some of the most insanely exciting music possible.

[gmillerdrake]

If JP had practiced a bit harder he could have reached 4 Billion notes per milli-second instead of the 3.45 Billion notes per milli-second he's currently at and he could have reversed time and stopped Bob Dole's horrible Presidency.....oh....wait....

[son_ov_hades]

I've always wondered what Images And Words would sound like with Charlie Dominici...

[TheGreatPretender]

I've always wondered what Images And Words would sound like with Charlie Dominici...

After hearing him perform Metropolis, I really wouldn't want to find out.

[Sycsa]

I've always wondered what Images And Words would sound like with Charlie Dominici...

After hearing him perform Metropolis, I really wouldn't want to find out.

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

[TheGreatPretender]

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

While I disagree with that, considering that Charlie only did the easy parts, it's a bit of an unfair statement. But I was actually talking about the Charlie only performance on the documentary that's on the WDADRU DVD.

[Sycsa]

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

While I disagree with that, considering that Charlie only did the easy parts, it's a bit of an unfair statement. But I was actually talking about the Charlie only performance on the documentary that's on the WDADRU DVD.

For me, putting the two of them together just emphasized James' weak performance on that particular night. I also think that Jordan lost the keyboard battle to Derek (although none of them came close to JP's finger picked Smoke on the Water solo ), so that wasn't a good spot to showcase the 'current lineup'. Regardless, James is still one of the best things about DT, but that's just the way I felt about it when I first heard the album.

[MonagFam]

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

While I disagree with that, considering that Charlie only did the easy parts, it's a bit of an unfair statement. But I was actually talking about the Charlie only performance on the documentary that's on the WDADRU DVD.

For me, putting the two of them together just emphasized James' weak performance on that particular night. I also think that Jordan lost the keyboard battle to Derek (although none of them came close to JP's finger picked Smoke on the Water solo ), so that wasn't a good spot to showcase the 'current lineup'. Regardless, James is still one of the best things about DT, but that's just the way I felt about it when I first heard the album.

Does it have the feel as a competition?  I'm sure it's hard not to when you are dealing with people that replaced you at some point.

[Sycsa]

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

While I disagree with that, considering that Charlie only did the easy parts, it's a bit of an unfair statement. But I was actually talking about the Charlie only performance on the documentary that's on the WDADRU DVD.

For me, putting the two of them together just emphasized James' weak performance on that particular night. I also think that Jordan lost the keyboard battle to Derek (although none of them came close to JP's finger picked Smoke on the Water solo ), so that wasn't a good spot to showcase the 'current lineup'. Regardless, James is still one of the best things about DT, but that's just the way I felt about it when I first heard the album.

Does it have the feel as a competition?  I'm sure it's hard not to when you are dealing with people that replaced you at some point.

I think they were just having fun, but I put it like that for simplicity's sake.

[MonagFam]

I think they were just having fun, but I put it like that for simplicity's sake.

I would probably look at it like that though.  I know it's hard for me to watch anything with former band members or songs played outside of the band.  Heard instumentals from ACOS with Portnoy, Macalpine, Sheehan, and Sherinian last night -- very hard not to compare/contrast (though in that case I'm really looking at Macalpine vs Petrucci, and Sheehan vs Myung).

[TheGreatPretender]

For me, putting the two of them together just emphasized James' weak performance on that particular night.

Yeah, but that's really not fair. Imagine if James sang Charlie's parts and Charlie had to sing James' parts. Who'd win then?

[ZKX-2099]

I always wonder what would have happened if the record excecutives were right and Falling Into Infinity was a big hit...

[TheGreatPretender]

I always wonder what would have happened if the record excecutives were right and Falling Into Infinity was a big hit...

Well, considering that it's still Dream Theater, and still very awesome, I have a feeling that modern mainstream rock music would have been way better than it ended up becoming.

[ZKX-2099]

True. But would we have gotten Scenes and Jordan?

[TheGreatPretender]

True. But would we have gotten Scenes and Jordan?

Err... Probably not... Considering that they were working on Metropolis Pt. 2 in 1996, we probably would've ended up getting the 20 minute version, which is still awesome, but I can't see them doing a Hail Mary of a concept album if FII became successful.

[son_ov_hades]

I've always wondered what Images And Words would sound like with Charlie Dominici...

After hearing him perform Metropolis, I really wouldn't want to find out.

Granted, it was recorded in probably JLB's worst period, but Charlie absolutely destroys him in WDADRU.

Yep, that. I like both singers a lot, and we've heard James sing all of Charlie's songs which is cool. I just wish I could hear Charlie sing Pull Me Under or Under A Glass Moon.