DT songs for people who don't listen to prog or metal

[Zyzzyva17]

A lot of us know what songs we would show to a metalhead or proghead who wanted to get into Dream Theater. But what about people who are neither? What are the best DT songs that are not that heavy, but also not super-proggy? A lot of this would come down to personal preference. My top 5 would be:

Space Dye Vest
The Spirit Carries On
The Answer Lies Within
Far From Heaven
Surrender to Reason

Thoughts?

[JiM-Xtreme]

Lifting Shadows off a Dream

[tiagodon]

A lot of us know what songs we would show to a metalhead or proghead who wanted to get into Dream Theater. But what about people who are neither? What are the best DT songs that are not that heavy, but also not super-proggy? A lot of this would come down to personal preference. My top 5 would be:

Space Dye Vest
The Spirit Carries On
The Answer Lies Within
Far From Heaven
Surrender to Reason

Thoughts?

Space Dye Vest is not DT. I hate that song. Not representative.
The Spirit Carries On would be the best choice. I would pick Along for the Ride as well.

[bl5150]

I've always found Another Day impresses many people in this sort of regard

[King Postwhore]

I would not lump STR in that group.  I would add, I Walk Beside You.

[TAC]

Surrounded

[GentlemanofDread]

To Live Forever, maybe.

[Rodni Demental]

I guess The Looking Glass?

[Sacul]

A girl I know really liked Another Day, so yeah.

[TheGreatPretender]

Hollow Years has been a very liked song by non DT, non Prog, non Metal fan I played it for.

[BlobVanDam]

It really cuts it down if you exclude metal and prog elements!

In no particular order, I'd go with-

Hollow Years
Solitary Shell (sorta cheating but close enough)
The Spirit Carries On
Another Day
The Silent Man

[aprilethereal]

I agree that I Walk Beside You would be a good choice. Maybe These Walls as well. And Wither.

[BlobVanDam]

I agree that I Walk Beside You would be a good choice. Maybe These Walls as well. And Wither.

I would definitely have chosen These Walls (and Wither to a lesser extent) if not for the metal stipulation. Even though These Walls is an accessible DT song, it's heavier.

[dvargas]

I've done this experiment many, many times.  As a matter of fact people tend to be very impressed if you actually play them a proggy song and my choice over the last ten years has been octavarium.  They do not see it coming, its melodic, it builds up and by the time it hits the climax people are already engaged and are OK with the heavier elements.  It helps also if you walk them through such songs. 

I've even done this with SDoIT - but it ain't as easy as w Octavarium.

If u want to show them- then SHOW them. DT is actually not what people expect - if u leave out the proggy side, it may be a much harder pill to swallow once these are introduced. 

On the other hand, they can skip many of the heavy elements altogether while still enjoying 50% of their discography.

[TheAtliator]

Yea I agree- It's not really the right way to go about getting people into Dream Theater to show them what they expect. Show them something that's shocking, but not so out of bounds that they don't even know where to start. To them, it'll sound incredibly deep and innovative, even if it's on the lighter side of DT. Hell, most people think Beyonce is deep. Forsaken, Take the Time, or Caught in a Web will be Shakespeare! Yet it'll still have a catchy chorus or a rockin' guitar solo, and that's what matters for the unadapted ear.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Speak To Me.

[son_ov_hades]

The Looking Glass definitely, pretty much Dream Theater's most straight forward rock song.

[wantija]

Oddly enough I tried this before, and the songs that got the most positive reactions from my non-metal friends were Hells Kitchen, Surrounded, The Spirit Carries On and Another Day.

[425]

Everyone who's saying The Looking Glass needs to take another pass at that one, because it's pretty heavy by the standard of mainstream music. In fact, if I was looking for a list of non-metal DT songs, I would immediately reject literally everything on DT12. The way the guitar is produced on that album, every song is at least marginally heavy, even Along For the Ride.

Personally, if I was introducing someone to the band, I'd just do something to the effect of what dvargas said. Or, if you don't have the 24 minutes to do it, I think you could do just as well with something like Learning to Live or Take the Time or Under a Glass Moon.

[hefdaddy42]

I wouldn't try to introduce a DT song to someone who wasn't into prog or metal.

[robwebster]

Something like Under a Glass Moon would be fine. It's not like it's a choice between ballads or death metal, and Dream Theater aren't this super-inaccessible band writing a series of impenetrable labyrinths. The typical DT song, if there is such a thing, is heavy but not balls-to-the-wall, with plenty of acrobatics, yes, but also loads of hooks and melodies. The key difference, really, is it's a bit more cinematic - and if you can deal with movies as well as TV shows, you can deal with long songs as well as shorter ones.

I mean, don't put on The Dark Eternal Night, but if you want to show someone some Dream Theater I presume you're trying to show them something new rather than just reinforce what they're already listening to. Under a Glass Moon, Innocence Faded, Blind Faith, Overture 1928 / Strange Deja-Vu, In the Presence of Enemies pt. 1, Breaking All Illusions, The Bigger Picture, Behind the Veil, Surrender to Reason... take your pick!

[TheGreatPretender]

The Looking Glass definitely, pretty much Dream Theater's most straight forward rock song.

Not really. But it is pretty accessible.

[Nearmyth]

I think Surrender To Reason is one of DT's proggiest <7 minute songs...

But pretty much any of their ballads. It's hard to consider any songs by DT that aren't ballads anything but "metal" or "progressive."

The Looking Glass might fit that criteria, maybe some stuff from the FII demos.

[wolfking]

Why would you even show DT to someone who doesn't like prog of metal?

[TheGreatPretender]

Why would you even show DT to someone who doesn't like prog of metal?

Because DT is diverse enough that they have at least one song for everyone. And sometimes you want to share your favorite band with a friend or a special someone who isn't necessarily into your music.

[BlobVanDam]

Why would you even show DT to someone who doesn't like prog of metal?

Because DT is diverse enough that they have at least one song for everyone. And sometimes you want to share your favorite band with a friend or a special someone who isn't necessarily into your music.

And a lot of casual music listeners are just fine to like a song or two by a band and never dig deeper. Some people are much more about the songs than albums, or bands.
Also, some people may not actually dislike prog/metal, they just may have never really given it a try, so it might ease them into it if you start with something more familiar sounding. A lot of DT fans weren't exposed to prog before getting into them, and DT was their "gateway" into the genre.

[obscure]

I would go for BMUBMD... for a start...

[MoraWintersoul]

... if you want to show someone some Dream Theater I presume you're trying to show them something new rather than just reinforce what they're already listening to.

Yeah. I mean, if you just wanna play something unintrusive when you're hanging out with friends, you already know which songs to play. If you wanna play Dream Theater, play Dream Theater. And everyday people who listen to "normal" music (like, something in the rock spectrum or world music or have any liking towards classical etc) are usually sorta impressed by all the flashy techy stuff we tend to gloss over. Especially if you play them a video.

[425]

... if you want to show someone some Dream Theater I presume you're trying to show them something new rather than just reinforce what they're already listening to.

Yeah. I mean, if you just wanna play something unintrusive when you're hanging out with friends, you already know which songs to play. If you wanna play Dream Theater, play Dream Theater. And everyday people who listen to "normal" music (like, something in the rock spectrum or world music or have any liking towards classical etc) are usually sorta impressed by all the flashy techy stuff we tend to gloss over. Especially if you play them a video.

That's actually a good point and a funny image, too. I'm just imagining a long-time fan showing a newbie a video of, saying, Outcry from LALP or something, and I'm thinking of the contrast between "oh, fuck, there goes Jordan again..." and "DAMN this guy can play!"

[MoraWintersoul]

That's exactly what happens to me, every time! A friend's brother plays the accordion, and is passionate for music, but he can mostly only stand simple, strongly streamlined stuff, with a "point" so to say, he doesn't like any excessive "musician-ing" unless it comes with a "soul" - exactly what everyone bashes DT for. So one day we were hanging out and he was like "hey I started listening to Dream Theater" and I was expecting he'd say he hated them, or that he enjoyed their simpler stuff, but instead he said "I play that Octavarium song at least once per day." Then he forced me to explain the full concept for him, twice.

[robwebster]

The "DT have no soul thing" is a bit of a meme, really. It comes from a true place, there are certainly moments in their catalogue where they forsake musicality for technicality, but it's one of those catchphrase criticisms that doesn't really hold up to much when you look at the band themselves. Cos DT are a bunch of saps - they love writing emotional music, and a big finish, and an aching orchestra, and a rousing sing-along chorus that's rich with harmonies. They like to tell a story with their music, and their technicality is usually both impressive and justified by the context, and I don't think it's the kind of thing you'd be put off by if you didn't know you were meant to be put off by it. Obviously, don't put on The Dance of Eternity, but I think it's the kind of thing where people are often interested in seeing a band push the boat out.

[dvargas]

That's exactly what happens to me, every time! A friend's brother plays the accordion, and is passionate for music, but he can mostly only stand simple, strongly streamlined stuff, with a "point" so to say, he doesn't like any excessive "musician-ing" unless it comes with a "soul" - exactly what everyone bashes DT for. So one day we were hanging out and he was like "hey I started listening to Dream Theater" and I was expecting he'd say he hated them, or that he enjoyed their simpler stuff, but instead he said "I play that Octavarium song at least once per day." Then he forced me to explain the full concept for him, twice.

See? -- Octavarium.... a great song to introduce people to DT. I would also add , as somebody already mentioned, BAI.

[Rodni Demental]

My ex found DT annoying sometimes when it turned into a carnival show (something that I actually enjoy ). She was always impressed enough by the arrangements and metal influences with a techy edge, but she HATED Labrie and gave the keyboardist some flak for his wackiness. So for about 3 years she didn't dare tred the DT waters until Luna Park came out, for some reason we watched the whole thing together, she was completely engaged and it blew her mind. DT had never been able to capture her attention like that before. She even liked Labrie at this point  . Afterwards she actually expressed interest in hearing some more material so I got her a copy of DT12. I do believe I made this decision based on it being new material that was quite representative of many aspects of DTs songwriting so I thought it was a good stepping stone after Luna Park and I didn't want to get her an old album that she might associate with something else because it was familiar from overhearing it in the past. We're not together anymore but she shares DT stuff on facebook occasionally, I recently saw her 'like' Mike Mangini, Jordan Rudess and Mike Portnoy pages and she says DT is one of her favourite bands now so from that perspective, I'm glad DT eventually got through to her. 

[ariich]

It really cuts it down if you exclude metal and prog elements!

In no particular order, I'd go with-

Hollow Years
Solitary Shell (sorta cheating but close enough)
The Spirit Carries On
Another Day
The Silent Man

This looks like a sensible list to me. Some of the suggestions in this thread are a bit odd to me.

Still, it depends a lot on what sort of thing the person in question DOES like.

[Architeuthis]

I just lended out the Score and Live At Luna Park dvd's to my long time neighbors who had never heard of Dream Theater.. They watched them both in their entirety including the documentaries. They said they have never heard or seen any thing that awesome , and now they are hooked and asking me what albums they should buy.. They have been classic rock classic rock fans are their life..