Dream Theater songs that you CAN'T listen to...

[hefdaddy42]

I love "Another Day" "wait for Sleep"
"The Silent Man" "Hollow Years" The LiveTime version of "Take Away My Pain"  "Along for the Ride (Very touching lyrics in thaty one!) among others, but some of them have been absolute CRAP! And these are two of the CRAPPIEST!!

*ahem*

12. Insults or senseless bashing of the current or former band members of Dream Theater and/or their music will not be tolerated.  Honest, open critique is always allowed, provided it does not cross the line and become bashing, belittling, etc.

Please moderate your tone in critiquing DT and their music, or you will force one of us mods to moderate it for you.

[Dublagent66]

There's only a few that I consider "skippable" songs.  I won't mention anything from WDADU because I never listen to it anymore.

I'll name the albums and songs in chronological order:

Octavarium - Never Enough
Systematic Chaos - Prophets of War
BC&SL - The Best of Times
ADTOE - Far From Heaven, Beneath The Surface
DT12 - Along For The Ride, Illumination Theory

That's pretty much it.  Everything else I consider excellent, very good, decent, or at least half way decent in some way, shape or form.

[Daso]

Let me see... Panic Attack, Honor Thy Father, Never Enough and Prophets of War. There's others I'd rather not listen to like This Dying Soul, Sacrificed Sons, Build Me Up, Break Me Down, Constant Motion and Forsaken, but I can listen to those.

[Nearmyth]

None. Compared to the usual rabble of music you hear everyday, Dream Theater songs are always a nice breather, even some of their worst songs. There are songs I won't purposefully listen to usually, but none that I "can't" listen to.

[TheAtliator]

See it's funny because there's not actually any song called that

[rumborak]

I have found that many MP-penned lyrics find themselves in the bottom of listenability. TBoT, HTF, Never Enough,  CM, they're all so in-your-face and at the same time disagreeable (to me) on some level.

[Skeever]

I find most of their instrumentals mind numbing. Erotomania has a cool payoff solo and Hells Kitchen has a nice atmosphere, but everything after that is unlistenable for me. Overall their instruments just seem to lack much to latch into I terms of memorable sections or emotional melodies.

[BlobVanDam]

Songs I can't listen to for emotional reasons or because of association? None.

Songs I can't physically listen to because I find them painful to my musical sensibilities?
Status Seeker
Light Fuse and Get Away
The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun
Only a Matter of Time (borderline)
Scarred
Space Dye Vest (mostly just mind numbingly boring rather than outright bad)
Never Enough (bordeline)
Outcry (borderline)
Beneath the Surface (borderline)
The Bigger Picture (borderline)

For such a long career, that's a pretty good record. Most of the rest is at least good.

[aprilethereal]

I find most of their instrumentals mind numbing. Erotomania has a cool payoff solo and Hells Kitchen has a nice atmosphere, but everything after that is unlistenable for me. Overall their instruments just seem to lack much to latch into I terms of memorable sections or emotional melodies.

I'd say Hell's Kitchen (which you mentioned) and Overture 1928 definitely contain emotional melodies, same for when the main melody/riff is reprised towards the end of SOC.

[Polarbear]

There are very few DT-songs that i can't listen. If i had to say one, it would be Along For The Ride

[Zydar]

The Ministry Of Lost Souls
Repentance
The Shattered Fortress

[Jamesman42]

Even though I find most of SC unlistenable nowadays, TDEN is still such a fun song.

[commanderbob]

I'm GLAD I'm not the only who feels this way: "Far From Heaven" and "Beneath the Surface" are the only tow songs from "Dramatic" that I CAN"T STAND! And it ISN'T because I hate ballads, or whatever you want to call them. I love "Another Day" "wait for Sleep"
"The Silent Man" "Hollow Years" The LiveTime version of "Take Away My Pain"  "Along for the Ride (Very touching lyrics in thaty one!) among others, but some of them have been absolute CRAP! And these are two of the CRAPPIEST!!

Um, were talking about probably my favorite musical artist here.  Just because I hate 2 of their songs doesn't mean that they are crap.  Like I tell my kids about their music, I understand why you love it, it has a nice beat, the singer is a great performer, etc . . . . . . . . but it's not something I would want to listen to again.  I don't tell them it's crap.

[?]

There aren't any I CAN'T listen to, but there are a few I DON'T WANT to listen to.

[Evermind]

Beneath the Surface is in my top ten DT songs. If you don't like it, it's fine, but stop throwing "the song is CRAP" all around just because it doesn't appeal to you. This is just plain disrespectful in my opinion.

Songs I can listen to, but end up always skipping them:

Constant Motion
The Dark Eternal Night
BMUBMD
Lost Not Forgotten

I also always fall asleep at Outcry instrumental section if I'm listening to it on the train back from work.

[Tim van Duijn]

For me those songs are:

- Far From Heaven (really boring for me)
- I Walk Beside You (really dislike the way James sings these lyrics in comparison to how he sings it on Score)
- This Dying Soul
- You Not Me

[MarkFitDT]

Far From Heaven and Beneath The Surface.  Those are the first and only DT songs I had to force myself to make it through a single listen.  I alternated between cringing and laughing at them.  A very surreal experience.

I love both of these songs lol

[chaossystem]

commanderbob, today at about 5:00 am you wrote a response to what I said about a couple of songs from "Dramatic." Well, I make no bones about the fact that Dream Theater IS my favorite band, and has been for about the last TWENTY YEARS, give or take! That's way when they do a couple of songs like "Beneath the Surface" and "Far from Heaven" when I KNOW they can do so much better, it lets me down that much more. I'm the one who started this thread, for the purpose of allowing people to express their opinions about this sort of thing.

[KevShmev]

There aren't any I CAN'T listen to, but there are a few I DON'T WANT to listen to.

Same here.

The only ones I never listen to anymore are You Not Me, Never Enough and Constant Motion.

And then I have a handful of songs I sometimes give a try, but rarely make it through, which include Prophets of War, This Dying Soul, Sacrificed Sons, Forsaken and A Rite of Passage. 

But again, there isn't any song I CAN'T listen to. 

[GentlemanofDread]

Honor Thy Father gets hard for me emotionally at times because of a lame dad.

[chaossystem]

Wow! This thing has really taken on a life of it's own! So at this time I would like to do sort of an "Introduction: Part Two" by way of an album by album critique. But I'll try not to either be too negative or spend too much time talking about what I DO like, because this thing is long enough the way it is... Here we go...

Starting with:

1) When Dream and Day Unite-1989

This album takes a beating from a lot of people on here, and I don't really understand why. I like all of the songs on it, and I think Charlie Dominici's voice is fine, but I do prefer James LaBrie.  I actually remember in times past reading other websites  and forums people saying the exact OPPOSITE of what a lot of people are saying here! Things like: "This was their best album!" They should still sound like that now!!" "Charlie Dominci was the best singer they ever had!" "I HATE James LaBrie!  He SUCKS!" Funny stuff. I guess all of those people were WRONG! I only have minor, not major complaints about it: the production is a little thin and reedy in some spots and a little muddy in others. Also, on some of the instrumental passages, it sounds like they recorded the heavy guitar, drum and bass sounds, and then just kind of threw the keyboard sounds in as an afterthought, in an effort to sound more "progressive" or "melodic" But overall, I still say it's a fine first effort.

2) Images and Words-1992

I really have no complaints about this album at all. This is the first album I ever bought where I actually liked all of the songs. They don't "wow" me as much as they used to, because I've heard them so many times, but they still hold up incredibly well.

3) Live at the Marquee-1993

Decent first live album. But I could have done without Mr. Labrie's piercing vocal wails on some of the songs. Other than that, my only complaint is that it wasn't longer. I wish they had released the entire concert on album and video.

Now we get to which songs I would or might omit from some of these albums:

4) Awake-1994

I don't MIND this album as is, but there are a few tracks towards which I kind of have a "take it or Leave it" attitude.
I wouldn't really miss "Lifting Shadows off a Dream" and the live versions of both "The Mirror" and "Caught in a Web" sound much better than they do here.

5) A Change of Seasons-1995

Love it! (the "title track" I mean) Before this I never knew you could be so heavy and go so long and still sound so good. Most of the "Uncovered" stuff is pretty good too. I wish they would put the entire show out on a DVD!

6) Falling Into Infinity-1997

This is another one that takes a lot of beatings from a lot of people. I've already defended it on this forum at least once, so I'll just say that I would probably either omit "Anna Lee" or up the tempo a little bit and re-record it as an instrumental, then I would make "Take Away My Pain" sound more like the "LiveTime" version, and maybe make some changes in "you Not Me" as well. But I still love the rest of it!

7) Once in a LiveTime-1998

Disc one is just fine the way it is, except for some production problems. As for disc two: I was very disappointed when I found out that the sax on "Take Away My Pain" was an overdub. Couldn't they have handled it some other way? The version of "Lie" on here is just plain awful! The Vocals and instrumentation are not in sync with each other, and it just kind of splatters and meanders all over the place! Am I the only one who's not afraid to say it? Speaking of which: Mr. Petrucci's guitar solo would ALSO be gone! We ALL know he can do SO much better. It's like he tried to play a hundred different styles of music in less than ten minutes, and comes off sounding like a kid trying to impress his guitar teacher on his first day of lessons! If you do an edit on a tape or a disc with this mess removed, the ending of "Peruvian Skies" segues nicely in to the beginning of "Pull Me Under," and it hardly sounds like a glitch at all!
Other than that it's a fine representation of a fine concert.

8) Scenes From a Memory-1999

I didn't really get into this one as much at first until after I saw the first  live performance of the entire album at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix. But even before that, I already thought that it had a lot of good music on it, and some good songs. the story line is kind of thin, but individually the songs are excellent. I would omit "Through Her Eyes" because it's just too depressing for me to listen to. I'll tell you that story some other time.

9) Live Scenes From New York-2001

I would get rid of "Through Her Eyes" and the "John and Theresa" thing. I don't like the intro to this version of "One Last Time" it just doesn't sound good. And I wish they had had time to rehearse this version of "The Spirit Carries On" so they would both have actually been singing it, not just James singing and Theresa just screaming and shrieking into the microphone!
I also don't care for the way they rushed through the first half of the second set, running all of songs (and bits and pieces of songs) together. But it's not awful. There's still a lot of salvageable material here.

10) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance-2002

"Disappear" would do just that! "Bye-bye!" We gone! I would at least get rid of that awful ending to "Misunderstood" (maybe even the entire track!)  I don't know what the HELL that was supposed to BE, but it sounds like the strings are being torn off the guitar  (and/or the keys off the keyboard) by an angry PIT BULL or something! The other three songs are great!
I don't much care for "Goodnight Kiss" (Except for the instrumental coda) But other than that disc two is also fantastic.

11) Train of Thought-2003

"Vacant" would vacate, and "Endless Sacrifice" would be sacrificed, but otherwise this is an album full of "keepers!"

12) Live at Budokan-2004

I would get rid of "Endless Sacrifice" and Mr. Rudess's solo, as well as "Disappear" and maybe "Goodnight Kiss" and that would make the show MUCH better! Sometimes a little less is a lot more.

13) Octavarium-2005

"I Walk Beside You" would be walked out, and "Never Enough" would be told "not good enough" but the rest of the songs range from fair to excellent.

14) Score-2006

Again, "I Walk Beside You" and "Vacant"-both gone. As would that seemingly interminable fingerbang..er...board solo at the beginning of "Octavarium" Completely unnecessary! Also, I don't know WHAT Mr. LaBrie was thinking when he was singing "Afterlife" but he took it in directions that it did NOT need to go! But otherwise, he OWNED that show. His voice sounded great the entire time! As did the rest of the band, and the orchestra.

15) Systematic Chaos-2007

Another one I'm always defending! I only don't like "The Ministry of Lost Souls" Too damn depressing. Other than that, one of the best from the very best!

16) Chaos in Motion-2008

What was wrong with Mr. LaBrie's voice on this tour? My God! I thought it was the beginning of the end after hearing this! Thank God I was wrong!!! And WHY did he feel compelled to change the wording on "In the Presence of Enemies" when he changed "faith" to "fate" and "soldier" to "soldiers" he changed the whole meaning of the narrative and totally ruined it for me! I never want to hear that song live again, unless those mistakes are corrected.
"Blind Faith" didn't sound NEARLY as good here, as it did on "Six Degrees." But I thought that the expanded version of "Surrounded" was really cool!
This one has ANOTHER keyboard solo-the intro to "lines in the Sand"- that should have been left on the cutting-room floor, so to speak.
But this version of "Take the Time" was maybe the best ever. I like (Maybe even love) the Zen Riffer! Mr. Rudess should have played his entire solo on that thing! But overall I had such high hopes for this live CD/DVD, and at least half of it is a big disappointment.

17) Black Clouds and Silver Linings-2009

Of the NEW songs, I only don't like "Wither" and "The Best of Times" But the instrumental versions are pretty good, though it pisses me off that they left out the guitar solo at the end of the second versionversion of T.B.o.T.! As for the covers, I would make a few substitutions. I wish they would have done "Who's Behind the Door" by Zebra, instead of the song they picked. The Queen song I would've liked them to do is/was "A Kind of Magic" which is the closing theme from the original "Highlander" movie. I would also have liked "Road Expense" by the Dixie Dregs, and Something from King Crimson's first album, such as the title track. I also wish they would have toned down the keyboards on The Iron Maiden song "To Tame a Land", or maybe that they had just  done "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," instead. But I don't hate "Larks" or "Odyssey," just the Queen and Zebra songs. I absolutely LOVE the "Stargazer" cover! I had been wanting to hear them do that song for quite a while.

18) A Dramatic Turn of Events-2011

Well, as I've already previously stated the only songs I don't like are "Beneath the Surface" and "Far From Heaven"

19) Live at Luna Park-2013

Fantastic show! James LaBrie's voice is back as strong as ever, the band fired on every cylinder and kicked ass from beginning to end! Great songs, great solos, great energy, great everything! My only complaints are that there were too many overdubs. There are several scenes in the DVD where you can SEE that John Petrucci is SUPPOSED to be singing, but you can't HEAR him, (except on "the Silent Man-" he sounded good!) because he's drowned out by those damned overdubs! And (again) there's those two "Dramatic" songs that I don't like.

20) Dream Theater-2013

There are some songs that are not as strong as they could/should be, but overall, I at least LIKE every track on here.

Before I forget: I guess I'm pretty "ho-hum" about them changing drummers, although I do miss Mike Portnoy's Lyrical and vocal contributions to the band. But I DON'T miss the spitting...

[bl5150]

A few songs on FII
Most of SFAM
Most of SC and BCSL

This............surprised to see someone agree with me on SFAM (aside from Overture, Fatal Tragedy and Strange Deja Vu).  Add in pretty much all of ToT and a fair amount of SDOIT Disc One and that's me. 

The rest of the discography is mostly  from my point of view.    The period post Awake , pre ADTOE was a big letdown for me after the magic of I&W and Awake.   

[Rickharris1011]

I'm not really going to comment on the songs I skip because I don't like them (there's not many - AD, TAMP, BMS, SF, HTF, TDEN, Repentance are a couple of examples)  But there are some songs that anger me because they could be so good, but one truly cringe-worthy part kills an otherwise outstanding song and leads to me skipping them) 

The best example is TCoT.  So much of the song is so awesome but I feel absolutely embarrassed by the lyrics in the verses of the song and angered by the  growl thing underneath that I just don't listen to it much.  Actually in general, I have that embarrassed/anger feeling anytime took the vocal lead - the "Day after day, night after night" part in ANtR is another good example, and also frustrating, because his harmony with JL earlier in that song is so well done.

INPoE also pisses me off.  I LOVE the music.  Period.  But the "Dark Master" lyrics kill the cool creepy music. It's such a cheesy b-movie phrase that sounds like a 12-year old boy wrote it.  That it's  sung so seriously is worse - s this track gets skipped (it's also probably easier to skip because, in general, I can't get into  much of SC)

I also listen to a fair amount of pop and like muse so I actually like Never Enough and Walk Beside You, which are two pretty universally disliked songs.

[chaossystem]

Space Dye Vest (love the recent live version though )
Vacant
Disappear
Repentance

I have to correct what I said earlier: I also don't like "Disappear" but I do like "Repentance," and among the reasons for that is because it reminds me of the Kansas song "On the Other Side," both musically and lyrically.

[chaossystem]

what are bubd and arop?

Build Me Up, Brake me Down... ugghhh

A rite of passage... 

I don't know WHY so many people hate "Rite!" It's one of my favorites. And "Build" is a fine song too.

[chaossystem]

Songs that come to mind now:
- Innocence Faded
- Constant Motion
- The Best Of Times

Don't mean to offend anyone :>

No, sweetheart. I don't think you offended anyone...BUT..."Constant Motion" is ANOTHER one where  I don't understand why it gets so much hate! It ROCKS!

[chaossystem]

I have found that many MP-penned lyrics find themselves in the bottom of listenability. TBoT, HTF, Never Enough,  CM, they're all so in-your-face and at the same time disagreeable (to me) on some level.

I think something that at least some people might not realize about Mr. Portnoy's writing style is that it is very cliche-ridden, which might not be to everyone's taste. But sometimes I think it's a good way to get a point across. Also, if you break it down, especially in the case of a song like "Burning My Soul" it's actually pretty funny.

[Rodni Demental]

Emotional reasons? Hmm, maybe BTS. I have to be in the right mood to listen to it or it just sounds depressing but that's the only example where I can remember making a deliberate choice not to listen sometimes. Now it just gets played with the rest of ADTOE with that albums usual rotation.

As for the usual reason people skip songs; I occasionally finish Awake with Scarred and don't bother with SDV because I don't find it particularly interesting. But most of the time I'm listening to DT albums anyway so I'd have to deliberately stop it there and normally I'm prepared to finish the album if I've gotten that far.

Although skipping mostly doesn't really apply to me due to the way I tend to listen to DTs music. I just chuck an album on while I'm at work or something and let it spin so even the songs that I otherwise might not prefer; they still get a chance every time their respective album gets played and some of them have actually grown on me as a result.

[Rodni Demental]

10) Six Degrees of Inner Turbulance-2002

"Disappear" would do just that! "Bye-bye!" We gone! I would at least get rid of that awfukl ending to "Misunderstood" (maybe even the entire track!)  I don't know what the HELL that was supposed to BE, but it sounds like the strings are being torn off the guitar  (and/or the keys off the keyboard) by an angry PIT BULL or something!

Don't agree with your thoughts on Disappear but lol @ Misunderstood, fairly fair description of what that might sound like. 

I don't know WHY so many people hate "Rite!" It's one of my favorites. And "Build" is a fine song too.

No, sweetheart. I don't think you offended anyone...BUT I don't "Constant Motion" is ANOTHER one where  I don't understand why it gets so much hate! It ROCKS!

I have found that many MP-penned lyrics find themselves in the bottom of listenability. TBoT, HTF, Never Enough,  CM, they're all so in-your-face and at the same time disagreeable (to me) on some level.

I think something that at least some people might not realize about Mr. Portnoy's writing style is that it is very cliche-ridden, which might not be to everyone's taste. But sometimes I think it's a good way to get a point across. Also, if you break it down, especially in the case of a song like "Burning My Soul" it's actually pretty funny.

Just wanted to point this one out because all 3 of these songs I'm constantly defending. BMUBMD, CM, AROP all damn fine songs! We'll chuck BMS in there for good measure but the latter I can't defend as well because "I don't give a shit noooooooooooo".

There's also HTF but it's just full of awesome syncopated riffage, I don't get the hate and I'm not sure if this song even needs defending. Is it not liked because the subject matter is distastful for DT fans? It's pretty mild compared to the majority of metal these days really and then I'd also say it might be one of the heaviest songs DT has ever written. 

As for the 3 songs I wanted to talk about, first of all, there's a fairly amusing kind of irony that may or may not have been intended as part of the fan reception and response to songs like Build Me Up Break Me Down (and Never Enough?) in that the subject matter is a reflection of how the writer feels about the exact responses that these songs generate. That's either tragic or hilarious I'm not sure.  Regardless, it's got a super catchy hooks, catchy chord progressions, very 'modern' sounding use of synths, one of those epicly short but sweet guitar solos that doesn't over play or over stay. It's compact and perfect as a single. Personally I think songs like this can be necessary for adding a sort of dynamic value to an album, to balance them out with shorter and longer songs.

CM, well it's just a high energy metal song with badass riffage and a progressive spin. The lyrics exhibit the same kind of energy as the music imo so it's a great fit. I always figured it wasn't liked because it shouldn't be a DT song based on certain types of expectations. But they were playing around with a lot of styles and influences at this time so I don't have a problem with it.

AROP. One of the first songs when I was discovering DT that essentially sold me on the band so I admit I might have bias. In any case, I think the subject matter becomes a lot more boring when you try and summarise it with one word like most people do. There's a lot of clever word play in this song and comes off as somewhat mysterious and maybe slightly esoteric if you don't have a preconception about the subject matter. The opening Riff is quite unique and Bebot is the spaciest most trippinist sound I've ever heard JR use.  You guys say you want JR to come out of his shell more, then don't complain when he does! More experimentation like this Jordan please!

[chaossystem]

I've always wondered about the "so I hurt your feelings/well I'm really sorry/but I don't give shit, NOOOO!" thing. How does that work? "I'm sorry/but not really sorry?" Why not just say "I don't give a shit!" and have done with it?

[TheGreatPretender]

I've always wondered about the "so I hurt your feelings/well I'm really/but I don't give shit, NOOOO!" thing. How does that work I'm sorry/but not really sorry? Why not just say "I don't give a shit!" and have done with it?

Well, I think it's one of those like... "Oh I'm sorry... Sorry that I don't give a shit!"

[Nekov]

Raw Dog
Disappear
Never Enough

There are some songs I'm not a fan of but that I can listen to but those 3 I find just awful.

[chaossystem]

I've always wondered about the "so I hurt your feelings/well I'm really/but I don't give shit, NOOOO!" thing. How does that work I'm sorry/but not really sorry? Why not just say "I don't give a shit!" and have done with it?

Well, I think it's one of those like... "Oh I'm sorry... Sorry that I don't give a shit!"

That occurred to me too. He could have said "I'm sorry that I don't give a shit!" This seems like a going-all-the-way-around-your-elbow-to-find-your-ass way of saying it. Or to use a really bad pun that contains a YES reference, a "Roundabout" way of saying it.

[chaossystem]

The best example is TCoT.  So much of the song is so awesome but I feel absolutely embarrassed by the lyrics in the verses of the song and angered by the  growl thing underneath that I just don't listen to it much.  Actually in general, I have that embarrassed/anger feeling anytime took the vocal lead - the "Day after day, night after night" part in ANtR is another good example, and also frustrating, because his harmony with JL earlier in that song is so well done.

INPoE also pisses me off.  I LOVE the music.  Period.  But the "Dark Master" lyrics kill the cool creepy music. It's such a cheesy b-movie phrase that sounds like a 12-year old boy wrote it.  That it's  sung so seriously is worse - s this track gets skipped (it's also probably easier to skip because, in general, I can't get into  much of SC)

I also listen to a fair amount of pop and like muse so I actually like Never Enough and Walk Beside You, which are two pretty universally disliked songs.
[/quote]

Last point first: I really expected to get bashed (a lot) for not liking "Walk" I thought it would be one of their most popular songs. But I guess different people have different expectations from different bands. If the song had been given over to be recorded by a different band, such as U2, it probably would have been a big hit.
As for "Tuscany" If you're talking about the "let me introduce my brother' sequence. I can't entirely disagree with you. It is kind of silly and hokey, but I guess I just don't take it all that seriously.
When you were talking about "Nightmare" you were so upset you forgot to say the guy's name! I think you meant to say "anytime Mike Portnoy took over the lead vocal" Anyway, again it's something I don't take too seriously, and maybe that's what they were going for: like saying "it was a scary experience when it happened, but after all these years we can look back on it and laugh a little."
"A cheesy b-movie phrase that was written by a 12-year-old boy?" Woah! That's HARSH! lol I guess I just like B-movies and "childish writing" too much! I never saw it that way. I've always thought that "Enemies" was a masterpiece as is! But not that god-awful live version! Another example of how James MANGLED the words: when he sang "I judge and I am---" Instead of "just" WHAT was that word he invented "yust?" "Yost?" again: LOL!
But it is a little confusing, trying to figure out if the "Dark Master" is supposed to be the DEVIL or the EVIL side of HUMAN nature. I guess it was supposed to be BOTH, but it would be better if it was one or the other.

[Kotowboy]

Re: Dream Theater songs that you CAN'T listen to...

Every single song on the 13th album.