The first introduction into Dream Theater...

[Wim Kruithof]

Growing up I was exposed to many genres, from hip hop, hardrock to metal. Bands like Pink Floyd, Cypress Hill but especially Metallica's Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning in particular were so defining for me.

It wasn't until 2017 that I was taken to Dream Theater for the first time by my friend/best man. Hollow Years in the Budokan version. However unfortunate that I never embraced Dream Theater in my previous 35 years... I suddenly had 13 studio albums to delve into. And they blew me away. The difference with many forum members is that I recently digested all their albums and this is disconnected from childhood memories. Between the self-titled and Images & Words wasn't 21 years to me, but a couple of weeks. I listened to them over and over, all of them. Digesting the style, riffs, LaBries voice, time-signatures, the lyrics... all of it.

I recognize a pattern of funneling throughout my life, which makes me enjoy more from less. As for music, I've sold every CD and vinyl over the years... just kept P.U.L.S.E.-vinylbox from Pink Floyd because that ones holds too many memories to sell. And Dream Theater, I only listen to Dream Theater since a long while. There is still so much to discover in their albums that I don't need anything else. A man can't do it all in the spare-time giving and I feel I have missed out Dream Theater way too many years. I've seen a concert of Portnoy for the first time last year with the Transatlantic-Tour, when I came into Dream Theater Mangini was all settled in.

I constantly read different opinions in various threads, and I suspect that the moment you 'stepped into Dream Theater' is very decisive. I am therefore curious when you first came into contact with the most beautiful prog-metal band ever.

[Lonk]

First song I heard from DT was Under a Glass Moon, around 2006. Didn't care for it. Then around the time SC came out in 2007, I heard Constant motion and I thought it was the coolest thing I heard my whole life (which could've been true for the time). I downloaded a couple of random songs (which by coincidence ended up all being from SC and Train of Thoughts, + Pull Me Under). I like all the songs I heard But I wasn't sold because of the vocals. But I still explored a few more of their individual songs. Then saw them live for the first time in 2009 (prog nation tour). By this point Black Clouds had already been released but I didn't know any of the songs. After that show was when I became invested in DT, and I think for a good 4 years DT were occupying more than 75% of my listening to music time, which were a couple hours a day.

[MirrorMask]

I've been a metalhead since 1995, but my cousin was a little bit further than me in developing and expanding his tastes.

He let me hear some stuff here and there, but it didn't click. If I say 1995, you realize it was the time of cassette tapes, so when he was copying albums for me, he filled up the little remaining space with random songs; at the end of a cassette he put Hollow Years and Anna Lee, two easy songs that were okay I guess, but didn't click, and at the end of another one, The Mirror.

After four months or so, I FINALLY though "hey, The Mirror isn't that bad actually".... that started the avalanche effect that brought me to appreciate DT. It was 1999 by then, so I got word that the "new DT album" was coming out that October.

Imagine a fresh new fan going into the store at a time where he didn't properly have internet access, and discovere only there and then the title of the album released in October 1999 

[JLa]

A friend gave me a discman (remember those, kids?) and told me to listen to a few tracks. The disc was Liquid Tension Experiment 2, When the Water Breaks and Biaxident blew my mind.

Another friend was really into DT. When I told him about this LTE group I had just discovered, he was like "isn't that the guys from DT..?" and lent me a CD.

It wasn't love at first listen (the CD was the live album "Once in a livetime", hardly their greatest moment!), but it was enough there to keep me interested, and once I bought Awake it was no way back. I was hooked.

[Stadler]

Pull Me Under, in '92.  To be fair, it might have been MTV, but I always say it was WPLR in New Haven, since they did play that song a LOT. 

[Metro]

I first heard DT in Guitar Hero in 2008. Pull Me Under was the final song of the game, the song that plays over the end credits. Usually reserved for the hardest song in the game. In the previous game, it was that Dragonforce song. You know the one.

Throughout the game, you unlock real life rockstars to play as in the game. Sting, Ted Nugent, Ozzy, Travis Barker, and some others I'm forgetting. For the last song, those 4 guys play the song on a chariot being pulled by a Pegasus.

So that was how i heard DT for the first time. Watching Sting, Ted Nugent, Ozzy, and Travis Barker play Pull Me Under on a chariot pulled by a Pegasus. I thought PMU was just ok.
Another music game released around the same time, Rock Band, had Panic Attack. That was much more up my alley at the time, and that's what started me down the path.

[Skeever]

I learned about them on Tool's forums.
As many know, after Lateralus there was no sign on when a new Tool album would drop, so obviously it was time to go hunting for new bands. Lots of people there liked Dream Theater, so I kept an eye out for their CDs until finally I saw a copy of Awake on a Tower Records.

[Lonk]

I first heard DT in Guitar Hero in 2008. Pull Me Under was the final song of the game, the song that plays over the end credits. Usually reserved for the hardest song in the game. In the previous game, it was that Dragonforce song. You know the one.

Throughout the game, you unlock real life rockstars to play as in the game. Sting, Ted Nugent, Ozzy, Travis Barker, and some others I'm forgetting. For the last song, those 4 guys play the song on a chariot being pulled by a Pegasus.

So that was how i heard DT for the first time. Watching Sting, Ted Nugent, Ozzy, and Travis Barker play Pull Me Under on a chariot pulled by a Pegasus. I thought PMU was just ok.
Another music game released around the same time, Rock Band, had Panic Attack. That was much more up my alley at the time, and that's what started me down the path.

Panic Attack was really fun to play on drums. I miss that game 

[pg1067]

I am therefore curious when you first came into contact with the most beautiful prog-metal band ever.

Sometime back in 1989 (must've been sometime after March 6), Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime (released in May 1988) was still riding high, and I was still watching MTV.  I was 21 and in a band that was trying to achieve a hybrid of Rush and Iron Maiden.  I was watching MTV, and they did a little snippet along the lines of, "If you like Queensryche, you might also like these bands."  They mentioned three bands:  Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Dream Theater.  Unfortunately, they didn't provide much information beyond the band names.  I headed for the local record store and struck out, so I went to this little store that sold imports and other hard-to-find albums.  I found No Exit by Fates Warning, bought it and fell in love.  I also found a Crimson Glory album (probably Transcendence), but I didn't buy it because they had a schtick where they all wore masks, and they had a lead singer who called himself "Midnight," and I thought that was stupid and not a good sign.  To this day, I've never gone back and listened to them.

But, alas, I could not find anything by Dream Theater.  I talked with the guy behind the counter, and he looked in his big book of albums he could special order, and nothing was in there.  I spent the next several months continuing to search but continuing to strike out.  In the meantime, I was having more success finding Fates Warning's three albums prior to No Exit and thinking maybe Dream Theater was just a myth.  Then, in August 1989, Fates Warning released Perfect Symmetry.  I bought it and read through the credits and there's a "Special thanks to our guest artists: Keyboards: Kevin Moore courtesy of our good friends in Dream Theater and Mechanic Records."  Alright...let's start the search again.  But, alas, no luck.

Fast forward another two years to October 1991 and the release of Fates Warning's Parallels album.  I look at the CD booklet and there's a credit for "background vocals on 'life in still water' by james labrie courtesy of dream theater," and a "special thanks" to "those who've helped us along the road," including "our friends in . . . dream theatre [sic]."  I really couldn't hear any distinct backing vocals in Life Still Water, so I was pretty sure at this point that Dream Theater was just some hoax concocted by Fates Warning and that "Kevin Moore" and "James Labrie" were alter egos of Jim Matheos and Ray Alder.

Finally...sometime in the summer of 1992, my friend told me about this song he heard on the radio.  By this time, grunge was talking over.  MTV wasn't playing a lot of music anymore, and I had pretty much abandoned radio.  But my friend was so exuberant about this "Pull Me Under" song that I turned the radio on whenever I could.  I finally heard it on the mighty KNAC 105.5 - "Pure Rock," and how about that?!  The elusive Dream Theater IS real!  I was blown away and headed to a record store as soon as possible.  I bought Images and Words (which included "Fatez Warning" in the "special thanks" section as a payback for the typo in the Parallels credits) and basically listened to nothing else for most of the second half of 1992.  They came to southern California, and we went and saw them at this tiny club (where my band had previously played, and which is now a "gentlemen's club").  DT played a show the next night in Hollywood and then headed to Japan for three shows and then came back and played San Diego, where we saw them again.  I saw them twice more over the next year.  At my first show, we chatted with the guys (all except KM) in the parking lot for about a half hour after the show, and they signed my I&W CD booklet.  Fortunately, I got the missing Kevin Moore signature at one of the shows in 1993.

And that's that.

[faizoff]

That's a great story Paul.

While mine isn't as elaborate. I came across Dream Theater on this compilation that my neighbor had.





Another Day was the only track that I loved from that collection and was trying to find the album in record store. I was in a weird teenage metal only mode at the time and mostly hated those slow rock ballads at the time.


I found the Images and Words albums months later sometime in 92, toward the end of the year is what I remember. My local store would allow you to sample CDs in store on headphones and I was blown away when I heard just the first few mins of Pull Me Under. I bought the tape and been a fan ever since. I wished I still had my DT tapes, I lost them in one of my several moves during the time. I had I&W, Live at The Marquee, Awake (without Scarred!) and ACOS all on tape.

[pg1067]

I'm intrigued by:  "Ministry of Culture Registration No. 275."  Ministry of Culture?

[faizoff]

I got that image from ebay. I don't really remember those details, not even sure if it's the same pressing. I just remember the Slow Rock Vol. 5 tape.

[Wim Kruithof]

It wasn't love at first listen (the CD was the live album "Once in a livetime", hardly their greatest moment!), but it was enough there to keep me interested, and once I bought Awake it was no way back. I was hooked.

Jumping on the Dream Theater train due to Once In a Livetime, that 's a unique-experience I presume.

I like all the songs I heard but I wasn't sold because of the vocals.

I'll follow you on this one, wasn't immediate sold because of LaBrie's vocals either. Had to get used to it, to really start appreciating the beauty of it.

Pull Me Under, in '92.  To be fair, it might have been MTV, but I always say it was WPLR in New Haven, since they did play that song a LOT.

How I wished that my first recordstore-copies were Dream Theater's. These moments, that sheer overwhelming feeling when you hold a fysical cd in hand back in those days were unforgettable.

I really couldn't hear any distinct backing vocals in Life Still Water, so I was pretty sure at this point that Dream Theater was just some hoax concocted by Fates Warning and that "Kevin Moore" and "James Labrie" were alter egos of Jim Matheos and Ray Alder.

This is a fantastic story... where were we without internet.

I bought Images and Words (which included "Fatez Warning" in the "special thanks" section as a payback for the typo in the Parallels credits) and basically listened to nothing else for most of the second half of 1992.

I red about this in Lifting Shadows, wasn't aware...

I wished I still had my DT tapes, I lost them in one of my several moves during the time. I had I&W, Live at The Marquee, Awake (without Scarred!) and ACOS all on tape.

That 's really a relic, wonderful. Too bad you lost so many of those collector-items.

[JLa]

It wasn't love at first listen (the CD was the live album "Once in a livetime", hardly their greatest moment!), but it was enough there to keep me interested, and once I bought Awake it was no way back. I was hooked.

Jumping on the Dream Theater train due to Once In a Livetime, that 's a unique-experience I presume.

What can I say, it has its moments. The Free Bird jam is all sorts of awesome, Ytsejam was fun, Peruvian Skies suddenly turned into Enter Sandman for a moment, Derek's keyboard solo, Learning to Live merging into The Crimson Sunset. It's a cool show, but I struggled with James' vocals.

I gave the cd back, but kept coming back to the LTE 2 album. I remember I downloaded Dream Theater MIDI files (imagine, Pull Me Under and Learning to Live as MIDI instrumentals!) and really enjoyed the compositions. When I eventually found Awake in a bargain bin, I figured I'd give it another go.

It took some time to sink in. I often played the album in the background while doing other stuff, reading, playing video games, and eventually it grew on me. The first song that really hit home was Erotomania. Then 6:00, Scarred and Space-Dye Vest. And suddenly I loved every second of it.

[Stadler]

That's a great story Paul.

While mine isn't as elaborate. I came across Dream Theater on this compilation that my neighbor had.





Another Day was the only track that I loved from that collection and was trying to find the album in record store. I was in a weird teenage metal only mode at the time and mostly hated those slow rock ballads at the time.


I found the Images and Words albums months later sometime in 92, toward the end of the year is what I remember. My local store would allow you to sample CDs in store on headphones and I was blown away when I heard just the first few mins of Pull Me Under. I bought the tape and been a fan ever since. I wished I still had my DT tapes, I lost them in one of my several moves during the time. I had I&W, Live at The Marquee, Awake (without Scarred!) and ACOS all on tape.

That version of Little Wing by Skid Row is pretty good, too.

[Awaken]

I am therefore curious when you first came into contact with the most beautiful prog-metal band ever.

Sometime back in 1989 (must've been sometime after March 6), Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime (released in May 1988) was still riding high, and I was still watching MTV.  I was 21 and in a band that was trying to achieve a hybrid of Rush and Iron Maiden.  I was watching MTV, and they did a little snippet along the lines of, "If you like Queensryche, you might also like these bands."  They mentioned three bands:  Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Dream Theater.  Unfortunately, they didn't provide much information beyond the band names.  I headed for the local record store and struck out, so I went to this little store that sold imports and other hard-to-find albums.  I found No Exit by Fates Warning, bought it and fell in love.  I also found a Crimson Glory album (probably Transcendence), but I didn't buy it because they had a schtick where they all wore masks, and they had a lead singer who called himself "Midnight," and I thought that was stupid and not a good sign.  To this day, I've never gone back and listened to them.

But, alas, I could not find anything by Dream Theater.  I talked with the guy behind the counter, and he looked in his big book of albums he could special order, and nothing was in there.  I spent the next several months continuing to search but continuing to strike out.  In the meantime, I was having more success finding Fates Warning's three albums prior to No Exit and thinking maybe Dream Theater was just a myth.  Then, in August 1989, Fates Warning released Perfect Symmetry.  I bought it and read through the credits and there's a "Special thanks to our guest artists: Keyboards: Kevin Moore courtesy of our good friends in Dream Theater and Mechanic Records."  Alright...let's start the search again.  But, alas, no luck.

Fast forward another two years to October 1991 and the release of Fates Warning's Parallels album.  I look at the CD booklet and there's a credit for "background vocals on 'life in still water' by james labrie courtesy of dream theater," and a "special thanks" to "those who've helped us along the road," including "our friends in . . . dream theatre [sic]."  I really couldn't hear any distinct backing vocals in Life Still Water, so I was pretty sure at this point that Dream Theater was just some hoax concocted by Fates Warning and that "Kevin Moore" and "James Labrie" were alter egos of Jim Matheos and Ray Alder.

Finally...sometime in the summer of 1992, my friend told me about this song he heard on the radio.  By this time, grunge was talking over.  MTV wasn't playing a lot of music anymore, and I had pretty much abandoned radio.  But my friend was so exuberant about this "Pull Me Under" song that I turned the radio on whenever I could.  I finally heard it on the mighty KNAC 105.5 - "Pure Rock," and how about that?!  The elusive Dream Theater IS real!  I was blown away and headed to a record store as soon as possible.  I bought Images and Words (which included "Fatez Warning" in the "special thanks" section as a payback for the typo in the Parallels credits) and basically listened to nothing else for most of the second half of 1992.  They came to southern California, and we went and saw them at this tiny club (where my band had previously played, and which is now a "gentlemen's club").  DT played a show the next night in Hollywood and then headed to Japan for three shows and then came back and played San Diego, where we saw them again.  I saw them twice more over the next year.  At my first show, we chatted with the guys (all except KM) in the parking lot for about a half hour after the show, and they signed my I&W CD booklet.  Fortunately, I got the missing Kevin Moore signature at one of the shows in 1993.

And that's that.

Transcendence is a great album, not sure if you'll get into it now but I still go back to it from time to time.  There are some real gems.

[faizoff]

That version of Little Wing by Skid Row is pretty good, too.

Yeah it's a very good version. Once I got over my emo 'only heavy stuff matters' phase, I began to enjoy it all.

[pg1067]

Transcendence is a great album, not sure if you'll get into it now but I still go back to it from time to time.  There are some real gems.

I'm seeing that they only released four albums.  If I'm so inclined, should I start with Transcendence, or should I start with the debut album

[Awaken]

Transcendence is a great album, not sure if you'll get into it now but I still go back to it from time to time.  There are some real gems.

I'm seeing that they only released four albums.  If I'm so inclined, should I start with Transcendence, or should I start with the debut album

IMO Transcendence is their best, I'd suggest starting there and diving deeper if you like it. 

[PMSummer]

Back in '95, a buddy handed me a mixtape with "Pull Me Under" on it, and I was instantly hooked. I'd never heard anything like it before - the intricate instrumentals and those mind-blowing solos had me in awe. Been a fan ever since and they've been the soundtrack to a good chunk of my life.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

discovered them a few weeks before octavarium came out. i was hanging out with a group of music friends at HS (high school, not hovering sojourn) and one of them mentioned both DT and TMV (the mars volta) to me in the same conversation. went home and spun both De-Loused and Scenes From a Memory that night

[HOF]

I am therefore curious when you first came into contact with the most beautiful prog-metal band ever.

Sometime back in 1989 (must've been sometime after March 6), Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime (released in May 1988) was still riding high, and I was still watching MTV.  I was 21 and in a band that was trying to achieve a hybrid of Rush and Iron Maiden.  I was watching MTV, and they did a little snippet along the lines of, "If you like Queensryche, you might also like these bands."  They mentioned three bands:  Crimson Glory, Fates Warning and Dream Theater.  Unfortunately, they didn't provide much information beyond the band names.  I headed for the local record store and struck out, so I went to this little store that sold imports and other hard-to-find albums.  I found No Exit by Fates Warning, bought it and fell in love.  I also found a Crimson Glory album (probably Transcendence), but I didn't buy it because they had a schtick where they all wore masks, and they had a lead singer who called himself "Midnight," and I thought that was stupid and not a good sign.  To this day, I've never gone back and listened to them.

LOL, I love this detail of the story.

[lucasembarbosa]

2007/2008, first listened to the Led Zeppelin medley from ACOS in a LZ recommended playlist on a Brazilian early type of streaming service. Instant love. Can't remember which one was the first actual DT song I listened to... Probably something from SFaM or SC.

[HOF]

The first time I recall hearing/hearing of Dream Theater was riding somewhere in the car with my older brothers and listening to whatever the local rock radio station was, and this must have been late in 1994. I think they may have had one of those contest where they play a couple new songs and people got to vote on their favorites (not sure about that detail). Anyway, the DJ said the name Dream Theater and played Caught in a Web and I just remember thinking 1) it was an awesome name for a band and 2) it was an awesome song. I don't recall ever hearing it on the radio ever again though (I can think of one time since when I did hear Dream Theater on the radio - in a different town several years later).

A few years later, one of my brothers ended up with Images & Words on cassette, and I used to hear him play it and thought it was the best thing ever. I can't remember if I eventually asked to borrow it or just swiped it from him, but I remember it was December 1997 between Christmas and New Years Day when I first listened to the whole thing front to back, and it must have stuck in my walk man for a good month or more. By that point my brother also had Awake, ACOS, and probably FII, so over the next couple years I would frequent borrow/steal them until I eventually got my own copies.

[Schurftkut]

i got a call around 2000 where they asked me to play in their band, do progressive rock. I'd never heard of the term, so the guy played some Acid Rain, Biaxident over the phone and i was hooked! Downloaded midifiles of the songs, considering mp3s took over a week to download back then. When i went to the record store i listened to overture 1928 on headphones and that was that! Took a little while to get into James' vocals, but i now love him as well. 6DOIT was my first new album that came out and tour i saw.

[hefdaddy42]

Pull Me Under, in '92.  To be fair, it might have been MTV, but I always say it was WPLR in New Haven, since they did play that song a LOT.

This was me, on WXRC in Hickory NC.  Blew my mind.  They went on to play half of the album's songs in regular rotation for months.

[WilliamMunny]

i got a call around 2000 where they asked me to play in their band, do progressive rock. I'd never heard of the term, so the guy played some Acid Rain, Biaxident over the phone and i was hooked! Downloaded midifiles of the songs, considering mp3s took over a week to download back then. When i went to the record store i listened to overture 1928 on headphones and that was that! Took a little while to get into James' vocals, but i now love him as well. 6DOIT was my first new album that came out and tour i saw.

What a great time to come on board.

I was a longtime fan by that point, but 6 Degrees renewed my interest in a way that totally eclipsed my prior fandom.

[King Postwhore]

Heard Pull Me Under on a local radio station in 1992.  I had to order the CD from a record shop.

[SwedishGoose]

Pull Me Under on Headbanger's Ball back when MTV was good.... at least sometimes

[Drinktheater]

It was around 1996.. My cousin introduce me to the song Take the time. The intro really blew away I was like holly shit this is even more hard hitting than Metallica.

We are mostly a family of guitarist and I am the youngest my cousins where all good guitarist who can cover DT songs properly they said that DT songs are more difficult than Metallica songs to play.

Boy oh boy what an understatement that was. Its like its a million times much difficult to play properly.

I remember since then I was hook to Images and words and love Metropolis and Wait for sleep.

Then when I was listing to the Awake tape it took me awhile to realize "The Mirror" and Lie are supposed to be 2 songs. And I was a bit confused because I was like whoah where are the other songs?

[Wim Kruithof]

What can I say, it has its moments... Peruvian Skies suddenly turned into Enter Sandman for a moment,

This was the first time Dream Theater actually sounds familiar to me, I was over the moon...

Really interesting to see al you guys bought your Dream Theater-train tickets so much earlier than me. I almost envy you'll. Looks like I'm the newby by miles...

[bosk1]

Heard Pull Me Under quite a few times on local radio, and I really liked the fact that the song was HEAVY, had great riffs and solos, was a bit longer and more complex than the norm (even the radio single), had epic vocals, and used keyboards in a way that was VERY different than anything I had heard in a metal band up to that point (since the '80s, I yearned for a band that could blend the hard rock / metal sound that I loved with a good, complex lead keyboard sound like some of the better new wave bands, and not use keyboards as just a way to "soften" the rock sound and make it more radio friendly).  Bought Images and Words and really liked it, but a lot of it didn't click.  I kept coming back to it through the years, would love it for a few months, and then shelve it and take awhile to come back to it again.  Didn't pick up Awake, ACOS, or FII, despite I&W always managing to find its way back into my playlist through the years.

In late 1999 or early 2000, I happened to see "Metropolis Pt. II" at the Tower Records in Woodland Hills on may way home from class at Pepperdine, and I knew I had to have it.  The period of this album's release and tour cycle, and then LSFNY really took my fandom to a new level as a "rediscovered" the band and got caught up on the albums I had missed in between.

[Drinktheater]

Heard Pull Me Under quite a few times on local radio, and I really liked the fact that the song was HEAVY, had great riffs and solos, was a bit longer and more complex than the norm (even the radio single), had epic vocals, and used keyboards in a way that was VERY different than anything I had heard in a metal band up to that point (since the '80s, I yearned for a band that could blend the hard rock / metal sound that I loved with a good, complex lead keyboard sound like some of the better new wave bands, and not use keyboards as just a way to "soften" the rock sound and make it more radio friendly).  Bought Images and Words and really liked it, but a lot of it didn't click.  I kept coming back to it through the years, would love it for a few months, and then shelve it and take awhile to come back to it again.  Didn't pick up Awake, ACOS, or FII, despite I&W always managing to find its way back into my playlist through the years.

In late 1999 or early 2000, I happened to see "Metropolis Pt. II" at the Tower Records in Woodland Hills on may way home from class at Pepperdine, and I knew I had to have it.  The period of this album's release and tour cycle, and then LSFNY really took my fandom to a new level as a "rediscovered" the band and got caught up on the albums I had missed in between.

So back in the day I only know a few DT albums and I never owned a CD my self I mostly borrow it from my cousins collection but when I moved out of the house for college I lost tracked of the band not until during a family reunion when some of my folks visited my cousin has this bag full of CDs and I saw one that says Metropolis Pt.2 Scenes from a Memory. During that time I thought its just a live Album or a Mix album sort of thing. But anyway I put the CD on and so it started with Regression with that ticking clock and naration and when Overture 1928 played on and heard the Intro I was like oh so now they are making some gimmick medley out of Metropolis. But it was not until I reached "Home" That my mind really got blown away and realized that this is not just some sort of gimick the entire fucking album is Metropolis.

Lol

[Wim Kruithof]

But anyway I put the CD on and so it started with Regression with that ticking clock and naration and when Overture 1928 played on and heard the Intro I was like oh so now they are making some gimmick medley out of Metropolis. But it was not until I reached "Home" That my mind really got blown away and realized that this is not just some sort of gimick the entire fucking album is Metropolis.

I wished I did grab a hold of Images and Words or Awake, by the time I went to Free Record Shop (although the shop shouldn't be named like that... it was freakin' expensive) instead of all I was in for these days. So many memories are linked to Orion, Fade to Black or One... would be so awesome to know Dream Theater back in those days.

[HOF]

The first time I recall hearing/hearing of Dream Theater was riding somewhere in the car with my older brothers and listening to whatever the local rock radio station was, and this must have been late in 1994. I think they may have had one of those contest where they play a couple new songs and people got to vote on their favorites (not sure about that detail). Anyway, the DJ said the name Dream Theater and played Caught in a Web and I just remember thinking 1) it was an awesome name for a band and 2) it was an awesome song. I don't recall ever hearing it on the radio ever again though (I can think of one time since when I did hear Dream Theater on the radio - in a different town several years later).

A few years later, one of my brothers ended up with Images & Words on cassette, and I used to hear him play it and thought it was the best thing ever. I can't remember if I eventually asked to borrow it or just swiped it from him, but I remember it was December 1997 between Christmas and New Years Day when I first listened to the whole thing front to back, and it must have stuck in my walk man for a good month or more. By that point my brother also had Awake, ACOS, and probably FII, so over the next couple years I would frequent borrow/steal them until I eventually got my own copies.

BTW, the first DT CD that I purchased for myself was Once In a Livetime. At the time it kind of served as a nice overview of the band's existing catalog until I started buying the individual albums (I was 16 so I wasn't shelling out lots of cash for CDs back then). I remember thinking the performance was kind of rough in places, but I sure did spin the crap out of that thing anyway, and I still think it has the best sound of the live albums I've heard (haven't heard anything since Score, which is up there with it). Really love Mike's drum sound, which never sounded great on the subsequent live releases to me.