Should a newer fan of DT listen linearly? Or in a special curated order?

[Shadowmangini]

I thought starting at Images and Words and going through was a good idea and it has been, but after Octavarium a friend of mine had the itch to jump forward to Distance Over Time! I hesitate!! Is continuing in a straight line the best advice, or is there a better order to listen in as the fans would generally advise? Back when I was getting into OPETH someone gave me a curated order, something like "Blackwater Park -> Ghost Reveries -> Still Life -> My Arms, Your Hearse -> Deliverance -> Damnation -> Watershed". Do you have an advised order for newer listeners? Or is it simply "just listen in the order they came out!!"?

[MirrorMask]

If you already went from Images and Words through Octavarium, you already experienced the progression of their "classic" run. At this point just go on and listen to Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silver Linings before entering the Mangini era.

[bosk1]

I think you are overthinking it.  Listen in whatever order you feel like, including random order. 

[Zydar]

Usually when I am getting into a new band I look to see which are the most critically acclaimed and/or the most highly rated among the fanbase and listen to those first (for example I&W, Scenes, and perhaps Six Degrees in the case of DT). 

[TheBarstoolWarrior]

I think you are overthinking it.  Listen in whatever order you feel like, including random order. 

I second this.

You are way overthinking it. Unless you are really interested in the timeline itself just throw on what you will. If you want to listen to Distance Over Time next go for it. If you don't like it, it does not mean you won't like BCSL or anything else.

There are a lot of varied opinions on which DT albums are the best after you get through I&W and Scenes. Since you already did that there isn't a need to sequence the remainders. As you've already experienced, one of the cool things is that each album has its own unique identity.

[pg1067]

I think you are overthinking it.  Listen in whatever order you feel like, including random order. 

I agree.

Also, it's worth pointing out that no one has ever listened for the first time in more than one order, so no one can intelligently speak to what the "best" order is for a first listen.

It's been a LONG time since I "discovered" a band with a significant back catalog.  With DT, I got into them on the I&W album cycle and, before Awake was released, I had acquired WDADU, and I went in release order from there.  To me, that's the default unless there's some sort of outlier album or series of albums in a band's back catalog.

[hefdaddy42]

If it's a band I'm REALLY interested in, I normally go chronologically.  But whatever.  I don't understand the skip you mentioned, but it also doesn't matter all that much, as long as you know what you're listening to (era, lineup, whatever).

[HOF]

So I rarely just pick an artist I don't know and stream all their stuff. If it's an older band I'm exploring, I'm usually just picking up whichever albums sound or look most interesting to me based on reviews or songs I know and I'll go find them cheaply on Discogs which forces me to give them some time and attention (streaming rarely forces me to do this).

Dire Straits is the most recent example I can think of. I got Love Over Gold first because Dave Manchester said it was his favorite album of all time or something along those lines (things like that will get me interested in checking things out, I had no knowledge of the album and little knowledge of Dire Straits before that). A little while later I picked up Brothers in Arms because it is seen as kind of a classic album and I think I was rounding out a Discogs order. But from there I just started picking up whichever albums I came across most cheaply, and now I have them all but I didn't get them in any sort of order at all.

Genesis, Rush, Marillion (my three favorite bands) were all similarly haphazard in terms of chronology. I'm not sure how many bands I've just started with their first album and worked my way forward (if any).

[Shadowmangini]

I know this is the DT forum not the DS forum but I have to second that, Love Over Gold was my first Dire Straits record and I'm glad I started there (though I admit I haven't heard every album they've ever done!)

I always loved Marillion, liked Genesis, and didn't "get" Rush but I'm starting to come around finally to understanding Rush. I think hearing a band like DT that was influenced by them is helping me see the context they offer better. This is part of why I'm so curious in the question of if there's a good order to try DT to other than the linear! 

[Zydar]

Regarding the chronological route: If I'd started my Rush journey with the debut I would have stopped then and there, and never bothered with the rest   I went straight to Moving Pictures and 2112. 

[geeeemo]

I started my DT journey 8 years ago and bounced all over. I landed on Scenes after about 6mos and listened only to that for the entire summer. Some of their music grabbed me right away, while other songs, took a while to grow. For example:
Octavarium 
This is the Life
Enless Sacrifice
6:00
The Astonishing 

There has been no better time for my musical enjoyment than the the adeventure into Dream Theater

[TAC]

I thought starting at Images and Words and going through was a good idea and it has been, but after Octavarium a friend of mine had the itch to jump forward to Distance Over Time! I hesitate!! Is continuing in a straight line the best advice, or is there a better order to listen in as the fans would generally advise? Back when I was getting into OPETH someone gave me a curated order, something like "Blackwater Park -> Ghost Reveries -> Still Life -> My Arms, Your Hearse -> Deliverance -> Damnation -> Watershed". Do you have an advised order for newer listeners? Or is it simply "just listen in the order they came out!!"?

How do you usually deep dive a new band?

[Herrick]

I usually start listening to a new band from The Beginning.

When I got into Dream Theater in 2001, I started with Images and Words but I didn't know it was their 2nd album. I got the rest of their albums in order except for When Day And Dream Unite which I didn't even know about until some years later.

[Wukong]

This is why I miss physical media - the scarcity around what you could find would be annoying, but it also could make exploring a band very exciting.

For me, I started with Awake, but I bought it in like 2002, because it was the album that they had at the store that I'd heard was "the best". Then I bought my next album, Train of Thought, which was the most recent. And I went on exploring like that. I think it took me at least two years before I'd managed to get ahold of the 7 or so albums DT had, notwithstanding rare live releases and stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to translate that excitement over to the modern day. These days, most people just listen to everything a band has ever put out in a short period of time and quickly become "experts" on the band. It's nice, I guess,  but I totally get why this question is being asked. How can exploring a band in the era of streaming feel as exciting as possible? I guess I would just say "take your time", find some way to let this music sink in and learn what you care to about the context around the albums before you dive in. Maybe read along to Lifting Shadows as you explore the discography, so that way you're not just binging, but kind of getting an education in the band itself. 

[bosk1]

Yeah, I hear you.  Even though I was a teen in the '80s, I somehow never got into Maiden until VERY late in the game around 2011 (as documented elsewhere on the forum).  The Final Frontier was the "new" album at the time, and I heard live stuff that made me really like what I was hearing.  There were a couple of albums I took it upon myself to get early on based on either liking a lot of what I heard or recommendations (I think the first three I got were TFF, Piece of Mind, and Somewhere in Time).  After that, I chose based on what the local shops had in stock, tempered with what I was hearing from folks.  But it was anything but a chronological experience.

[hefdaddy42]

Even though I was a teen in the '80s, I somehow never got into Maiden until VERY late in the game around 2011 (as documented elsewhere on the forum).  

I still haven't gotten into them.

[HOF]

This is why I miss physical media - the scarcity around what you could find would be annoying, but it also could make exploring a band very exciting.

For me, I started with Awake, but I bought it in like 2002, because it was the album that they had at the store that I'd heard was "the best". Then I bought my next album, Train of Thought, which was the most recent. And I went on exploring like that. I think it took me at least two years before I'd managed to get ahold of the 7 or so albums DT had, notwithstanding rare live releases and stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to translate that excitement over to the modern day. These days, most people just listen to everything a band has ever put out in a short period of time and quickly become "experts" on the band. It's nice, I guess,  but I totally get why this question is being asked. How can exploring a band in the era of streaming feel as exciting as possible? I guess I would just say "take your time", find some way to let this music sink in and learn what you care to about the context around the albums before you dive in. Maybe read along to Lifting Shadows as you explore the discography, so that way you're not just binging, but kind of getting an education in the band itself. 

Yeah, all of this is stuff I can relate to. It took me years to obtain all of the albums of some of my favorite bands (I'm still working on some), if for no other reason than physical products can be hard to find, but also just limited spending money as well.

Nowadays I have the disposable income to go out and buy CDs whenever (in addition to the ability to stream), but I still find there to be something rewarding about picking up a CD cheap on Discogs and then waiting for it to come in and spinning it for the first time. Used to be I would peruse used record shops for things, and finding something interesting was always its own reward. There were certain artists or types of music that if I saw one "in the wild" I'd always jump on it. 

Just the thrill of "obtaining" an album made listening to that album more special. Pulling up an entire discography on Spotify and going album by album just doesn't have the same reward.

[CraftyCaleb2483]

Nowadays I have the disposable income to go out and buy CDs whenever (in addition to the ability to stream), but I still find there to be something rewarding about picking up a CD cheap on Discogs and then waiting for it to come in and spinning it for the first time. Used to be I would peruse used record shops for things, and finding something interesting was always its own reward. There were certain artists or types of music that if I saw one "in the wild" I'd always jump on it. 

Just the thrill of "obtaining" an album made listening to that album more special. Pulling up an entire discography on Spotify and going album by album just doesn't have the same reward.

I can definitely agree with all that! It is very satisfying to buy a CD and listen to the actual physical thing, also owning it gives some pleasure. It is one of the reasons I like Neal Morse, most of his albums you can't stream on Spotify or whatever, you have to physically buy them

[WilliamMunny]

I think with a band like DT, where the quality is incredibly consistent from beginning to end, you can't go wrong.

Hell, you could simply go by which album covers you think are the coolest (my personal method back in the day) and you'll probably wind up with a pretty good impression of the band after a handful of listens.

Discovering a storied band is, well, it's a trip...and I still get goosebumps when I realize that I'm about to take a months long deep dive into a previously unfamiliar back catalog (just recently deep dove the last 4 Opeth albums )...it's a personal journey, but one that I hope you'll come back and share with us as you move on through the catalog.

[Xaves]

Discovering a storied band is, well, it's a trip.

Yup. I still remember 2 years ago when my dad put on Images and Words and then I was hooked right then and there. Crazy me decided to start listening to all the albums in order. On my first run I got to Octavarium then stopped. Decided to listen to the next three in order plus Distance Over Time, and then re listening to previous albums I heard in the past which made me appreciate them more. The first time when listening to some of the albums I got bored, but when I came back to them I was like, "Woah I slept on these."  Overall good times

[OpenYourEyes311]

When I got into DT, it was 2003 and Napster was still a thing. I had seen them before when they opened for ELP in '98, but I wanted to hear some studio tracks and downloaded The Spirit Carries On and Voices. They sounded great, so I went to the store to pick up an album. I went with Scenes. LOVED it. I bounced around from there. Got Awake, then Train of Thought, then A Change of Seasons. Then my buddy lent me Images and Six Degrees. I then saw them live. I followed up the show by getting When Dream and Day Unite, and lastly Falling Into Infinity. So yeah, I don't think I followed any particular order haha.


I will say, when I got into Genesis in 2008, I went chronologically but BACKWARDS. I started with the Red Box and listened to Calling All Stations first (probably why I like it more than most, I had nothing to compare it to.) Then went back through the Phil stuff and then eventually got to the Peter stuff. I think this is a good way of doing it sometimes, and may have recommended that with DT.

[TAC]

For anyone looking to get into Genesis, I'd recommend listening to none of their albums.

[hefdaddy42]

For anyone looking to get into Genesis, I'd recommend listening to none of their albums.

BTW, no one ever listen to TAC's advice.

[TAC]

 

[CraftyCaleb2483]

For anyone looking to get into Genesis, I'd recommend listening to none of their albums.

That's good logic actually! I'd recommend the same strategy for trying out Taylor Swift!

[hefdaddy42]

That's good logic actually! I'd recommend the same strategy for trying out Taylor Swift!

Nah.  Everyone should listen to everything at least once.  Find out if it moves you.

[brakkum]

Nah.  Everyone should listen to everything at least once.  Find out if it moves you.

Case in point: I've had a T Swift song stuck in my head like 3 days 

[Ben_Jamin]

If I am listening to station on Spotify and I enjoy a song, I will decide to listen to the album it's on.

I have realized though that even though I might not enjoy an album by a band, there is likely another album I might possibly enjoy a song from. I'll listen to about three albums at most during a listening session.

Dream Theater is an odd one for me because I got into them during High School. First song I heard was Pull Me Under, soon after I watched L@B with my uncle while chilling with cousin. He also had a copy of the LIT/5YIAL combo dvd, so we also watched that. So, rather than getting into them by listening to the CDs, it was watching the live DVDs and enjoying the songs I heard, especially the set for L@B.