Do you ever associate DT albums with the time/place you first listened to them?

[predator13]

I guess this applies to all albums/music in general, but I find it particularly vivid with Dream Theater.  Do you have clear memories of the place you first listened to the albums, and any moments that went along with it?

For example:

Octavarium- I remember it was summer and it was my graduation trip.  I listened to it the whole ride there and a lot while I was there.  I always associate that album with that trip and it brings back memories of a great time.

Systematic Choas- I remember being in my business class the day it was released, trying to go on the internet and listen to 30 second clips (lol).  And once again I remember summer.  I also remember being in my friend's basement watching the DVD.

BC&SL- Obviously quite recent, but the whole summer thing again....listening to it for the first time in a lounge chair outside, great summer memories.

Kind of cool, it's nice to listen to music and have it take you back to another time and place, good or bad.

So, do any albums/song have this specific affect on you?  What kind of things do you remember and what kind of things pop into your head when you listen to them now?

[cfmoran13]

Images & Words - My memories are of seeing the video of "Pull Me Under" on Headbanger's Ball my freshman year in college while playing drinking games in a friend's apartment.  It was my first time hearing DT.  A few weeks later, on my winter break, I went to a hometown CD shop and picked up I&W.  Where it all began.

Awake - I remember waiting on line at our college's record shop for their Midnight Madness opening.  Anytime a big release came out, they'd open at 12:00am to sell the CD's.  I picked up 'Awake' and Testament's 'Low'.  Stayed up until about 3am listening to them before going to bed so I wouldn't be a zombie for my breakfast shift at the campus dining hall.  I got to see them live for the first time a few weeks later at Baltimore's Hammerjacks.

Metropolis Pt. 2 - Not a happy "memory".  It's what I was listening to when I fell asleep behind the wheel and drove my car into the highway divider in November '99.  Thankfully, nobody was hurt and it was only $2,000 in damage to my car.  Essentially, it was the last time I've had more than one drink anywhere before driving a car.

[Tsev Eyd Ecaps]

Only BC & SL.  That was the first album that came out once I was heavely into them.  Me and my buddy John put some time aside and listened to it from top to bottom in my living room.  I most vividly remember staring at the wall when TSF resolved into TGP riff.  Goosebumps city.

[Dream Team]

Images & Words - had it playing in a portable CD player outside while I painted my house, and I think it was during that time that it finally started to click - I had listened to it a few times but hadn't really "gotten" it yet. First time listening was on the way home from FYE

A Change of Seasons - working out in my basement

Octavarium - my wife and I actually listened to this on headphones together when it came out

Systematic Chaos - laying out in the sun with my shirt off during my lunch hour, listening to it on headphones

[yeshaberto]

yeah, first time I heard DT I was sitting on the floor in our apartment, resting my arm on the old couch, facing the boom-box my friend brought with him with a cassette playing of Pull Me Under...the two-and-half-feet between the bottom of my jaw and the floor was about how far it dropped when I heard the song

[LTE]

First time I heard A Change of Seasons was in late winter/early winter, so I think it fits perfectly with the mood of the song.
I remember the first time I really appreciated SFAM was a few years ago, during summer, I was up with friends in NH on a lake. I went out at midnight, wasnt tired at all, and sat on the boat with my headphones and listened to the whole thing. It clicked right there.

[Nic35]

BC&SL- Obviously quite recent, but the whole summer thing again....listening to it for the first time in a lounge chair outside, great summer memories.

This. Everytime I listen to this album I think of the beginning of the summer, especially when I listen to the covers.

[King Postwhore]

Whenever I hear 6DOIT, I think of battling Lymphoma.  I was in the middle of my Chemo treatments and the CD came out and it was my solace. It got me through the dark times.

[zmazar]

This doesn't just happen with DT for me, it happens with almost all music.  A lot of the albums I listen to all remind me of a certain point in my life, when I first listened to them.

[Jarlaxle]

This doesn't happen with Dream Theater as much, but I listened to some of Soilwork while playing call of duty world at war on castle, and whenever I listen to those songs I can remember playing that map. Also Alter Bridge reminds me of hockey trips on busses and stuff

[Phantasmatron]

I absolutely do this.

Scenes from a Memory always reminds me of my dorm room in college when I first became obsessed with it.

Breaking Benjamin's Phobia always reminds me of the BYU campus, because my friend emailed me the album and I put it on my mp3 player in a campus computer lab...and then walked home from the SWKT building in the dark listening to it.

But the strongest connection is definitely with Fear of a Blank Planet.  The first time I heard it, I'd just bought it at FYE on my way to a friend's house.  And when the staticky section in "Anesthetize" came on, I thought there was something wrong with my CD player and I almost missed the turn.  Lately, I've driven through that town a lot, and every time I pass the Pizza Hut next to the train tracks, that specific street corner always makes me think of FOABP.

[kirbywelch92]

Yes. I do this with most albums that change my life, Dark Side of the Moon, Ok Computer, etc.

[AcidLameLTE]

Sort of but I generally associate any album with when I listened to it the most.

[Quadrochosis]

Sort of but I generally associate any album with when I listened to it the most.

[Elsydeon]

I remember Six degrees and train of thought I heard on a car trip up to maine. My brother lent me those cds to listen to, thats when I became a fan.

Octavarium I heard in my car after buying it at FYE

[Dark Master Of Sin]

It's different for me than most of you. All of them bring up child memories.

LSFNY reminds me of times I've spent with my dad, as does I&W - ToT.

Systematic Chaos reminds me of a road trip, my dad played it all the way through, my first thought was, "Play it again." That is when DT as a whole hit me.

BCSL reminds me of, again, spending time with my dad. We went together to buy it, and listened to it on the couch through our huge stereo system.


So, DT = memories of dad.

[Darkes7]

Well, it would be hard to talk of a place as I pretty much only listen at home, but time - I think, yes. Octavarium is definitely spring, that was when I was getting into DT, and the first album I had... Then SFAM is summer, and strongly related to some memories of my own, and so is Train of Thought. Falling Into Infinity is, well, Christmas-related for me, as I got it as a gift, and was listening to it a lot afterwards. Also Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds & Silver Linings also count as summer, as both were released in June and I was obviously addicted to them after they were released (it's hard to believe it's already three and half a year since the release of SC... wow). Not much connection for any of the others, though.

[ZeppelinDT]

This most notable for me is SFAM.  The first time I heard SFAM was on the day it was released, playing over the loudspeakers at the release party / meet & greet / autograph session at a Sam Goody on Long Island.  Obviously its an especially unique memory for me as it was the first time I met 4 out of 5 members of the band.  (JP wasn't there - he was in Italy doing a guitar clinic or something).  I bought the album that day and put it into my discman (remember those?!?!) and listened to it during the drive home.  I remember my first thought was "wtf is this?!?"

I also have a pretty vivid memory of buying Six Degrees at a local FYE (or maybe it was The Wall?  Were those still around in 2002? - The same building has been like 3 or 4 different music stores over the years).  I went out to put it into my car stereo and had my first experience with the Glass Prison, and my first thought was "Whoah.... JLB sounds really diff... waiiiiiiiit a second... that's Mike!".

I don't really have vivid memories of any of the other albums... although I do clearly remember the first time I heard As I Am.  Eddie Trunk had played it on his show the night before, and I had missed it, but somebody had recorded the show, so I went into my school's computer lab during one of my breaks, downloaded it to the school computer, plugged my headphones in and listened.  That was the first time I was ever disappointed by DT...

[ZBomber]

The only DT album I don't really have a time/place associated with is probably Falling Into Infinity.

[austin]

Ugh yes, basically every album, but it's not exactly where I first listened, more where I listened to them most or thought about them most
I&W - my bus
Awake - Out back of my school
ACoS - my bus
FII - my school auditorium
SFAM - my bus 
SDOIT - my bus 
ToT - Out back of my school
8vm - My living room 
SC - my school's chorus room
BCSL - my school's art room

the bus... you see, once I got an album I would usually load it onto my mp3 player and the next morning I'd listen to my new music; over and over
Out back of my school is from hanging out there during band camp and at band practice
Ahh... I still remember my first time listening to my first whole DT song... Octavarium in the big red chair in my living room. Surprisingly vivid memory for like 4 and a half years ago

anyway
Good times 

[Rafael Guerra]

I can almost say the opposite, at least for my first DT album. When I got Octavarium (which started DT for me), it was a terrible time at my life and I believe the only moments worth remembering were the moments where I was completely alone and could listen to the whole album straight and with no interruptions (at any place, setting wasnt important). Systematic Chaos, on the other side, brings good memories, I got it in the Summer and I remember listening to it every single day several times.

[robwebster]

I remember hearing Scenes from a Memory at christmas when I got it as a present, and Octavarium on its release day - I had the CD player cranked up in the next room, and I kept dashing back and forth from room to room. I remember listening to Images and Words out of sequence - for some reason I wanted to listen to Learning to Live first. I don't know why.

I cranked up BCSL in my front room. Rocked out, pacing about, lyric-book in hand, with a fair bit of air guitar. Very cool. I actually remember dreaming about it. I was pretty well consumed with excitement. I remember thinking "the sooner I go to sleep, the sooner it'll be tomorrow and I can listen to BCSL." My mind hadn't worked like that since I was eight! It's kinda comforting to know that those cogs are still there, but also a little bit embarrassing to actually be able to single out the "kid at christmas" feeling.

[contest_sanity]

This past summer, when Black Clouds was released, I picked it up from Best Buy.  Now, I was on break from work and was trying to get back quickly, which necessitated a left turn onto a four lane road in one of the most clogged parts of town.  Just as I was pulling out in front of someone (probably too closely), the car crash noise from ANTR came over my speakers.  And it scared the shit out of me.  Luckily, I didn't have a wreck -- but sometimes I'll still get scared that I'm going to when I listen to that song while driving.

[austin]

This past summer, when Black Clouds was released, I picked it up from Best Buy.  Now, I was on break from work and was trying to get back quickly, which necessitated a left turn onto a four lane road in one of the most clogged parts of town.  Just as I was pulling out in front of someone (probably too closely), the car crash noise from ANTR came over my speakers.  And it scared the shit out of me.  Luckily, I didn't have a wreck -- but sometimes I'll still get scared that I'm going to when I listen to that song while driving.

that's awesome 

[Bombardana]

BC&SL:
It arrived in the post, so I got my headphones and my cd player and went to listen to it in my garden in a deck chair. It was a perfectly calm summer day, but then, about half way through the shattered fortress, it started to rain quite hard, but I just stayed outside listening to the entire album. It was a great way to first hear it.

Opeth's Damnation:
I first heard this when I was travelling a long way to go to a wedding. I just wound down the window and relaxed listening to it. Now, whenever I hear that album, it makes me think of travelling.

Those are the only two I can think of that are notable