When Did You Discover DT? What Caught Your Attention?

[Zukuduku]

This brought back nice memories. It was either late 1999 or early 2000. Back then, I was practicing both guitar and piano/keyboards quite intensively. I went to a party and played some piano and acoustic guitar there. One guy noticed that I was an amateur "musician", came to me saying "Hey, try to play this!" and then put Take The Time on the stereo system. Needless to say, I was completely blown away by the music.

The party host had only Take The Time and Pull Me Under as MP3s on his computer, so I quickly burnt those to a CD. During the next weeks, I listened to those two songs constantly, after which I walked into the nearest record shop and bought SFAM. I still remember the goose bumps I got when listening to Overture 1928 for the first time or the feeling after Finally Free ended.

Another mind-blowing early experience was with the Metropolis 2000 DVD. I had not seen any bootleg videos or heard any live recordings of DT at that point, so watching the DVD was simply unbelievable.

[ronrule]

Not sure exactly what year, (95-96?) but had a Guitar World subscription and enjoyed JP's "Wild Stringdom" article and was noticing DT and Awake in a lot of their top lists. I think I got the Awake sight unseen (sound unheard?) from BMG as one of my free discs. Liked it enough that I got the other previous discs from BMG.  Took me a long time to warm up to the vocals and keyboards (I wasn't into prog or tenor vocalists...but was a big King's X fan).

[Dublagent66]

I&W.  JP's outstanding guitar playing hooked me right away since I'm a guitar player myself.  James' operatic vocals also caught my attention.  Great stuff...

[gummyfish]

I saw a lot of their stuff on the digital dream door lists in late 07, including the high placement of the fatal tragedy solo. still my favorite DT song, to this day, by far.

[DP_Gumby]

I discovered DT match 2004, my uncle played ToT in his car while we where driving me home. And it was actually INTOG that caught my attention first, but it didn't focus my attention on that song at first, I think we played through ToT four times before I started to think "damn, that last song has got that special vibe".. 

[Orbert]

Images & Words, although Awake had just come out, so early 90's.

I'm a proghead from way back, never really been into heavy metal but have always been okay with stuff like Metallica or Black Sabbath.  As long as there's something intelligent or new going on musically, I can appreciate it.  But man, I&W seemed to blend things perfectly, and when my buddy told me it's called "prog metal" that made perfect sense to me.  The ambition and musicianship of prog combined with the power of metal.  The 80's were over, music was getting good again.

[carl320]

I got into DT in the FII days.  I was buying a lot of guitar magazines, and one month in Guitar World there was a transcription of Burning My Soul and an interview with JP.  This caught my attention so I went and bought the FII cd and transcription book.  I listened to it following along with the book and fell in love with the CD.

... but had a Guitar World subscription and enjoyed JP's "Wild Stringdom"...

That column was also a factor 

[drumguy32]

I first heard them in their Majesty days when the band I was in at the time tried out Chris Collins, who was fresh out of Majesty. He gave us a copy of the demo prior to his actual live tryout so we could hear what he was all about. The demo, although a bit rough around the edges blew me away - (in all honesty I was sort of jealous since the material they were doing was right up my alley as a drummer and musician) - I in particular really dug the (even then) virtuosic playing abilities of the guys .. I've followed them closely ever since and have turned other folks on to them when I could. As a Long Island musician who hasn't "hit big", their success has always inspired a bit of "regional pride" in me (if ya catch my drift)!
 

[ytserush]

I've posted this before, but here goes:




"The Spirit Of Rush Fanzine Number 8 which I bought in New York City about August 1989. On the back inside cover was a Dream Theater feature and When Dream and Day Unite album review that was reprinted from an issue of Kerrang (Never found out what issue it was).

There weren't too many recent bands recording music that I liked in the late 80s save for maybe Kings X, Queensryche, Faith No More and Living Colour.

The feature and review mentioned influences such as Rush, The Dixie Dregs, Kansas, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and at that time it didn't seem like anyone new was recording music with those influences so I was easily suckered in.

I couldn't find the CD anywhere and was forced to spend $17 at a mall chain store for it. I listened to it constantly for about 3 solid months until Presto came out. I never heard another word about them until I stumbled on their mispelled name on the marquee at the Ritz November 14, 1989 opening for the Hogarth-fronted Marillion's debut in New York City.

Yes, I was lucky.

Never heard a word about them again until I found a promo copy of Images and Words for $5 at a spring 1992 record show. It took me a while to get used to James' voice since I'd been listening to Charlie for about 3 years, but I got used to it. James has improved SO much since then.

Anyway, I'll leave you with this amusing quote (I'm not sure who is responsible for it but I think it was the editor) regarding When Dream And Day Unite from The Spirit Of Rush Number 9 (Fall 1989)

"The aforementioned opener (A Fortune In Lies) sums up the album completely--a dense hard rockers paradise with more time changes than the entire Rush and Yes back catalogs put together. A drummer who puts Neil Peart to shame, a vocalist fully capable of holding his own and a sound so full that it actually takes 20 plays to hear everything that's going on in the mix, and all this perfectly crafted and laid down on tape in just four weeks.
Quite frankly, this album rubbishes at least three Rush albums, and the entire Yes series, Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Brain Salad Surgery being the only album I can think of in the same league. I never thought it would happen, but this album makes something like Signals sound resolutely boring; I know I'm going to get hate mail for saying so, but I have to be honest...
If Geddy, Neil and Alex have heard this album, then they probably reacted in one of two ways--become blubbering nervous wrecks, in the knowledge they have some serious young competition, or (hopefully) they have pulled out their fingers in order to show that they can indeed rise to the occasion. This album will either bring out the best in our friends or finish them off..."

That quote was what sold me being a Rush fan."

[Metropolispt5000]

Discovered DT in 2007 when i was sitting on the school bus with a friend of mine and he busted out his zune as was like "hey put this in" and  then i heard the first DT song of my life, These Walls. I would listen casually until around march of 2010 when i started listening to their other stuff and got hooked on their music.

[WildeSilas]

Wow - looks like I've been into them longer than most people here. I just figured most people got into them with PMU. A friend's husband was visiting from New York right before PMU hit the radio and had the I&W cassette. I thought it sounded cool at first listen, but I realized I would need to really focus on it at length to digest it. It didn't leave my tape player until I'd memorized the whole thing on the way back and forth to band practice over the course of the next few months. I've bought every single release on the day of release since then.

[gabeh1018]

in 2001 i was a junior in high school and i used to bring my guitar sometimes to play w some ppl after hours and one time some kid heard me and was like you think your good try and play "under a glass moon" by dream theater. I went home and was instnatly hooked by what i heard and the solo got my attention. I was already into satch and vai, but this was different. I then decided to buy some cd's and the first one i bought was a change of seasons, which took me forever to get into to. The 2nd album i bought was awake and i realized this was going to be my favorite band.

[Orbert]

Wow - looks like I've been into them longer than most people here. I just figured most people got into them with PMU.

Yeah the thing is that PMU is like 20 years old now.  It's old, but not that old.  For guys in their 20's, it would have been before they necessarily had the opportunity to check it out.  I mean, how many parents let their five-year-old watch Headbanger's Ball back in the 90's?

[crazy diamond]

So long story man...

Since 1998-1999, I heard from many friend about Dream Theater but I never interested in their song because I listen song shortly their song is so complicated and not so interesting. On that time I'm interest only classic rock or heavy metal and focus on guitar part such as Steve Vai, Yngwie, Richies Blackmore, Kirk Hammett and etc.

Someday I join local concert and opening band plays Dream Theater song "Metropolis Part 1". To listen whole song is impact to me because listening music in CD very difference from playing lives concert. So, fantastic performance. From that day, I promise myself I will try to listen all Dream Theater's song. Then, my music taste will change like the world up side down.

Now, I'm a huge fan of this band for 12 years. Yeah!!!!

[Metropolis Pt. II]

In 2004, I rented the Dragonball Z movie "The History of Trunks". The movie's soundtrack was mostly tracks from SFAM. I loved the music but I didn't know what it was from. My uncle Bob told me about Dream Theater, and the first song I looked up online was The Dance of Eternity. I realized it was the same music that was featured in the Dragonball Z movie. I loved it. My musical world changed for the better. 

[Apricot]

Some guy I knew over a forum loved them, so I decided to download the Octavarium album (purely because I liked the artwork), back in 09.

I remember listening to it late at night in bed, and after Octavarium (the song) had finished I sat up straight for a few minutes, because I had never heard such a song in my life. I'm still puzzled why that song/album isn't given as much credit as their other albums...

[lonestar]

Pull Me Under radio play.  I remember the first time it played, I was in the middle of a lunch rush, and literally froze in place, with a solid WTF look on my face.

[Bill Carson]

Was half watching the video of 'Another Day' on a late night rock programme called Noisy Mothers.
The song was pleasant enough but what really caught my ear was JP's incredible picking speed in the solo.
At the time i'd only heard Chris Impellitteri reach that kind of speed.
I may be one of the few that got into DT at that time the way they intended, as Another Day was the song they thought would be the one that would get people listening......the reality was that in fact 'Pull Me Under' was their big break off that album.

[Nighthawkwill7]

My brother let me borrow 6DOIT back in the summer of 2002. What caught my attention was the song length and the variety of sound in a single song. I was hooked then and here I am today 

[Vajra]

Around 2004'ish I heard "Home" on a DBZ special movie. Fell in love, but I just assumed it was just a part of the original score.

2005 my friend ironically introduced me to DT, with the song "Home" I nearly shat my pants at the fact that it was the same song. It became a personal favorite. I then downloaded a bunch of other songs, but the only ones I recall that caught my attention were "The Mirror" "ACOS" and a few songs off Elements of Persuasion (at the time listed as Octavarium songs lol) Beside these few songs which I loved, I wasn’t impressed with DT, and thought they were pretty boring.

Fast-forward to about 6 or so months later, and I watched “The Glass Prison” from Gigantour on youtube. I was blown away. Afterwards I was determined to give the band another chance, because if they had more songs like this that I hadn’t heard, then I knew I’d love them. I downloaded a bunch of their songs, and I fell in love with the band. The rest is history.

So yeah, 2005 for me was when I got into DT 

[lodeus]

Was on a message board around 2003/2004 and someone recommended Train of Though. Wasn't a big fan until BC&SL though, they were just more of a band I enjoyed.

[Vajra]

I'm amazed at how many people here got into the band during SC / BC&SL. I assumed the majority of the members on this forum were from much earlier.

[Orbert]

The forums have gone through a few hosts and name changes over the years, so we lose some people that way, and people naturally come and go over time.  I've been around since SFAM came out, and remember the discussions about the story and all that, and there were guys who'd been around for years even then.  I'm not the super-huge DT fan that I was back then, but I still like them a lot, and the forums have a number of familiar names and faces, but there are old-timers who have moved on.  Also, hanging out on message boards is still something done more by younger folks anyway.

And then there's the "noob-myopia".  When you first come into a place, obviously everyone else has been there longer than you.  Somehow, you just assume they've all been there a long time, when in reality there's a wide range, including guys who only joined a week or a few days before you.

I remember listening to it late at night in bed, and after Octavarium (the song) had finished I sat up straight for a few minutes, because I had never heard such a song in my life. I'm still puzzled why that song/album isn't given as much credit as their other albums...

It is very highly regarded by a lot of DT fans.  But DT have a lot of albums out now, each with their own sound and feel, so fans naturally split based on what appeals to each of them.  That's part of what makes DT so amazing.  Despite changing their sound of the years, actually progressing, or intentionally pulling back, it all still sounds like DT.  But it also means that there are no albums which are "universally revered".

[chrisbDTM]

back in 2005 my friends dad was driving me and a few friends home from the movie theater in his M3 with a nice sound system, and my friend put on 'The Glass Prison'. The song pretty much punched me in the face, that 7 string sounded like the heaviest thing ive ever heard. And i also remember my friends laughing at my reaction to the part at 2:12 where it is no longer in 4/4 time. Portnoy added that extra bass drum and my mind=blown. That was the first time i heard something in an odd time signature. I then bought SFAM and been extrememly obssessed with the band ever since

[KevShmev]

I remember listening to it late at night in bed, and after Octavarium (the song) had finished I sat up straight for a few minutes, because I had never heard such a song in my life. I'm still puzzled why that song/album isn't given as much credit as their other albums...

It is very highly regarded by a lot of DT fans.  But DT have a lot of albums out now, each with their own sound and feel, so fans naturally split based on what appeals to each of them.  That's part of what makes DT so amazing.  Despite changing their sound of the years, actually progressing, or intentionally pulling back, it all still sounds like DT.  But it also means that there are no albums which are "universally revered".

Eh, I'd say that I&W and SFAM are both pretty universally revered by the fanbase (and that doesn't mean you have to chirp in, if you are one of the few who doesn't rate one or both of those albums very highly ).  

As for Octavarium, I'd say the fact the song is usually among the most-loved songs of the band's, while the album as a whole isn't, speaks volumes about what the average fan thinks of the rest of the album (sans the title track).  In a sense, it is to them like Tarkus is to ELP: an album with a terrific title track/epic, but pretty average the rest of the way.

[chknptpie]

Fatal Tragedy sucked me in

[wilgod3p]

it was with Train of thought, I used to like heavy stuff, but that was more complex that what I was used too, and I loved it

[King Postwhore]

Heard Pull Me Under on the radio and got the CD the next day.

[Fiery Winds]

Good 'ol Bosk1 lent me Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and Awake just prior to the release of ToT.  I was a Metallica junky back then and was immediately drawn to most of Awake and fell in love with TGP.  I loved the musicality alongside the technicality of all the musicians.

[JimmyJava]

It was early 2000, I was spending alot of time with my uncle in the summer of 2000 and all he was playing in his car was Scenes From A Memory, on repeat. At first, I didn't like it but it soon grew on me and started to really like what I heard. He promised that he would take me to see the band next time they were in town and that time came in January 2002 when they stopped by for their Six Degrees tour. The concert was a bit long for a 12 year old (remember, it was a "An Evening With..." tour) but I remembered that I really like it and was an avid DT fan after that.

[WebRaider]

I know I've posted this long drawn out story of mine before, however; it appears that the post was so long ago that its disappeared. First let me set the scene....It goes back to 1992 and I was not yet in high school. I am from a small town and there generally weren't many things to do for a kid my age at the time. Some kind soul decided to try to open a "teen club" so that the youth would have some place to go and hopefully stay out of trouble...

My friends and I were all into the same types of music mainly metal, rock and classic rock and it was the early days of Nirvana and grunge etc. so we were obviously enjoying that as well. When I heard of this "teen club" I was certain they would only play pop music or R&B but my friends who had a band were invited to come play to help open the place up. This was an exciting experience to see my friends play a gig in a club at at young age and everyone was pumped.

Now to get to the DT discovery portion of the story... as I said my friends were playing the opening of the club so the club got a nice PA system and everything for the band. My friends and everyone meet up that night and we're all mingling and chatting excited in anticipation of our friends playing on stage in the club. Meanwhile someone starts playing some other music through the PA preparing it for the show. The first song to come through in blaring brilliancy is "Pull Me Under"....

It starts off and me and my friends kind of look at each other like what is this? The drums kick in and I'm like that can't be real.. then the first riffs come through at around 1:17 of the song and our young minds are blown for good! I know some people are tired of the song and some of the younger fans might not understand what it was like to find this song. What I compare it to at that time is what people who heard Zeppelin or Sabbath in the late 60's or early 70's must have felt.... The sound was just other worldly for that time especially. On top of that take PMU and go crank your stereo system full on and imagine what it was like hearing that come across a cranked PA system in 1992...

So I pretty much forget my friends exciting moment of opening up the club and playing one of their first real gigs..lol..and I spend the rest of the evening trying to find out who the band was that played the song on the PA. It was about a month before PMU started getting play on Headbangers Ball and I was sold right out of the gate.

[Dillster22]

Early 2008, I found a thread on Last FM where you could post your longest songs, and that is where I found SDoIT.

[m0hawk]

A couple of years ago, I was completely obsessed with Muse. So much so that my friends couldn't stand by bloated adoration for them. In early 2009, on the Muse forum, there was a "Celebrities who like Muse" topic. One of the posts mentioned how this one Dream Theater band covered the opening riff and even based an entire song around Stockholm Syndrome (which is my favourite Muse song, and contains the best chorus you will ever hear). I watched Never Enough on youtube, and really liked the chord progression of the second verse and James' vocals.

The next song I heard was Octavarium. The second time I heard that song, it clicked and everything fell into place. It was love 

[fadetoblackdude7]

One of my best friends showed me The Glass Prison when it came out (we were in 7th grade) and he was goin crazy over them, but I hated them for some reason. He tried endlessly to get me into them but it didn't click. Then one day in March of 2005 I decided to give them 1 last try and borrowed 6DOIT from him and I fell in love/became obsessed. Rest is history.

[PS Head]

I was on another prog band forum,and the name Dream Theater kept coming up.The comments being made were very very high comparing them to Rush with many other prog/metal influences.....i had to give them a listen and gave Amazon a visit.
My first purchace was Octavarium,which like many of you guys,blew me away.This was followed quickly by A Change of Seasons,and 6DoIT.........and i was completely hooked.
I have everything now by DT and can honestly say that NO band excites me musically like these guys do.........and i cant see that changing with the highly antisipated ADTOE on its way to us soon...and long may DT continue.