Official DT Top 50 Thread Mark II (bss4life15 up now - starting page 79)

[BlackInk]

To Live Forever this high up? I can't say that I agree but it feels fresh to see this much controversy in your top spots.

[hefdaddy42]

lol

[Elite]

Scarred! YEAH.

Also Voices. The rest would be lower in mine.

[Jaffa]

To Live Forever this high up? I can't say that I agree but it feels fresh to see this much controversy in your top spots.

Funnily enough, I didn't actually expect today's bunch to be so controversial.     I look forward to seeing people's reactions to a couple of my top ten picks. 

[SomeoneLikeHim]

I would easily put yesterdays bunch over this bunch. Just sayin'

[RuRoRul]

Home  Scarred is also amazing though I wouldn't have it that high. The rest not so much. I don't hold Voices in as high regard as many people seem to, BTS is great though it wouldn't come close to top 20, and To Live Forever I really don't get the love for, it's one of the weakest DT songs of all time to me (not including WDADU / Majesty stuff) so I think it's overrated around this forum. Interesting choices though with some great stuff still in there.

[theseoafs]

To Live Forever Above Voices and Home? All of these songs above Blind Faith and Octavarium?

This list makes my brain hurt.

[Jaffa]

This list makes my brain hurt.

Success.

[alirocker08]

Your list makes a lot more sense than mine, I've given up on trying to make my reasoning coherent and I think I'll be run out of DTF with pitchforks by the time I'm done :')

[Lolzeez]

Add me there.

[Jaffa]

Alright, well, here we go.  Time for my top ten.  As I've mentioned, I'll now be posting only two songs per day rather than five.  Hopefully it will help build a little suspense.  Or if not, then hopefully it will give alirocker time to finish her list.   

Anyway, here goes nothing. 


10. Misunderstood
Rounding out my top ten is Misunderstood, a song often cited for its experimental nature.  This song wouldn't be as high on my list except that lyrically, it's probably my very favorite Dream Theater song.  Don't get me wrong, the music is cool and all.  It has a unique atmosphere to it, a tone that is almost eerie at times.  It also contains an instrumental section which really pushes the boundaries of their comfort zone, and the ending of the song, while controversial, is at the very least interesting.  I also think they go in very interesting directions with the vocal melodies – something which is, in my opinion, a trademark of SDOIT as a whole.  And when the full band really kicks in at the beginning of the second chorus, that part is amazingly powerful.  So, I have no qualms with the music of Misunderstood. 

But the lyrics are what make this song special for me.  In particular, the chorus.  In even-more-particular, "If I seem superhuman I have been misunderstood" is one of my favorite lines of all time.  The song's lyrics have some very personal meaning for me, and I think they are incredibly well written. 

For me, this is a song where the music really caters to the tone of the lyrics, and the result is an excellent song.

09. Under a Glass Moon
I'm a sucker for these types of lyrics.  I love the cryptic, the enigmatic, the shamelessly poetic.  Sometimes people throw the phrase 'word salad' around like it's a bad thing, but for me, a word salad can be damn tasty.  This song's lyrics are one hell of a word salad, drenched in bleu cheese dressing and served alongside a big juicy steak.  YUM. 

The steak, of course, being the music itself.  I think the word that best summarizes it is 'otherworldly'.  The intro instantly makes me feel like I'm being sucked into a beautiful fantasy.  Petrucci and Moore maintain that quality throughout the song with a style that pretty much makes me feel like I'm standing in the moonlight, and the vocals have this mystical tone that keeps the fantasy feeling running strong.  I guess I'm just trying to say that I get really unique vibes from this song.  It has a mystical quality to it that always captures my attention and my imagination.  It has so many glorious moments that I wouldn't even know where to begin listing them all. 

Melodically beautiful, mentally stimulating, laden with challenging lyrical riddles... just a tremendous song.

[BlobVanDam]

While neither would crack my top 10, they're both excellent and worthy choices. They're both 9/10 songs for me, there just happen to be even more awesome songs I slightly prefer.

[iamtheeviltwin]

Love both songs.

Misunderstood has always stood out as a lyrical masterpiece to me.  It took a while before the ending stopped dragging the piece down in my mind.

The intro to UAGM was the most memorable thing from I&W the first time I listened to the album all those many years ago.

[hefdaddy42]

Interesting.

[alirocker08]

You're a star <3

[Mladen]

I'm surprised to see To live forever and Misunderstood so high. Both good songs, but I wouldn't place them so high. I love your description of UAGM lyrics, they're fitting. 

[Elite]

Two of my favourites, nice. 

[theseoafs]

Good choices but I'm still reeling after your previous update.

[BlackInk]

Misunderstood, nice one.

And even though I wouldn't put Under a Glass Moon in my top 10 I totally understand that choice.

[Jaffa]

I'm still reeling after your previous update.

As a warning, my #8 might give you an aneurysm or something. 

[Elite]

Good. I like controversy and my own list is quite full of it as well, so bring it on.

[Jaffa]

Well, here we go. 


08. Caught in a Web
I expect I'm getting some funny looks right about now.  You're maybe wondering if I'm joking, or possibly insane.  Well, screw you, because Caught in a Web is fantastic.  I doubt I will ever understand why anyone has a problem with this song.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but if you ask me, Caught in a Web is criminally underappreciated.

This is a fairly straightforward song.  There's nothing really outrageous going on, nothing extremely progressive about it.  By Dream Theater standards, you could even call it simple.  But for all its simplicity, I love this song to pieces.  The thing that makes this song a stand-out for me is JLB.  I absolutely love the aggressive edge his voice has in the verses.  I also love the way the chorus melts away some of that aggression while still maintaining a certain edge.  All in all, I just think James Labrie is on fire on this song. 

Also standing out as a star of this song is, of course, Kevin Moore.  The keyboards here may not be too complex, but they do an excellent job driving the melody of the whole song.  They carry a lot of the weight in this one, and help the song become what it is meant to be: very very fun, and very very catchy. 

It's easily my favorite 'simple' DT song, and one of those that I could listen to again and again on repeat without getting the least bit tired of it.  I've probably had it stuck in my head more times than any other Dream Theater song, and according to windows Media Player, it is the DT song I listen to most often.  Yet despite this overexposure to it, I've never gotten sick of it; I still love it as much as I did the first time I heard it, and I doubt that will ever change.

07. Bridges in the Sky
My gosh, what a monster.

First things first, I want to say that I'm not a fan of the shaman's voice.  Not going to dwell on this point, though, because there's nothing to say about it.  It just doesn't sound good to me.

Everything else in the entire song sounds good to me.  I know it's been said too often, but here it is one more time: that chorus is amazing.  I'm not even sure what all qualifies as part of the chorus.  I suppose the 'death survivor take me higher' section is more of a prechorus.  In that case, the prechorus is also amazing.  And I suppose the main chorus is the 'Sun, come shine my way...' section, which is, to me, one of the greatest choruses they've ever written.  And I don't know what to call the 'Crossing bridges in the sky...' section.  Is it part of the chorus?  Is it an after-chorus?  Whatever it is, it's phenomenal.  This is another song where JLB is absolutely blazing.

Aside from the epic chorus, the song is also one hell of a riff fest.  I don't think it's all that special in terms of solos, but as far as riffs go, this is some of Petrucci's best work.  In fact, I don't think I can think of a single other song with as many riffs which are as awesome as the ones in this song (although admittedly The Glass Prison comes to mind as a contender).

Rudess is also quite spectacular here.  At times his contributions are pretty subtle, but I think they impact the feel of the song in a big way.  Especially after the final chorus.  JLB's voice drops on the last 'Haaaaaand', and then Rudess plays this evil-sounding keyboard melody that's simply haunting.  I love it. 

I stand by my original statement: this song is a monster.  A really, really awesome one.

[BlobVanDam]

Again, both very cool songs, but neither would come close to my top 20. CIAW is one of my favourites from Awake (which obviously isn't saying much), but it feels like a mid-range DT song, and not one of their real standouts. BITS I can definitely understand, as it's a monster of a song, like you said. But again, it's not an upper tier DT song for me.

But cool choices anyway.

[RuRoRul]

And I thought I liked Caught In A Web more than most people...

I have no problem with it and really like it but it probably wouldn't make a top 30, never mind 10. Cool to see you appreciate it even more than me though. That and Strange Dejavu are my favourite of the short simple DT songs, I think.

I like Bridges In The Sky but honestly don't see what's so great about it to make some people think it's the best on the album. I personally would say that "Sun..." is the chorus and "Crossing Bridges..." is an "after-chorus" section that's repeated twice but as far as I can tell some people call that the chorus. Agree with most of what you said, just wouldn't have it nearly as high...

Interesting choices for a top 10 though.

[BlackInk]

Bridges in the Sky deserves it's spot, Cut in a Whale does not.

[Pols Voice]

Caught in a Web is a great choice! Nice to see it so high, even though it's lower on my list.

[theseoafs]

08. Caught in a Web

Is the entire point of this countdown to bother me?

BITS is great, though. It deserves the spot.

[54_diplomats]

Those two are pretty good choices. Don't know if Caught in a Web would make my top 10 but it's a great song and I could see others placing it that high. Bridges in the Sky could definitely hit my top 10 though lol, probably the only ADToE song that could.

[Mladen]

Both absolutely fantastic songs that I would rank almost just as high. 

[Jaffa]

Thanks again for all the feedback, peoples. 


06. In the Name of God
You may recall that for my write-up of The Glass Prison, I said that in my opinion, it was actually not their best and purest metal song.  That statement wasn't entirely true, I guess, because TGP probably is their purest metal song.  But for me, In the Name of God is their best metal-oriented song.  This song has all the blood-pumping, head-banging energy of a great metal song, and is structured in a way that it flows at a very progressive pace, with tension building up fluently along the way until the song simply explodes in climactic bursts. 

Now, you may have noticed by now that I'm not great at talking about instrumental work, because I'm not actually a musician.  I don't know all the terminology, which limits my ability to talk about an awesome guitar solo or a great unison.  Luckily for me, in this song, I don't really feel the need to defend the instrumental work.  Because I don't think anyone can really dispute the technical skill and musical proficiency in this song. 

In fact, I think the criticism I've heard most frequently of this song is in regards to its lyrics.  I guess some people think this one's lyrics are a little bit too sterile?  I've heard it said that it reads like an encyclopedia article on cults or something?  I guess I can kind of see that.  On this point, I have to admit that I might just be biased, because I really appreciate the subject matter.  So, while I think that the lyrics are well-written and well executed, that may have something to do with the fact that I like what they have to say.  But at any rate, the lyrics work for me. 

I have to admit, I've never felt like James Labrie was at his best in this song.  His voice almost sounds a little tinny to me, at times.  But for my money, that is basically this song's only weakness, and it's barely a weakness at all.  Especially since the vocal melodies are awesome; I love to sing along with this song.  In fact, on that note, this is a song that grabs me more than just about any other in DT's catalogue.  I mean, this song grabs me.  When it comes on, I have no choice in the matter: I have to sing along, I have to bang my head.  I often air-guitar or air-drum along with it, too, even though I know nothing about playing guitar or drums.  It just captures me that way.  Even right now, listening to it as I type this, I'm having trouble focusing on typing rather than rocking out. 

In fact, I've rambled long enough.  I'mma go rock out.  :

05. Learning to Live
Funny story: I didn't like this song the first time I heard it.  I can't remember why.  It's possible I was just really, really stupid at the time. 

You know, I'm actually going to be fairly brief on this one.  It's easy to sing the praises of Learning to Live, because they've all been sung before.  You know all about the awesome intro and the great lyrics and the lovely chorus and the chilling Wait For Sleep reprise and the epic F5 and 'Through nature's inflexible grace, I'm learning to LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE...'  You know it all.  All you need to do to understand why this is my number five is go listen to the song again. 

In fact, the fact that this isn't my number one is a testament to how much I truly love four other songs... 

[RuRoRul]

Now we're talking  Although In The Name Of God is too low.

People don't like the lyrics to In The Name Of God? Crazy - they're maybe not DT's absolute best lyrics, but they are among my favourites.

Learning To Live is another amazing song. Although to be honest I don't think the intro is very good - the keyboard sound in particular.

[BlobVanDam]

I'm not personally much of a fan of LTL (the vocal melodies really suffer for the sake of the lyrics), but these are definitely your least controversial picks yet.

I LOVE ITNOG, and would probably rank it just as high. Definitely a top 10 for me.

[Zydar]

Two great songs, I have Learning To Live as #1.

[BlackInk]

Very nice choices there. In the Name of God is amazing. Learning to Live isn't equall as amazing but still prett darn impressive.

[theseoafs]

LTL is a great choice (of course). I'm of the mind that In the Name of God is enormously overrated, but I still see the appeal.