Your Controversial Opinions on DT

[Tick]

The Bigger Picture is one of the best musical pieces DT has ever written! That song alone is worth more than the entire WDADU album, imo.

[MoraWintersoul]

And if you could take the best half of SC and the best half of I&W, you would easily have the most consistent, spectacular album of all time.

No.

[Setlist Scotty]

The Bigger Picture is one of the best musical pieces DT has ever written! That song alone is worth more than the entire WDADU album, imo.

What Mora said in the following reply:

No.

TBP is a good song, but worth more than WDaDU? Try again chief.

[bosk1]

And if you could take the best half of SC and the best half of I&W, you would easily have the most consistent, spectacular album of all time.

No.

Yes.  I would take an album with Pull Me Under, Metropolis, Wait For Sleep, Learning To Live, ITPOE, Forsaken, Constant Motion, and TDEN over any album I have ever heard by anybody.

[SeRoX]

The Killing Hand is one of the best musical pieces DT has ever written! That song alone is worth more than the entire SC and BC&SL albums, imo.

I'll take the risk and FTFM.

[bosk1]

In response, I'll take the risk and FTFM. 

TKH is a good song, but worth more than SC and BC&SL? Try again chief.

[SeRoX]

 

[Zook]

And if you could take the best half of SC and the best half of I&W, you would easily have the most consistent, spectacular album of all time.

No.

Yes.  I would take an album with Pull Me Under, Metropolis, Wait For Sleep, Learning To Live, ITPOE, Forsaken, Constant Motion, and TDEN over any album I have ever heard by anybody.

What is this I don't even

[King Postwhore]

And if you could take the best half of SC and the best half of I&W, you would easily have the most consistent, spectacular album of all time.

No.

Yes.  I would take an album with Pull Me Under, Metropolis, Wait For Sleep, Learning To Live, ITPOE, Forsaken, Constant Motion, and TDEN over any album I have ever heard by anybody.

So your saying that your chocolate in that peanut butter gave you an idea?

[FlyingBIZKIT]

And if you could take the best half of SC and the best half of I&W, you would easily have the most consistent, spectacular album of all time.

No.

Yes.  I would take an album with Pull Me Under, Metropolis, Wait For Sleep, Learning To Live, ITPOE, Forsaken, Constant Motion, and TDEN over any album I have ever heard by anybody.

No.

[Implode]

To me that sounds more like chocolate in my brussel sprouts.

[TheGreatPretender]

To me that sounds more like chocolate in my brussel sprouts.

You have a nice healthy dinner with brussel sprouts, and then once that's done, you have some chocolate for dessert. It's that simple.

[Tick]

The Bigger Picture is one of the best musical pieces DT has ever written! That song alone is worth more than the entire WDADU album, imo.

What Mora said in the following reply:

No.

TBP is a good song, but worth more than WDaDU? Try again chief.

It is for me, bro.

[Tick]

The Killing Hand has the biggest sour vocal note in any song  DT has ever written!

I'll agree!

FTFY

[NotePad]

I don't really think any DT album should be self-titled. Ideally, I&W should be their S/T album since it was their first major album and also has all the 'classic' DT elements. Just like ADTOE. And IMO albums that are not S/T and rightfully so are ones like Awake, 8VM, ToT, because even though they contain classic DT elements, there is also a lot of experimentation like shorter songs with big hooks, and in the case of 8VM there are many "homages" that are waay to obvious.

But anyways, since MP was such a HUGE part of DT, they should not have done a self-titled without him. I'm not one of those who dislikes that band now that he's gone, in fact im still a big fan, but MP was one of the core ingredients of DT for around 20 years, since it's inception. I don't want to say it was disrespectful of them to do this S/T, but it can easily be looked at that way. Could'nt they just call it something else?

Although i feel like DT is currently having a second life, like they're bigger then ever before, which feels like it began around when 8VM was released. I think they may just be going off that energy the band currently has so they have the charisma to do a s/t album.

[King Postwhore]

I don't really think any DT album should be self-titled. Ideally, I&W should be their S/T album since it was their first major album and also has all the 'classic' DT elements. Just like ADTOE. And IMO albums that are not S/T and rightfully so are ones like Awake, 8VM, ToT, because even though they contain classic DT elements, there is also a lot of experimentation like shorter songs with big hooks, and in the case of 8VM there are many "homages" that are waay to obvious.

But anyways, since MP was such a HUGE part of DT, they should not have done a self-titled without him. I'm not one of those who dislikes that band now that he's gone, in fact im still a big fan, but MP was one of the core ingredients of DT for around 20 years, since it's inception. I don't want to say it was disrespectful of them to do this S/T, but it can easily be looked at that way. Could'nt they just call it something else?

Although i feel like DT is currently having a second life, like they're bigger then ever before, which feels like it began around when 8VM was released. I think they may just be going off that energy the band currently has so they have the charisma to do a s/t album.

You have to be kidding me.  Since they never used a self titled name for an album it was free game.  They also felt this was a new beginning.  This was the 1st time all 5 were there from the start for the recording process.  I love Mike, but he has no claim at all to the self titled name for an album and neither do us fans.

[hefdaddy42]

But anyways, since MP was such a HUGE part of DT, they should not have done a self-titled without him. I'm not one of those who dislikes that band now that he's gone, in fact im still a big fan, but MP was one of the core ingredients of DT for around 20 years, since it's inception. I don't want to say it was disrespectful of them to do this S/T, but it can easily be looked at that way. Could'nt they just call it something else?

Couldn't they just do what they want?  They never wanted to do that when MP was in the band, but he isn't any more, so it would be meaningless for him to factor in any way in the decisions they make now for the band.  It's not disrespectful to him, it is just irrelevant to him.

[Rodni Demental]

Self titled is making a statement. "This is Dream Theater". Although it's funny when some fan's reactions are almost from them being in denial about what Dream Theater is.

[rumborak]

Of course, every album,  in the end, could have been called "Dream Theater", as at that time the album signified the sound of the band at the time.
That said, if I had to choose, IAW is probably the album I would have called " Dream Theater ".

[TheGreatPretender]

Of course, every album,  in the end, could have been called "Dream Theater", as at that time the album signified the sound of the band at the time.
That said, if I had to choose, IAW is probably the album I would have called " Dream Theater ".

Well, if DT was one of THOSE bands, by which I mean, one of the bands that just comes out with a selftitled early on, then they probably would've made WDADU self-titled. I don't know of very many bands that name their sophomore album after themselves.

And then there are bands like Duran Duran, which have TWO self-titled albums.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Or the bands that have three.

[Sir Walrus Cauliflower]

Or the bands that have three.

...Blackfield, Blackfield II, and Blackfield IV?

I was reading through the ADTOE album and track title speculation threads from when BITS was The Shaman's Trance, and it made me think about what the discussion of the self-titled album was like. I would imagine it being very focused on the legitimacy of being s/t, or not very active.

[ThatOneGuy2112]

Or the bands that have three.

...Blackfield, Blackfield II, and Blackfield IV?

I was reading through the ADTOE album and track title speculation threads from when BITS was The Shaman's Trance, and it made me think about what the discussion of the self-titled album was like. I would imagine it being very focused on the legitimacy of being s/t, or not very active.

Was referring to Weezer actually. Most people might refer to them by their colors but they are technically all self-titled. I've always thought that was amusing.

That reminds me how much I would have preferred them name BITS The Shaman's Trance instead. I guess it doesn't matter too much but I like the originality of it rather than it being taken from a lyric on the track.

[ReaPsTA]

But anyways, since MP was such a HUGE part of DT, they should not have done a self-titled without him. I'm not one of those who dislikes that band now that he's gone, in fact im still a big fan, but MP was one of the core ingredients of DT for around 20 years, since it's inception. I don't want to say it was disrespectful of them to do this S/T, but it can easily be looked at that way. Couldn't they just call it something else?

When Queen reuinted with Paul Rodgers, they called it "Queen + Paul Rodgers".  To Brian May and Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury was the vocalist of Queen.  He couldn't be replaced.  So the reunited band name reflected that.

I feel like a lot of fans look at the band's current version as "Dream Theater - Mike Portnoy" for the same reasons.  But I don't totally understand it.

[Setlist Scotty]

But anyways, since MP was such a HUGE part of DT, they should not have done a self-titled without him. I'm not one of those who dislikes that band now that he's gone, in fact im still a big fan, but MP was one of the core ingredients of DT for around 20 years, since it's inception. I don't want to say it was disrespectful of them to do this S/T, but it can easily be looked at that way. Could'nt they just call it something else?

Couldn't they just do what they want?  They never wanted to do that when MP was in the band, but he isn't any more, so it would be meaningless for him to factor in any way in the decisions they make now for the band.  It's not disrespectful to him, it is just irrelevant to him.

For the record, they did toy with the idea of making their fourth album self-titled. IIRC, it was after they decided to reject the name "Stream of Consciousness" as too pretentious and before JP came up with the title "Falling Into Infinity".

Personally, I thought it would have been more cool if they would have left the album untitled. They could've used the same artwork, etc. Something about an untitled album is much more mysterious than one with a title or one that's self-titled.

[Rodni Demental]

Just curious, what's an example of an untitled album? Cause all the examples of 'coloured' albums that I know of would be technically self-titled anyway. Although a completely untitled album, that's curious. 

[Scorpion]

The album that is often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV is untitled, for instance.

[TheGreatPretender]

For the record, they did toy with the idea of making their fourth album self-titled. IIRC, it was after they decided to reject the name "Stream of Consciousness" as too pretentious and before JP came up with the title "Falling Into Infinity".

Personally, I thought it would have been more cool if they would have left the album untitled. They could've used the same artwork, etc. Something about an untitled album is much more mysterious than one with a title or one that's self-titled.

I have a feeling that leaving it untitled would've been considered even more pretentious than Stream of Consciousness.

[hefdaddy42]

The album that is often referred to as Led Zeppelin IV is untitled, for instance.

Yep.

[rumborak]

Many of Peter Gabriel's albums are as well.

[King Postwhore]

Many of Peter Gabriel's albums are as well.

All stolen from George Forman the boxer who named all his boys after himself.  All Georges.

[Zook]

Korn has an album called Untitled and then another self titled one. Fucking bands.

[tofee35]

I've always liked the way that Weezer has handled their Self Titled albums: Blue Album, Green Album, Red Album. Each signified a drastic change in concept or design of the band's writing and sound.  DT's sound/concept changes so much from album to album, it's hard for me to pinpoint the "Dream Theater" album. I could have definitely seen the Weezer approach at IaW (breakout sound), SFAM (concept phase), SC (numetal phase), and ADTOE (Mangini phase?). I'm perfectly happy with what they've done though.

-Tof

[Zook]

Systematic Chaos nu metal? 

[hefdaddy42]

Systematic Chaos nu metal? 

I wouldn't have thought so.  If anything, TOT could be seen as nu metal, but even that is tenuous at best.