Elite's Top X DT Songs v2: Top 20 LEAST favourite DT songs (Finished!)

[Elite]

I originally did my top 50 Dream Theater songs around a year ago and although I barely listen to them anymore, I have listened to Dream Theater a lot in the past (else I wouldn't be on these forums I guess) and therefore I think I can adequately say which Dream Theater songs I dislike, for various reasons. So I signed up for a v2, with the intention of releasing a list of my least favourite Dream Theater songs, arranged in the order of likeliness that I would listen to them.

Of course, bashing music is ridiculously easy, so I'm trying my best to EXPLAIN why I don't like the song, or why I'm not likely to listen to it separately. This means; no simple write-ups saying 'this song is shit, because DT has done so much better', but accurate descriptions of my feelings towards the song. I'm also not really comparing these songs to the rest of Dream Theater's material, but as separate SONGS, in their own intrinsic quality. This also means I'll only be using songs that were released on an official release. No demos or other songs, like I did in the original top 50.

Yes, this does mean there's probably going to be some controversy, but at least I'll back it up with arguments. I hope we can create an interesting thread together and discuss our own dislike towards these songs in a humane way, without bashing me, my music tastes or Dream Theater, their music and their band members.

THERE WILL BE CONTROVERSY, no bitching. I won't do it and I hope you, as a fellow forum poster won't do this either.

For those interested, this was my top 50 Dream Theater songs as posted around a year ago. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this list is still pretty accurate:

50. Vacant
49. Outcry
48. Afterlife
47. The Glass Prison
46. Scene Seven: II. One Last Time
45. Eve
44. Lines in the Sand
43. Erotomania
42. Disappear
41. Pull Me Under
40. Raise The Knife
39. Blind Faith
38. The Silent Man
37. The Dark Eternal Night
36. Wither
35. 6:00
34. Far From Heaven
33. Another Day
32. Caught in a Web
31. On The Backs of Angels
30. Another Won
29. Wait for Sleep
28. The Killing Hand
27. The Root of All Evil
26. Misunderstood
25. Breaking All Illusions
24. Hollow Years
23. Scene Nine: Finally Free
22. Bridges in the Sky
21. Voices
20. Lifting Shadows off a Dream
19. Scene Two: I. Overture 1928 & II. Strange Deja-Vu
18. Stream of Consciousness
17. Peruvian Skies
16. Scene Six: Home
15. Scarred
14. Hell’s Kitchen
13. Under a Glass Moon
12. In The Presence of Enemies
11. Take The Time
10. Innocence Faded
9. Octavarium
8. Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On
7. Trial of Tears
6. The Great Debate
5. Learning to Live
4. Space-Dye Vest
3. Surrounded
2. A Change of Seasons
1. Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper

I'm just waiting for a definitive green light from DoC and then I'll start posting the list one by one.

[?]

This is definitely more interesting than just doing a new version of your top 50. I promise to keep a respectful tooooneeee in my comments

[Lucien]

Followiiiinnnnngggg

[senecadawg2]

Yay! I hope to see... Just Let Me Breathe, Burning My Soul, You Not Me, and Honor Thy Father

[Elite]

Yay! I hope to see... Just Let Me Breathe, Burning My Soul, You Not Me, and Honor Thy Father

We'll get there when we get there, if we get there, we'll see. For now:

20. Scene Five: Through Her Eyes

Dream Theater's ballads are always something of a hit and miss with me and ranking this one so low on my list of Dream Theater songs, just at the edge of my 20 least favourite songs might actually seem a bit harsh. Let me say this first; this isn't actually a really bad song, it's just one song from Scenes From a Memory that I'm not likely to listen to separately. I won't skip over it when I'll listen to the whole album, but as a standalone track, it doesn't really do anything for me. I can definitely see why Dream Theater put this track on Scenes From a Memory, since after the first couple of tracks on the album, this is a nice breather, with the band holding back a bit and I like Pertucci's leads in the song quite a bit; great phrasing, but the melodies themselves seem very bland. And that actually goes for the rest of the song as well. To me, this song just sounds a little weak and it's a massive drop in intensity in the middle of the album. Again, I can see why this track is there, but SFAM would have flowed a lot better if Dream Theater put a ballad in its place that was a little more active. The whole song is very repetitive to me and it takes too long for the vocals to kick in. Then, after some vocal lines, the song never reaches a climax at all, although in the context of the album it goes very well into the massive stomp that is Home. Of course, dealing with the rest of the album here is pretty inevitable when I'm trying just to judge this song as it works to an extent, but as a standalone track it could never actively engage me. There's no buildup, the leads seem bland and even JLB's vocals sound rushed, like he's on autopilot trying to be melancholic. Like I said in the first sentence; DT's ballads are a hit or a miss for me and this one is definitely a miss for lacking a climax, an interesting part and for being too repetitive. SFAM might benefit from this one being on there, but I also think the album would have been better had there been a more focused, active ballad in the place of Through Her Eyes or if the execution of this one had been a little more structured.

[425]

I agree 100% on this one. Not a bad song, but as you described, it really doesn't do much outside of the context of the album. It might be even lower for me, but only by default (most of the others being better) rather than out of dislike.

[Tom Bombadil]

I agree 100% on this one. Not a bad song, but as you described, it really doesn't do much outside of the context of the album. It might be even lower for me, but only by default (most of the others being better) rather than out of dislike.

This

[senecadawg2]

 

I'll concede, lyrically it is a drag. But still... 

[?]

I love Through Her Eyes

[Ruba]

Through Her Eyes would be probably around same spot for me, but I still pretty much like it.

[Lolzeez]

I love Through Her Eyes

Me too. 

[MoraWintersoul]

It does really wonderful things for me

[aXygnus]

To think Through Her Eyes would probably be in my Top 15   

[wolfking]

Yeah, that ranking is about right.

[Elite]

Here's the next:

19. Prophets of War

Here's one song that most people here will probably either agree with or would rank a lot lower (like bosk, who named it his least favourite DT song). While I'm not going that far, this song certainly is not a beauty to me. So where I sort-of liked some stuff that was going on in Through Her Eyes, there barely anything in Prophets of War that I legitimately like. Well, why isn't this one lower on my list then? Basically, it comes down to this: I don't really think Prophets of War is a bad song in itself and I can actually applaud DT for trying something totally different on this one and getting some wacky stuff in there (yes, I'm looking at the Queen-vocals in the verses; actually I don't even know if they were in the verses, I haven't heard this song in ages), but it just doesn't work for me. Everything sounds cheesy or uninspired. What makes it worse to me is that they played this song at the first Dream Theater concert I was ever at and I just wasn't in any mood to hear this song at a live concert, especially since they played 4(!) other songs that will make this list on that same night. Terrible experience. Apart from the band being very bad that night (completely uninspiring performance, barely any crowd interaction, band-members fucking things up, Jordan Rudess getting a solo-spot for some of his random Continuum wankery), this song wasn't really received that well. Although the crowd chanting bit actually works live, on the record it sounds dull and uninteresting, exactly the opposite of what it should do. I suppose after this negativity I could have ranked this one even lower, but it's here now. Deal with it.

[Full Speed]

I actually really like POW. It's easily my favorite song on SC and would definitely be in my top 50.

[Elite]

Well, this list is coming from someone who thinks ITPOE Pt. 2 and The Dark Eternal Night are the best songs on SC and there's a lot of disagreement there too. I suppose SC is a very divisive album.

[Full Speed]

Yeah those two are mid-tier at best for me when it comes to ranking songs on that album, so our tates must be pretty different.

[Elite]

Prepare to see more stuff you'll probably like or even love then I have some songs coming up that will probably enrage at least some folks here. I'm very sorry in advance.

[PwnsomeWin]

I actually really like Prophets Of War, but that's just me.

[Tom Bombadil]

I honestly can't stand POW. I find it one of the worst songs on SC (which I consider their worst album)

[Rhayader]

PoW is horrible.

[425]

It's an okay song. I'd probably rank it around the same or maybe a tiny bit higher. Certainly not the band's finest hour, but I find myself enjoying the Queen stuff and the vocals from both James and Mike. I agree that the crowd stuff doesn't sound too good on record, probably because it's hard to record that many voices. I think the overall effect of that part isn't too far removed from what it would have been if Mike had just half-growled those lines.

[wolfking]

POW is pretty underwhelming.

[Ruba]

Prophets of War is a top 20 DT song for me. I like the things people tend to criticize in it, that's why.

[?]

POW deserves that position, although it would be even closer to the bottom in my list.

[senecadawg2]

I'm down with that

[Elite]

Yeah, it might well be one of their 'worst' songs, but there's 18 songs I like even less. Some of the songs coming up might be 'better', but I'm less likely to enjoy listening to them. Keep in mind, this is not a ranking of what songs I think of as 'bad', but just my least favourite, ranked in the order of likeliness to listen to them. Then again, basically every song in this whole top 20 wouldn't ever receive a voluntary listen, so the ranking is pretty much arbitrary, although I tried my best.

[Onno]

Following now, and I have to say: I love Through Her Eyes, and Prophets of War is great too, though it probably is low on my list as well. This will definitely be interesting.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I really like Prophets of War. The synth-style feel it has is really cool, and James sounds great. I even like Mike's "rap" section. 

[Elite]

Let's get it on:

18. New Millennium

I actually really like a lot of stuff on Falling Into Infinity, but I can also imagine an entire Dream Theater fanbase raging over this same CD after putting it on for the first time and expecting anything along the lines of Images & Words and Awake. Picture it yourself; a progressive metal nerd aching for his 'ENERGY AND POWAH' from Dream Theater's music and he puts Falling into Infinity into his CD player and it starts playing. By the time the CD reaches the second verse of You Not Me, this progressive metal nerd angrily turns off his stereo system, never to listen to Falling into Infinity again and missing out on some great music that's still to come. I can see this happening. And that's mainly for this track here, this 'New Millennium'. For me, it kicks off the album on a very low note, with some opening melodies that are uninteresting at best. But my main gripe with it isn't that, it James LaBrie's vocal lines throughout the whole song. Yes, I get that he had a food poisoning accident, but that's not an excuse as he delivers some seriously awesome stuff throughout the album. Why couldn't he do that here? They seem dull, almost spoken and aren't interesting to listen to at all, especially in that 'keep your head up' section that has been dragged out for way too long. Instrumentally, this is song is alright at best for me, but the fact that they draw every instrumental section from so little - and mediocre at that - material drags that part down as well. At a certain point, I have heard enough of those 2-3 melodies that keep repeating throughout the song. Sorry, that was probably too negative. Here's a short rundown: LaBrie's vocal melodies are not interesting enough for me, it's a bad song to open an album after you just had the energy and power of Awake, instrumentally it's way too repetitive.

Anybody who agrees?

[FlyingBIZKIT]

New Millennium is definitely Top 25 for me

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

New Millennium is just okay. I don't like the intro, although the song picks up afterward. Overall, I don't dislike it, but I never really have an urge to listen to it.

[Rhayader]

New Millennium is just okay. I don't like the intro, although the song picks up afterward. Overall, I don't dislike it, but I never really have an urge to listen to it.

Same here.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Prophets of War is a really good song IMO. As is Through Her Eyes. New Millennium, on the other hand, is so boring and uninteresting I can't listen to it.