How did you discover Dream Theater?

[ZirconBlue]

I can still remember it:  Driving down I-75 through Cincinnati in 1992 (on my way home from a summer of Drum & Bugle Corps), I heard "Pull Me Under" on the local Z-Rock radio affiliate.  After the song finished I spent the rest of the ride home repeating "Dream Theater, Dream Theater, . . ." so I wouldn't forget the name of the band.  When I got home, I headed straight for the local used record store and picked up a promo copy of Images & Words.

[NYCoolRunner]

One of my mom's friends had a few CDs that he wasn't interested in, one of which contained Images and Words. I listened to it, and said... ehh this isn't my cup of tea. I put it aside, not really putting much thought into it. Fast forward a few years and Train of Thought had just come out. I was listening to the Eddie Trunk show on XM radio with my dad and Stream of Consciousness came on. It was going on for a few minutes, and my dad and I looked at each other in complete glee. Immediately remembered the name of that band, got ToT for Christmas that year, and the rest was history. I then thought about the name and remembered that I had I&W in the corner somewhere, and suddenly was into it 

[ResultsMayVary]

Saw DT open for Iron Maiden at the Ritz on June 8, 1992. Within 30 seconds of seeing them play, I knew I had a new favorite band.

Good God, I was 2 days old when that happened.

I was born 11 days after that...

[triugo]

I still remember in 2008, my drummers told me to cover a song from a band that i never heard. It's Stream of Consciousness, i nearly gave up playing guitar back then,  And now DT is absolutely my number one band....

[Kotowboy]

It was gradually but I definitely remember liking As I Am first then I heard Train Of Thought and loved that. ThenI heard the Octavarium album and I was hooked.

[TempusVox]

I was on a dig site in a known Pre-Cambrian area. We had been searching for trilobites all day, and I just happened to look down at my left, and said, "Damn, theres a Dream Theater!"


 









Saw Pull Me Under on MTV and was blown away.

[Podaar]

 

[pcs90]

I actually discovered Jordan Rudess and his solo albums first (Feeding the Wheel, Rhythm of Time, RMP). Then I moved on to Liquid Tension Experiment. At the same time I had also heard Mangini's name along with DT mentioned several times, so I looked up the band and saw Jordan and JP were also in it, and Portnoy used to be... So knowing how much I loved (and still do) all the previously mentioned music I had to check out this band. The first thing I ever heard from them was MM's jam audition, then I heard all of their released instrumentals and finally moved onto the rest of their stuff with James (I tend to listen to instrumental stuff first when possible). The first full-band song I heard was, I believe, Learning to Live.

[Cable]

 The first full-band song I heard was, I believe, Learning to Live.

Excellent choice on the first DT vocal song!

[IdoSC]

Short version: A mix of Guitar Hero IV, them announcing a concert within driving distance, and my old guitar tutor being a fanboy of basically every guitarist who participated in G3, JP included.

[pcs90]

Excellent choice on the first DT vocal song!

Definitely! I loved it, of course. Still one of my favorites.

[JLa]

Friend. CD. LTE 2. When the Water Breaks.

Done deal.

Oh, OK, technically that's not DT. He told me LTE was mostly DT, though. So, for DT it would be:

Knew LTE. Music store. Awake .Discount. Remembered "LTE = DT". Erotomania.

Win.

[Tick]

Strangely enough I had never heard a note and on a hunch I bought Octavarium because I love progressive rock and I used to see adds for them playing concerts locally. I instantly became a huge fan and methodically bought album after album till I had them all.
My first show in 2006 was epic!

[Mark Levinson Jr.]

I used to sit around and play acoustic guitars with my neighbor. We usually tried our best to do some Rush songs. For a year he was telling me, "You should check out Dream Theater, they're a lot like Rush.... maybe better." I was like, "That's crazy.... no way... NO ONE is anywhere near Rush!"

Then one day I was in a "used record" store and saw a cheap Dream Theater CD. Not even knowing a single song or album name, I took a chance and bought it. It was Images and Words! I played it for everyone, and memorized the whole album.

Then, I bought A Change Of Seasons after hearing The Big Medley on the radio. And that's where I stayed for quite a while. I thought they were really good, but I didn't have any desire to go and get everything in their catalog. That all changed when I heard SFAM. I immediately heard them in a whole new light and saw just how unique they were.

Octovarium was the first album to come out while I was a DT fan. I saw them live 3 times, once with MP. 

[Alohakid87]

Back in 2009 I was searching for new metal music to get into. A buddy of mine at work had mentioned Dream Theater was his favorite band, and at the time I was really starting to get into metal with keyboards. So I went home one night and youtubed DT and the very first song I heard was Pull Me Under. I heard that intro and eventually the rest of the songs on I&W and was absolutely hooked. They've been my favorite band ever since. Prior to DT I was/am a huge Metallica fan and like Rush as well, so you can see why I was drawn towards DT.

[FLEEBS]

The radio with Pull Me Under back in 1992.

[DragonGuitar]

I was always into prog, my parents raised me on Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull, etc. When I was around 14, I started looking for more prog bands to call my own (there's a certain satisfaction for me that comes with discovering a new band that nobody I know has heard of- it's my band! Haha. And I just wanted more music to listen to, more diversity). I was looking around on the internet and I saw a list called "Top 10 Progressive Rock Bands", and I clicked on it. Yes, Rush, and King Crimson were all on the list, but another band that I hadn't heard of caught my eye: Dream Theater. The name and photo that they had on the list appealed to me, they just seemed like a really cool, dark, and magical group.

So I went on youtube and searched for DT videos, and the first one I saw was Pull Me Under live. I was impressed by the heaviness and guitar solo, and it was just different from anything I had heard before (DT was also more or less the band that introduced me to metal). The light show and the bands image also appealed to me; I liked the majesty symbol and the other quirky things they had (Mike Mangini's insane drum set that reminded me of a spaceship, Jordan was wearing a wizard hat, James' wavy crooked mic stand, etc), and the light show. So I went on iTunes and bought Images and Words, and Octavarium. They have been my favorite band ever since. I own every album, JP helped inspired me to play guitar and continues as my main inspiration, and I play one of his models, and I am going to see them on tour for The Astonishing soon! That's my story.

[camzmac]

Had a friend introduce them to me. Luckily he was very persistent because the first few times I heard Dream Theater it didn't really click.

The eureka moment was really fitting, looking back on it today. I was scheduled to go under to have all my wisdom teeth out. A few nights before the operation, I was getting some work done for my internship, and put on Images and Words (on GrooveShark) just to give Dream Theater another shot (selected I&W because it was AllMusic Guide's "album pick" for Dream Theater).

It must not have been too terrible as I didn't shut it off, but didn't pay too much attention either, until the solos in the second half of Learning to Live came on. At that point, I dropped everything to listen as I was mightily impressed by how freakin awesome those solos were.

Didn't have time to listen again as I had a bunch of other stuff to deal with prior to the operation, but the closing minutes of I&W stuck with me. The first day I felt good enough to leave the house, I picked up I&W, and listened to it for the first time since before the operation. The entire album blew me away. Moment after moment of, "I can't believe they did that".

I&W fundamentally changed how I hear music. Couldn't stop listening for months on end as the sense of euphoria each time I heard it was palpable. I also appreciate the coincidence of discovering Pull Me Under around the same time I was first pulled under for general anesthesia 

[SebastianPratesi]

Well, my Charon to the DT world was the great, one and only Richard Benson ( ) in 1993!
He used to play Metropolis every day during "Ottava Nota", his legendary TV transmission..
The guy is actualy quite weird, I'm sure the other Italian folks here know what I'm talking about...
Here is a recent TV show where he presented DT 12--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYHWNZyD5A0
It's in Italian, but it is fun anyway..

That's a cool video! My first language is spanish, so even though I don't speak italian, I was able to get pretty much most of it. I find it funny when he tries to find the exact words to describe Jordan's talents (at around 8:15), and the way he presents the songs (although I don't understand why they are not played... Copyright, maybe?).

[SebastianPratesi]

I first learnt about the band in early 2005 when I was 15, because my mom+aunt bought me a black t-shirt with the Train Of Thought album cover. I didn't like the t-shirt (and didn't know the band), so I changed it for another one with the Abbey Road artwork. However, my uncle told me I should listen to the band, that I'd like their music - he knew that I liked Metallica, and for him they sounded similar.

So, 5 months later I was in a record store and found a copy of Train Of Thought. I bought it without having heard any song, and I've been listening since (although that one is by far my least favourite album).

[Lax]

I was spending evenings in a guitar shop and the cashier handed me scenes (just released) and images one time, got home, spent several days brainfarting with pure eargasms !
Bought the entire discography, the video, and then became really crazy about DT !
Leaved my black metal band to make a prog one
Final blow was sdoit+lte 1&2+jordan's rythm and feeding.
It's like even when everything is off I always hear a DT tune in me.

[Gromit1710]

92' and Pull Me Under. It was so different than the explosion of Grunge and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" that was shoved down my throat every 10 mins.

Bought I&W and had a massive musical identity conflict when "Another Day" started up after it. I was too young and too metal to be caught dead listening to something with a sax solo. So I shelved it after listening to Pull Me Under and Metropolis pt 1. I could barely wrap my head at the time around what was going on in Metropolis in the first place so I didn't think twice.

A year or so later, after learning Guitar in a much more rounded fashion other than the Metallica power chords I'd been playing previously, Some guy I was jamming with played me "Under a Glass Moon". 

Remembered I had I&W in a box and dug it out. Didn't take the tape out of my player until I picked up "Awake"

[Schurftkut]

A band asked me to play keyboards in their band, and that first phonecall conversation he played Acid Rain and Biaxident holding the phone to the speaker. The idea was to cover To live forever, so that started my journey into discovering DT. Wish they'd showed me a year earlier, because around that time they were still on the SFAM tour...
Got to see them 3 times live with 6doit and ToT tour.

[RAIN]

A buddy said, you've got to listen to this album "Images and Words" in 1992...did not like it one bit.

For some strange reason, on my way to the train station in 1994, I just decided to buy two CDs....Testament's LOW, and Dream Theater's Awake (I really don't know why).  From the start of Awake to finish I was floored....so I went back to I&W later and heard it anew...And forever since a fan (despite a few bad albums)

[Dreamer]

I discovered DT in 1989 with their first album after reading a review in The Spirit Of Rush fanzine. I was sorely disappointed by the cd, gave it away to a friend and never listened to DT again until seeing Score and buying the Octavarium album in about 2006.

[Logain Ablar]

It was relatively recently for me - probably late 2013. I was on YouTube looking at Iron Maiden cover versions and discovered their versions of some of the NoTB songs. Then I started watching some of their live videos and then the single videos, like Wither, Forsaken. (I know a lot of folks diss those sorts of songs, but for me they were a good gateway to the rest of the music).

The first album I bought was DT12, then I&W, ADTOE, Awake, BC&SL, in that order, flip-flopping between older and newer albums.

Totally hooked, and now totally obsessed! 

[Drake_Fury]

Growing up, when I was in car with my parents, we were listening to bands such as Pink Floyd, Supertramp, Genesis, Led Zepplin, Heart, along with some Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elton John or Phil Collins solo career.

I always liked musically complex stuff. I wasn't someone who knew much prog, as my parents were not much into Yes, ELP GG or Jethro Tull, but with Pink Floyd and Genesis, I still had some experience with the style and I loved it.

I became a metal fan at around 16 years old, where a friend made me watch Metallica's S&M show. At this point i've been a lot in commercial punk and metal bands, until one day I started working in a music store. I was working graveyard shift (I've done that most of my life) so it gave me the opportunity to work while listening to music, and we were allowed to listen to any CD in the store. At that time, a friend of mine made me listen to Rhapsody and Sonata Arctica. The melodic power metal became a big focus, andI always thought the covers looked nice.

So after I had listened to everything I wanted to try, I started going through the Metal section to find cool looking covers, in hope that I would find more power metal. One day, I was placing discs and I stumble on that disc with a huge face made of multiple little images and I thought "how cool is that cover?!" Let's hear it.

From that day, somewhere in 2003 (It was a little before ToT came out), SFAM became my favourite music album of all time. It had the musicallity, the solos and the power of Power Metal, but had all those weird timings of Genesis. I fell in love.

Been a fan of DT ever since, and now it's almost the only thing I listen to...

[Estiui]

I heard some things about Jordan Rudess being a keyboard master when I had this teenager band... so I ended up watching some of his gear and instructional videos, from which I heard some snippets of SFAM. Then I downloaded some random song, one which was called "In the name of God". I was pretty scared, 15 minutes... but I remember being one night at bed, not being able to sleep because I wanted to re-hear that song again, and again, and again... and that's how I fell in love with DT 

[Lax]

Or sometimes you have a bridge turning in your head, you try to remember which song it's from, you start scanning their song, find yourself listening a whole album or the twelve steps suite to find it was from the shattered fortress lol
Works with SDOIT too

[The Astonished]

While in elementary, a classmate linked me something on MSN. He said it was good music and I saw the file was named The Glass Prison. Words cannot describe how I felt when I first listened that song and the band. All I knew is that in all my years of listening music, I never heard something as mindblowing and complex, and I still thought it was very accessible too (That Wah riff)! I also remembered that I was overwhelmed by the length, halleluyah! But it never bothered me even a tiny bit and I immediately started to listen to everything from the band, and the rest is blissful history. 

[Fritzinger]

I was a huge Metallica Fan back in 2005, when a friend of mine (who was a drummer and old kindergarten buddy of mine) asked me over ICQ if I knew Dream Theater. I was 13. I said no and he sent me The Root Of All Evil over ICQ It was love on first listen. Next songs were As I Am and Endless Sacrifice. After I had heard these three songs, it was only a matter of weeks until I had the complete DT discography at home. After that I started to discover bands like Spock's Beard, Symphony X and The Flower Kings until I became a total Progressive Rock nerd. DT opened the whole world of awesome complex music to me, so to say.

[wizard of Thought]

I first heard Dream Theater in 2008 when I was playing Rock Band 2. I had decided to try some songs that I hadn't heard before and Panic Attack was one of them. I couldn't beat it at that point but unlike most of the hard songs this wasn't just a random flurry of notes thrown together (although I like most of those songs as well). Every note was placed where it was for a reason. This was a different kind of metal and I wanted to hear more. I picked up Octavarium from the local Best Buy and the rest is history.

Almost the same for me. Buyed Rock Band 2, played Panic Attack, liked it quite much, but didn`t get into the band yet. A few years later (I think it was 2010-2011) I imported RB2 to RB3 and rediscovered the song and was blown away. Bought Octavarium and loved it.