Author Topic: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT  (Read 4481 times)

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Offline Drinktheater

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #35 on: November 03, 2017, 10:07:40 PM »
I know I've mentioned this before . . . .

One of my best friends was a student of John Petrucci.   I'm sure he played me DT plenty of times during the WDADU years, but the first I remember is driving to a Knicks game and he played "Learning to Live."     I told him it sounded like STYX!!!

Seen them about 20 times since then but not since 1999.  I am going in three weeks to the Paramount!

The first show I saw them was at a dump called Sparks.    Fun times!

Very interesting,

I heard JP said in an Interview that he taught guitar during the WDADU days specially after Charlie Domnicci left the band. Now I am curious about John Petrucci the teacher yes we know he did some instructional DVDs but his private lessons is not that well publicized IMO, unlike Joe Satriani and Randy Rhoads who is well known to have taught Music early on.


I would love to hear stories from JPs students, I wonder is JP strict but funny type? or the mild with good humor type?

And she listens openly

Offline Tony From Long Island

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #36 on: November 07, 2017, 08:30:04 AM »
I know I've mentioned this before . . . .

One of my best friends was a student of John Petrucci.   I'm sure he played me DT plenty of times during the WDADU years, but the first I remember is driving to a Knicks game and he played "Learning to Live."     I told him it sounded like STYX!!!

Seen them about 20 times since then but not since 1999.  I am going in three weeks to the Paramount!

The first show I saw them was at a dump called Sparks.    Fun times!

Very interesting,

I heard JP said in an Interview that he taught guitar during the WDADU days specially after Charlie Domnicci left the band. Now I am curious about John Petrucci the teacher yes we know he did some instructional DVDs but his private lessons is not that well publicized IMO, unlike Joe Satriani and Randy Rhoads who is well known to have taught Music early on.


I would love to hear stories from JPs students, I wonder is JP strict but funny type? or the mild with good humor type?

My friend who was one of JP's students is a very quiet and reserved individual. He moved from Long Island to the Las Vegas area.  It is very unlikely he would speak to me about it.  I know there was a very small group of guys who took lessons from JP.  They all kinda ended up knowing each other. 

I know my friend went to JP's wedding  (the church, not the reception).   I'm pretty sure the only way that we knew about the very low-key Ethyl Mertz gig that JP and MP did in the mid 90's was through the students of JP.

The picture I use as my avatar is from that Ethyl Mertz show.  I think it was 1995 at a place called the Village Pub (which probably is not there anymore).  I don't recall who was playing bass or singing. They did a lot of fun covers.   I remember seeing  "Fire"  on the set list and thinking they were going to do Jimi Hendrix, but I think it was the soing by the Pointer Sisters if I remember correctly.
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Offline Sycsa

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #37 on: November 07, 2017, 10:57:28 AM »
My piano teacher gave me the Live at Budokan DVD in 2005. I didn't really like it at first, it was too heavy for my taste back then. I also thought Jordan was a hack, because he made his keys sound like a guitar (his wah-wah lead patch he used in ToT and in the first part of his Budokan solo), so I was like "what's the point in having a keyboard player?" I remember that frustrated me to no end. I was quite the insufferable 15-year-old '70s prog snob back then. JLB's voice also ticked me off, but I really enjoyed Instrumedley. For years, it was the only DT song on my music player.

Fast forward to 2011, I came across the drummer auditions videos. I was amazed by all the great players and the music seemed so much fun, it prompted me to give DT another shot, and it also made me take up drumming (truly a life changing experience).

I remember shuffling through random DT songs, without anything really sticking out, then I put on I&W for the first time. It started out as a neutral, casual music listening experience, but by the time the second chorus of Take the Time came around, I was hooked. JLB's voice was the very thing that finally reeled me in and sealed the deal, he sang incredibly on that album, I've never heard anything like that before (or since, he's a truly unique singer). The equation just hit me, I fell in love and I was never let down, it was a very special moment and the beginning of a new chapter in my life. 


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Offline Chris Hinton

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #38 on: November 07, 2017, 12:56:14 PM »
Way back in 1992 I kept hearing the last parts of Pull Me Under on the radio and was hooked, but the damn DJs would never say who it was.  It took a couple weeks before I actually heard the artist, title, and full song.  Bought Image and Words that very day.  Saw them for the first time on the Music In Progress tour in the summer of '93.

And now you know the rest of the story.

Offline JayOctavarium

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #39 on: November 07, 2017, 01:07:59 PM »
Back in high school, buddy saw part of Score on VH1 Classic. Under A Glass Moon blew him away. Instant fan. He introduced them to me. Instant obsession. Downloaded a bunch of mp3s off of an mp3 sharing site (half of which were JLB solo songs mislabel). My 2 favourite bands at the time were Pink Floyd and Metallica. Lots of time on youtube discovering new songs. A Chance Of Seasons from Live Scenes blew me away. As did The Mirror and Peruvian Skies.

The rest is history.
I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve with any part of the song, either individually or as a whole. You know what? It's the Platypus of Dream Theater songs. That bill doesn't go with that tail, or that strange little furry body, or those webbed feet, and oh god why does it have venomous spurs!? And then you find out it lays eggs too. The difference is that the Platypus is somehow functional despite being a crazy mishmash or leftover animal pieces

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Offline DT1138

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #40 on: November 15, 2017, 08:47:47 AM »
For me, it was the G3 DVD that JP did with Satch and Vai.  That led me to buy the Budokan DVD of DT before I even bought a full CD of theirs.  I was hooked immediately.

Offline ProfessorPeart

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #41 on: November 24, 2017, 05:53:02 PM »
Picked up a copy of Modern Drummer because Peart was on the cover. There was an ad for Tama or something where MP was sitting at his kit and I was blown away by it's size. I believe it mentioned what band he was in.

Few weeks later I was doing one of my 'let's just wander around the music section at Circuit City for an hour or two and see if something pops out at me' and I remembered that ad. I then went and looked for Dream Theater. ACOS was the current release at the time. I flipped through what was there and eventually settled on Awake.

Listened to Erotomania first and then the rest of the album. The rest is history.
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Offline OpenYourEyes311

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #42 on: November 27, 2017, 12:05:19 PM »
I've told this story on the board before, but I don't mind re-telling it! (Sorry for the RIDICULOUSLY long post!)

In 1998, the summer before high school, my dad brought me to my very first big rock concert. I had gone to my first show the year before, which was "Weird Al" Yankovic. Great show, but it wasn't anything crazy. Anyway, my dad wanted to go see two of his favorite bands play together: Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He had seen both bands many times in the '70s, but it had been a while since he'd seen either (I don't think he went to many concerts after getting married to my mom). Anyway, we went to the show, and prior to ELP coming on, the opening band was playing. That band happened to be Dream Theater.

We had never heard of DT before this, and were surprised by how many fans they had up in the front of the audience. I don't remember much from this show, but I do remember two moments. One was when they played Hollow Years, and my dad turned to me and said, "This must be their 'Lucky Man!'" And the other moment was really cool. During Peruvian Skies, the band pulled out quotes of "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica (as documented on Once In A Livetime). Now, my dad being a big '70s rocker, obviously, started nudging me saying, "This is Pink Floyd, this is Pink Floyd!!" when Have a Cigar was being played. And myself, growing up on Metallica (they were my favorite band, more on that later...), did the same back to him when Sandman got whipped out. It was a really cool moment.

As the concert went on, ELP came out and completely, IMO, destroyed both other bands that night haha. So much so that I went out and got their Greatest Hits not long after and fell in love with it. And while they were cool to see, Deep Purple did not hold my interest as much as ELP did. And I kind of forgot about DT since I was so into ELP.

Fast forward to 1999, I see Scenes From a Memory on the shelf of a local CD shop, pick it up, and say to myself, "Hey! It's THOSE guys! haha, cool!"... and then proceed to put it back on the shelf. I vividly remember this moment, and sad to say I regret it still, to this day. I should have picked this album up on that day.

Fast forward to 2003, my favorite band METALLICA put out their first new album in five years, and it's pretty much a massive disappointment. After this, I'm looking for some new music (and a new discography to dive into). I start thinking of bands I may want to get into, and DT is the first to come to mind. Not one to ever go spending money all willy-nilly (re: the last paragraph), I go do some research (ie. download files from Napster! - Hey! I was in college, I ain't got no money! haha). So, I download two of the first songs I can see on Napster. They are "The Spirit Carries On" and "Voices." When listening to Spirit, I immediately get a Pink Floyd vibe. Love it. Then Voices, I like the soaring vocals, and it almost seems like, at the end of the song it would go into the next song. This intrigues me.

I go to the store to pick up a DT album. I see Scenes From a Memory on the shelf again. I WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. I pick it up and pop it in on the ride home. "Regression" comes on and I immediately hear the same chord progression and vocal melody from Spirit. Love it.

Then "Overture 1928" starts... then the drums start pumping in... a quick pause... the band explodes into the song... and I had found my new favorite band.

From there I went and picked up the other releases: Awake, Train of Thought (on release day), A Change of Seasons, When Dream and Day Unite, Images & Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and Falling Into Infinity. Love every note, and have never stopped. First day buy every time for me.

As an aside to this story, I feel very blessed that I was able to pay my dad back for that MASSIVELY influential first concert. I got to bring him to see DT in 2007, Emerson and Lake in 2010, and Deep Purple in 2011. He's unfortunately not around anymore, but his influence on me and my musical journey will always be here.
I don't want MP playing with DT unless they were making a drummer change. If they let MM go and bring back MP, then fine, but no guest appearance please.
WELP.

Online TAC

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #43 on: November 27, 2017, 12:54:06 PM »
As an aside to this story, I feel very blessed that I was able to pay my dad back for that MASSIVELY influential first concert. I got to bring him to see DT in 2007, Emerson and Lake in 2010, and Deep Purple in 2011. He's unfortunately not around anymore, but his influence on me and my musical journey will always be here.

Very cool.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline CrimsonE

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #44 on: November 27, 2017, 05:45:41 PM »
I first saw/heard DT on MTV with their single Pull Me Under.  To be honest, I don't remember much about my impressions of I&W beyond that song, and in fact was disappointed by Awake.

I later returned to DT with Scenes From a Memory in 1999, and dug the entire concept, but not enough to really become a major fan, and 6 Degrees was so weird, that I kind of lost track of them again for a few years.

However over the course of 2004 and 2005, I started torrenting live shows when I first got broadband, and DT was one of the many bands I checked out and with each live bootleg, I got more and more into them.  I really started to "get" what the band was doing, although it took me several years to catch up on their studio work.  Pretty much from Octovarium on, I've been a major fan of the band--as they are easily in my top five of all time.
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Offline Dreamer

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #45 on: November 28, 2017, 10:38:51 AM »
Read a review of the When Dreams And Day..cd in a Rush fanzine in the late 80's, bought the album straight away, didn't like it much. Therefore didn't listen to them again for years, heard Pull me Under - hated it, confirmed my thoughts about the band and the first album. Years later I saw the DVD of Octavarium and rediscovered the band...

Offline Evai

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #46 on: November 28, 2017, 12:15:26 PM »
My first exposure was seeing JP play his solo stuff, when I bought the G3 2005 DVD, because I loved Vai. My reaction was basically 'Woah, who is this introvert? Not as good as Vai, that's for sure. I guess the songs are cool though.' Sometime after that, a friend lent me the Live In Tokyo 93 dvd, and I was like 'WOAH THIS IS THE SAME GUY? HOLY FUCKBALLS. PULL ME UNDER, PULL ME UNDER, PULL ME UNDER DA NA NA NA NA. ALL THAT I FEEL IS HOTTER AND SPITE. ALL I GOTTA DO IS SET IT RIGHT'
Jordan took Moore's boring, pedestrian parts and elevated them considerably to take them from barely palatable to stellar.

Offline Dreammajesty

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #47 on: December 01, 2017, 01:12:02 PM »
In '92 i read a review in a Dutch magazine called Aardschok which said that if you liked a combination of Yes Rush Metallica and where in for adventurous music you had to give this album a try.So i made a list of things i wanted to hear when i went to the music store and well they became my nr 1 band,and still are !!!

Offline noxon

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #48 on: December 01, 2017, 04:26:50 PM »
My father bought all Dream Theater albums as soon as he could (wdadu back in 1989) - and listened to them a lot. I never really paid attention to what he was playing.

1994 - I bought a "Various Artists" CD called "Even More Power Ballads" - consisting of tracks like "Cats in the Cradle" done by Ugly Kid Joe, "Wild World" done by Mr. Big and "Another Day" by Dream Theater. Why on earth there were TWO Cat Stevens covers on the same CD I have no idea, but...

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Even-More-Power-Ballads/release/2488544 

I showed this to MP, and he'd never actually seen it before in his life. But since DT is a chapter behind him, he found it more curious than wanting it...


A year later I started high school, and came in contact with some people who liked Dream Theater. Since my father liked them a lot, and I kinda liked the Another Day track, I was kinda pushed into listening more. First "real" exposure was ACOS CD, then Awake, then IAW. When, a couple of years later, FII was released, it became a bonding experience for me and my father. He brought me to the first show in Oslo in 1998. DT became -the- thing we had. So when I started becoming more and more involved in the DT "world", as it were, first helping Itchy at the official site with moderation of the chat channel that was on there (from 1999 till 2007 in fact!), doing some coding help (I did some javascript stuff for the image gallery for the SFAM tour photos)... Then, when there was a norwegian fan club starting up, I was kinda asked to overview their activities so that the fan club could see that they were serious. This was 2000. In 2002 I took over the norwegian fan club website, and became one of three "people" who ran the fan club. The "leader" left when he had a child, and we were two people from 2004 and on (or so). 2004 was also when I could repay my father for getting me into DT. We had the chance to interview MP - and I sent my father to do so - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9DLYHr7Vok  .

2008 my father was diagnosed with cancer in the intestines. Three years later he succumbed to the illness. We played Spirit Carries On in the funeral, due to the immense meaning it had to our family - DT was the glue. I think this is why I'm still working very hard at what essentially is a HOBBY that I don't get paid a dime for. Other than being able to say that DT are kinda like my friends now.

Online TAC

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #49 on: December 01, 2017, 07:17:11 PM »
Kim, if you don't mind me asking, how old was your father?
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline noxon

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #50 on: December 02, 2017, 04:10:08 AM »
He was 53 when he died.

Online Podaar

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #51 on: December 02, 2017, 05:03:38 AM »
I'm very sorry, Noxon. Fathers are amazing blokes, are they not? I've been missing mine daily for these past 15 years.
"Religion poisons everything” — Christopher Hitchens

Online TAC

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #52 on: December 02, 2017, 05:33:51 AM »
That's horrible. So sorry to hear that.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Online pg1067

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #53 on: December 04, 2017, 11:30:14 AM »
1994 - I bought a "Various Artists" CD called "Even More Power Ballads" - consisting of tracks like "Cats in the Cradle" done by Ugly Kid Joe, "Wild World" done by Mr. Big and "Another Day" by Dream Theater. Why on earth there were TWO Cat Stevens covers on the same CD I have no idea, but...

Cats in the Cradle isn't a Cat Stevens song.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat's_in_the_Cradle
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Offline The Jester

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #54 on: December 05, 2017, 11:52:17 AM »
My friend lent me a couple of Dream Theater albums and at first I thought they were boring.
A few years later I decided to try listening to them again and I was hooked.

Offline TSA0074

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Re: What First Got You Into DT/First Time You Heard DT
« Reply #55 on: December 05, 2017, 03:02:02 PM »
I was in 10th grade marching band back in the late summer 1991 in NW Pennsylvania. I played snare and was working with my drum instructor - I remember at the time,  Rush's Roll The Bones just came out and he was pissed (as many were at the time) over Rush "rapping" on the album's title track - we started talking about some other progressive bands and he gave me a blank tape to check out of a band he called Dream Theater (Remember this was back in the days of tape trading - Something Mike P said he was heavily involved in promoting DT back then). The funny thing with the tape was it was a copy of WDADU When Day and Dream Unite and this tape copy actually had the second side on the first and vice versa - so the first song I heard was The Ones Who Helped to Set the Sun - The moment Portnoy's double bass kicked in three minutes into the song - my mouth dropped and I was hooked - I wore that tape out over the next year - Then a year later I heard Pull Me Under on MTV and got I&W - then I first saw them at a club called The Station in Orlando in Dec 1992 and then a month later in Buffalo in 1993. Been a fan ever since, end of story.