Favorite YT-era Lead Single

[Progmetty]

Curious about the quality of singles and their influence on albums anticipation in the youtube era, where we get the lead single significantly early and it either excites us or leaves us skeptical about the album.
Do you also think the music videos played any role in how much you liked/disliked the song?
Personally they were all hits with me except The Enemy Inside, which I didn't hate but it didn't get me going for the new album. Sure enough, I didn't like the self titled and thought it was their lowest effort since FII.

[MirrorMask]

Curious about the quality of singles and their influence on albums anticipation in the youtube era, where we get the lead single significantly early and it either excites us or leaves us skeptical about the album.

DT are one of those bands I trust enough with their output and so for the last two albums I've adopted a no preview policy. Bought them blindly on release day and that was it, no music heard before.

Do you also think the music videos played any role in how much you liked/disliked the song?

I watch a music video once for the novelty of it. Now that I think about it, I still haven't watched the videos off the new album. I do use YouTube, but it's casual and background stuff, it's not a place to actively follow my favorite bands.

I know this is useless in the contest of the thread, but at least you'll know that there are some people out there on which the single thing doesn't work 

[Metal_Bandicoot]

I discovered DT in 2009 (18 years old) and have only really listened to the Octavarium album and some of 6DOIT from the Score dvd on YouTube. A Right of Passage was the first music video of theirs I’ve watched. I thought the video was badass and the band members looked cool to me. The song is awesome as well. The two together is what made purchase BC&SL.

OTBOA is my second choice. ADTOE was the first time I got to anticipate a new DT album being released. I dug the song a lot already, but the music video was really neat to me.

I honestly don’t care much for the other videos. I liked the other singles a lot before seeing them, and they were pretty underwhelming for me.

Untethered Angel as a song wasn’t a hit with me. I like it more than I used to, but it's still the least listened to song on DOT for me. I do love the video though. But it didn’t make me anticipate the album. I love Fall Into the Light. If that were the first single and music video I would have been way more pumped for the album.

DT is a mixed bag for me when it comes to singles and music videos.

[Fritzinger]

Easily On The Backs. It's still one of the 3 best songs on the album for me.

[krands85]

The MM era tracks are all great, with OTBOA still probably my favourite and I think they were all good choices as lead single. I like Constant Motion too, but it's a level below those others. A Rite of Passage is easily the worst.

I'm not really bothered about music videos, I generally don't pay much attention to them.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Constant Motion is in my top 10 Dream Theater songs of all time (controversial I know).

[CharlesPL]

A Rite of Passage

[Zydar]

The Enemy Inside

[Mladen]

On The Backs of Angels was just epic and biblical when it came out. And it still is. 

[hefdaddy42]

OTBOA by a nipple of TEI

[pg1067]

Of the songs listed, Constant Motion is my favorite, so that's what I picked, but I get the idea that the poll is asking for impact at the time leading up to the release of each album.  I liked Untethered Angel a lot, and it made me optimistic about DOT.  I though Gift of Music was just ok.  Enemy Inside and OTBOA were cool.  Never really warmed up to Rite of Passage, and I can't remember back far enough to know how I felt about Constant Motion at the time.  Frankly, my first reaction on reading the choices was, "wasn't Forsaken the lead single from SC?"  I guess not....

[TheCountOfMinnesota]

I also thought Forsaken was the single off of SC!  FWIW, I absolutely love that animated video; it's easily my favorite DT music video and I still watch it from time to time.

Regarding a pre-release single building up my excitement for an album, it's The Gift of Music.  Between that and the online "pick a side: Ravenskill Rebel Militia or Great Northern Empire" stuff, I was super intrigued and pumped for TA. 

[MarkFitDT]

The Gift of Music for me - fantastic song.

[JediKnight1969]

Forsaken.

[pg1067]

Frankly, my first reaction on reading the choices was, "wasn't Forsaken the lead single from SC?"  I guess not....

I also thought Forsaken was the single off of SC!

According to Wikipedia, Constant Motion was released as a single on April 27, 2007 -- 38 days before SC was released on June 4, 2007 -- and Forsaken wasn't released as a single until March 31, 2008.

[Progmetty]

DT are one of those bands I trust enough with their output and so for the last two albums I've adopted a no preview policy. Bought them blindly on release day and that was it, no music heard before.

I adopted the no preview policy around the self titled. Otherwise I'm right there with you on that statement. However, I think it's only natural that an early taste of the album would influence your anticipation of it, it may not go as far as deterring you as a fan from listening to the album when it comes out, but it will play a role that varies from one fan to another in how attached we are to the project, following updates, interviews, reviews, etc.
To me for example TEI had yawning about the new album before it came out. Looking back at it now, that could have easily been different if the video had the band performing the song instead of a story going along with the lyrics. Still though, I ended up with one of my least favorite DT albums ever, certainly the worse one with JR.
On the other hand, to show how much variables there are; I didn't care much for OTBOA either. But then ADTOE came out and melted my face, becoming an easy top 3 DT album for me.
So I guess what I'm getting from this thread is that it's definitely a case-by-case thing that is heavily individually-based, nothing to do with single or video quality.

I watch a music video once for the novelty of it. Now that I think about it, I still haven't watched the videos off the new album. I do use YouTube, but it's casual and background stuff, it's not a place to actively follow my favorite bands.

I'm the same way unless the video grabs my attention in a unique way, basically performance videos do that. And split screen in-studio videos like Untethered Angel are specifically interesting to me.

I know this is useless in the contest of the thread, but at least you'll know that there are some people out there on which the single thing doesn't work 

Naah man, I appreciate your input.

A Right of Passage was the first music video of theirs I’ve watched. I thought the video was badass and the band members looked cool to me. The song is awesome as well. The two together is what made purchase BC&SL.

Yep, A Rite of Passage is definitely my favorite DT video.

Frankly, my first reaction on reading the choices was, "wasn't Forsaken the lead single from SC?"  I guess not....

I also thought Forsaken was the single off of SC!

According to Wikipedia, Constant Motion was released as a single on April 27, 2007 -- 38 days before SC was released on June 4, 2007 -- and Forsaken wasn't released as a single until March 31, 2008.

I'd like to congratulate you both for having a life, I knew that by heart. I didn't even have to double-check anything to make the list in the poll
In my defense, it maybe cause I remember living through all these events here on DTF. Waiting for singles/videos, I remember whining about the Constant Motion video cutting my favorite section of the song short and I remember learning about Forsaken video being animated before it coming out and that we already had the album at this point.

[dparrott]

I was blown away by CM on first listen.  Loved TGOM when it came out too.  The others are pretty standard DT.

[KevShmev]

I will take The Enemy Inside over The Gift of Music by a bit. I like both, but I wouldn't say I love either.

On the Backs of Angels and Untethered Angel are both solid tunes, but neither stands out in any way.

A Rite of Passage (bland and boring) and Constant Motion (good riff and guitar solo, bad everything else) are both lowest tier DT songs. 

[gzarruk]

Voted for UA, but honestly all of the Mangini era singles have been amazing, I love all of them for different reasons.

[Dublagent66]

OTBOA.  Great song and video.

[cramx3]

The Gift of Music, but just a nudge of The Enemy Inside

[The Walrus]

Constant Motion. The riff is dope, the guitar solo is dope, and the way the drums build continuously underneath the guitar solo is super dope.

[Setlist Scotty]

A Rite of Passage (save for the stupid Be-bot solo). Runner up choice is Untethered Angel.