Top 100 Dream Theater songs countdown (Top 2 revealed!!)

[KevShmev]

I thought we could get a little ambitious with a top 100 favorite DT songs list, and below is how (I saw this done elsewhere and thought it was a great idea). 

I will count down the top 100 Dream Theater songs in order, and they will be taken from lists of anyone who wants to send me theirs via PM. Do not post them on the forum here. Send them to me via PM.  It doesn't matter if it ends up being 3 of us (I will include mine as well), 12 or 23 people.  I will take all of the lists and come up with a top 100 based on all of them and count the songs down from 100 to 1.  Could be fun, especially with winter coming and COVID likely to keep many inside again.

Just a few rules:
-Songs must be listed from 100 to 1 in order (in reverse order), with no ties.  No having three songs at number 1 or anything like that. 100 songs, listed from 100 to 1. 
-For the sake of this countdown, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and In the Presence of Enemies both as single songs.  Any list that lists any of the individual Six Degrees... tracks individually or breaks up the two In the Presence of Enemies tracks will not be counted.  Every other song from a DT studio album must be listed individually, so no combining songs from Scenes as one track for example.  Feel free to PM and ask me if you unsure of anything like that.  Non-studio album tracks like A Change of Seasons, Raw Dog, Eve, the FII demo songs, etc., are all fair game.
-This one is important: NO SONGS FROM A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD MAY BE INCLUDED.  I personally think the new car smell is still too powerful to include them.  My game, my rules.
-Anyone wanting to submit a list must do so by December 26th.  I will then begin the countdown later that week, probably over New Year's weekend, but maybe a touch earlier if I am that quick in tallying up the lists.


The list will be tallied numerically in a simple way. On each list, whatever song is at number 1 gets 100 points, number 2 gets 99 points, number 3 gets 98 points, etc.

Feel free to post in this thread as well that you have PM'd me, a) so I do not miss it ), and b) so it bumps it back up for others who may want to participate to see.

Top 100:

01 Learning to Live
02 A Change of Seasons
03 Octavarium
04 Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
05 Voices
06 Breaking All Illusions
07 Trial of Tears
08 Home
09 Scarred
10 Finally Free
11 In the Name of God
12 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
13 The Glass Prison
14 The Count of Tuscany
15 Surrounded
16 Bridges in the Sky
17 Lines in the Sand
18 Fatal Tragedy
19 The Mirror
20 At Wit's End
21 Space Dye Vest
22 Blind Faith
23 Illumination Theory
24 Strange Deja Vu
25 In the Presence of Enemies
26 Take the Time
27 Pull Me Under
28 The Spirit Carries On
29 Under a Glass Moon
30 Beyond This Life
31 Disappear
32 Wait for Sleep
33 Misunderstood
34 The Root of All Evil
35 (t) Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
35 (t) The Bigger Picture
37 Outcry
38 Overture 1928
39 Barstool Warrior
40 Endless Sacrifice
41 These Walls
42 Hell's Kitchen
43 Fall into the Light
44 Another Day
45 Panic Attack
46 The Great Debate
47 The Dance of Eternity
48 The Killing Hand
49 Pale Blue Dot
50 Stream of Consciousness
51 This Dying Soul
52 Erotomania
53 Sacrificed Sons
54 6:00
55 A Nightmare to Remember
56 The Enemy Inside
57 Innocence Faded
58 Surrender to Reason
59 (t) Lie
59 (t) Lost Not Forgotten
61 Peruvian Skies
62 The Shattered Fortress
63 Caught in a Web
64 Behind the Veil
65 One Last Time
66 The Ministry of Lost Souls
67 Beneath the Surface
68 A New Beginning
69 Hollow Years
70 S2N
71 As I Am
72 Raise the Knife
73 On the Backs of Angels
74 This Is the Life
75 Only a Matter of Time
76 A Fortune in Lies
77 The Best of Times
78 The Dark Eternal Night
79 Ytse Jam
80 The Silent Man
81 Honor Thy Father
82 Constant Motion
83 The Gift of Music
84 Moment of Betrayal
85 Three Days
86 The Path That Divides
87 Ravenskill
88 A Life Left Behind
89 Vacant
90 New Millennium
91 To Live Forever
92 The Looking Glass
93 I Walk Beside You
94 Through Her Eyes
95 Forsaken
96 Afterlife
97 Our New World
98 A Savior in the Square
99 Never Enough
100 The X Aspect

[TAC]

But you don't have time to join a roulette?

[KevShmev]

I didn't then...now I do. 

[TAC]

What about live songs that are quite different to the studio versions like..

Hollow Years from Bukokan, or Space Dye Vest from Boston?

[Lonk]

I'll play. I'll work on my list over the next few days.

[Cool Chris]

I am horrible at ranking things. I can to a Top 5/10 of certain items (movies, songs, pizza toppings, etc...), but that's where I max out. I have no idea how to distinguish between my 36th and 37th favorite anything.

That being said, I might try and tackle this over the weekend.

[KevShmev]

What about live songs that are quite different to the studio versions like..

Hollow Years from Bukokan, or Space Dye Vest from Boston?

Specific versions are not ranked.  A song can be ranked only once in the top 100.  You can base your ranking on whatever version you want, but list just the song itself.

[Setlist Scotty]

Strictly originals or can covers be included? What about live only tracks such as Barfbag, Bombay Vindaloo and the Canadian Rap? 

[Cool Chris]

Is there a list of all the songs somewhere that lazy people like me can build off of?

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm game for this....Will be fun to do now that school is nearly done for the semester.

I will say though, that each top whatever list that I do is not set it stone. It's based on how I feel at that very moment when I do the list. So my top 100 list will be a culmination of those feelings I have for the songs in the moments of setting up the top 100. That is only for the songs that are below the top 10. The top 10 are set in stone basically, but some have fallen and risen with the release of newer albums.

[wolfking]

NO SONGS FROM A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD MAY BE INCLUDED. 

Oh no, whatever will I do. 

Just kidding, no song was making mine anyway. 

Wait, I don't have time for this.

Edit:  Ah boxing day cut-off, yeah I'll do this.

[wolfking]

Is there a list of all the songs somewhere that lazy people like me can build off of?

I'll probably just use Wikipedia.

[wolfking]

I'm game for this....Will be fun to do now that school is nearly done for the semester.

I will say though, that each top whatever list that I do is not set it stone. It's based on how I feel at that very moment when I do the list. So my top 100 list will be a culmination of those feelings I have for the songs in the moments of setting up the top 100. That is only for the songs that are below the top 10. The top 10 are set in stone basically, but some have fallen and risen with the release of newer albums.

That sounds crazy.

I might make mine on a culmination of feelings I'll have for the songs in 20 years.

[Elite]

What the heck, I'll join.

Can we vote for NOMAC tracks?

[KevShmev]

Strictly originals or can covers be included? What about live only tracks such as Barfbag, Bombay Vindaloo and the Canadian Rap? 

Originals only, no covers.  Covers would likely be a wasted vote anyway since I can't imagine most would include them, meaning any you'd list wouldn't make the cumulative top 100, but that's neither here nor there.  No covers.

Live only songs, sure.

Is there a list of all the songs somewhere that lazy people like me can build off of?

I'll probably just use Wikipedia.

Good call.

What the heck, I'll join.

Can we vote for NOMAC tracks?

Yes. 

[Lonk]

Here are all the songs, numbered in chronological order to make it easier on those than want to play. Assuming is ok to include Viper King, even if it is a bonus.

Updated to include non-album tracks.

When Dream and Day Unite
1.A Fortune in Lies
2.Status Seeker
3.Ytse Jam
4.The Killing Hand
5.Light Fuse and Get Away
6.Afterlife
7.The One Who Helps to Set the Sun
8.Only a Matter of Time

Images and Words
9.Pull Me Under
10.Another Day
11.Take the Time
12.Surrounded
13.Metropolis, Pt. 1: the Miracle and the Sleeper
14.Under a Glass Moon
15.Wait For Sleep
16.Learning To Live

Awake
17.6:00
18.Caught In a Web
19.Innocence Faded
20.Erotomania
21.Voices
22.The Silent Man
23.The Mirror
24.Lie
25.Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
26.Scarred
27.Space-Dye Vest

Falling Into Infinity
28.New Millennium
29.You Not Me
30.Peruvian Skies
31.Hollow Years
32.Burning My Soul
33.Hell's Kitchen
34.Lines In the Sand
35.Take Away My Pain
36.Just Let Me Breathe
37.Anna Lee
38.Trial of Tears

Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory
39.Regression
40.Overture 1928
41.Strange Deja Vu
42.Through My Words
43.Fatal Tragedy
44.Beyond This Life
45.Through Her Eyes
46.Home
47.The Dance of Eternity
48.One Last Time
49.The Spirit Carries On
50.Finally Free

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
51.The Glass Prison
52.Blind Faith
53.Misunderstood
54.The Great Debate
55.Disappear
56.Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence

Train of Thoughts
57.As I Am
58.This Dying Soul
59.Endless Sacrifice
60.Honor Thy Father
61.Vacant
62.Stream of Consciousness
63.In the Name of God

Octavarium
64.The Root of All Evil
65.The Answer Lies Within
66.These Walls
67.I Walk Beside You
68.Panic Attack
69.Never Enough
70.Sacrificed Sons
71.Octavarium

Systematic Chaos
72.In the Presence of Enemies
73.Forsaken
74.Constant Motion
75.The Dark Eternal Night
76.Repentance
77.Prophets of War
78.The Ministry of Lost Souls

Black Cloud and Silver Linings
79.A Nightmare To Remember
80.A Rite of Passage
81.Wither
82.The Shattered Fortress
83.The Best of Times
84.The Count of Tuscany

A Dramatic Turn of Events
85.On the Backs of Angels
86.Build Me Up, Break Me Down
87.Lost Not Forgotten
88.This is the Life
89.Bridges In the Sky
90.Outcry
91.Far From Heaven
92.Breaking All Illusions
93.Beneath the Surface

Dream Theater
94.False Awakening Suite
95.The Enemy Inside
96.The Looking Glass
97.Enigma Machine
98.The Bigger Picture
99.Behind the Veil
100.Surrender To Reason
101.Along For the Ride
102.Illumination Theory

The Astonishing
103.Descent of the Nomacs 1
104.Dystopian Overture
105.The Gift of Music
106.The Answer
107.A Better Life
108.Lord Nafaryus
109.A Savior In The Square
110.When Your Time Has Come
111.Act of Faythe
112.Three Days
113.The Hovering Sojourn
114.Brother, Can You Hear Me?
115.A Life Left Behind
116.Ravenskill
117.Chosen
118.A Tempting Offer
119.Digital Discord
120.The X Aspect
121.A New Beginning
122.The Road To Revolution
123.2285 Entr'acte
124.Moment of Betrayal
125.Heaven's Cove
126.Begin Again
127.The Path That Divides
128.Machine Chatter
129.The Walking Shadow
130.My Last Farewell
131.Losing Faythe
132.Whispers On The Wind
133.Hymn of A Thousand Voices
134.Our New World
135.Power Down
136.Astonishing

Distance over Time
137.Untethered Angel
138.Paralyzed
139.Fall Into The Light
140.Barstool Warrior
141.Room 137
142.S2N
143.At Wit's End
144.Out Of Reach
145.Pale Blue Dot
146.Viper King

Non-studio:
147. A Vision
148. Another Won
149. Cover My Eyes
150. Cry for Freedom
151. Don't look past me
152. March of the Tyrant
153. Raise The Knife
154. Speak To Me
155. The Way It Used to Be
156. To Live Forever
157. Two Far
158. Vital Star
159. Where Are You Now
160. You Majesty
161. Eve
162. Raw Dogs
164. The Holiday Spirit Carries On
165. Another Hand
166. Moon Bubbles
167. Slow Motion
168. Bombay Vindaloo
169. Barfbag
170. Awake Jam
171. Gladiator Theme
172. A Change of Seasons

[Elite]

Non-studio album tracks like A Change of Seasons, Raw Dog, Eve, the FII demo songs, etc., are all fair game.

[Ben_Jamin]

I'm game for this....Will be fun to do now that school is nearly done for the semester.

I will say though, that each top whatever list that I do is not set it stone. It's based on how I feel at that very moment when I do the list. So my top 100 list will be a culmination of those feelings I have for the songs in the moments of setting up the top 100. That is only for the songs that are below the top 10. The top 10 are set in stone basically, but some have fallen and risen with the release of newer albums.

That sounds crazy.

I might make mine on a culmination of feelings I'll have for the songs in 20 years.

There's just too many songs, from my favorite band, that I enjoy it's difficult for me to have a definitive ranking. Even within a year, it'll change. I actually do not have a definitive top anything list for a lot of things. But, Dream Theater is the only band where I enjoy a lot of the songs and have a hard time ranking. Dream Theater is the only band where I have all their albums.

[Lonk]

Non-studio album tracks like A Change of Seasons, Raw Dog, Eve, the FII demo songs, etc., are all fair game.

Yes I know, I said maybe I'll update the post to include them, but I guess I have no choice now, do I? 

[TAC]

Here are all the songs, numbered in chronological order

V, thank you. I can drop this into an excel spreadsheet and click and drag.

[krands85]

Here's a big wikipedia list as well:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_Dream_Theater

I'll probably give this a go, I've already got a playlist of my favourites that's got about 75 tracks on it, so I'll just need to add some more and tweak things a little.

[Lonk]

Updated to include non-album tracks. Let me know if I missed anything.

Here are all the songs, numbered in chronological order

V, thank you. I can drop this into an excel spreadsheet and click and drag.

I had it on an excel sheet and decided to keep it as a plain-old-boring list 

[devieira73]

Great work, Vmadera00!
Just a thought, since you included You Not Me (demo), maybe, it would be interesting also to include Take Away My Pain and Burning My Soul demos because they differ a lot from the album's versions. I know, this can open a can of worms (Lines in the Sand, Pull Me Under, ACOS demos), but still...
Your criteria was to include non-album tracks that the titles weren't released officially as songs in the proper albums?

[KevShmev]

Great job indeed, but to clarify, there will be no differentiation between versions.  You cannot list both You Not Me (studio version) and You Not Me (demo version).  Any list listing any song more than once like that will not be counted.  If someone lists Burning My Soul, they can base their ranking off of the studio version or the demo, but one cannot list both versions in their top 100.

[TAC]

The new album should be included.

[Setlist Scotty]

Updated to include non-album tracks. Let me know if I missed anything.

You missed the live-only tracks they've done:
Another Hand (although I personally think of it primarily as an intro to TKH)
Moon Bubbles
Slow Motion
Bombay Vindaloo
Barfbag
Awake Jam
Lost Without You (yes I know JP has his on his first solo album, but it was originally played at DT shows 10 years before)
Gladiator Theme

[Lonk]

Thanks, I wasn't sure about the live-only tracks but updated and added, also included A change of Seasons 

I'll let Kev decide if he wants to allow Lost Without You to be included, since it is known mainly from Suspended Animation.

[ZirconBlue]

Great job indeed, but to clarify, there will be no differentiation between versions.  You cannot list both You Not Me (studio version) and You Not Me (demo version).  Any list listing any song more than once like that will not be counted.  If someone lists Burning My Soul, they can base their ranking off of the studio version or the demo, but one cannot list both versions in their top 100.

Ah, but what about "You OR Me"? 

[Setlist Scotty]

Great job indeed, but to clarify, there will be no differentiation between versions.  You cannot list both You Not Me (studio version) and You Not Me (demo version).  Any list listing any song more than once like that will not be counted.  If someone lists Burning My Soul, they can base their ranking off of the studio version or the demo, but one cannot list both versions in their top 100.

Ah, but what about "You OR Me"? 

Better yet, what about the original Metropolis part II?   

BTW Vadera00, you forgot the Canadian Rap! (just kidding)

[Grandepapa]

Genuine question:
Do we have to list EXACTLY 100 songs? I love Dream Theater and I try to familiarize myself with their whole discography, but as it stands right now there are probably only about 85 DT songs that I know well enough to really decisively rank.

[KevShmev]

The new album should be included.

-This one is important: NO SONGS FROM A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD MAY BE INCLUDED.  I personally think the new car smell is still too powerful to include them.  My game, my rules.
 

[KevShmev]

I'll let Kev decide if he wants to allow Lost Without You to be included, since it is known mainly from Suspended Animation.

Nah. That would be like putting Another Dimension on there because DT played it live.  Let's stick to DT originals.

[KevShmev]

Great job indeed, but to clarify, there will be no differentiation between versions.  You cannot list both You Not Me (studio version) and You Not Me (demo version).  Any list listing any song more than once like that will not be counted.  If someone lists Burning My Soul, they can base their ranking off of the studio version or the demo, but one cannot list both versions in their top 100.

Ah, but what about "You OR Me"? 

Nope. Demos that turned into songs that ended up studio albums are off limits.  Let's not make this difficult, peeps.

[KevShmev]

Genuine question:
Do we have to list EXACTLY 100 songs? I love Dream Theater and I try to familiarize myself with their whole discography, but as it stands right now there are probably only about 85 DT songs that I know well enough to really decisively rank.

Yes.  Sounds like a good opportunity to binge listen and get that number up. 

[TAC]

The new album should be included.

-This one is important: NO SONGS FROM A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE WORLD MAY BE INCLUDED.  I personally think the new car smell is still too powerful to include them.  My game, my rules.
 

Are you saying we can't be objective? There's plenty of people that think the new car ..smells.