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

[TAC]

87 Ravenskill #51
86 the Path That Divides #73
85 Three Days #75
84 Moment of Betrayal #65
83 the Gift of Music #37


All 5 of these made my list. In fact, I had 14 The Astonishing tracks in my Top 100.

Ravenskill is an amazing track. I think it's criminally underrated.

[Trav86]

80 The Silent Man
Appeared on 16 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 22 (HOF)

This is the first one where I feel it should be a lot higher. Like, 50 more spots.
I know I’m in the minority that really loves this song. I generally hold the DT ballads in higher regard than most folks around her, it seems.

[Cool Chris]

People using "criminally" so often is becoming... well, criminal. 

[TAC]

People using "criminally" so often is becoming... well, criminal. 

Guilty as a criminal.

[Cool Chris]

[devieira73]

Constant Motion (#39) and Honor Thy Father (#56) are both excellents heavy DT songs, with great solo/instrumental passages. I never understood why CM is so under appreciated… The Silent Man is really nice, but it works more in the context of the epic.

[TAC]

82  Constant Motion

I have this at #79. I was a bit surprised at this style when it was released as a single. The lyrics are kind of corny.."you got yours and I got mine", but I like the sentiment of the song. The instrumental section in the middle is top notch. The verse always reminded me of Anthrax's I Am The Law.


81  Honor Thy Father

This didn't make my Top 100. I never considered it, actually. Yes, this song is heavy AF, but I don't know. The lyrics are a bit strong. Been a long time since I have actually listened to this. I am glad I saw it live on the Gigantour though.


80 The Silent Man

This didn't make my Top 100. It is such an afterthought after Voices (and Erotomania). I liked the '04 live version where they gave it some life, but this isn't a song I ever spend any time with. It's nice enough for what it is. I certainly don't dislike it. That Rhode Island radio telethon from the other thread was literally the first time I heard this.

[jammindude]

I have some catching up to do:

THE TA 5 - My ranking:

Ravenskill - 137
The Path That Divides - 62
Three Days - 90
Moment of Betrayal - 60
The Gift of Music - 81

Everytime I revisited Ravenskill during the ranking, it seemed all story and nothing musically coherent to make it a standalone piece.   But I'm listening to it again right now, and it's actually quite emotionally powerful.   Probably a grower that I haven't grown in to yet. 

I love The Path That Divides.  Fantastic storytelling and conveying of conflict in that song.  I feel it stands on its own a bit more than some of the other songs.

I'm surprised at my rankings of Three Days being that low and The Gift of Music being that high.  If I did it over again, I would probably switch the rankings on those two.   Three Days is just a fantastic performance by JLB, and while The Gift of Music is a decent enough intro to the story, it is a bit bland to me.

Moment of Betrayal places highest for me of this bunch, and that's fair.  I always felt Disc 2 had a much stronger introduction than Disc 1. 

THE NEXT 3 PACK - My ranking:

Constant Motion - 146
Honor Thy Father - 58
The Silent Man - 132

Only 10 songs total placed lower than Constant Motion.  I will admit that is fun live when you're there.  But the music is just so so and the lyrics (like so much of SC) are just so crushingly terrible that they become hard to ignore. 

Honor Thy Father is just fantastic.  It's always been a favorite of mine from TOT, and I don't get the dislike for it at all.   Truly an underrated gem.

The Silent Man is very nice as a coda for A Mind Beside Itself.  The live version from LSFNY is wonderful.  But the studio version is just kind of "there" and works better as part of the larger piece than it does on its own. 

[Wim Kruithof]

82 Constant Motion #89
81 Honor Thy Father #65
80 the Silent Man #45

If it wasn’t for the cursing in the filmpart, this piece (Honor Thy Father) would probably be in my top 10 forever. I love the metal vibe along the track, especially with Portnoy’s background, being hated by his stepfather. Just too bad the actor ruined the track for me. As a christian this track is hard on my identity. Therefore it’s not as high as it would be otherwise.

First time I listen to the Silent Man, I was immediate under pressure of it’s simpleness, because there is so much beauty in it. When I found out it was a part of a Mind Beside Itself, this would even raise the track for me.

[Setlist Scotty]

I’m catching up, too!

90 New Millennium – 85
89 Vacant – didn’t make my top 100
88 A Life Left Behind – 94
87 Ravenskill – didn’t make my top 100
86 The Path That Divides – didn’t make my top 100
85 Three Days ¬– didn’t make my top 100
84 Moment of Betrayal – 92
83 The Gift of Music – 97
82 Constant Motion – 84
81 Honor Thy Father – 21
80 The Silent Man – didn’t make my top 100

Looks like I’m in agreement with NM, ALLB, MoB and especially CM.

As is obvious – especially in comparison to the rest of their catalog – I’m not a fan of TA. I rated Heaven’s Cove the highest at 77 (IMO, a great, underrated track, even by the band since they dropped it towards the end of the TA tour), so it’s not surprising that 3 in that batch of 5 TA tracks didn’t make the cut for me. I’d also wager that A New Beginning is the final TA track to make the cut.

Not a huge fan of CM, but it’s a decent track. The instrumental section really saves it.

Happy to see HTF make the list despite how much that track really seems to be despised. While I’ve never (fortunately) been in the situation that MP was in that moved him to write those lyrics, I can sympathize with him and others who have. But in particular for me, the music has really grown on me exponentially over the years so that I would say it’s my favorite on ToT these days.

TSM is a good track, but I’m not a huge acoustic/camp fire music fan, which is why it didn’t make my top 100. As Ben said, it especially works well as part of AMBI – moreso than as a stand alone piece.

[Laughingplace56]

Wow I didn’t realize there was any hate towards Constant Motion  imo, there are only a few DT songs that honestly have a great set of lyrics, so as long as they’re not super cringey (like most of The Astonishing), they don’t detract from my enjoyment of the song. CM is fun as all hell and has one of the best instrumental sections of a DT song. The freestyle drum playing behind JP’s solo is fucking excellent.

I knew Honor Thy Father gets some hate so I’m not surprised to see it so low, but glad at least one other person had it as high as I did lol. It came in at 24 for me. This was actually the first song I listened to from DT (besides Dance of Eternity, but I was not ready to comprehend prog metal yet so that was noooot the right one to start with  ), so it has some sentimental value there, but the opening riff is such a punch to the face, and the whole thing is balls to the wall heavy and awesome.

Silent Man ranked at 37 and is the highest in the AMBI suite on my list. This is one of the DT songs with excellent lyrics, it’s such a fun song to sing, and the guitar playing is excellent.

I hope to see all 3 of these songs live someday, but unfortunately feel like Honor Thy Father has the least chance of seeing the stage again 

[Revenge319]

I'm too lazy to do writeups for the five tracks from The Astonishing, though I feel like I'd usually be repeating what I said about previous TA tracks anyway. Here are the rankings, of course:

Ravenskill: #77
The Path That Divides: #40
Three Days: #68
Moment of Betrayal: #60
The Gift of Music: #61


Constant Motion
My ranking: #64. This is a fun and very energetic song. The verses are great and they can fill me with energy. The guitar and keyboard solos are really cool, too. I really enjoy the intense, fast-paced nature of this song. I don't understand the flak this song gets at all (well, I guess the "Random thoughts of neat disorder" line is kind of jarring, but that's it).
On a side note, I've heard people compare this song to Metallica, but after listening to their whole discography not too long ago, I don't really hear the resemblance...


Honor Thy Father
My ranking: Not ranked (#142). My least favorite Dream Theater song, and by a rather wide margin. This is the only DT song I'd rate lower than a 7/10. To be more precise, I'd give it a 5.5/10. So, what makes this my least favorite Dream Theater song out of all the ones I've ever heard? Well, there's one main reason: It's too unpleasant and dreadful. And I mean that in reference to how the lyrics set the mood, not so much the music. I don't mind the subject matter, but how it's handled is what makes it a problem for me. The song goes from a sort of righteous anger at first, to just being bitter and irritable. And that bitterness is what makes it so unpleasant for me. If the lyrics had stayed in the tone that's conveyed in the first verse, this would have worked a lot better. It passes the point of no return for me after the "cross the crooked step" part. The film samples are uncomfortable to listen to, and I don't think making the lyrics vulgar in the last chorus was a good idea. Maybe that's just because I don't like swearing/vulgar language much, but I've listened to quite a few songs where I'm not bothered by swearing. Like I said, the song's mood becomes too angry and bitter. I will say that if the lyrics were improved, this likely wouldn't be my least favorite Dream Theater song. There's occasionally some interesting moments here and there musically. But I don't think it'd go that much higher. I think Never Enough is Honor Thy Father done right, in the sense that the lyrics convey an angry mood, but it's never too angry or bitter.

The Silent Man
My ranking: #23. I will say that this song being as high as #23 is influenced by it being related to Voices. That said, if I were to rank this song completely on its own, it would probably only be a few spots lower. This song is beautiful. It has this lonely but comforting feeling to it. Everything about this song works perfectly; the vocals, the acoustic guitar, and the lyrics. The lyrics are already incredible on their own, but in the context of A Mind Beside Itself, they become even deeper. I feel like this song deserves much more writing from me, but all I can say is that it's pretty much perfect.

[HOF]

I ranked Honor Thy Father 80th. Would be better without lyrics.

The Silent Man is great, and I might have rated it too low at 22. But it does have confounding lyrics, so maybe it’s just right. But I love James’ performance and the solo is really nice. Just a really nice little song. DT away from the metal is always refreshing.

[Dream Team]

Revenge319: totally agreed on HTF. Bottom 5 song for me.

[Cool Chris]

Honor Thy Father has some small flaws that I could overlook easier if some of the vocal sections weren't horrible. This and This Dying Soul, why the heck did they make James sing like that?

Constant Motion is awful. That was the first single from SC right? I heard that, and was highly disappointed, I thought my love for this band left the harbor.

[jammindude]

Honor Thy Father has some small flaws that I could overlook easier if some of the vocal sections weren't horrible. This and This Dying Soul, why the heck did they make James sing like that?

Constant Motion is awful. That was the first single from SC right? I heard that, and was highly disappointed, I thought my love for this band left the harbor.

I remember seeing a “making of” behind the scenes video while they were making that album. That was all Mike Portnoy. he literally said something to the effect of “I need you to sing this part like Dave Mustaine”

This is just one more brick in the wall between Mike and James. Remember that during the making of falling into infinity, he wanted James to sing the chorus of lines in the sand “like Doug Pinnick”… after several takes, they couldn’t get anything that Mike was happy with, so Mike just went and got Doug Pinnick to do it.

I love Mike dearly. But if I was a singer in a band and I constantly had somebody else in the band trying to get me to sound like somebody else, I would get pretty irritated pretty quickly.

[KevShmev]

Well said, jammindude.

The verses of Constant Motion sound like JLB was told to sing like Mustaine and/or Hetfield and it comes off really poorly.  Not to mention that "forevermore into the night blistering" is still the most embarrassing DT moment ever.  And it's too bad because the main riff is really good, and Petrucci's solo is killer (as is Portnoy's drumming underneath it), but they went to waste in a song torpedoed by the worst vocal melodies in any DT song ever.   

[Setlist Scotty]

I on the other hand don't have a problem with them asking James to approach certain lyrics or songs more in the style of this singer or that. After all, the rest of the band does that all the time with their respective instruments (even after MP left). Why should the vocals be any different, especially since they don't usually put a lot of filters or effects on his vocals like they do with the other instruments?

[TAC]

I on the other hand don't have a problem with them asking James to approach certain lyrics or songs more in the style of this singer or that. After all, the rest of the band does that all the time with their respective instruments (even after MP left). Why should the vocals be any different, especially since they don't usually put a lot of filters or effects on his vocals like they do with the other instruments?

Yeah, I agree. Sometimes it could be the finished product that they settled on that could be the problem. That said, I'm sure they did multiple stylings for these parts, much like A Nightmare To Remember where they ended up using MP's rougher vocal.

[KevShmev]

Here are three more for today!

79 Ytse Jam
Appeared on 21 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 24 (DragonAttack)

I remember seeing/hearing this for the first on the Live in Tokyo VHS and thinking, "Wow, it sounds like YYZ on steroids!!"  That is meant as a compliment.  Killer instrumental.  I guess it is indicative of how many DT songs I love when this finished at only 68 on my list.


78 The Dark Eternal Night
Appeared on 17 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 15 (devieira73)

This was in the 80s for me when I made my initial list by hand, but when I used the rankings engine and redid them, it did not make the cut.  Like much of Systematic Chaos, this has that bad 80's horror film feel, which is charming if I am in the right mood.


77 The Best of Times
Appeared on 20 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 3 (Revenge319)

This could have been a top 20-30 song for me had the execution been better, to be honest.  The music is awesome and the guitar solo at the end is just magic, but James sounds rather uninspired at times when singing this song, and while the main lyrical sentiment is obviously very heartfelt, the lyrics themselves I think are a bit lacking (I will leave it at that out of respect, given the subject matter).  This one also didn't make the cut for me after I did the rankings engine.

[Cool Chris]

I on the other hand don't have a problem with them asking James to approach certain lyrics or songs more in the style of this singer or that. After all, the rest of the band does that all the time with their respective instruments (even after MP left). Why should the vocals be any different, especially since they don't usually put a lot of filters or effects on his vocals like they do with the other instruments?

I am not a musician and no nothing about the process. But it just doesn't feel comparable. And I think there is a difference between "singing in the style of..." and "singing like..." I do not know where that line is but I feel it was crossed a couple times, and always with negative results.

TDEN is awful, always has been, always will be.

I like TBoT, the lyrics never bother me and I wish I didn't read all the discussions that surrounded them on various forums. I never cared that it was "too specific" to Mike's personal experiences and not something I could relate to. It's a song. Do the music, lyrics, and vocal melodies work well together? In this case, yes they do. It's not a great song, and the 70s seems where it should be.

[bosk1]

Not to mention that "forevermore into the night blistering" is still the most embarrassing DT moment ever. 

I really have no idea what is or is supposed to be somehow embarrassing about that part.  The lyrics are great.  The delivery is great.    I'm at a loss to understand what you mean.

In any case, I am generally with Scotty on this:

I on the other hand don't have a problem with them asking James to approach certain lyrics or songs more in the style of this singer or that. After all, the rest of the band does that all the time with their respective instruments (even after MP left). Why should the vocals be any different, especially since they don't usually put a lot of filters or effects on his vocals like they do with the other instruments?

Yeah, same here.  And I think it is valid from at least two perspectives.  First off, as a songwriter, I think it is entirely appropriate for JP, MP, or whoever to say something like, "here's what we had in mind for that part.  Let's try it like this."  Second, that's what producers do all the time with vocals and all the instruments.  "OK, I hear what you did.  Now let's change it up and try it like this instead."  Or "I'm not feeling it; here's the emotion I want to hear."  Or something like that.

And let's not forget that there are PLENTY of songs and plenty of passages within songs where James was free to do whatever he felt, or where he was the one who wanted to try to change something up, and they went with it.  There's always that give and take within a band, and we are only exposed to snippets in those studio videos and in interviews.  We don't get to be a fly on the wall for the entire process, and the bits we do get are likely to lead to wrong impressions about how things really work if we take them too far.

[jammindude]

Just giving a +1 to Kev’s take on the “forevermore into the night blistering part” as being the first time in DT history up to that point that I actively cringed in embarrassment for them.

My ranking on this batch:

Ytse Jam - 45
The Dark Eternal Night - 56
The Best of Times - 115

Ytse Jam definitely influenced by my love of the LIT version with the drum solo…which is my second favorite drum solo of all time behind Neil Peart’s on YYZ from ESL. But the original is excellent as well. But I have excellent memories of hooking up RCA cables between my VHS and cassette player to get a high quality (for its time) copy of the audio…which I subsequently wore out.

The Dark Eternal Night was the only saving grace of SC until I rediscovered TMOLS. This is one where I’m confused about why people think the lyrics are bad when they seem worlds better than CM to me. JLBs delivery is definitely more menacing. For most of SC I feel like I’m listening to a Spinal Tap album, but not for TDEN.

I also echo Kev’s thoughts on The Best of Times. The sentiment is beautiful and heartfelt, but I didn’t feel the execution matched the vision. I’ll say nothing else out of respect.

[bosk1]

Just giving a +1 to Kev’s take on the “forevermore into the night blistering part” as being the first time in DT history up to that point that I actively cringed in embarrassment for them.

Okay, but:  WHY?  What is it about that part that is supposedly worthy of cringing in embarrassment.  To me, that is the most illogical reaction one could have to a piece of work from an artist who feels they have put out a quality piece of work that they are proud of (unless there is something intrinsically embarrassing about it, such as an obvious error the band regrets, or the content being wildly inappropriate, or something along those lines), which is the case here.  So I legitimately don't get it and was (and am still) asking for an explanation.   

[Revenge319]

Ytse Jam
My ranking: #55. One of Dream Theater's greater instrumental tracks. This has nearly everything that makes Dream Theater so great. All it's missing is James LaBrie, but he wasn't on this album anyway, so I suppose that's okay. This whole track is great, but the highlight for me is at approximately 2:20 when the music gets faster and even more exciting. That whole section until ~3:52 is just awesome.


The Dark Eternal Night
My ranking: #33. Aside from Portnoy's vocals, I cannot fathom how some people say this is one of the worst Dream Theater songs. I love this song. It's super-close to being a 10/10, and the only thing keeping it from that status is that it's outclassed by 24 specific 10/10 songs, plus around 10 songs in its own tier. Awesome intro, then the verse comes in and the song really gets going. The chorus is really good, and then there's the big instrumental section which is insanely good. And the instrumental outro is so, so good. I wish I could explain more accurately what makes this song so enjoyable for me (I feel like by the end of this countdown, I'm gonna have a lot of similar writeups), but sometimes it's hard to get into the mindset of doing much better write-ups. That, and I'd probably be here for hours trying to dissect every element of songs of a high caliber such as this one.


The Best of Times
My ranking: #3. Well, as nice as it would've been to see this closer to #3 on the overall countdown, I sure am glad The Best of Times made it onto this list. This song is in a tier where it's beyond being one of the greatest Dream Theater songs. This is simply one of the greatest songs I've ever listened to. It's so immensely emotional. The lyrics are great, and James' delivery of them is great as well. I love the different moods this song goes through. And, of course, the guitar solo at the end is sheer perfection. That's a strong contender for the best part of any Dream Theater song ever.

[jammindude]

Just giving a +1 to Kev’s take on the “forevermore into the night blistering part” as being the first time in DT history up to that point that I actively cringed in embarrassment for them.

Okay, but:  WHY?  What is it about that part that is supposedly worthy of cringing in embarrassment.  To me, that is the most illogical reaction one could have to a piece of work from an artist who feels they have put out a quality piece of work that they are proud of (unless there is something intrinsically embarrassing about it, such as an obvious error the band regrets, or the content being wildly inappropriate, or something along those lines), which is the case here.  So I legitimately don't get it and was (and am still) asking for an explanation.   

Put simply (and I think others share this) it sounds exceptionally juvenile. Literally like something I would have scrawled on my Pee-Chee when I was twelve while thinking how “bad ass” it sounded.

Trust me…I wrote some real doozies in middle school that I look at now and go “eeesh…really? I wrote that?” And it instantly reminded me of that. In fact, I want to say that I did write something extremely similar when I was 12 and then found it when I was 20 and couldn’t figure out whether to laugh or vomit,

[HOF]

I have Ytse Jam at 57. It’s fine for what it is, and I enjoy it well enough, but it’s not something I seek out often. I like it better on OiALT than on WDADU.

The Best of Times comes in at 77 for me. I like the Rush like, up tempo part but the intro and back half of the song really drag.

[jammindude]

Just have to stop and say that Revenge reminded me of that AMAZING guitar solo in TBOT. Truly the highlight of the song and probably an all time top 10 solo from JP.

Good call.

[geeeemo]

82 Constant Motion –76. I like it. I have it for my sons ringtone as it reminds me of him. Love the instrumental!

81 Honor Thy Father –  I just dont like this song. I never listen to it.

80 The Silent Man - 64. It a lovely song. I love watching and listening to it on Live from Luna Park.

[Cool Chris]

If I opened up my musical dictionary, that "Forevermore..." line would be the first definition listed under "Cringe Worthy." Yet I love "Dark Master Within..." which I know many people here have under their definition of "Cringe Worthy."

I wonder what the biggest discrepancy is between where a song landed on the compiled l list and where it slotted on an individual's list. For instance, is there a song in the overall Top 10 that someone left off their Top 100?

Tip of the cap to jammindude for the Pee-Chee reference.

[jammindude]

If I opened up my musical dictionary, that "Forevermore..." line would be the first definition listed under "Cringe Worthy." Yet I love "Dark Master Within..." which I know many people here have under their definition of "Cringe Worthy."

I wonder what the biggest discrepancy is between where a song landed on the compiled l list and where it slotted on an individual's list. For instance, is there a song in the overall Top 10 that someone left off their Top 100?

Tip of the cap to jammindude for the Pee-Chee reference.

 

Millennials will never understand.

[wolfking]

I make no apologies putting HTF in my top 20.  Its incredible.

[KevShmev]

Just giving a +1 to Kev’s take on the “forevermore into the night blistering part” as being the first time in DT history up to that point that I actively cringed in embarrassment for them.

Okay, but:  WHY?  What is it about that part that is supposedly worthy of cringing in embarrassment.  To me, that is the most illogical reaction one could have to a piece of work from an artist who feels they have put out a quality piece of work that they are proud of (unless there is something intrinsically embarrassing about it, such as an obvious error the band regrets, or the content being wildly inappropriate, or something along those lines), which is the case here.  So I legitimately don't get it and was (and am still) asking for an explanation.   

Put simply (and I think others share this) it sounds exceptionally juvenile. Literally like something I would have scrawled on my Pee-Chee when I was twelve while thinking how “bad ass” it sounded.

Trust me…I wrote some real doozies in middle school that I look at now and go “eeesh…really? I wrote that?” And it instantly reminded me of that. In fact, I want to say that I did write something extremely similar when I was 12 and then found it when I was 20 and couldn’t figure out whether to laugh or vomit,

Well said.  It sounds like a line you'd love when you were 12 and thought Friday the 13th was bad ass because you and your friends watched it without your parents knowing after they fell asleep, but then you reach adulthood and it's like, "Oh, right." 

I wonder what the biggest discrepancy is between where a song landed on the compiled l list and where it slotted on an individual's list. For instance, is there a song in the overall Top 10 that someone left off their Top 100?

I believe there are three songs in the top 10 that didn't make all 26 lists. 

[devieira73]

79 Ytse Jam (#53)
I also heard it for the first time on the Live in Tokyo VHS and loved it immediately. Love that arabian melody through the song.

78 The Dark Eternal Night (#15)
Despite the cartunesque theme, I think the combination of one of JP's weiderst riffs, that solo section and that amazing outro really make the song climbs very high on my ranking.

77 The Best of Times (-)
I like the song and that MP had shared with all of us such personal lyrics, clearly written for his father, not for a wider audience. But, although that intro sets the tone, I would prefer much more the song beginning with that "Rush intro". That final solo is incredibly amazing!

[DragonAttack]

90. New Millennium (NR)  The ‘now baby’ lyric kind of ruined it for me.  I also didn’t own this LP until ’09.  It’s not included on my FII version.

89. Vacant (NR)  A needed change of pace on the LP, good prelude to SoC.

88.  A Life Left Behind (#53)  One of the best from TA.  Great intro, uplifting song and lyrics.  Wish it would have faded out around 4:37  as its ‘own’ song

87. Ravenskill (#85)

86. The Path That Divides (NR) but I should have.  My fault on that.

85. Three Days (#72) one of TA’s highlights, with a Bourbon Street type ending to boot.

84. Moment of Betrayal (NR), another oversight on my part, but I rarely listen to Disc 2.

83. The Gift of Music (#38)  One spot below TAC, so I’ll consider this a good placement 😉

82. Constant Motion (#31) I feel like I’m spinning out of control when listening to this, so the music and lyrics fit.  Perhaps crazy to some (most? ), on my third 'best of' I placed it between 'This Is The Life' and 'Breaking All Illusions'. 

81. Honor Thy Father (NR) I purchased ToT at the same time as SC.  If these two LPs had been my first purchases, I don’t think I’d have gone any further into their catalogue.  Just not my cup of tea.