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

[HOF]

I wonder if that was a Portnoy thing or a Kevin Moore thing with the samples.

It was both. In the songs where MP wrote the lyrics, MP was behind the samples. Where KM wrote the lyrics, it was KM.

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Cool Chris]

And unfortunately I think the samples rarely add anything to their respective songs.

[devieira73]

53 Sacrificed Sons (#55)
Besides The Answer Lies Within and Never Enough, I think Octavarium is an amazing album, closing DT "magic period". This song is great!

52 Erotomania (#32)
Sooo good this instrumental, love that melodic part in the middle.

51 This Dying Soul (-)
The heaviest DT song… excellent, but, at same time, drags a bit. Although it isn’t in my top 100, now I think it deservers to be somewhere at #70 to #90 spot.

[wolfking]

There is something about TDS that has hooked me since I first heard it.  I love everything about it and being a metal head, its the perfect combo of heaviness and classic DT elements.  The riffing, the chorus melody, the Blackened section, the Megadeth section (the one Tim mentioned),  that brilliant Glass Prison reprise breakdown riff, Petruccis self indulgent solo and that amazing outro, to me, it has it all.

[jammindude]

Ok....started a new job this week, so I've been super busy.  But here's the grand "catch up"

62. The Shattered Fortress - Me #100
61. Peruvian Skies - Me #23
59 (t). Lie - #126
59 (t). Lost Not Forgotten - Me #65
58. Surrender to Reason - Me #79
57. Innocence Faded - #93
56. The Enemy Inside - #67
55. A Nightmare to Remember - #48
54. 6:00 - Me #50
53. Sacrificed Sons - Me #29
52. Erotomania - Me #34
51. This Dying Soul - Me #41

Out of this batch, only Lie did not make my top 100.  Three made my top 40, with Peruvian Skies ranking highest.  Nothing in my top 10.

I suppose I'm not entire shocked to see TSF this high.  I just think it suffers on its own, being that it's more of a "collage" than a standalone song.   But when I play the 12SS as a whole piece, I think TSF is an excellent closer.

I'm a bit surprised to see Peruvian Skies place this low.  Honestly one of the standout highlights from FII, and one of the few songs from OIALT that really stand out as taking a really great song, and somehow making it even better in a live setting.  Most of the performances on OIALT are disappointing to me, but PS is a standout exception.

Lie never did it for me.  I heard this as the lead single on the radio about a week before Awake came out and I was a bit worried.  Luckily it turned out to be the only weak point on the album.  I suppose it's OK when they play it live, but I prefer it when they play The Mirror with the reprise at the end of Lie and just omit Lie altogether (as they did on LSFNY).

Lost Not Forgotten is where ADTOE really kicks it up a notch.  OTBOA was exciting on the first listen, but the PMU homage was so blatant that it didn't age well.  Then BMUBMD was extremely different...it wasn't until I hit LNF that I knew everything was going to be OK.

Surrender to Reason is one of those songs that is so good, and just suffers from being "least best" on an excellent album.  The self titled was my favorite Mangini era album until the new one...and it still might be a tie once the "new car smell" wears off.   

Similar emotions for Innocence Faded.  The beginning is just a bit too poppy sounding, but that excellent outro riff saves it.  I was glad they pulled it out for the Score show, and I feel bad it placed this low in my "head to head" list.  Interestingly enough, it placed #64 on my first (of three total) tries.  That just shows how fluid the bottom half of my list is.

The Enemy Inside is a fantastic album opener.  ADTOE had good points and bad points, so I was a bit shaky on DT next journey.  This was the first album written with MM in the studio, and coming out of the gate like this was REALLY exciting. 

A Nightmare to Remember...I'm surprised I placed it quite this high.  It is a really great song, but I don't know if its quite top 50 material.   It made #63 on my 2nd list and that seems a bit closer.  I LOVE the entire opening, the main riff, and the "beautiful agony" parts.   Mike's growling bridge section doesn't do it any favors though. 

6:00 is another amazing album opener.   After hearing Lie on the radio, I was worried, but then when this was the first thing I heard after bringing it home, I was instantly in love.   I couldn't get that amazing opening groove out of my head.

Sacrificed Sons is just wonderful.  Just the way it fits into the overall theme of Octavarium and the beauty of the piece on its own.  Incredibly emotional and powerful song.  I think it does a better job of conveying the emotions of 9/11 than ITNOG (which has a more general subject matter...but still feels inspired by the events of 9/11)

Erotomania was another one that just had me giddy with delight when I first heard Awake.  I can be very hit and miss when it comes to instrumental pieces, but this one hit it out of the park and sets up Voices beautifully.

This Dying Soul doesn't deserve some of the hate I've seen it get.   Fantastic follow up to TGP and a worth "part 2" of the 12SS.   It also stands on its own much better than some of the other pieces of the 12SS (like the aforementioned TSF).   

All things said.   My biggest divergence from the final tally was Lie, which I placed 66 places lower than the crowd.    And, like some have said, I'm starting to lose faith that some of the songs that I placed very high are not going to make the list at all.   For instance, The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun and Light Fuse and Get Away both made my TOP 30!   But if I haven't seen them yet, I'm losing hope that I will see them at all. 

[HOF]

It’s weird how everyone heard Lie first from Awake but I could swear the first (and only) song I ever heard from Awake on the radio was Caught in a Web. It was actually the first time I heard DT, though it’s possible I heard Lie and didn’t know it was DT I guess (don’t think so).

[Setlist Scotty]

And unfortunately I think the samples rarely add anything to their respective songs.

I don't have a problem with them. To me, they're an integral part of each song they appear in even though they themselves aren't music or musical. The only thing of the sort that bugs me was when JL would introduce a song about 1 minute after the band had begun playing it, such as 6:00 on L@LP. He seems to have done that mostly on the Dramatic tour, so I'm glad he doesn't anymore.
 
 

It’s weird how everyone heard Lie first from Awake but I could swear the first (and only) song I ever heard from Awake on the radio was Caught in a Web.

Not sure why that's weird. In 1994, DT was still a known entity (off the back of IaW and especially PMU), so the lead (pre-release) promo single to their follow up album was surely to get radio airplay. I can remember hearing the radio edit (with the drum intro and without the Mirror reprise) on the local rock radio stations regularly leading up until the release day of Awake.

[jammindude]

It’s weird how everyone heard Lie first from Awake but I could swear the first (and only) song I ever heard from Awake on the radio was Caught in a Web.

IMO, that would’ve been a better introduction to the album.

[TAC]

I never heard anything from Awake on the radio, but I definitely remember the Lie video.

I still remember the opening night of the tour and seeing some shorthaired keyboard player. I was like WTF?? You can hear me gabbing all over the Providence boot..."He's from Alice Cooper's band"!

[Wim Kruithof]

All things said.   My biggest divergence from the final tally was Lie, which I placed 66 places lower than the crowd.    And, like some have said, I'm starting to lose faith that some of the songs that I placed very high are not going to make the list at all.   For instance, The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun and Light Fuse and Get Away both made my TOP 30!   But if I haven't seen them yet, I'm losing hope that I will see them at all. 

If it helps even just a little, I ranked them both as well.

[jammindude]

I never heard anything from Awake on the radio, but I definitely remember the Lie video.

I still remember the opening night of the tour and seeing some shorthaired keyboard player. I was like WTF?? You can hear me gabbing all over the Providence boot..."He's from Alice Cooper's band"!

Funny story. I didn’t know until the night of the show either. My first wife and I took the entire day off so we could hang out at the venue and wait for the buses to pull in. of course, there was no security or entourage back in those days. so we got to meet all the guys after the buses pulled into the alley, and they had to walk (yes…WALK) A block or two to the hotel they were staying at. we had bought a cow related T-shirt as a gift for Kevin (remembering the reference that he liked “moo cows” from the LIT video) and that’s when MP himself told us “Oh…you guys haven’t heard yet” and broke the news to us. after that, I vaguely remember hanging out with some fans outside the side doors and listening to the sound check. They were going over the instrumental section of Metropolis over and over again, and at that time, it sounded like Derek was struggling with a little bit of it. But I gave him a pass because I think he was still trying to learn it at the time and it must’ve been a lot to take in. I don’t doubt his ability as a keyboard player. I think it was just an extremely difficult song to learn on the fly.

[Setlist Scotty]

I'm starting to lose faith that some of the songs that I placed very high are not going to make the list at all.   For instance, The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun and Light Fuse and Get Away both made my TOP 30!   But if I haven't seen them yet, I'm losing hope that I will see them at all. 

They didn't make it. If AFiL, YJ and Afterlife – which are all more universally liked on this forum – were already posted in position, there's no way in hades that obscure tracks like TOWHtStS and LFaGA are gonna make the list. Bums me out too, because both made my top 20, but unfortunately that's the way it is.
 
 

I never heard anything from Awake on the radio, but I definitely remember the Lie video.

I still remember the opening night of the tour and seeing some shorthaired keyboard player. I was like WTF?? You can hear me gabbing all over the Providence boot..."He's from Alice Cooper's band"!

Funny story. I didn’t know until the night of the show either. My first wife and I took the entire day off so we could hang out at the venue and wait for the buses to pull in. of course, there was no security or entourage back in those days. so we got to meet all the guys after the buses pulled into the alley, and they had to walk (yes…WALK) A block or two to the hotel they were staying at. we had bought a cow related T-shirt as a gift for Kevin (remembering the reference that he liked “moo cows” from the LIT video) and that’s when MP himself told us “Oh…you guys haven’t heard yet” and broke the news to us.

Interesting. I knew KM was gone, but I think I might have been under the impression that JR was gonna be the keyboardist judging by a couple blurbs that were posted in the music magazines that I was reading at the time.

[HOF]

I have Light Fuse and Get Away in my top 50. It’s not a favorite per se, but I think the instrumental section is really cool, and I like the chorus for the most part. The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is on my list but further down. It has interesting lyrics, but not a ton else sticks out about it to me.

[KevShmev]

Light Fuse and Get Away finished at 101. That broke my heart a little, as I had it ranked at 50.

[TAC]

50 is way too high.

[KevShmev]

And now we jump into the top 50, and I will start doing less songs with each update, if that pace works for everyone.

50 Stream of Consciousness
Appeared on 20 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 4 (Vmadera00)

I had this at 56, so this seems about right.  I would have had it higher years ago, but it's not like I like it any less.  I just like others more now.


49 Pale Blue Dot
Appeared on 24 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 0
Highest Ranking: 25 (Setlist Scotty)

This was an interesting one in that it made it on to 24 lists, yet 25 was its highest placement.  I had it at 69.  For as many songs by the band that feel like they could have been a little shorter, this one feels like it should have been a little longer.   It's like there is a verse missing. Still a very good song.

[HOF]

I have Stream of Consciousness at 41. Nice instrumental, and the best thing on TOT.

[jammindude]

I have Light Fuse and Get Away in my top 50. It’s not a favorite per se, but I think the instrumental section is really cool, and I like the chorus for the most part. The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is on my list but further down. It has interesting lyrics, but not a ton else sticks out about it to me.

This is a common criticism of TOWHTSTS that absolutely feels like a stab to the heart every time I hear it.

The intro ALONE might be one of the most beautiful moments on the entire album. Then after that? You get that slow build up of tension.

UGH! I don’t want to hijack the thread, but the fact that that song is so maligned (often finishing last on song ranking’s from that album) might be TO ME the greatest injustice of DTs entire catalog.

/rant

Commentary on SOC and PBT coming tomorrow.

Thank you for doing this Kev. This is actually amazingly fun. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are all having a blast doing this!

[KevShmev]

You're welcome. Glad everyone is having with this!! 

FYI, The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun finished at 125. 

[HOF]

I have Light Fuse and Get Away in my top 50. It’s not a favorite per se, but I think the instrumental section is really cool, and I like the chorus for the most part. The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun is on my list but further down. It has interesting lyrics, but not a ton else sticks out about it to me.

This is a common criticism of TOWHTSTS that absolutely feels like a stab to the heart every time I hear it.

The intro ALONE might be one of the most beautiful moments on the entire album. Then after that? You get that slow build up of tension.

UGH! I don’t want to hijack the thread, but the fact that that song is so maligned (often finishing last on song ranking’s from that album) might be TO ME the greatest injustice of DTs entire catalog.

/rant

Commentary on SOC and PBT coming tomorrow.

Thank you for doing this Kev. This is actually amazingly fun. I think I speak for all of us when I say we are all having a blast doing this!

Oh, that intro is amazing. To be honest, I sort of forgot how good it was. Just reacquainted myself with it now. I think my issue is more with the vocal melodies (and the bass drum sound!), but that's true of a lot of WDADU. Like I said, it's on my list (all the way up at 70!). But it had been a while since I'd revisited it so I had sort of a vague sense of what it was like.

And yes, thanks Kev for doing this. I made a playlist of my top 30 and listened to it last night and today. That was a blast.

[Wim Kruithof]

50 Stream of Consciousness #44
49 Pale Blue Dot #-

The first time I listened to Distance Over Time, I remember being a little unsatisfied. I really liked it, but overall was hoping for something more (a void a View filled to the fullest). And although I absolutely love both Barstool Warrior and At Wit's End... the Pale Blue Dot doesn't come near that kind of beauty, to me. The album is in my lower tier, which made it still one of the sixteen studioalbums I only spent time with, since a couple of years. Next to the Dream Theater discography, it's - of course - Pink Floyd's the Wall.

And, as said by others already... tremendous shoutout to KevShev. The moments I sit with my MacBook, it's basicly most on this thread.

[wolfking]

49 for PBD is too high.  I had it at 85.  Had SOC at 73.

[erciccio]

I have
Erotomania #65
Pale Blue Dot #64

so pretty much in line..

As concerns Erotomania, I have a small story.
When I was at the University, I had a rock band, and we used to play rock covers (Pink Floyd, Deep Purple..).
After I&W I introduced Dream Theater to the rest of the band- I told them that they were super technical guys, but my keyboard player (a classical player with a "Conservatorio" diploma) was quite skeptical, stating that the drum player and the guitar player were great, but the music overall was just "american high-quality metal", but nothing really special...

Then I showed him the music score for Erotomania and he changed his mind...!
He was amazed by the amount of key and rhythm changes, the classical and atonal influences, the use of quintines at that speed...and so on!
He had to confess that "those guys are fucking amazing"!
And he fell in love for Awake, more than I&W thanks to the dark vibes..

I still have my Guitar music score for Awake with his fingering notes to play a few songs on piano...

[erciccio]

Have I missed something or we have seen no song from I&W yet?
Are they all in the top 49?
That would be cool...I have them all in my top 33:)

[Elite]

No songs from I&W yet.. if they're all still yet to come, that means at least Wait for Sleep is too high

we also haven't seen anything from Six Degrees so far, only One Last Time from SFAM and not a lot from Awake either.

You wouldn't think all of that is going to be cluttered at the top, don't you?

[erciccio]

 

No songs from I&W yet.. if they're all still yet to come, that means at least Wait for Sleep is too high

we also haven't seen anything from Six Degrees so far, only One Last Time from SFAM and not a lot from Awake either.

You wouldn't think all of that is going to be cluttered at the top, don't you?

Wait for sleep is quite high for me!

[KevShmev]

No songs from I&W yet.. if they're all still yet to come, that means at least Wait for Sleep is too high

we also haven't seen anything from Six Degrees so far, only One Last Time from SFAM and not a lot from Awake either.

You wouldn't think all of that is going to be cluttered at the top, don't you?

Six of the 11 songs from Awake have already been featured in the top 100.

[Cool Chris]

I still remember the opening night of the tour and seeing some shorthaired keyboard player. I was like WTF?? You can hear me gabbing all over the Providence boot..."He's from Alice Cooper's band"!

Funny story. I didn’t know until the night of the show either. My first wife and I took the entire day off so we could hang out at the venue and wait for the buses to pull in. of course, there was no security or entourage back in those days. so we got to meet all the guys after the buses pulled into the alley, and they had to walk (yes…WALK) A block or two to the hotel they were staying at. we had bought a cow related T-shirt as a gift for Kevin (remembering the reference that he liked “moo cows” from the LIT video) and that’s when MP himself told us “Oh…you guys haven’t heard yet” and broke the news to us.

I wonder how often things like this happened pre-internet. I went to the first Nightwish show with Floor, and would have had no idea if I didn't get on the internet that day - and saw it posted here. I was thinking while standing in line "surely everyone here knows about Floor, right?" 

[TAC]

The best thing about the pre-internet days is that the setlist was always a surprise.

[devieira73]

The best thing about the pre-internet days is that the setlist was always a surprise.

True. But it's only our fault to not control ourselves and see the setlist before the show... obvious, but often we would like so much the rotating setlists just to compensate that.

Anyway, I ranked both SoC (#52) and PBD (#48) around those spots.
I think really interesting that DT, with the metal album mentality, really succeded in create SoC as a more groovy and focused instrumental, for the band's standards.
About PBD, it is really very good for what is, incorporating more rhythmically modern influences in their songwriting, but I do think the song is a bit shortned specially the instrumental part, that sounds a bit restrained in terms of what the band could have explored .

[TAC]

The best thing about the pre-internet days is that the setlist was always a surprise.

True. But it's only our fault to not control ourselves and see the setlist before the show... obvious, but often we would like so much the rotating setlists just to compensate that.

That's interesting. I think you're right about that.

[425]

Alright, here are my thoughts on the last two batches. Excited to see what ends up in the top 50! By my count, 11 of my top 50 fell outside of the overall top 50, and I'm 1/2 on the first two songs we've seen.


54. 6:00
My ranking: #44

I think I mentioned earlier when Innocence Faded came up that the first three songs are my favorite three-song run on Awake. It seems like a lot of fans have a preference for the second half of the album, but, to me, these three songs are a big part of what makes Awake special. They're compact, yet proggy, and have a lot of character. 6:00 has some really interesting things going on rhythmically, and a great performance by JLB. I totally understand why some found it jarring when the album was first released, but coming in with some preparation for a different sound, 6:00 made a powerful impression on me: This album is going to be a completely different animal, but still brilliant.


53. Sacrificed Sons
My ranking: #40

I think the opening section is absolutely spellbinding. It hits just the right tone given the subject matter, and the lyrics are really good. But I think the rest of the song is good, too. I don't find the instrumental section jarring, and the final vocal section feels like a natural continuation of the emotion set at the beginning. The one thing that hits me a little wrong is the line "our mistake." Personally, I just don't think that sentiment belongs in the song. But that's not enough to bump it down too much.


52. Erotomania
My ranking: #62

I really like this song. It's a well-constructed instrumental that comes across to me as having a real logical flow of ideas and a lot of interesting moments. Like a lot of songs from the Moore era, you really get the feel that the guitars and keyboards each have their own space in the music and all the instrumentalists have a chance to shine, which isn't always the case with modern DT.


51. This Dying Soul
My ranking: #27

So, I'm not quite as bullish on this one as wolfking and at least one other person, but I really like this song a lot. I totally see how it's calculated to turn off people who aren't fans of metal and "instrumental wank," but as an unapologetic fan of both, I love it. The first part, Reflections of Reality (Revisited), is especially excellent. I really like the way the intro moves from relentless heaviness into a melodic sort of heaviness. Overall I feel that this song does a great job weaving together really heavy music and huge, soaring melodies.  It's gorgeous. Especially the chorus of the first part, which is one of my favorite DT choruses, period.

This is my favorite song from the Twelve Step Suite, and it's also my favorite lyric from it. I find the image of a dying soul really powerful.


50. Stream of Consciousness
My ranking: #16

I really love this song. Though it's musically separable from Vacant, it feels like a continuation of the same somber mood, played out on a longer, heavier scale, albeit without vocals. It's right next to Vacant in my rankings, and it's hard for me to say which I like better.

It's interesting, to me this song is very much "Dream Theater writes a Metallica instrumental." The whole style of taking a few sets of motifs and building and varying them, interspersed with solo sections, it's just very much what Metallica was doing on The Call of Ktulu, Orion and To Live is to Die (and would do on Suicide and Redemption). And they even have a few bass-driven parts, like Metallica would. Those songs are some of my favorite Metallica songs, and I like Stream of Consciousness better than all of them. It succeeds on similar terms: having a powerful atmosphere and mood, and playing with interesting motifs within that mood. The fact that Dream Theater can and do write parts in here that Metallica could never hope to play doesn't detract from the atmosphere.


49. Pale Blue Dot
My ranking: #87

I really had a hard time with the whole Distance over Time album. My first impression was really negative, and while it's improved with time, it remains my least favorite DT album. (I have a bit of a sense of foreboding knowing how many people love this album and that this is only the second track we've seen from it, but I digress.)

The first several times through the album, this song just made no sense to me, just did not come together at all. But one day, it kind of clicked into place, and it's now a song I like—top three on the album, even. I think the chorus is really good, and there are some interesting instrumental parts in all the denseness. I think this potentially still has room to grow, and maybe slide up into the 70s or 60s.

(And maybe one day I'll be less of a curmudgeon about this album. Maybe AVFTTOW will be my way in.)

[KevShmev]

48 The Killing Hand
Appeared on 20 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 2
Highest Ranking: 4 (TAC)

Not surprisingly, this is the highest ranked song from the debut.  Great song for sure.


47 The Dance of Eternity
Appeared on 23 of 26 entrees
Top 10 finishes: 1
Highest Ranking: 7 (Laughingplace56)

I was one of the three to not have this in their top 100.  Solid tune, with out of this world musicianship of course, but I rarely gravitate towards the super technical tunes unless they are really strong on the melody as well. 

[HOF]

I have The Killing Hand ranked 73, lowest of all of the WDADU tracks. Just never liked it, especially that falsetto “I am the killing hand!” part.

The Dance of Eternity is 23rd on my list, and I’m surprised it’s not higher overall. To me this is DT’s trademark instrumental (even though I have one other instrumental track, Hell’s Kitchen, ranked above it). My wife even remarked about how it sounded cool when I was listening to it yesterday!

[Cool Chris]

Looking at my list, I graded WDaDU pretty harsh, as in, I only included Ytse Jam. Wonder why only that song made my list?

Listened to Stream of Consciousness for the first time in ages just two days ago. Man that song is a beast. #25 for me. Easily my top instrumental.