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

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

I caught this thread too late to enter a submission, but here's my top 20 for shiggles.

1. A Change of Seasons
2. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
3. Octavarium
4. The Glass Prison
5. Home
6. Trial of Tears
7. Learning to Live
8. Under a Glass Moon
9. Metropolis Pt. 1
10. Scarred
11. Voices
12. Misunderstood
13. Lie
14. Finally Free
15. Innocence Faded
16. Beyond this Life
17. Surrounded
18. The Spirit Carries On
19. Strange Deja Vu
20. Fatal Tragedy

[425]

Awesome to see Learning to Live win the crown! That's what I thought it would be, but I wasn't sure—any of those top four could have won it.

I'll post writeups for the top six when I get the chance, but I want to go ahead and thank Kev for running this and share my top 20, since others are doing so as well. I had three of the top four in my own top four, but I don't have quite the same love for A Change of Seasons that many seem to have.


1. Learning to Live
2. Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
3. Breaking All Illusions
4. Octavarium
5. Wait for Sleep
6. Surrounded
7. Scarred
8. Lines in the Sand
9. Trial of Tears
10. The Bigger Picture
11. In the Name of God
12. Only a Matter of Time
13. Finally Free
14. Voices
15. Vacant
16. Stream of Consciousness
17. A Change of Seasons
18. In the Presence of Enemies
19. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
20. Under a Glass Moon

So that's:

• 5 from Images and Words
• 3 from Train of Thought
• 2 from Awake
• 2 from Falling Into Infinity
• 1 each from When Dream and Day Unite, A Change of Seasons, Scenes from a Memory, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Octavarium, Systematic Chaos, A Dramatic Turn of Events and Dream Theater
• 0 from Black Clouds & Silver Linings, The Astonishing, Distance over Time and non-album other than ACOS

[Elite]

So do we know who left off ACoS from their list altogether?

[Lonk]

So do we know who left off ACoS from their list altogether?

Maybe Cool Chris.

And one song in the top 5 did not appear on all 26 lists.

Have a hunch this involves me.

[KevShmev]

So do we know who left off ACoS from their list altogether?

I do, but I will leave it up to that poster to show his face. 

[KevShmev]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

[The Realm]

Brilliant thread and well done to everyone who contributed. Upon initially seeing this thread my first thought was that Learning to Live would be number one.

First reaction surprises to me were the rankings of Pull Me Under (too low) and Breaking All Illusions (too high). Also leaving A Change of Seasons off a list? Maybe a mistake?

[The Realm]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

Has to be Maiden doesn't it?

[Wim Kruithof]

I'm stunned that Learning to Live made it to #1, but that's probably because I came in when they where 13 studioalbums in already. It's beautiful though, but this I didn't see coming. Shout-out to KevShev, he kept me hooked on this thread for quite a while.

20 Outcry
19 The Killing Hand
18 Barstool Warrior
17 The Ministry of Lost Souls
16 A Savior in the Square
15 Trial of Tears
14 Metropolis pt. 1
13 Breaking All Illusions
12 The Shattered Fortress
11 Beneath the Surface
10 The Mirror
09 Lie
08 Bridges In the Sky
07 This Dying Soul
06 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
05 The Glass Prison
04 The Count of Tuscany
03 A Change of Seasons
02 Illumination Theory
01 Octavarium

1x When Dream and Day Unite
1x Images and Words
2x Awake
1x A Change of Seasons
1x Falling Into Infinity
2x Six Degrees of Inner Tubulence
1x Train of Thought
1x Octavarium
1x Systematic Chaos
2x Black Clouds and Silver Linings
4x A Dramatic Turn of Events
1x Dream Theater
1x The Astonishing
1x Distance Over Time

[Dream Team]

So do we know who left off ACoS from their list altogether?

I do, but I will leave it up to that poster to show his face. 

Well apparently Kotowboy isn’t around anymore or he’d be my suspect . . .

[NoFred]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

Yeah thanks for doing this, did you plan it to end at start of the tour? Good way to pass the time.

[TAC]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

So...back to trolling?

[HOF]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

So...back to trolling?

Top 100 Taylor Swift Songs coming to a General Music sub-forum near you. ;-)

[KevShmev]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

So...back to trolling?

Top 100 Taylor Swift Songs coming to a General Music sub-forum near you. ;-)

Don't tempt me...

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

So...back to trolling?

Top 100 Taylor Swift Songs coming to a General Music sub-forum near you. ;-)

Does Taylor Swift even have 100 songs?

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

After seeing this, I was thinking of starting a thread to do Rush. Curious how much interest that would get.

[KevShmev]

Does Taylor Swift even have 100 songs?

Close to 200, actually, at last count.

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

After seeing this, I was thinking of starting a thread to do Rush. Curious how much interest that would get.

I was thinking Rush or Maiden would be the next I would do.  I'd wanna do one that is popular enough to get 20+ rankers, and I think both of those bands would fit the bill. 

[MinistroRaven]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

So...back to trolling?

Top 100 Taylor Swift Songs coming to a General Music sub-forum near you. ;-)

Does Taylor Swift even have 100 songs?

As per this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_by_Taylor_Swift
209 songs (including a couple of covers, live, a piano versions)
She also has a list of unreleased songs there:

[HOF]

Does Taylor Swift even have 100 songs?

Close to 200, actually, at last count.

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

After seeing this, I was thinking of starting a thread to do Rush. Curious how much interest that would get.

I was thinking Rush or Maiden would be the next I would do.  I'd wanna do one that is popular enough to get 20+ rankers, and I think both of those bands would fit the bill.

I’d be down for Rush!

[KevShmev]

Let the record show that I did not bring Taylor Swift into this thread...but she is a relentless writing machine! 

Anyway, I might put up a poll in General Music to see what artist/band the community wants to do next.

[Cool Chris]

Maiden and Floyd are about the only other bands I could pull this off with any degree of certainty.

[WilliamMunny]

Been on a massive Tool kick lately—that would be my vote for the next band!

[Cool Chris]

So do we know who left off ACoS from their list altogether?

Maybe Cool Chris.

And one song in the top 5 did not appear on all 26 lists.

Have a hunch this involves me.

Nope. I have both ACoS and LtL in my Top 5 - I don't have my list handy.

I totally overestimated where 6DoiT would be; I thought that had a chance of being Top 5, but it wasn't, and was left off more lists than just mine.

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Been on a massive Tool kick lately—that would be my vote for the next band!

Just doing some quick counting, I think Tool only has 68 tracks....so a top 50 could be in order!

[sylentman]

Hello! I don’t post that often and missed participating here as was traveling during Xmas and New Year, but i followed this post and was every day anxiously waiting for the next ranking post from Kev.
So, as others have already said, many thanks Kev and all that submitted their rankings together with all that posted on follow up comments, you helped bring an interesting read and relaxation during this past month or so where have been very busy at work.

I thought ACOS was going to win when i saw Metropolis Pt.1 ending at 4, but understand any of the top 4 could have taken the podium.
I think my biggest shocker was Take the Time at 26, which i would have expected in the top 10 give or take.

Thanks again, and hope to participate in the future when it’s re-done with AVFTTOTW .

[TAC]

Doing Rush next would be a great idea!

[425]

I would absolutely submit a list for Maiden. Rush would be an interesting thread to follow, but I wouldn't submit a list because I still haven't spent much time with the post-Grace Under Pressure albums (outside of Clockwork Angels). I would listen along though, and it might be an interesting way for me to get into that material.

[KevShmev]

Doing Rush next would be a great idea!

Any submitted list that does not have at least four songs from Power Windows in its top 25 will be disqualified.

[TAC]

I'll take my chances.

[Dream Team]

Maiden and Floyd are about the only other bands I could pull this off with any degree of certainty.

For 100 I could do Elvis, Beatles, Maiden, Priest, Metallica, Scorpions, Heart. Several more if reduced to top 50 including Rush. I’d wager Rush, Metallica, Maiden or Floyd would get the most votes.

[KevShmev]

Yeah, I'd probably go top 50 with the next one as opposed to top 100.

[Cool Chris]

Kev, I didn't say earlier but thank you for running this, I enjoyed every bit of it (except for having to rank the Astonishing songs).

If we lower the threshold to 50, which I think is a good idea, we could get more participation. 100 songs is a lot! Let me know if I can help in any way.

[TAC]

My Top 20..

1   Learning To Live     
2   Octavarium     
3   Scarred     
4   The Killing Hand     
5   Space-Dye Vest     
6   Lines In the Sand     
7   Breaking All Illusions     
8   Take the Time     
9   Metropolis, Pt. 1: the Miracle and the Sleeper     
10   Disappear     
11   The Count of Tuscany     
12   Endless Sacrifice     
13   The Best of Times     
14   Fatal Tragedy     
15   Lost Not Forgotten     
16   Outcry     
17   A Change of Seasons     
18   The X Aspect     
19   This Dying Soul     
20   A Fortune in Lies

[MrMike]

This was a lot of fun to follow.  I say do it again in a year with AVFTTOTW included.  Maybe by then I'll be familiar enough with the whole catalog to participate.

[BRGM]

And thanks for the sentiments about this thread, peeps!  It was a lot of fun. 

Now, I will work on planning what band to do next in General Music...

Yes! Like everyone else has said, great job Kev. It's been really fun to follow this thread.  I'd be up for a top 50 for anything Neal Morse, Steven Wilson, Rush, Genesis or Pink Floyd 

For the record, this was my top 20.

1. Octavarium
2. The Count of Tuscany
3. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
4. In the Name of God
5. Trial of Tears
6. Finally Free
7. The Glass Prison
8. In the Presence of Enemies
9. The Great Debate
10. Illumination Theory
11. Blind Faith
12. Lines In the Sand
13. A Nightmare To Remember
14. Hell's Kitchen
15. Misunderstood
16. Beyond This Life
17. Fatal Tragedy
18. Surrounded
19. Learning To Live
20. A Change of Seasons