I've told this story before, but I remember hearing PMU for the first time on the radio. Southern California's metal station in the late '80s was still on the air in '92, but it was sputtering with the advent of grunge. One of my friends tipped me off about the song, so I was making a concerted effort to listen for it. Finally, it came on and I was blown away.
I harkened back a few years earlier. Sometime in 1989, while Operation: Mindcrime was still popular, MTV had a little snippet about "bands you might also like if you like Queensryche." They mentioned Fates Warning, Crimson Glory and Dream Theater. I went to the local "underground" record store and immediately found No Exit by Fates Warning. I bought it and was immediately hooked. Either at the same time or soon after, I found a Crimson Glory album, but I didn't buy it because I was put off by the masks and the singer calling himself "Midnight." Try as I might, though, I never found anything by DT. I'm guessing that the distribution channels for WDADU resulted in it not making it to the west coast.
After several months, I forgot about DT until...late October 1991. Fates Warning releases the Parallels album featuring, on one song, "background vocals . . . by James Labrie courtesy of Dream Theater." So they do exist! I looked again, but still nothing, until the summer and PMU comes on the radio. FINALLY, I found this band.
I bought I&W immediately and played the shit out of it. A few months later, I learned that DT would be playing at a small club near me (a club where my own band had played a couple years ago and which is now a "gentlemen's club"). My friend and I were right up front (not a difficult thing given the size of the club). They opened with Metropolis and gunned through several tracks from I&W before pulling out Ytse Jam. What is this? Oh...there's another album?! Gosh...that drum solo sounds almost exactly like Neil Peart on Exit...Stage Left. Another Hand/The Killing Hand. Holy crap! And then closing the set with Learning to Live.
We hung out in the parking lot waiting for the guys to come off the tour bus. Everyone except Kevin did so. They were really cool and signed my I&W CD booklet (I got Kevin to sign sometime on one of the subsequent legs of the tour). Stealing from David St. Hubbins on the Hear 'n' Aid video, when talking about Yngwie Malmsteen, I told JM his playing made me want to repurpose my bass as a coffee table. He sheepishly responded, "well...I've been playing a long time." What he should have said was, "yeah, well...I guess those 6 hours a day of practice paid off!"
And here we are THIRTY years later. Fuck. Thirty years before I&W, the Beatles didn't exist, and now it's been the same amount of time since I&W. Damn!