Dream Theater Top 100 countdown - 2024 Version! (#01 Up!)

[Wim Kruithof]

I was going to track down that thread. I didn't save my list from that countdown, though I remember what my #1 was. One of those songs wasn't on my list then and isn't on my list now.

Maybe you still got the pm you send Kevin back then, there you'll find your list.

[Mladen]

So, today's the day. I'm really looking forward to the countdown. 

[SwedishGoose]

Bottom 91 to 100

Train of Thought  - 3
Octavarium  - 2
Systematic Chaos  - 1
Black Clouds and Silver Linings  - 1
Dream Theater - 1
The Astonishing  - 2

[nobloodyname]

Pretty sure your entire top 20 will be tracks from The Astonishing

[DragonAttack]

Let the comments of others' favorite songs that make the countdown begin!

[hefdaddy42]

LET'S GO

[SwedishGoose]

Pretty sure your entire top 20 will be tracks from The Astonishing

Had it been counted as one piece it would have taken the top....
Individually though the songs don't reach those highs.

Not even 1 in the top 10..

[Stadler]

Top 10:

I&W - 2
Awake - 1
SFAM - 1
ToT - 1
8VM - 1
SC  - 1
ADTOE - 3

Ooh, I got this....

I&W - Another Day, Wait for Sleep
Awake - Puppies On Acid 
SFAM - Regression
TOT - Vacant
8VM - The Answer Lies Within
SC - Prophets of War
ADTOE - Build Me Up, Break Me Down, Far From Heaven

I like how Build Me Up, Break Me Down counts for two.

I had Build Me Up at #35, and Break Me Down at #51. 

[jingle.boy]

Top 10:

I&W - 2
Awake - 1
SFAM - 1
ToT - 1
8VM - 1
SC  - 1
ADTOE - 3

Ooh, I got this....

I&W - Another Day, Wait for Sleep
Awake - Puppies On Acid 
SFAM - Regression
TOT - Vacant
8VM - The Answer Lies Within
SC - Prophets of War
ADTOE - Build Me Up, Break Me Down, Far From Heaven

I like how Build Me Up, Break Me Down counts for two.

I had Build Me Up at #35, and Break Me Down at #51. 

NO SPOTLIGHTING!!!!

[hefdaddy42]

 

[Ben_Jamin]

 

In the words of Bender...."Let's Go Already!"

[Dave_Manchester]

Reap, the master of suspense-building.

[ReaperKK]

Alright lets fucking do this, I went through the lists again to see if I messed anything up and I think I'm good now so lets get started:

100. Never Enough
Highest Finish: 6 (DragonAttack)
Number of Lists appeared on: 36 (DragonAttack, Jamesman42, porcacultor, twosuitsluke, jeff_kinsley, nobloodyname, Setlist Scotty, jammindude, wolfking, jingle.boy, energythief, Evermind, Adami, TAC, MustActFastToCoverUp, NoFred, mariner, Cool Chris, Vmadera00, PixelDream, weirdo, Dave_Manchester, CanuckChum, bosk1, Revenge319, lucasembarbosa, Mladen, The Realm, Wim Kruithof, SwedishGoose, Dittomist, hefdaddy42, MirrorMask, Zydar, axeman90210, CharlesPL)

Didn't make my list, I really disliked this song when I first heard it, and my dislike has just grown over the years.

99. Wither
Highest Finish: 13 (twosuitluke)
Number of Lists appeared on: 37 (twosuitsluke, ReaperKK, pg1067, MirrorMask, ReaPsTA, WardySI, Adami, Evermind, Wim Kruithof, Dream Team, devieira73, Trav86, Mladen, Zydar, MoraWintersoul, lightningbolt, Jamesman42, PixelDream, JPZealot, Dittomist, nobloodyname, Metro, wolfking, weirdo, Peter Mc, jeff_kinsley, Podaar, Setlist Scotty, CharlesPL, JiM-Xtreme, Cool Chris, Revenge319, energythief, hefdaddy42, CanuckChum, KevShmev, The Realm)

As an opposite I loved this song when I first heard it. I think it was the first song I fell in love with when hearing Black Clouds.

98. The Gift Of Music
Highest Finish: 35 (TAC)
Number of Lists appeared on: 42 (TAC, devieira73, DragonAttack, Indiscipline, CanuckChum, NoFred, lightningbolt, Mladen, bosk1, mariner. King Puppies and the Acid Guppies. Stadler. Trav86. JPZealot. Zydar, Revenge319, Podaar, lucasembarbosa, axeman90210, MirrorMask, Animal, Peter Mc, nobloodyname, Dittomist, Lethean, MustActFastToCoverUp,weirdo, DTwwbwMP, Mosh, OpenYourEyes311, Ben_Jamin, hefdaddy42, Dream Team, Fonzie, Awaken, porcacultor, jingle.boy, SwedishGoose, Jamesman42, romdrums, Vmadera00, Setlist Scotty)

Barely missed my list, it's not a bad song but I never listen to it on it's own.

[jingle.boy]

NR - Wither.  It made the first iteration of my list at 100 or 99 or something, but got bumped out.

Never Enough (52)... loved it when it came out.  I get the fans pushback at the time to Mike over this, but I listened to it in the context of a relationship.  Still like it quite a bit.

Gift of Music (88)... I wish I could rate this one a little higher, but damn the lyrics are awful.

[ReaperKK]

The lyrics are really what put me off on Never Enough, just terrible

[jingle.boy]

Kay... is it safe to assume that the order of names listed who rated it is in progression of how high they rated it?  IE, if DragonAttack had Never Enough highest, then Jamesman was the one who rated it 2nd highest?  Just curious.

[Lonk]

100. Never Enough
Highest Finish: 6 (DragonAttack)
Number of Lists appeared on: 36

99. Wither
Highest Finish: 13 (twosuitluke)
Number of Lists appeared on: 37

98. The Gift Of Music
Highest Finish: 35 (TAC)
Number of Lists appeared on: 42

Never Enough: #69. Used to love this track when I first discovered the band. It has not aged well, but it is still very enjoyable. Also, I love the drum work from MP on this track.

Wither: NR (#107). This track could have easily moved up to the top 100.

The Gift of Music: #97 Fine track. Good intro to the album.

[SwedishGoose]

91. The Gift of Music (98)
94. Never Enough (100)


Not rated
Wither (99)

These are all fine songs but in a discography like Dream Theaters they are not that great.

[Evermind]

Never Enough - #59 - I think it could be a bit lower (I just used what ranker gave me after one run) but overall seems right for me. I do like the song, it works in context of 8VM. I think it's supposed to be Muse-influenced? I wouldn't know as I've heard maybe one or two songs by Muse.

Wither - #40 - I like it quite a bit. Rather simple DT ballad, they have a lot of better ones, but still an enjoyable listen. Good lyric subject too. Hoped to see it a little higher to be honest (13th on Luke's list, wow! is that your favourite DT ballad?)

The Gift of Music - not ranked - ehh. I think the run from The Answer to Three Days is excellent and easily the best run of songs on The Astonishing, but The Gift of Music is not my jam. I remember I was not that excited for TA after I've heard this (this was the first single, right? or was it Moment of Betrayal?).

[hefdaddy42]

100 Never Enough - 96 for me, so fairly in line with the consensus.  I'm almost never in the mood to hear just this song, but when I play Octavarium and it comes up, I enjoy it.  The lyrics are what they are, but it grooves pretty well, and I love Mike's drum and cymbal work here.

99 Wither - 92 for me, so again, in line.  The Shattered Fortress wound up higher for me in this ranking, but I normally think of this as my favorite song from that godforsaken album.  *shrugs*

98 The Gift of Music - This one ranked at # 80 for me, so I guess I liked it better than most.  As the opening of the album, it really set the tone for me, and left me with lots of hope.  However, most of the rest of the album doesn't live up to this promise established at the outset.

[nobloodyname]

HERE WE GO!

I ranked all three of these tracks myself.

Never Enough (31): criminally underrated. Contains one of DT's best instrumental passages

Wither (76): one of their better ballady things and James is bearable on this one

The Gift of Music (72): I don't think this appearing at 98 bodes well for the rest of The Astonishing because this is one of the better, more widely appealing tracks from it

[Evermind]

Kay... is it safe to assume that the order of names listed who rated it is in progression of how high they rated it?  IE, if DragonAttack had Never Enough highest, then Jamesman was the one who rated it 2nd highest?  Just curious.

It does seem to track with your and my ranking of Never Enough.

99 Wither - 92 for me, so again, in line.  The Shattered Fortress wound up higher for me in this ranking, but I normally think of this as my favorite song from that godforsaken album.  *shrugs*

According to the ranker Wither is my second favourite song from BC&SL and now that I think about it, that's indeed correct for me.

The Gift of Music (72): I don't think this appearing at 98 bodes well for the rest of The Astonishing because this is one of the better, more widely appealing tracks from it

Fairly sure more tracks from TA will show up.

[nobloodyname]

Oh, I'm sure they will. I think I mean in terms of the album's depth of reach

[ReaperKK]

Kay... is it safe to assume that the order of names listed who rated it is in progression of how high they rated it?  IE, if DragonAttack had Never Enough highest, then Jamesman was the one who rated it 2nd highest?  Just curious.

As of now yes! I'm playing with ways I can sort the data using Kev's sheet instead of mine but I'll let you guys know if it changes

[devieira73]

Never Enough didn't make my list. It's a very good song, but I think is too much close to Muse's Stockholm Syndrome, almost a plagiarism to my ears and that always bugged me.
Wither (my #59) is just beautiful and has that distant vibe, almost Kevin Moorish, which I think is really special.
The Gift of Music (my #36) is excellent, creative in the choir arrangements and really shows everything DT is all about in only 4 minutes. I don't know if there's another DT song that achieves that so concisely.

[twosuitsluke]

What the shit is this?!

I bloody love Wither and Never Enough was at #20!

[Setlist Scotty]

100. Never Enough Woohoo! Glad to see some love for this song! Yeah, it's very Muse-ish and the lyrics are a bit blunt, but it's still a great song - especially the instrumental bit in the middle. I like Muse, so the Muse vibe didn't phase me, and having had close contact with MP and having seen a lot of the crap that he's dealt with regarding some fans, I can understand why he wrote those lyrics. It ranked 32 on my list.

99. Wither A decent song, although for the most part, I've never been a huge fan of DT's ballads, with a few exceptions. But this one rated higher for me than several of their other ballads. 83 on my list.

98. The Gift Of Music One of a handful of songs from TA that did make my list. Once again, a decent enough tune, but nothing spectacular, IMO. Just made my list at 99, so pretty much on the button with this one.
 
 

99 Wither - 92 for me, so again, in line.  The Shattered Fortress wound up higher for me in this ranking, but I normally think of this as my favorite song from that godforsaken album.  *shrugs*

Wow! You don't even like TCoT? I mean lyrically it might not be good, but musically, it's amazing!

[Zydar]

Never Enough (97) - A fine song, I guess. It's never struck me as a standout track or something. I've barely listened to Muse, so I don't get the connection/influence here.

Wither (64) - A nice ballad that I've always enjoyed. I actually attended my very first DT show in 2009 when they debuted this song live.

The Gift Of Music (63) - One of only three songs from TA on my list. I liked it enough when it was released as a single pre-album launch. I really enjoy the choir that comes in at 01:55 ("My brother Gabriel is all the hope we need").

[OpenYourEyes311]

100. Never Enough - Didn't make my list at #116 in my final ranking, but I still think this a really cool song. If you haven't watched MP's breakdown of his drumming for this song, I suggest finding a copy of In Constant Motion. It's pretty incredible how he uses three different beats for the verses because he liked all of them and couldn't choose.

99. Wither - My list is chock full of highly rated ballads, but this one didn't make the cut at #129. It's fine, but not amazing.

98. The Gift of Music - #78 on my list. They released this as I was in a local performance of Godspell and it always reminds me of one of the songs from that and my time during that show. Pretty cool riff and a nice opening to an epic album.

[Wim Kruithof]

And we're off, nice!

100. Never Enough #93

99. Wither #50

Wither to this day has the best video Dream Theater ever made for a single. I really like both the song and video.

98. The Gift of Music #didn't make my list.

[hefdaddy42]

Wow! You don't even like TCoT? I mean lyrically it might not be good, but musically, it's amazing!

Some parts of it I find fantastic, but the parts I don't like bring the rest down, so that combined with the lyrics, I never listen to it anymore.  There's no "there" there for me.

[ReaperKK]

Yea the Wither video was pretty great

[hefdaddy42]

Yea the Wither video was pretty great

Agreed, one of their best IMO

[ReaperKK]

Hrmm I just got another countdown idea, best videos lmao, maybe include official live releases

[hefdaddy42]

Hrmm I just got another countdown idea, best videos lmao, maybe include official live releases

The best DT video of all time is JP and JLB laugh-off