Dream Theater is a prog-metal band founded in 1985 by John Myung, John Petrucci, and Mike Portnoy under the name Majesty. They changed the name, but their logo is still known as the Majesty symbol. While not entirely mainstream, they are rather well known among fans of progessive rock. The inclusion of their songs in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series have increased their fame, but they have still had only one song chart well enough to qualify as a "hit".They are known for the extreme technical difficulty and complexity of their music, which often includes long instrumental interludes to showcase the skills of the band members. As such, much of it veers heavily into Epic Rocking territory. They are also known for their live shows, which are often really long and suitably epic.Current members:
James LaBrie (vocals)
Jordan Rudess (keyboards)
John Petrucci (guitar, backing vocals)
John Myung (bass)
Mike Mangini (drums)
Former members:
Mike Portnoy (drums, backing vocals)
Charlie Dominici (vocals)
Kevin Moore (keyboards)
Derek Sherinian (keyboards)
Chris Collins (vocals)
Studio Albums to date:
1989 - When Dream and Day Unite: "A Fortune in Lies", "The Ytse Jam", and "The Killing Hand"
1992 - Images and Words: "Pull Me Under", "Metropolis pt.1", "Learning to Live" and "Another Day"
1994 - Awake: "Caught in a Web", "The Mirror", "Lie", and the "A Mind Beside Itself" suite.
1995 - A Change of Seasons EP: "A Change of Seasons"
1997 - Falling into Infinity: "New Millennium", "Trial of Tears", and "Lines in the Sand"
There's a kind of spinoff of the band, called Liquid Tension Experiment, which started as a solo project of Mike Portnoy, but eventually ended with 3 out of 4 members of the band, as Jordan Rudess was incorporated into DT.
This band and its music provides examples of:
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Band tropes
Audience Participation Song: James will often get the crowd into singing along with the band, but that's nothing compared to Portnoy's Audience Participation Drum Solos, complete with call-and-response "Shave and a Haircut".
The Band Minus the Face: Mike Portnoy founded the band, alongside Petrucci and Myung, arranged much of the music and did the recording, production and most of the interviews - not to mention maintaining and curating a vast back-catalogue of bootlegs.
Creative Differences: One of the reasons Kevin Moore left the band after Awake (the others being his increasing alienation from bandmates and Reclusive Artist behaviour), and the main reason Dominici left after When Dream and Day Unite. (The band did not have major issues with Dominici but felt his vocals did not fit their style particularly well - Portnoy called the result "like having Billy Joel singing in Queensr˙che -, and he amicably left the band after the album was recorded.)
Early-Bird Cameo: Jordan played a single show with the band right before Sherinian was hired, and Mike Mangini played a drum duet with Portnoy during a show in 2002.
Fake Band: During their live shows in the Derek Sherinian era, they occasionally exchange instruments with each other and perform some Cover Versions as "Nightmare Cinema". Referenced in the "Full Circle" part of the song "Octavarium" with "Day for Nightmare Cinema" in the lyrics.
The Hero: John Petrucci (main composer and the closest thing the band has to a "leader")
The Lancer: Mike Portnoy and Jordan Rudess shared this role (Mike for his role as co-leader and spokesman of the band, and his contrast in personality with John Petrucci; Jordan for being the main composer of the band alongside John Petrucci)
The Big Guy: Mike Portnoy (favoured heavier songs for his own compositions, and was definitely the loudest and most outspoken of the band)
The Smart Guy: James LaBrie (probably the most well-spoken of the band in interviews)
The Chick: John Myung (not as involved in composition as the others, relatively quiet and calm)
Jordan Rudess has been known to experiment with some interesting instruments, including keyboards that sound like sitars and turntables, keyboard guitars, a Haken Continuum*
a keyboard with no actual keys but a single flat strip that is played by touching with the fingers
and even the iPhone and the iPad. He surely has a lot of toys.
John Myung has also been known to play with a Chapman Stick instead of an ordinary bass from time to time.
One Steve Limit: Both averted and enforced. John Petrucci and John Myung were founding members of the band, breaking the limit. However, when Kevin James LaBrie joined the band before Images and Words, he used his middle name as his stage name to avoid confusion with Kevin Moore.
Put on a Bus: Charlie Dominici and Derek Sherinian. Although both of them returned as guests for the anniversary concert of When Dream and Day Unite in 2004.
Their first vocalist, Chris Collins, got this treatment as well. The band were already pissed at him for his poor vocal range, inconsistent live performances, and bad behaviour on stage, which culminated in an incident where Collins was introducing the band and insulted Myung, referring to him as being "from the jungles of Korea". The band ultimately forced him to leave, and ended up replacing him with Charlie Dominici.
Soprano and Gravel: Mike Portnoy sometimes used a deeper voice than James LaBrie on songs such as "A Nightmare to Remember" and "Prophets of War". The version of "The Spirit Carries On" on both Live Scenes from New York and Score features vocals from Theresa Thomason, and also in their version of "The Great Gig in the Sky".
Supergroup: Each of the members has been involved with one at some point. For fun, look up any of the members on That Other Wiki and check the "Associated Acts" section of the info-box. To list a few (there are a lot):
We Really Do Care: James LaBrie contemplated quitting the band after he got really bad food poisoning, which led to him vomiting his guts out, which led to damage to his vocal cords that were never quite the same. The rest of the band talked him out of it.
Album Title Drop: The only exceptions to this are Falling into Infinity, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, and A Dramatic Turn of Events, whose titles do not appear anywhere in the albums. Otherwise:
When Dream and Day Unite is a part of "Only a Matter of Time".
Images and Words: from "Wait for Sleep".
Awake: from a line in Innocence Faded.
The faithful live awake
The working title for the Falling into Infinity album, "Stream of Consciousness", does show up in "Lines in the Sand".
Scenes from a Memory: from "Scene Six: Home" (the phrase also appeared in Metropolis Part 1 on Images and Words).
Train of Thought: possibly taken from the song title "Stream of Consciousness".
Octavarium: from, well, "Octavarium".
Systematic Chaos: from a line from "Constant Motion".
Insane random thoughts of neat disorder
Arc Number/Arc Words: "Octavarium" uses the idea that "everything ends where it began" and uses the number 8 and the octave as examples. What's more is that it's the eighth track on their eighth album and it's length in minutes (twenty-four) is divisible by 8. Various other elements in the song also allude to cycles and/or the number 8.
Book Ends: The first song of the Alcoholics Anonymous Suite, "The Glass Prison", begins with the sound of static, followed by the sound of a church bell, then the actual music starts. The last song in the suite, "The Shattered Fortress", ends with the song fading out to the sound of a church bell, followed by static.
"The Great Debate" begins with a keyboard riff. Soon, drums are added, followed by bass, then guitar. At the end of the song, these instruments are taken away in reverse order, until only the keyboard riff remains.
"The Glass Prison", from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence; "This Dying Soul", from Train of Thought; "The Root Of All Evil" from Octavarium; "Repentance", from Systematic Chaos and "The Shattered Fortress", from Black Clouds & Silver Linings
, barring "The Glass Prison" for being the first, is referenced in the other songs of said suite.
"Wait for Sleep"-"Learning to Live", from Images and Words.
Almost the entirety of Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory by being a Concept Album, both between the songs and the song "Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper", from Images & Words.
The tandems "Vacant"-"Stream of Consciousness", from Train of Thought
Each of the lines in the "Intervals" step of "Octavarium", from Octavarium, refer back to the previous tracks on the albums.
"The Best of Times", from Black Clouds & Silver Linings has "Remember, seize the day". This song was written by Mike Portnoy about the death of a relative... and the previous song that was written by him about the death of a relative, "A Change of Seasons", from the A Change of Seasons EP, contained the words "Seize the day" quite a few times.
Many songs came from Mike Portnoy's problems while writing the lyrics.
The "Twelve-step Suite" is a series of five songs in twelve parts wrote by him, which chronicles his experience withalcoholism; also known as the "Alcoholics Anonymous suite". "The Mirror" is also about alcohol, but was written well before he became sober.
"The Best of Times", from Black Clouds & Silver Linings and "A Change of Seasons", from A Change Of Seasons were wrote about his late father and mother, respectively.
"Honor Thy Father", from Train of Thought, is a Take That towards Portnoy's stepfather.
The unreleased "Raise the Knife" is about Kevin Moore's departure from the band.
Kevin Moore also contributed "6:00" (about getting sick to work with the band) and "Space-Dye Vest", the latter of which is just depressive in general, both from Awake.
John Petrucci wrote "Take Away My Pain", from Falling into Infinity, after his late father.
Also, "A Nightmare to Remember", from Black Clouds & Silver Linings, is about a car accident where he was involved as a child.
"Wither", also from BC&SL, is about writer's block.
James LaBrie also has his share of CB:
"Disappear", from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, was written after he observed a young couple in a mall and wondering about what they would do when one of them dies.
"Vacant", from Train of Thought was written about the helplessness he and his wife felt after their daughter suffered a severe seizure.
Awake. Due to various reasons such as a decision to take a more metallic approach and especially the growing rift between the band and then-keyboardist Kevin Moore, it's probably the bands second heaviest album after ToT and is definitely the most haunting and darkly atmospheric. This is especially notable considering the general optimism and focus on prog-rock and melodic elements on Images and Words, it's predecessor.
Train of Thought, probably even moreso. Not only are the lyrical themes much darker, but the music itself is much much heavier than that of Six Degrees, the previous album.
"The Glass Prison" was written after Mike and John went to a Pantera concert.
Epic Rocking: A feature of both this band and its spinoff Liquid Tension Experiment, being Progressive Metal bands, of course. The only album to date not featuring a track longer than 10 minutes was the debut When Dream and Day Unite, and the average song length is around 8 minutes. On the extreme end, there're the following songs:
"A Change of Seasons", from the A Change of Seasons EP. (23:06)
"Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. (42:04, was on its own disc, and was split over 8 tracks)
"Octavarium", from Octavarium. (24:00)
"In the Presence of Enemies", from Systematic Chaos. (25:38 if both parts are considered a single song, which is usually true during concerts)
"The Count of Tuscany", from Black Clouds & Silver Linings. (19:16)
The five songs of the "Twelve-Step Suite" add up to 57:16. Add another 6:47 if you count "The Mirror", which is also about Mike's struggle with addiction.
Heavy Mithril: The band gravitates towards this territory with "In the Presence of Enemies" and "The Ministry of Lost Souls", both from Systematic Chaos. "The Dark Eternal Night", from the same album, is about the awakening of an evil Egyptian God.
Last Note Nightmare: Some songs have really weird segues at the end of songs:
"Misunderstood" from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is notable due to the last third or so of the song fitting under this.
"This Dying Soul", from Train of Thought, also had a very sudden false ending, then about forty seconds of crazy soloing. (Not really a nightmare, just... weird)
Octavarium, from Octavarium, has several in there for symbology. The entire album is full of fives and eights, and the weird endings are the five dead spaces that represent the black notes on a keyboard.
Metropolis, Pt. 2 features the protagonist, Nicholas, going home, pouring himself a drink and listening to some calming music, before promptly being murdered by the hypnotherapist to the sound of a surprised yelp, the record being dislodged from the player, and static.
Mohs Scale of Rock and Metal Hardness: Their 90's material is generally a 6 (Surrounded, Innocence Faded, Hell's Kitchen, etc.) or a 7 (Pull Me Under, Metropolis Part 1, 6:00, etc.), while their 2000's material is generally a 7 (The Great Debate, The Root Of All Evil, etc.) or an 8 (The Glass Prison, As I Am, etc.). 2011's A Dramatic Turn Of Events is mostly a solid 7. Their softer songs are generally in the 3/4 range (except for Level 1 songs such as "Wait for Sleep", from Images and Words, and "The Silent Man", from Awake).
Some instrumental sections (like the blastbeats in "A Nightmare To Remember") get as high as 9.
"Constant Motion" in Rock Band. "Pull Me Under" from Guitar Hero isn't quite as bad on guitar, but bass and drums can be painful. "Panic Attack" is really killer on drums and bass. Both are really not in the absolute top tier of difficulty on drums though.
For that matter, playing any of this band's music in real life, which is why most of the actual covers and tributes don't make true justice to the originals.
John Petrucci said in an interview that one of the ways he keeps himself motivated to improve as a musician is by writing parts he can't actually play. Considering he's a gamer himself, this makes a lot of sense.
One Hit Wonder: Only "Pull Me Under" charted high enough to be considered a real hit. The band lampshaded this with the title of their Greatest Hits Album: Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs).
One-Woman Wail: The intro to Through Her Eyes on Metropolis, Pt. 2.
The Plan: In Metropolis, Pt. 2, Edward kills Victoria and Julian, then leaves a suicide note in Julian's pocket, making it appear as if Julian shot Victoria and killed himself. In other words, Edward literally gets away with murder. And it's not over yet! When Edward finally dies, he is reincarnated as the Hypnotherapist; at the end of the album, he murders Nicholas, the reincarnation of Victoria!
Power Ballad: Quite a few, the best known being "Another Day", "Hollow Years" and "The Spirit Carries On".
Precision F-Strike: Generally, the band avoid swearing in their songs, which makes the line "I wish I weren't so fucked" in "As I Am" a classic example of this trope, made even better with the emphasis James LaBrie puts on "fucked". "Honour Thy Father" also has the lines "And have the balls to blame this shit on me" and "So fucking blind to the damage he has done", as well as a borderline Cluster F-Bomb in the spoken word section in the middle of the song (though slightly muffled by the music in parts).
Sdrawkcab Name: "Ytse Jam" is really just the band's first name written backwards. Doubles as Punny Name.
The "Majesty Demos" bootleg actually has a track on it called "Gnos Sdrawkcab", which is just a reversed recording of John Petrucci shredding for a few seconds.
Shout Out: "Full Circle", the third step of "Octavarium", from the namesake album, it's basically a countdown of Shout Outs to every kind of stuff which influenced DT in one way or another.
Start My Own: Charlie Dominici, former vocalist (though only hardcore fans even know they had a vocalist other than James), started his own band called Dominici in the early 2000s.
Stunned Silence: A common response upon first hearing Scenes from a Memory or "A Change of Seasons".
Take That: "As I Am", wrote by John Petrucci, is directed to Queensr˙che's Mike Stone. Specifically, it was written after Mike tried to give John some tips on playing guitar (hence the line "Don't...tell me how to write").
"Never Enough" was wrote by Portnoy as one towards their Unpleasable Fanbase.
Kevin Moore wrote "6:00", which was about being sick of working with the band.
The unreleased "Raise the Knife" is a bitter rant from Portnoy about Moore leaving the band before Awake was released.
Tomato in the Mirror: The Killing Hand ends with the narrator coming back from the past only to discover that in destroying the Killing Hand, he ended up killing another version of himself.
Echoing Acoustics: The electronically-triggered snare and kick Mike Portnoy was forced to use on Images and Words by producer David Prater.
Homage: There is a suspicious similarity between the story told in "In the Presence of Enemies" and the plot of the Korean comic Priest... comparison of the Forsaken EP CD cover with one of the comic's volume covers might also help.
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