History YMMV / DreamTheater

** Mileage may vary, but there's no doubt that the self titled brought a lot of fans back following the mixed bag release of ''A Dramatic Turn of Events'', often even called heavier than ''Train of Thought'' and some (even Mike Portnoy) feel the album is similar to ''Images and Words''.

* NeverLiveItDown: Despite being a complete coincidence, the band is never going to be able to live down the fact that their live album ''Live Scenes from New York'' originally had a cover featuring a picture of a burning New York City, with the World Trade Center in the middle of it. If this wasn't bad enough, the album was actually released on the very same day the 9/11 attack occurred.

** James [=LaBrie=]'s voice is a point of contention. Of course, most fans love his singing and consider him a great vocalist, but others believe that he is past his prime and that his vocals have gotten weaker with age, with a portion of the fanbase claiming that he's dragging the rest of the band down and should just retire already. [=LaBrie=]'s supporters and detractors frequently end up arguing over this.

** ''The Astonishing'' for some, while critics are hailing it as a great album, many fans see it as average at best, feel it is heavily similar to Music/{{Rush}}'s ''2112'' album, and that its 2 hour length and overabundance of [[PowerBallad power ballads]] really bring the album down.

* FaceOfTheBand: Mike Portnoy was pretty much the face of the band. He acted as the spokesman and did the bulk of the interviews and other things, and interacted with the fans more than any of the others. Petrucci is a sort of [[TheLancer second in command]]. Jordan also does a lot of face stuff, but usually in the context of a solo artist. John Myung mostly stays out of the limelight. Labrie himself was only going to be a guy who did vocals for them, rather than being a full on member who worked on songs.

** Mileage may vary, but there's no doubt that the self titled brought a lot of fans back following the mixed bag release of ''A Dramatic Turn of Events'', often even called [[UpToEleven heavier]] than ''Train of Thought'' and some (even Mike Portnoy) feel the album is similar to ''Images and Words''.

** James [=LaBrie=]'s voice is a point of contention. Of course, most fans love his singing and consider him a great vocalist. Others believe that he is past his prime and that his vocals have gotten weaker with age, with a portion of the fanbase claiming that he's dragging the band down and should just retire already. [=LaBrie=]'s supporters and detractors frequently end up arguing over this.

** The lyrics on "The Count of Tuscany" are some of the most ridiculous in the band's history. It describes the band members visiting a completely normal vineyard in Italy... and desperately tries to make it sound like the scariest thing in the world. The pre-chorus is often memed due to being particularly hilarious.

* NarmCharm:
** The lyrics on the song "The Count of Tuscany", from ''Black Clouds & Silver Linings'', are some of the most ridiculous in the band's history. [=LaBrie=] sings this like it's the most sinister and creepy thing in the world. The lyrics are undeniably cheesy:
---> ''COME AND HAVE A TASTE!!!''
---> ''A RARE VINTAGE!!!''
---> ''ALL THE FINEST WINES!!!''
---> ''IMPROVE WITH AGE!!!''
** Another example:
---> ''Let me introduce-''
---> My ''brother
---> ''A bearded gentleman''
---> '' '''HISTORIAN'''!!!''

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Some fans had this attitude after Mike Portnoy was replaced by Mike Mangini. While Mangini is a spectacular drummer on the post-Portnoy albums, he doesn't garner the same "excitement" Portnoy was known for.
** A smaller portion of fans felt the same way when Kevin Moore was replaced with Jordan Rudess.

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Overall, they avert {{Author Tract}}s in their music, with a few exceptions. The biggest exception is that they have quite a few songs based on mental disorders, and they're not remotely subtle about depicting how debilitating said disorders can be, nor how unjust it is that people who suffer from them are stigmatised in society. "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" may be the best example, though "The Enemy Inside" also deserves mention for bringing attention to the problem of post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans (as well as the band's close work with a charity for said veterans).

** Mike Portnoy vs. Mike Mangini. Portnoy is widely considered one of the greatest metal drummers of all time, so obviously his departure and replacement was seen as the end of an era, with many fans thinking that no one could possibly replace him and declaring everything with Mangini on it FanonDiscontinuity. That said, many fans do think that Mangini is talented enough to be a suitable replacement, or even that he's the superior drummer of the two. Others yet think that Mangini is more skilled on a technical level, but lacks Portnoy's energy and stage presence. Because of this, asking "Portnoy or Mangini?" is a great way to spark a heated debate.

** Instrumental tracks often also have comments claiming it to be LaBrie’s best performance yet.
** Following the release of the video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gylxuO6dKOw Untethered Angel]], which shows the band in studio, most of the jokes in the comments reference the height of drummer Mike Magini's cymbals.

* {{Growing the Beard}}s: As one might tell by the plural, played literally, too. Their breakthrough, ''Images and Words'', was released in 1992 and peaked at #61 in the United States. Nobody had any facial hair. Compare that to 2007's ''Systematic Chaos'', their first Top 20 album (#19) and 2009's ''Black Clouds & Silver Linings'', their first Top 10 (#6) which by then, everyone except Myung is more often seen with big beards and other facial hair.

* SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNZiqRf4gSs hidden track]] at the end of "Illumination Theory". No, really. A hidden track being ''sweet dreams fuel'', whereas others are happy to [[NightmareFuel fit on the other end of the spectrum]].

** Expect to see someone comment "Lyrics by John Myung" on every instrumental track of the band. [[TheQuietOne The guy is just that loquacious.]]
*** Also expect to see many jokes in the comments of videos where John actually does speak.

** Mike Mangini compared to Mike Portnoy, '''in spade'''.

* WinBackTheCrowd: Mileage may vary, but there's no doubt that the self titled brought a lot of fans back following the mixed bag release of ''A Dramatic Turn of Events'', often even called [[UpToEleven heavier]] than ''Train of Thought'' and some (even Mike Portnoy) feel the album is similar to ''Images and Words''.
** ''Distance Over Time'' has ''slightly'' become this for fans, especially for those snubbed by ''The Astonishing'' and it's length and abundance of power ballads.