Defend the Existence of: Dream Theater

[Seamy ALB]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

Can't stand the heat.....

[rizzo9247]

I celebrate their entire catalog.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I celebrate their entire catalog.

 

Um...your point is...?

 

Peace.

--Dub $$

[getz out]

I celebrate their entire catalog.

 

I have a meeting with the Bobs.

[EddiePlaysBass]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

Clench your teeth, that way you get to keep the big chunks

[SteveC]

I am guessing there are those that feel the same way about (insert your favorite band here) so if everyone pushed a button for the band they wanted gone, what band(s) would be left?

[getz out]

I actually enjoy some progressive rock. I like a bunch of Yes and some Rush.

 

I do not see anything progressive about Dream Theater.

[getz out]

I am guessing there are those that feel the same way about (insert your favorite band here) so if everyone pushed a button for the band they wanted gone, what band(s) would be left?

 

Stevie Wonder.

[Newf]

I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

 

Clench your teeth, that way you get to keep the big chunks

 

Mmmmmmmm.........

[Chad Thorne]

Not a DT fan, but they have a right to exist because the Constitution guarantees us the right to engage in whatever douchebaggery, wankery or other sorts of overblown, incomprehensible personal expression we care to. God bless the First Amendment!

 

Of course, we also have the right not to like or listen to any douchebaggery, etc. that comes down the pike, let alone spend money on it. This is why I don't listen to Dream Theater.

 

Don't be hatin'.

[kenfxj]

I'm just busting chops. I love Dream Theater. This is one of my favorites:

 

[video:youtube]

[doc taz]

I love l0v3 <3 DT. I understand people who say they aren't the most progressive of bands. But compared to most metal bands, DT is more progressive.

 

But I also love my punk side, esp. old school bashers like Fugazi, Minor Threat, and Black Flag. Especially Black Flag. There's never enough time in the day for a Henry Rollins hit.

 

Perhaps some inventive electronica band/group ought to sample DT, and see what comes out of the experiment.

 

Still, who cares? I might as well spin some Jaco or Brian Setzer or that Susan Boyle CD I haven't opened yet...

[theTragicRich]

every time someone hates on DT, a puppy dies. And everyone loves puppies right? Don't press it.

 

Coming from a prog-metal fan, I don't get into DT, but I can listen to em. I don't own any of their albums but I respect the members and the band for what they are. As someone said, they are very active in the music scene. Various side projects and 'super groups' (which actually showcase their musicianship/writing better IMO), guest appearances, as well as their interactions with the community proves they aren't just all wank all the time.

 

Besides, it's all about the puppies. What did they ever do to you?

[yourlord]

There is tons of music out there under the heading of "jazz" that I would classify as a total train wreck that could be put to shame by a bunch of 6th graders on crack.

 

I don't understand it, or the fascination with it.

 

Having said that, I fully believe they have a right to exist as while my brain can't be made to comprehend why someone would put their head in a musical vice and crank until it oozes that kind of nasty goo, obviously someone out there does. Who am I to impose my own tastes on them.

 

I love a lot of Dream Theater's music. I'm not a huge fan of everything they've done, but that in and of itself says something about them. They didn't paint themselves into a musical genre where they can never escape..

 

Listen to the album "Falling Into Infinity", then listen to "Train Of Thought" and try to comprehend that those are 2 albums from the SAME band. They have managed to accomplish what most musicians can only dream of.

 

How many of us here can claim we make the kind of money they do playing music? How many of us here can claim that we can produce albums which can be classified into virtually any musical genre at a whim, and have our fans eat it up?

 

You may not feel their groove, or hear the emotion they pour into their music, but there are a lot of people who obviously do.

 

I don't like all their work, but I call myself a DT fan. Some of their albums I'd use for target practice, but many of them can literally bring me to tears every time I actually sit down and listen to them.

 

DT requires you to engage your brain. It's not meant to be good ol' fun times, knee slappin, little thought involved music. It's meant for contemplation, for dissecting with your ears all the subtle interplay going on between the different instruments and movements.

 

No music should have it's right to exist questioned, except rap.

[Ross Brown]

No music should have it's right to exist questioned, except rap.

 

[EddiePlaysBass]

No music should have it's right to exist questioned, except rap.

 

Not all rap is crap. But until the Bear Jew starts a thread about defending rap, I won't go there :grin:

[Nicklab]

I dig some prog. Mostly King Crimson, mind you. But I think those guys were coming from a totally different place.

 

I tried to get into DT. Bought one album and really gave it a chance. But when I'm looking through my music library (yes, it's a library!) and I see that DT album? I get a bit of a douche chill and wonder why I haven't traded it in for something I'd enjoy more.

 

It does seem likely wankery of wankery's sake. But that's all just personal taste. That being said....

 

 

PUSH THE BUTTON. DO IT! DO IT NOW!!!!!!

[EddiePlaysBass]

[edit] Whatever.

[getz out]

I get a bit of a douche chill

 

hahahaha!

[fingertalkin]

I like Pull Me Under. Granted that is the only song I have ever heard from them.....so I have no real opinion of them.

 

I am more of a beer drinking music kind of guy. I don't like to have to think about what I am listening to. I would probably not like them if there is too much going on to draw me in. I would liken it to Coheed and Cambria. Maybe not in musical styles but too much douchebaggery.

 

I am sure Davio will kill me for that......so would the guitarist in my band.

 

Can someone explain what exactly prog rock is? I don't know what it is. I always thought that Faith No More was because that is what I had heard. None of the bands that I have heard call Prog, to me, sound remotely related.

[yourlord]

I tried to get into DT. Bought one album and really gave it a chance. But when I'm looking through my music library (yes, it's a library!) and I see that DT album? I get a bit of a douche chill and wonder why I haven't traded it in for something I'd enjoy more.

 

Agreed. If Falling Into Infinity was the only DT album I ever heard, I'd likely not have looked twice.

 

Awake, Metropolis, and Train Of Thought are my favorite DT albums. I wouldn't p*ss on Falling Into Infinity or Octavarium if they were on fire. You really can't judge all of DT by one album. They are all so different it's hard to believe they came from the same band.

 

I'm glad my rap crack got some attention. I hate rap with a passion, but alas, even it has a right to exist.

[kenfxj]

No music should have it's right to exist questioned, except rap.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8xlq0QvkqQ8/SpZyxOEiTsI/AAAAAAAABtc/963qCuTVbVg/s400/irony.gif

[kenfxj]

I saw this really hot chick at a Dream Theater show once.

[kenfxj]

No I didn't.

[Paul K]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpYCyNbDTWo

 

I got no problem with the band. See, Ren and Stimpy knew how to push the envelope. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Like how Ren and Stimpy sucked after the first season and a half.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

No opinion one way or another.

 

I respect their right per the first amendment to play whatever they want. I repsect Erik's first amendment right to push some arbitrary button. I respect my right to have another beer before bed. Nights.

[Juancarlin]

There must be about 3 or 4 DT tunes I like. And I like myself some prog rock, specially "original", 70s and even some 80s prog rock. Why nobody seems to remember Saga, for an instance? Maybe not "prog" enough? I love me some Rush, Genesis, Yes, U.K., Gentle Giant... and have admittedly listened to DT, and even own a couple albums. Not my fave band for sure, but I listen to those tunes every once in a long while.

 

I am a Jazz lover. And I love Steely Dan too, and I am pretty well aware those are "not for everyone" music. There are things in Jazz I also could describe as gibberish, so I guess the rule applies to pretty much about everything, the same way nowadays almost any thing gets labeled "Soul" and "Funk". Not to mention the latest (and has been rambling for quite a long time already) calamity around our Latin American countries,, something very nasty and anti-musical called "Reggaeton", some kind of a mix between Rap and Dancehall Reggae... I might sound biased, well I am. So what?

 

But now on DT... well, they're just a band. A successful band, in the terms described above, as in a band that sells important figures of records, a band who fills up stadiums and gets a large followers base. Guess what, I've played with important artists around here, who have gone triple platinum in a year, filling stadiums and all that, and I couldn't care less about their music, even if I am directly involved, I still think is crap. "Success" for me goes WAY beyond selling hundreds of millions of records or filling stadiums with fans, for me it's something VERY intrinsical, which has more to do with how I do feel when I am playing music. I don't care if it is for a couple or a couple thousands people (been in both situations). Maybe that is why I stopped getting my earnings only from music a while ago, and I respect deeply those who still do so, but I honestly prefer to play what I like with the people I feel good with. And I certainly have had luck by doing so, it is even paying enough good money now. So ... to let them "live" only by considering them as "successful" meas nothing to me. There are millions of artists doing so, and that does not change the course of things. Most of us know how Jaco Pastorius lived and died, and would you push the button on him, were it the chance? Would you talk about "Success" on his behalf?

 

So, I'd say, let them be. After all, we will always need to have around those things we dislike, to appreciate deeper all that we love.

 

Oh, and I didn't knew Myung was responsible for the design of the Bongo bass from Music Man. Why didn't he got stuck with the Yamaha bass? I personally find the Bongo pretty awful and awkward. Thinking about it twice... push the button already!.

 

 

[jeremy c]

The Bongo?

 

http://futurelawyer.typepad.com/futurelawyer/images/2008/10/08/mr_bill.png

[picker]

I heard a couple of their tunes on MTV, back when MTV still played some music. Impressive chops. Not my cuppa.

I was a big prog guy back when it really was progressive. Yes, Crimson, Tull, Emerson Lake & Palmer, that was prog rock. And I've never had a problem with wankery for wankery's sake, going back to the drum solo on In-A-Gadda_Da-Vida and forward through Grand Funk Railroad, & Ted Nugent. Eventually, I managed to transfer my love of fast licks and bombastic arrangements to folks like Return to Forever and other such fusioneers. By the time DT came along, I was a tad burnt out on spacey synth patches and overly speedy guitar, bass, & drums backing pretty boy singers spouting pretentious, pseudo-philosophical lyrics about non-existent cosmic concerns. Let's say I had become bored with overly fussy fou-fou cooking and started liking meat & potatoes, cornbread & beans, and tall glasses of sweet milk.

 

No need to push the button. They are a self-correcting problem.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Mmmmm, I LOVE me some cornbread!