The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Six months ago, I didn't appreciate music past the catchyness of the songs and how much the people jumped around on stage, but then I was introduced to Dream Theater by a friend of mine. Ever since, I have grown as a musician, learned an incredible amount about drumming, songwriting, and everything musical for all I'm concerned. This band is so underated, and they really deserve way more credit than they get. Mike Portnoy is my favorite drummer, and he plays with so much versatility, it's just mind-blowing. If you haven't checked these guys out, do. I picked up Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence first, and I was hooked. Since then, I have picked up every one of their cds, except for WDADU, but I'm planning on picking it up soon. Pick up a cd. You won't be dissapointed. 8)

You don't have 'none of them. Dream Theater suck' as an option.

yeah. put a 'none of them' option.

heh...don't sweat it JR, some people get it, some don't.

jolly roger wrote:Pick up a cd. You won't be dissapointed. 8)

I think the reason that they aren't more popular than they are is that their style of music does not appeal to most people. I just DL'ed a bunch of tracks, and I did not like a single one.

Yeah, my friend can't get into them either. He digs the whole RAWK/rock/indie-rock/pop/folk-pop/electronic/whatever spectrum, but no Dream Theater. He loves Rush, though, which seems odd to me.

The biggest thing I found to be difficult to get past is the singer's (James LaBrie) voice. Still have trouble sometimes. But I guess that's way balanced out by the sheer enormity and brilliance of Portnoy's drumming.

I have had very little success turning friends on to DT, I must admit.

j$ wrote:You don't have 'none of them. Dream Theater suck' as an option.

fodroy wrote:yeah. put a 'none of them' option.

TheHipCola wrote:The biggest thing I found to be difficult to get past is the singer's (James LaBrie) voice. Still have trouble sometimes. But I guess that's way balanced out by the sheer enormity and brilliance of Portnoy's drumming.
I have had very little success turning friends on to DT, I must admit.

Okay okay so maybe not so many people love it. I agree about the James LaBrie thing ... I love his voice when he sings in his low range, but when he gets up high ... shiver ... I guess a lot of people just don't dig the whole complex progressive deal ... whatever ... everyone's entitled to their own tastes.

I definitely like progressive, I used to have a progrock radio show in grad school, but Dream Theater never did that much for me. If you're interested you can still see my playlists on my website tho they're not really linked from anywhere any more. (here).
-bill

HeuristicsInc wrote:I definitely like progressive, I used to have a progrock radio show in grad school, but Dream Theater never did that much for me. If you're interested you can still see my playlists on my website tho they're not really linked from anywhere any more. (here).
-bill

That's interesting ... I wish there were prog radio shows in Calgary. I've really gotten into Dream Theater, Tool and Rush ... I've only been into it for a bit, but I wish the style got more attention from popular radio.

If you're not wedded to the broadcast radio world, you can find progrock shows etc. online in streaming format.
Somewhere there used to be a list or lists organized by location of actual airwaves shows... my show was listed. Don't see it at the moment but I don't have time. Check college stations. Prog isn't "in" but you might get lucky.
-bill

HeuristicsInc wrote:Check college stations. Prog isn't "in" but you might get lucky.

Prog should be in. It's not very fair that one of the most advanced forms of music should be thrown in the backseat to a lot of the modern popular "music". I do like a lot of popular music, but I honestly think it's unfair how a lot of the bands out there are completely bland and unoriginal, but they still manage to make it. It does take talent to make music, but a lot of the stuff out there isn't music ...

People like what they like. That's not unfair, that's life.

jolly roger wrote:a lot of the stuff out there isn't music ...

can you offer any examples of this phenomenon? i mean apart from the obvious 'spoken word' or 'comedy' genres...

search for a prog band on radioblogclub.com and you will most likely find a never ending supply of prog music.

-craig

Okay ... I'm sorry for some of the things that I wrote ... I was in kind of a foul mood and wasn't really thinking about what I was writing because I was watching TV at the same time ... but I guess I'll try to explain what I was meaning ...

tviyh wrote:

jolly roger wrote:a lot of the stuff out there isn't music ...

can you offer any examples of this phenomenon? i mean apart from the obvious 'spoken word' or 'comedy' genres...

I find that I judge the technicality of the band as their talent for music ... I do have a lot of respect for anybody that has made it in the music business, I just have more for musicians with a lot of technical skill and songwriting abilities.

erikb wrote:People like what they like. That's not unfair, that's life.

Life's unfair.

starfinger wrote:search for a prog band on radioblogclub.com and you will most likely find a never ending supply of prog music.
-craig

I checked it out but haven't had too much time to get into it. Thanks for the advice though.

I had my Dream Theater phase for a while in the late 90's.

I think it comes down to this: If all music appreciation were based soley on technical skill, then Dream Theater would easily have fifty times the fanbase that they currently have. You will notice that you will rarely run into a Dream Theater fan that is not a musician. The whole band really knows how to play their respective instruments, few would argue this, but there comes a point where you're just writing songs with the primary focus of showing off.

Thankully, they are a band that can show restraint at TIMES (i.e. "The Silent Man" from "Awake".) Similar wankfest bands could learn a thing or two from that example. When it comes to most of Dream Theater's catalog, I can only listen for short periods of time before getting bored with hearing the same endless solos.

I can't think of many people who can do what John Petrucci can do with a guitar, but by having such technical skill, are you now obligated to display it on every song?

In closing: Not everyone is a musician. Good songs do not necessarily have to be difficult to play.

That is all.

ROCK!

Glenn (DR FUNK)
http://glenncase.songhole.org

GlennCase wrote:The whole band really knows how to play their respective instruments, few would argue this, but there comes a point where you're just writing songs with the primary focus of showing off.
Thankully, they are a band that can show restraint at TIMES (i.e. "The Silent Man" from "Awake".)

I've had a lot of the same feelings when I listen to some of their longer songs ... It's okay if you're playing along on the drums because it's interesting to play but yes ... they do get a bit over the top sometimes with the length of the solos ... have you checked out Octavarium? It's got a lot more variety songwise ... they have their holdback Silent Man songs, they've got their heavy As I Am type ones, and they've got their massive epic songs, but I found that their song Sacraficed Sons has a crazy epic feel to it, but it's not too long. Check out Octavarium if you really liked Awake, and if you don't like it, I'm just going to have to stop giving DT advice.

GlennCase wrote:....but by having such technical skill, are you now obligated to display it on every song?

Maybe not obligated to do show it, but bored if he doesn't? I figure DT is pretty happy with how their careers are going, and they don't have Top40 in their sights. They probably are well aware that it's mostly musicians who love their stuff the most. And maybe...just maybe that's who they write for.... ? That's one explanation.

They are challenging to listen to for long periods of time for sure. I usually can rock with 1 album at a time...no more.

GlennCase wrote:In closing: Not everyone is a musician. Good songs do not necessarily have to be difficult to play.

Also: not every musician cares about the technical proficiency of the band they are listening to. How's that old saying go: Only 1,000 people bought the first Velvet Underground album, but every single one of them started a band.

TheHipCola wrote:

GlennCase wrote:....but by having such technical skill, are you now obligated to display it on every song?

Maybe not obligated to do show it, but bored if he doesn't? I figure DT is pretty happy with how their careers are going, and they don't have Top40 in their sights. They probably are well aware that it's mostly musicians who love their stuff the most. And maybe...just maybe that's who they write for.... ? That's one explanation.

I completely agree.

prog riffs in all the wrong places in great songs = brilliant.

prog rock w/out songs = laaaaame.

odd times and syncopated insanity should be another tool in the box to wake listeners up and give them something to unfold over time. there's no difference between an uncompelling one-chord song and an uncompelling 10,000 chord song.