Dream Theater

For me it's the chorus to As I Am.

The raw energy and honesty in James' voice when he asks us to take him as he is is beautiful. We've all been there, guys.

Surrounded, start to finish. To date their greatest accomplishment. The uplifting energy, the spirit, the beauty.....it's unmatched by anything else they've ever written. If I could only listen to one Dream Theater song for the rest of my life - well, you get the idea.

And from an ivory tower hears her call - let the light surround you!

More recently, the section of "This is the Life" where he sings "Life begins as an empty slate" gives me goosebumps in 80 degree weather.

Disappear, from start to finish, almost makes me burst into tears whenever I hear it.
It's the one song I will *never* listen to in a public place.

i definitely agree with paddladd!

An old friend came to work one day with a copy of "Awake" in his backpack. He knew I was looking for new music, and he figured considering my love of Iron Maiden, that I might just like Dream Theater. Little did he know that "Awake" would change how I listened to music forever. Eighteen years later and thousands of dollars spent, Dream Theater is my favorite band, and the most listened to band in my collection.

I think it was listening to metropolis pt. one. That song got me interested in Instrumedly and Instrumedly led me to all the other songs.

DT Moments that defined you as a fan...

I was lead to DT through JP during a G3.

My first album was Awake. It defined me because of the range of musicality and depth I heard in what became my favorite portion of the album, "A Mind Beside Itself" through to "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream." Listening to The Mirror and Lie evolve in and out of one another was the initial gem. That was the first time I heard rocking music do something like that before.

6DOIT and ToT became soundtracks that helped me express some issues I was having during a rough patch(es) so I'd say they helped define me as a fan.

The moment my old girlfriend heard "I Walk Beside You" and we actually had a song we could both listen too.

i would honestly say that the chorus during The Great Debate is my favorite, just the lyrics bring me out. "look to the sky" the way its sung, its beautiful. though i use the way he says it in a different way rather than thinking of stem cell research (lol) the feeling of how its sung is still there.

actually, id like to change that. the song count of tuscany as a whole, but especially the last 5 minutes .simply breathtaking

=dreamtheater55 said:actually, id like to change that. the song count of tuscany as a whole, but especially the last 5 minutes .simply breathtaking

I was always Styx's biggest fan and I still am, but my thorough enjoyment with any other band started when I went to a Dream Theater-Iron Maiden show. I didn't know any actual DT songs at the time except for PMU, but I did know for a fact that they were the WAY better of the two, far before I went to the show. I easily got really into Iron Maiden after that show, but still did not yet become any more familiar with DT. Then I went to a Rush show, and I began to LOVE Rush. Then, I was finally able to grasp onto some Symphony X, which really taught me a lot. FINALLY, I was able to keep track of Dream Theater songs and understand them more. So I listened to the entire Scenes From a Memory album, and couldn't stop listing to endless amounts of Dream Theater every day. I finally had seen the different sides of them, and the brilliance of all of it- the contrast of Images and Words to Awake and then to everything else. This was the explanation of everything I heard in SFAM!! I remember finding it almost comical how simple some of the parts of SFAM were!! But they still spoke to me, unlike any four chord pop can! And I began to understand. WOW. Then a Dramatic Turn of Events came out, and I am absolutely blown away.

So i guess, the short answer is that the turning point was listing to Fatal Tragedy. Unbelievable emotion. WOW.