Examples of Dream Theater's influences

FANTASTIC.... ALL OF YOU ARE WHINING ABOUT NEGATIVE THREADS AND HERE YOU ALL ARE IN THIS MAGNIFICENT "LET'S BASH DT FOR FREE!" THREAD.....

Cristi wrote: The T wrote: FANTASTIC.... ALL OF YOU ARE WHINING ABOUT NEGATIVE THREADS AND HERE YOU ALL ARE IN THIS MAGNIFICENT "LET'S BASH DT FOR FREE!" THREAD.....   So much for worries about "positivity"... only when it's about symphonic rock....     I'm not bashing DT, I just agree to the fact that there have always been an excessive amount of DT topic and polls, that's all.

Cristi wrote: ProgressiveOpinion wrote: I'm just as big a fan of early DT as anyone, but I can think of about 100 other prog bands that deserve to be discussed in place of the endless streams of DT threads.      I actually agree, but there have always been endless streams of DT threads as DT is a very popular band - I would like to see more threads with other prog-metal bands - Shadow Gallery, Circus Maximus, Angra, Sieges Even, Tad Morose, Enchant, Evergrey, POS, Tiles to name a few. But DT and apparently Symphony X have always been among favourites here.

People simply gravitate towards the most popular bands ... regardless of genre. Space Rock? Hawkwind. Symphonic Prog? Yes, Genesis. Prog Metal? DT, SyX. Post Rock? GYBE!, Sigur Ros.

One of the most important lessons that I have learned since I've been visiting sites like this is that in every genre there are second (or even third) tier bands which made albums that easily match or even outclass those of the "iconic" bands.

I suggest trying it with other bands.. The Flower Kings for starters.

Last chance to calm down here.

Sure, there's so much music around that you're bound to wind up with some things that sound the same.

But if you 'pay tribute' to an artist by quoting them, you acknowledge them in the liner notes. I don't think I've ever seen DT do that.

Heck, you probably even ask the artist for permission to quote them first.

As long as there are fanboys constantly spewing about how Dream Theater are musical gods and people are stupid/musically incompetent for not liking them, there will always be conflict.

On the brighter side, I will say that Dream Theater is not directly ripping anyone off, but it is more like their influences are becoming more and more obvious (like many have said before). I'm listening to "Images and Words" and "Awake" right now and it's almost like it's a different band. Subtlety is something I greatly appreciate when it comes to music, and it seems like Dream Theater has lost a good deal of subtlety as time went on.

I'm not being specific to this forum, that would just be vindictive! I'm talking generally around the Internet music community. I and many, many people I know have had many run-in's with people like that (both Dream Theater and Scarsick fanboys).

It's quite incredible how any prog-metal fan can easily tell DT apart from every other band in the genre... even from its clones (which abound, I have reviewed many of those...) It's only people who have heard limited amount of prog metal that find DT sounding like everything else...

The T wrote:   Music is the COPY/PASTE art... what differetiates copysts from artists is how good they are at hiding their theft.... Do you know ANYTHING about the mind and the subconscious? Read a little bit people.... YOU CREATE THE MUSIC YOU'VE HEARD ALL YOUR LIFE.... only adding what you can add by your own....

As a student of western music theory, I am forced to agree with this statement. Influence and learning from the past is what makes art and music continue to perpetuate.

What separates copycats from artists is how well they have internalized the work of others with other influences.

However, I find, as a once "fan boy" of Dream Theater, that they are poor at doing this. What the most effective way to take influence in music is to study others' music- find out what makes it what it is. What I have observed in the writing processes and music of Dream Theater is that they cut this process off in its infancy. They listen to the bands they are claimed to be "stealing" from and they "get the gist" of what their music is about and, well, they show their influence in a rather cut-and-dry manner. That is why I could tell you what they were thinking of as influence for every song on their newest album and much of their past work.

I used to love them until I discovered the bands they have, in my opinion, not so carefully taken influence from, which has made the music of Dream Theater seem like a quickly stitched together quilt of influences. Don't get me wrong, they are amazing musicians and I enjoy some of their early material still, but I have lost much interest in their way of doing things.

This, coming from one who would always defend the band on countless occasions.