Everyone experiences turning points in their lives. As a 16-year-old music enthusiast, these moments hold even greater significance. Dream Theater was one such turning point for me.
I had just started high school and had been playing guitar for a few years. Additionally, my family had recently moved to a new house, and I had yet to establish a close circle of friends. After school, I would spend hours playing my guitar and listening to my mp3 lists with MSN on.
One day after school, one of my worst fears came true. At the start of my 45-minute car and 45-minute walking journey back home, my MP3 player battery died. (It was powered by pen batteries and had a 256 MB memory. Considering that MP3 songs were an average of 4 MB at that time) I was left without music for the rest of my journey. After days of traveling, I arrived at the apartment block and heard a song from my playlist playing loudly. An electric guitar accompanied the music, emanating from an open window on the first floor near the entrance. It was a rare moment of connection, as if someone else in the world understood me and my language. Despite being locked to the window, I made eye contact with the young man playing the guitar inside. We shared a moment of silence before striking up a conversation on our feet. Although the details are hazy due to the crowded room, I recall feeling an immediate connection due to our shared language and proximity as neighbors. Inside, there was a board meeting, a consensus, and a council that I had to attend.
After arriving home, I quickly tossed my bag into a corner and changed my clothes. Without even turning on my computer, I headed downstairs and met the group of friends who would become an important part of my life for years to come. The team consisted of the following;
Karahan, who plays guitar downstairs and is my neighbor. Taner, who is 2.05m tall and has hair as long as his body, is in charge of the bass guitar. McMannes (Murat), with whom we will make short films later and whom we call the director of the band, who is good on rhythm instruments. Kadir, the guy with a good voice, whose acoustic guitar I will often borrow. Koray, the polyglot of the team, with his waist-length hair, who will come home later in the day. And the last one to join us that day, Yavuz, the older brother of us all and, according to us, the guitar king of the team.
So why did I go into Dream Theater in such a dramatic way? And what does it have to do with this environment? Because the most important turning points in my life for many years were always experienced with this team and most importantly Dream Theater was the only band we all admired (okay, I admit that Yavuz didn't like it as much as we did :)).
Let's get back to the topic. It was not that day, but one day when we met again, Taner asked this important question;
"- Junior, do you know DT?".
(Yes, I was the youngest member of the team, so they used to call me "Junior", then they started calling me "Blues Jr", inspired by my passion for blues and the Fender amp of the same name) Of course, I had no idea. I knew it was something important from the mischievous smiles on everyone's faces. Taner continued;
"- Let's brainwash you!" (villain laughs)
And Taner opened the first song, "Metropolis - Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper", which I didn't know was technically possible.
"Death is the first dance, eternal"
This is one of Dream Theatre's most iconic and legendary songs. Although it is much more impressive to hear it with Taner's sometimes unbelievable embellishments, the strangest and most interesting thing about the song for me was that it didn't have a chorus. In fact, it didn't even have a form, let alone a chorus; the frequently changing motifs, beats, unbelievable melodic phrases, and virtuosity of the band members blew me away. I was so mesmerized by the song that I neither understood nor listened to the lyrics. (Because I wanted to find out later and open a whole new story, but there is still a long way to go :))
I leave the link here so you can listen to it right away.
John Petrucci, the guitarist of the band, wrote the lyrics inspired by his dream, at first he thought that the dream he had was real, but when he researched it he realized that it was not such an experience, then he elaborated on this experience and turned it into a story and wrote the song. So is Petrucci just a good lyricist? :) I will answer that question in another article.
So who are these guys? Who is Dream Theater?
The band was formed in 1985 by then Berklee College of Music students John Petrucci and John Myung (who were also childhood friends) and Mike Portnoy. At first, they did Rush and Iron Maiden covers. Then one day, while waiting in line for tickets for a Rush concert, they were listening to Rush's "Bastille Day". At the end of the song, Portnoy says "It sounds Majestic! They decided that the name of the band would be "Majesty". Then Petrucci's high school friend Kevin Moore joined the band as keyboardist and Chirs Collins as lead singer.
In the meantime, Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung get tired of the intense pace of the school and feel that they can no longer learn, so they leave the school to spend more time with the group. Soon after, Moore left his own school. While the band was playing concerts, they also recorded a demo called "The Majesty Demos". And the first 1,000 copies of the demo sold out within six months.
Things are getting serious now.
Now the band's name was starting to be heard and they were getting more attention. In November 1986 they fired their lead singer Chris Collins, they spent almost a year trying to find a replacement and finally Charlie Dominici, who was older but more experienced than anyone else in the band, joined the band. With this change, the band continues to grow. But with the growth came problems.
"Majesty," a Las Vegas-based band with the same name as ours, threatens to sue them for intellectual property infringement for using their name. And the band starts looking for a new name. They tried a couple of different names and even performed under the name "Glasser" for about a week, but no one liked it. Then Portnoy's father suggests the name of a small theater in California; "Dream Theater" and this name becomes the beginning of a legend.
Dream Theater signed their first record deal in June 1988 and their first studio album "When Dream and Day Unite" was released in 1989. The album didn't make as much noise as they wanted, and when the record company didn't keep their promises, the morale was a bit low. And after the fourth promotional concert for the album, the band parted ways with Charlie Dominici because he didn't fit the vocal style they wanted.
During the search for a new vocalist, which lasted about 2 years, they tried out many vocalists and even played test concerts with some of them. At the same time, they wrote a big part of the album "Images and Words", which became the legendary album we are talking about today.
In January 1991, as the band was in the process of signing a new vocalist, they received a demo tape from Kevin James LaBrie, the lead singer of the Canadian glam metal band "Winter Rose". The band was so impressed with the demo that there was no doubt that Dream Theater's new lead singer was in place. In fact, to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band, he dropped his first name and went by James LaBrie.
The band decided to part ways with their former label after a difficult process and signed a 7 album deal with ATCO Records (now East-West). And they released the album that would be their biggest debut until then, the album we still talk about today, the album that would touch the life of a 16-year-old teenager in Turkey one day years later.
IMAGES AND WORDS
The record label selected 'Another Day' as the debut single from the album and released it along with a music video. However, it did not have the desired impact. Nevertheless, the album's opening track 'Pull Me Under' began receiving frequent radio play without any promotion, resulting in the band's first Top 10 hit. The success of 'Pull Me Under' and non-stop touring in the U.S. and Japan led to 'Images and Words' going gold in the U.S. and platinum in Japan.
One day, the band formed by three friends who played covers of Rush and Iron Maiden between classes was reborn as Dream Theater, the name by which it is known today.
If you want to listen to the album immediately, you can start below. Enjoy!
TODAY
The first song I listened to from the album 'Images and Words' that fascinated me was 'Metropolis - Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper'. As I continued to explore, my admiration for the whole album grew deeper and deeper. However, there was one more album... I believe it is the best album in Dream Theater's history. Which album am I referring to? Let me put it this way: I didn't feel brainwashed enough anymore, I had found a new band to explore, a new toy to play with. But one thing stuck in my mind;
"-Well, let me ask you something, Taner. Why is it labeled as 'Part 1'? If there is a 'Part 1', shouldn't there be a 'Part 2'? It's not included in the album."
-...
(Everyone looks at each other slyly and smiles widen. The new child has asked the question.)
"Close your eyes and begin to relax, Take a deep breath and let it out slowly"
The real story starts now. More soon... :)
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