What Does Dream Theater Need to Do? (Musically)

The Quiet One wrote: Concerning your example about Zappa, he never played hip-hop

Did you ever hear the Dr. Koop song on Broadway The Hardway or the Michael Jackson song on the same?

^That's very reasonable (I agree my Zappa example was an exaggeration, as always necessary to drive a point home), but I also think that what many people always ask from DT is not just "play more this" or "more that", but "play this" or "play that". The band has shown us what they like to do. They have shown us what direction they'll take in the future. It's naive at this point to pretend that DT will suddenly become much more jazz-oriented or anything....

I think we should hold Dream Theater captive a la The Prisoner, and force them to do any random genre or style we can think of on threat of torture. Make them record over and over, and force them into a grueling process of album creation, making sure each recording is absolutely perfect to our whims. But you can't forget how magical an imperfect album can be, over too accurate perfection, so we will also force them to be sloppy and imperfect like a band struggling to find itself in the slew of identities will will shove them into. And after the band members die, we'll release every recording they produced there as one extended song  called "Dreams of a Theater" and it will be weeks long, in itself.

I am a genius.

Epignosis wrote: The T wrote: Epignosis wrote: They're almost old enough to qualify for social security.  Very few old men can pull of the bad ass thing.   Precisely... now how many old men have you ever seen change their ways?   They will never change.... what we have is what we'll have....   If people really want to waste their time thinking how artists should change their styles (because is not that they listen to us anyway), at least do so for younger bands who may actually have change still as a possibility in their bloods.... You do realize my whole post was a joke, right? Well, except the "only a few old men can pull of the bad ass thing."  That's true.

Slartibartfast wrote: It's so obvious, disco!!!

We've got Pain of Salvation if we want some disco

They should do the same thing a lot of metal bands need to do, in my opinion: back off the solos a little bit. Man, I love solos. Guitar solos and bass solos and drum solos and keyboard solos and everything mixed in between. But I noticed this first with Symphony X and it applies to Dream Theater too. They need to back off the choppy instrumental bits somewhat. Not that they should get rid of them, by any means. But they have proven in the past and even through Systematic Chaos, they have shown that they can write good melodies, well-balanced songs, everything they need to be doing. But they do solo after solo that are written over some special riff just for the jam session that really detracts from the flow and feel of the rest of the song (biggest point in case, In the Name of God). These solos aren't usually a problem, but I just feel like they are so desperate to write big noodles that they sacrifice some of their best songs to do it.

Just my opinion. And it's likely wrong, because I like Mike Patton.

Dream Theater needs to lose the "bad ass" image.  They're almost old enough to qualify for social security.  Very few old men can pull of the bad ass thing.

On that note, I think I should get them to play my son's upcoming second birthday party...

KingCrimson250 wrote: The T wrote: Yes, let's criticize them, let's give opinions on their music... But let's quit this day-dreaming about how ideal they could be if they only played exactly like we, hardly musicians most of us, like them to play. Now that's not fair at all. You bash people for singling out Dream Theater, and then you go ahead and start specifically targeting Yes? Unbelievable I think Dream Theater needs to do acid. And maybe spend some time bumming around India. I'll bet that would result in a whole new direction for them.

The T wrote: maybe because people realize the talent they have and wish they played more to their tastes...

The T wrote: Yes, let's criticize them, let's give opinions on their music... But let's quit this day-dreaming about how ideal they could be if they only played exactly like we, hardly musicians most of us, like them to play.

Now that's not fair at all. You bash people for singling out Dream Theater, and then you go ahead and start specifically targeting Yes? Unbelievable

I think Dream Theater needs to do acid. And maybe spend some time bumming around India. I'll bet that would result in a whole new direction for them.