Dream Theater: Prog innovators or merely imitators

The most innovative of artists across the history of music have all been imitators to some degree. Dream Theater, I'd say, are both.

For me, it comes down to what are they saying in their lyrics.  If Dream Theater

paganinio wrote: in terms of style, imitator.  They mostly sound like Iron Maiden, Fates Warning, Yngwie Malmsteen, Iced Earth (the heavier songs) and  80s AOR bands.in terms of quality, innovator. They recorded songs that are much better and more enjoyable than those they sound like.

Does quality equate with innovation?

^Ah... maybe next month. I'm a bit tired.

Edited by SteveG - July 15 2014 at 15:57

I enjoy their music and don't much care if it's innovative or not. 

DT, along with Queensryche, was my gateway to prog metal.  Unfortunately, I did not have the wherewithal (or social contacts) to find more music int eh prog metal vein.  I have their entire catalogue and generally love their music.  However, the high points since Train of Thought (I knew metal before prog and I love this album, especially This Dying Soul) have been far less frequent.  Like some others have noted, their softer side kind of sucks for me (The Answer Lies Within).  Other artists can do this with more passion and intensity.  Even when heavy, their sounds can seem dry and cerebral.

I am a big DT fan, I love all phases of their music and think they are all excellent musicians. Calling them "lukewarm" is very appropriate these days.

I appreciate what Portnoy has done these past several yrs, especially with NM and his music theme, religion that is. Portnoy is jewish but still jumped in with both feet to play along side of Morse and help deliver his message....There is nothing lacking from Portnoy's efforts on NM and Transatlantic albums, you can see/hear he wants to be there.

After re listening to images and words, I don't think dream theater were very innovative but what prog metal bands were. Watchtower had some complex thrash riffs but nothing more, queensryche was basically just glam metal, Fates warning was a sloppy combination of the 2, and dream theater just polished it and added in some noodling for the sake of technicality. Prog rock in the 70s  broke away from conventional song structure and did new things with rock music. The funny thing is that prog rock influenced glam rock, but for prog metal it's the other way around. 

moshkito wrote: SteveG wrote: When I think of Prog rock I think of bands on a quest to constantly break conventions and move music forward. If we all look at this band as a rock'n'roll band, who gives a sh*t? If we all look at this band as some progressive this and that, the definition won't like this band, because they only like one album and did not give the others a proper listen as many times as they have the other album! If all we look at is the fact that this is an "artist", which happens to have 5 folks in it, and look at the massive catalogue, I would say they are innovators, though that might be considered the wrong word, for their total amount of work. DREAM THEATER deserves a bit more credit for their work than the fan'dom crap they put up with in here after 30 years!!! A musician does not live 30 years to kiss you hiney! Any musician lives for their music, and if you don't like it ... go buy something else. Or as one BASS PLAYER in the magazine said ... I'm not a cow ... go milk someone else!

^ haha.  good rant.

I think Steve you might be confusin prog rock and its parent, progressive rock. Prog is not that, it is a highly definied genre which has spent the last 40 years honoring the 70's originals and not progressing one damn bit. There are many groups that follow that very notion in  their music as you say, and are vehemhiely called NON prog.  They themselves deny the tag understanding just that, prog is stale dead musical tag only kept on life support by imitation bands.

Now there is a very vibrant progressive rock scene that doesn't try to sound like 'insert 70's' and does their own thing and mixes influences as they see them and creates their own unique (as much as possible I suppose) sounds. One that many, correctly deny is prog, some are innovators and doing their own thing and have no idea that they have even been lumped in the dead stale prog rock scene by the scene itself.  More power to them, I agree with the thoughts of some musicians,  to be labelled or marketed as prog is a kind of death wish for any band wanting to expand it's audience and appeal. Just play the music and let people call it what they want.