The history of Dream Theater started when Long Island, NY residents and close friends John Petrucci and John Myung left home to go to college at the Berklee School of Music in 1986. Petrucci was already a proficient guitar player and Myung was already a proficient Bass-guitar player, however two members does not a band make.
The Johns ran into drummer Mike Portnoy jamming in one of Berklee's numerous rehersal rooms. Impressed by his chops, the Johns introduced themselves to Mike and found they had two major things in common. One was their dual musical taste, owning both to progressive acts such as Rush, Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis and Metal bands such as Metallica, Megadeth. Pantera and Queensryche. The other thing they had in common was a home base, as Portnoy was also from Long Island.
The three young men decided that they wanted to start a band in the Progressive Metal genre, mixing the complex arrangements of Rush with the driving power and heavy riffs of Metallica. The John's informed Mike of their longtime friend Kevin Moore a keyboard player of great talent who would undoubtedly join their band. With a 4-track recorder donated by Mike's grandmother, the band started writing and laying down tracks such as Particle E. Motion. Another Won, The Saurus, Cry For Freedom, A cover of Rush's classic instrumental YYZ which Mike stood in to play keyboards for, The Farandole, Two Far. Your Majesty, a cover of the extremely short Stormtroopers of Death song Anti-Procrastination Song and a few other "mini songs" inspired by SOD.
With these "Berklee Demos" recorded and with the band's future looking bright with 3 members and a 4th on the way, they started looking for a vocalist. With another 4-track recorder donated by fellow student James Hull. They also were introduced to singer Chris Collins by hearing a tape of him performing Queensryche's song Queen of the Ryche, and were impressed enough to hire him.
In praparing to make a demo tape as soon as school let out and Chris and Kevin would be in the band, they decided to use Your Majesty. Another Won and Two Far. They also wrote three additional songs while still at school, A Vision. March of the Tyrant and Vital Star. The band took the name Majesty from their song Your Majesty and recorded the demo tape using the two 4-tracks. Mike's grandmother once again came through by donating the money needed to press 1,000 copies of the now-infamous Majesty Demos.
However success was not to be had that quickly as the band decided that Chris' vocal abilities were extremely limited and he wasn't working out, so they decided to let him go. The band however was fairly well known in sort of an underground way in the progressive metal scene and many vocalists answered the band's call for auditions. Majesty had also garnered the attention of vocalist Charlie Dominici of the glam rock band Frankie and the Knockouts which also featured drummer Tico Torres who went on to join Bon Jovi.
Charlie had heard the Majesty Demos and was intrigued by the band and decided he wanted to become their next vocalist. He ran into John Myung in a music store and actually went up to him and started singing. He got a dirty look...and an audition. The audition wasn't going Dominici's way until he, in a fit of desperation, picked up a sheet containing the lyrics for the song The Killing Hand which did not have music for the words just yet. Dominici's impromptu improvisation impressed the band enough to hire him as their singer.
Now with a full lineup, Majesty was ready to make it big, however they had to go through another metamorphosis first. The Majesty Demo had gone far and wide and the band was contacted by a Las Vegas based jazz group who alraedy had the name Majesty. With the name in use, the band was forced to drop it, and coming up with a new name for the band proved to be easier said than done. Many names were considered, and the band even went by the name "Glasser" for about a week. Eventually Mike's father, Howard Portnoy, suggested the name "Dream Theater" after an old-fashioned movie theater. The name struck a tone with the band and they decided to adopt it.
The only remnant of the "Majesty" era was the band's signature logo, a stylized letter "M" similar to the one used by Mary, Queen of Scots. The Majesty Symbol has appeared in one form or another on all of Dream Theater's releases with the exception of Live at the Marquee. The band was promptly signed to Mechanic Records and began work on their first album, When Dream and Day Unite, which was released in 1987.
The band went through a rough period after the release of their first album, as it did not receive the attention it deserved, mostly due to the record company's indifference towards Dream Theater. The band pleaded with Mechanic to do something with them, or to drop them. Mike, the band's leader and spokesperson was unhappy with the sound of the first album (meaning the quality and production values, not the songs) and felt that Charlie's vocals were a weak link in the band. Becuase of this, the band both had to buy their way out of their contract with Mechanic (who later sold the rights to another independant lable, One Way Records who has re-issued the album twice.) and they released Charlie as vocalist.
Finding a new vocalist turned out to be extremely difficult, as with over 200 applicants, the band still hadn't found exactly what they were looking for. However When Dream and Day Unite had gotten the attention of Canadian vocalist Kevin LaBrie, who was currently with the glam-rock band Winter Rose. LaBrie sent Dream Theater a tape of Winter Rose's self-titled Debut album, and the band was interested enough to fly him down from Canada for a proper audition.
LaBrie was immediately hired as the Band's new vocalist, and he also decided to go by his middle name of "James" as there was already a Kevin in the band (not to mention two Johns!). The band then decided to get the attention of ATCO records, and entered the studio to record a demo tape, made up of three tracks: Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper, To Live Forever and Take The Time. The demo was sent to ATCO and they were immediately signed. They remained on this label for the duration of their career up until the present (although ATCO has since then merged with EastWest records, and then finally with Elektra Records).
The band then recorded and released their second album, Images and Words which was released in 1992. This album was decidedly the band's breakthrough album as it contained both a hit single and music video, both for the song Pull Me Under. It was after the success of Images and Words that the band first toured outside of their home country and hit both Japan and Europe. From the final night of this tour, at the Marquee club in London, that the band (or more accurately, the label, with minimal input from the band) released their first live album, Live at the Maruqee in 1993. This album was successful in both Japan and Europe, but never received an American release.
Upon returning home the band enthusiastically went into recording their third album, Awake. This was a darker, heavier album than their two previous efforts, and did well, due in no small part to the video clip for Lie. However even thought things seemed to be going great for the band, they had another hurdle thrown in their way as Kevin decided to leave the band to persue other musical directions. Kevin informed the band of his decision to leave shortly after the album was completed, and declined to tour with them. The band felt they needed to keep their tour schedule, and didn't have enough time to audition for a new keyboardist, so they hired a temporary replacement: former KISS keyboardist Derek Sherinian.
Dream Theater then approached current Dixie Dregs keyboardist Jordan Rudess about joining as keyboardist. Although Rudess declined, he did work with both Petrucci and Portnoy on their side project Liquid Tension Experiment. Unable to find a suitable permanent replacement for Kevin Moore (who went on to form his own band, Chroma Key) the band decided to make Derek their full time, permanent keyboardist. The first thing recorded with Derek in the band was a remake of their unused song A Change of Seasons, which was initially going to be on Images and Words but was cut as suggested by the record label, who gave the band the option to release the song as an EP in the future.
The band now decided to use this oppurtunity, and using this 23-minute epic as well as selected cover songs from their "uncovered" gig, released their fourth album, A Change of Seasons in 1995 on the independant Monsters of Rock Label. After this the band started work on their next album, Stream of Consciousness, which was planned to be a double-CD set that would include another 20+ minute epic, the much anticipated Metropolis, Pt 2. However the band ran into problems almost right away in preparing this album.
Firstly, EastWest records had gone through a change of management, and the new "suits" knew nothing of Dream Theater or their music, and wouldn't work with them until the band provided songs they could understand. In other words, more mainstream, less progressive sounding songs. The band compromised, providing a mix of progressive songs and more commercial songs. The label however still stubbornly refused to allow the band to record a 2-CD set, and the band had to junk several songs, including Speak to Me, Cover My Eyes, Raise the Knife, Where Are You Now?, The Way it Used to Be and also the much-anticipated Metropolis, Pt. 2 which was never completed.
The band was also for the first time literally forced to submit 100% control of their music and work with outside songwriter Desmond Child who reworked a song they planned to junk from the album, You or Me, into a shorter, less keyboard-heavy and less progressive song You Not Me. To add to these woes, during all of this, some members of the band felt uncomfortable with the name of the album, feeling it was too pretentious sounded, especially for a more mainstream album. Many names were discussed and discarded, the band even considered calling the album "Dream Theater" however due to a suggestion by Petrucci they finally settled on Falling Into Infinity which was releasedin 1997. Mike, unhappy with not having 100% control of the music, made the decision to end Dream Theater's musical career.
However, the other 4 members of the band were not yet ready to quit, and convinced Mike that one more shot was needed at making Dream Theater into the kind of band they wanted to be, he agreed to continue Dream Theater under the condition that the band would have 100% control over all of their music, and that they would start to produce their own music. Before any of this was put into plan, the band released their second live album (ironically a double-CD off of Touring Into Infinity), Once in a LIVEtime in 1998.
At this time, John P and Mike had both been working with Jordan Rudess on both Liquid Tension Experiment albums, and decided they enjoyed working with him so much, that they offered for him to join the band again, and this time he accepted. Unfortunately, this left Derek out of a job, but they parted amiably and Derek went on to release several solo albums. It was at this time that the band decided that their next album had better be something extremely special, and it was decided that they would do a concept album in the vein of Queensryche's classic Operation: Mindcrime. The idea for a concept came pretty quickly, as the fans were still demanding to hear Metropolis, Pt. 2.
Putting together the idea of the concept album with the unfinished product of the metropolis sequel, Dream Theater produced their masterpiece, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory. In this album the band told the story of the tragedy of Victoria Page, murdered in 1928 as told through the eyes of Nicholas, an obsessed modern man. The album did very respectably sales-wise and was nigh-unanimously critically praised as a masterpiece of progressive metal. This tour de force was just the thing Dream Theater needed to cement themselves in the Progressive scene as a heavyweight and certainly showed that the band is better off when left alone with full control of their music.
Following up this album, Dream Theater launched themselves on "Scenes From a World Tour" a highly successful tour that ended in an extremely memorable show in New York City, cited as many to be DT's best show ever and recorded for posterity and the band's third live album, Live Scenes From New York. which was released, unfortunately, on September 11th, 2001 a day that is more remembered for the tragic events that took place in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania. The band's dilemma was furthered by the unintentionally inappropriate cover artwork, featuring the outline of the twin towers on a backdrop of flames. The album was immediately recalled and later released with a different cover, but has become the most infamous and talked about DT album ever due to this coincidence. The original cover, which some still managed to pick up before the CD was yanked, is a collectors item and highly sought after. The album itself was brilliant and showed DT at their finest spanning 3 CDs, a show so long and intense that Mike got sick after the performance and was almost hospitalized.
Not intending to rest at all, the band quickly came back with their next album, and their first double-CD album (not counting live albums), Six Degrees of Inner Turublence, released early 2002. This was originally intended to be a single CD, but the title track bloated up to the extremely progtastic length of 42:02, marking DT's longest song and getting a second CD all on it's own. The album did very well and was received well, and the band launched "World Tourbulence".
During 2003, Mike reached into his archives and produced something he'd been hinting at for years, the Dream Theater Official Bootlegs, including a live album from the house of blues in '98 (including guests Ray ADler of Fates Warning and Bruce Dickenson of Iron Maiden. The full Berklee and Majesty Demos and a "making of" album for Scenes From a Memory. Then the band very quickly started work on their next album, once again titled Stream of Consciousness. However, just as previously, issues with the name came up and once again John Petrucci changed the name to Train of Thought which was released late in 2003. Dream Theater is currently on a world tour supporting this album, which is their most commercially successful since Images and Words. Currently upcoming are another set of Official Bootlegs, including demos from the first album, a complete cover of Metallica's classic Master of Puppets album and another live concert, this time from Tokyo.
Updated 6/2/04: Dream Theater have released their second wave of official bootlegs to great success, Master of Puppets sold out! DT also completed a very successful tour and are now preparing to go on tour with progrock greats Yes. In release news, DT has a new live album coming soon along with a DVD from one of their recent performances in Japan. DT also are re-releasing their first two videos: Images and Words Live in Tokyo and 5 Years in a LIVEtime on a single DVD. In side project news, John Petrucci is planning to release a solo album soon, and Jordan Rudess' next album, Rhythem of Time, will hit stores in August.
Updated 6/12/05: After touring with Yes, Dream Theater re-entered the studio to record their latest album, Octavarium which was released on June 7th. The band is preparing to launch Gigantour a massive north-american music festival that they are co-headlining with Megadeth Other acts on the bill include Nevermore, Dry Kill Logic, Dillinger Escape Plan, Symphony X, Fear Factory, Bobaflex and Life of Agony.
In side project news, John petrucci released his first solo album, Suspended Animation on his online store. Jordan Rudess has released Rhythm of Time, James LaBrie released Elements of Persuasion and John Myung released The Jelly Jam 2.
Also the third wave of Official bootlegs have hit, including Images And Words Demos. The Number of the Beast and When Dream and Day Reunite on CD and When Dream And Day Reunite on DVD.