History Trivia / DreamTheater

** One of the reasons Kevin Moore left the band after ''Awake'', the others being his increasing alienation from bandmates and ReclusiveArtist behaviour.

* WriteWhoYouHate: As drummer Mike Portnoy told on [[https://web.archive.org/web/20070827175040/http://faq.dtnorway.com/category/22#1054 an IRC conversation]], he wrote the lyrics of "Honor Thy Father" (from 2003's ''Train of Thought'') as a potshot towards his step-father. He outright claimed in an interview that he couldn't write a love song, so instead he decided to pen a ''hate'' song.

** ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has a song titled "Dream Theatre" in its soundtrack.

* ReferencedBy: The final story mission in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' is named “A Nightmare to Remember”.

*** "The Best of Times", from ''Black Clouds & Silver Linings'' and "A Change of Seasons", from ''A Change Of Seasons'' were written about [[GriefSong his late father and mother]], respectively.

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: "Live Scenes from New York" was released on September 11th 2001. It featured [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/dreamtheater/images/3/3a/Live_scenes_from_a_memory.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131226093049 the Twin Towers on fire]]. The album was quickly recalled, and the cover replaced.

** In ''Falling into Infinity'', the meddling was so severe it almost caused the band to break up. After this point they renegotiated their contract to ensure they would have complete creative control over their future works.

** ''Scenes From a Memory'' was released on vinyl for the first time to celebrate its twentieth anniversary.

** "Constant Motion" is a metaphor for his experiences with obsessive-compulsive disorder

* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Mike Portnoy, with side-projects such as Music/LiquidTensionExperiment, OSI, and Music/{{Transatlantic}}, and even moreso after he left the band. Also Music/JordanRudess, who, as of 2013, has been working on no less than four musical projects [[note]]''Dream Theater'', ''Explorations for Keyboard and Orchestra'', ''All That Is Now'', and ''Levin Minneman Rudess'', as well as guest work for Eyal Amir and Ayreon[[/note]] and continuing to develop and promote various apps [[note]]Ear Wizard, the Explores app, Jam Bandit[[/note]] and technologies[[note]]Roli Seaboard, Ableton Push, Touch Keys[[/note]].

* DistancedFromCurrentEvents: "Live Scenes from New York" was released on September 11th 2001. [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/dreamtheater/images/3/3a/Live_scenes_from_a_memory.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20131226093049 This]] is the original album cover. As you can probably guess, the album was quickly recalled, and the cover replaced.
* ExecutiveMeddling: The most egregious example was with ''Falling into Infinity'', where the meddling was so severe it almost caused the band to break up. After this point they renegotiated their contract to ensure they would have complete creative control over their future works. An earlier, less severe example is the triggered drum sound on ''Music/ImagesAndWords'', which wasn't the band's idea.

* BlackSheepHit: "Pull Me Under". Several subtle clues line the artwork for ''Greatest Hit ...and 21 other pretty cool songs'', such as "Pull Me Under" highlighted in gold on the back cover; the front cover's subtle red text reading ''Greate'''s'''t '''Hit'''''; and the reoccuring motif of a seagull's feces staining things (the inner gatefold image shows 22 umbrellas, with only one bearing a shit stain. [[SarcasmMode Hmmm...]]) It's also pretty obvious right off the bat to people even only vaguely familiar with the band; it's mid tempo, stays in 4/4 the whole time, has no crazy shredariffic riffs or solos or even bass riffs.
** To be fair, the band is amicable with the song, but do not enjoy the culture of ExecutiveMeddling that surrounds it. In fact, Portnoy cited fan complaints about not hearing "Pull Me Under" in concerts as the basis for his song about the band's own overzealous fans, "Never Enough."

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* CreativeDifferences: One of the reasons Kevin Moore left the band after ''Awake'' (the others being his increasing alienation from bandmates and ReclusiveArtist behaviour), and the main reason Dominici left after ''When Dream and Day Unite''. (The band did not have major issues with Dominici but felt his vocals did not fit their style particularly well - Portnoy called the result "like having Music/BillyJoel singing in Music/{{Queensryche}}", and he amicably left the band after the album was recorded.)
** Unfortunately one of the factors that lead to Portnoy leaving the band: He wanted to take a hiatus after heavy burnout and was disappointed the band didn't wish to follow his lead. He also wanted to do something similar to Music/BrianWilson and take time off while writing music for the band, but they too rejected this. Portnoy would later on regret this decision, although he ended up returning to the band in October 2023 anyway.

* ColbertBump: The band was able to reach a wider audience thanks to "Pull Me Under" and "Panic Attack" being featured in the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero World Tour'' and ''VideoGame/RockBand 2''.

* CreativeDifferences: One of the reasons Kevin Moore left the band after ''Awake'' (the others being his increasing alienation from bandmates and ReclusiveArtist behaviour), and the main reason Dominici left after ''When Dream and Day Unite''. (The band did not have major issues with Dominici but felt his vocals did not fit their style particularly well - Portnoy called the result "like having Music/BillyJoel singing in Music/{{Queensryche}} -, and he amicably left the band after the album was recorded.)

** Unfortunately one of the factors that lead to Portnoy leaving the band: He wanted to take a six year hiatus after heavy burn out and was disappointed the band didn't wish to follow his lead. He also wanted to do something similar to Music/BrianWilson and take time off while writing music for the band, but they too rejected this. Portnoy would later on regret this decision, although he ended up returning to the band in October 2023 anyway.

** Portnoy would later on write songs about his family, with "A Change of Seasons" was written about the death of his mother, "Honor Thy Father" written towards his step-father, and "The Best of Times" written about his father's passing, with the demo version having him singing it.

** In a magazine interview, John Petrucci said he thought the Psycho Exercises GagDub videos were hilarious. On the extra material of the ''Chaos in Motion'' tour DVD, he [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF8RNQmhbCE imitated them]].

** Unfortunately one of the factors that lead to Portnoy leaving the band: He wanted to take a six year hiatus after heavy burn out and was disappointed the band didn't wish to follow his lead. He also wanted to do something similar to Music/BrianWilson and take time off while writing music for the band, but they too rejected this. Portnoy would later on regret this decision.