Dream Theater

**Dream Theater** (often called **DT** for short) is an American progressive metal band formed in the mid-1980s in the United States.

### Current members

- James LaBrie (vocals)
- John Myung (electric basses)
- John Petrucci (guitar)
- Jordan Rudess (keyboards)
- Mike Portnoy (drums)

### Previous members

- Chris Collins (vocals)
- Charlie Dominici (vocals)
- Kevin Moore (keyboards)
- Derek Sherinian (keyboards)
- Mike Mangini (drums)

## Biography

The band was founded by John Myung, John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy, and as of 2024, they are all members of the band. They changed their singer twice in the late 1980s when Chris Collins was replaced by Charlie Dominici in 1987. Dominici left the band only three years later, in 1990, and James LaBrie joined and stayed until today. Dream Theater's keyboardist also changed three times. Kevin Moore played with the band from 1985 until 1995 when he left and Derek Sherinian took his position until 1999. Jordan Rudess is Dream Theater's Keyboardist now. He is known for his excellent technique and compositional skills.  In September 2010, drummer Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater, and was replaced by Mike Mangini. Portnoy rejoined the band in 2023.

## Influences

The members of Dream Theater are known for having excellent playing technique of their instruments, and for their songwriting. Their music is very complex and the songs are often long, their longest being _Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence_ at 42 minutes in length.

Their songs contain a lot of instrumental sections, in which no vocals are heard and only the instruments play (these parts are called "instrumental passages") and also many solos. Another feature of their music is that during each song, the speed often changes, and occasionally style changes too.

They once said that other bands have trouble making long songs. They said they have trouble making "short" songs. Most of Dream Theater's music is very difficult to play because of the high speed it has to be played with and the complex rhythm.

### Studio albums

- _When Dream and Day Unite_ (1989)
- _Images and Words_ (1992)
- _Awake_ (1994)
- _Falling into Infinity_ (1997)
- _Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory_ (1999)
- _Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence_ (2002)
- _Train of Thought_ (2003)
- _Octavarium_ (2005)
- _Systematic Chaos_ (2007)
- _Black Clouds & Silver Linings_ (2009)
- _A Dramatic Turn of Events_ (2011)
- _Dream Theater_ (2013)
- _The Astonishing_ (2016)
- _Distance Over Time_ (2019)
- _A View from the Top of the World_ (2021)
- _Parasomnia_ (2025)

## Other websites

- Dream Theater's official website

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Dream Theater
- **img**: Dream Theater live at Mediolanum Forum, Assago - February 12th, 2020.jpg
- **img capt**: Dream Theater in 2020. From left to right: John Petrucci, James LaBrie, Mike Mangini, Jordan Rudess and John Myung.
- **landscape**: yes
- **alias**: Majesty (1985–1988)
- **origin**: Boston, Massachusetts,
- **years active**: 1985–present
- **current members**: * John Myung
* John Petrucci
* Mike Portnoy
* James LaBrie
* Jordan Rudess
- **past members**: * Chris Collins (singer), Chris Collins
* Kevin Moore
* Charlie Dominici
* Derek Sherinian
* Mike Mangini