September 9th, 2010 Mike Portnoy Leaves Dream Theater

It is the end of an era. Mike Portnoy is leaving Dream Theater, and with it, taking my teenage memories. Below is an archive of my Twitter/Facebook posts regarding this breaking news.

Hell froze over, pigs are flying, and my teenage years are being ripped apart: MIKE PORTNOY LEAVES DREAM THEATER http://bit.ly/aPw6AW

This is all very bitter behind the scenes. Notice the difference between this (http://bit.ly/aPw6AW) and this (http://bit.ly/dgM9DQ)

NOW is time for DT to do something truly artistic and radical.

When Schoenberg wrote atonal music for the first time, there was an uproar, and nobody liked Picasso’s paintings in his day.

DT: STOP being the typical rock band that gives its fans what they want. Instead, start being true artists – be what DT has always been about (or was at the beginning) – blazing your own trail.

Your next album needs to break all barriers of genre, expectations, instrumentation, and form.

I always found it amusing that most hardcore fans of DT say they like Dream Theater because it is “artistic” or whatever. But, in reality, this was furthest from the truth. DT has always been the same-ole orgasmic formula glazed with a sheen of artistry. I think now is DT’s chance to abandon that formula and actually do what the fans claim they are: artists.

As Henry Ford said, all people wanted was a faster horse. But he gave us the car.
All DT fans want is more epic DT-ness. But they will give us something we don’t even know we wanted.

Ironically, Dream Theater’s latest music video is a wonderful tribute to the band’s end – http://bit.ly/b6Hwog