Dream Theater – Pull Me Under

Get those fingers warmed up, tendons nicely lubed as Charlie Griffiths transcribes the opening track of Dream Theater’s seminal album – also their greatest hit...

It could be argued that this song was the opening track to the prog-metal movement that began back in the early ‘90s. It is widely regarded as a classic and the band is still going strong. As Dream Theater enters its 23rd year, the band is hard at work on its tenth album and the second for Roadrunner Records.

Dream Theater’s popularity has steadily grown over the years as a result of the band’s commitment to a lifestyle of relentless two-year album/tour cycles and with Roadrunner’s recent injection of energy and investment creating a renewed buzz, the trend shows every sign of continuing. The band has been rewarded with over eight million albums sold and one of the most loyal fan bases ever.

This was evidenced three years ago: they celebrated their first 20 years by selling out the Radio City Music Hall in New York; and in 2007 they played a career landmark show at London’s Wembley Arena, a far cry from their humble beginnings at the Marquee club in 1993. If like me you were at that Marquee show (international readers please forgive my UK-centricity), the chances are you were there because of ‘Pull Me Under’, an unbridled and as yet unmatched success, which in typical self-effacing manner is alluded to in the title of last year’s compilation album, Greatest Hit... And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs.

Mike Portnoy, DT’s drummer, concedes that the song’s success was down to being “at the right place at the right time”. In the pre-Internet age of the ‘90s MTV was a prime vehicle for new music and ‘Pull Me Under’ (albeit a more digestible five-minute edited version) found itself on regular rotation.

The song’s blend of chunky Metallica guitars with progressive keyboards, intellectual sounding lyrics and a sing-along chorus captured the zeitgeist and, for the first time, successfully blurred the boundary between prog and metal. Their influence on the prog-metal scene remains all encompassing; elements of the band’s signature sound have not only been directly lifted by legions of clone bands but have also been found creeping into the more mainstream world of Muse and Foo Fighters.

A massive contributing factor to the ‘sound’ in question is the focus on over-the-top musicianship, with each member being in a class of their own in their respective area of expertise. This ethic was no doubt instilled early in life as the core band members (guitarist John Petrucci, drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist John Myung) famously met as teenagers at the Berklee School of Music, while keyboardist Jordan Rudess attended the prestigious Juilliard School at the ripe old age of nine. Far from resting on their laurels, instrumental practice and improvement is an ongoing process for the members and perhaps a necessity when peer pressure is considered.

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Track Record

‘Pull Me Under’ was originally released on the classic Images & Words (1992), but was beautifully remixed in 2008 for the compilation Greatest Hit... and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs, which demonstrates an excellent cross section of the band’s career. A Change Of Seasons (EP 1995) is for fans of the quintessential Dream Theater epic, which displays 23 minutes of diverse songwriting and playing.