Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band comprising James LaBrie, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy.
Dream Theater was formed in 1985 under the name "Majesty" by Petrucci, Myung, and Portnoy, while they were attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston, before dropping out to help support the band. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remain today along with LaBrie and Rudess. Dream Theater has become one of the most commercially successful progressive rock bands since the height of the genre in the mid-1970s, despite being relatively unknown in mainstream rock circles. Although the band has had a few successful hits (notably 'Pull Me Under' in the early 1990s, which had extensive MTV rotation), it has mostly stayed underground for its career, feeding off support from fans.
The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater's members have collaborated with many other notable musicians. Guitarist John Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist, following in the footsteps of Eric Johnson, Robert Fripp, and Yngwie Malmsteen.
The band's two highest selling albums are the gold selling Images and Words (1992), although it reached only #61 on the Billboard 200 charts,[1] and Awake (1994) which reached #32 on the Billboard 200. Recently Systematic Chaos entered US Billboard 200 at #19. [1] Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the U.S.,[2] and over 8 million albums and DVDs worldwide.[3]
The band is currently promoting their latest effort, Systematic Chaos with a world tour, which began on June 3, 2007 in Milan, Italy[4].