Top 40 '90s albums, #24: Dream Theater — Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory

It’s hard to describe Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory has impacted my musical interests over the last nearly 30 years since its release, but it’s something I think about in much broader strokes. It wouldn’t have been too long after 1999 that my dad would have brought the album home. I don’t remember my first engagement with Dream Theater or this album, but I certainly remember listening to this album on repeat. Whether it was when my dad was deployed or when I was listening to music and coding, Dream Theater was a common listen for me.

Dream Theater is all caught up in family memories in ways that, well, none of the rest of these albums have been. There are probably myriad reasons for that, but we didn’t listen to a lot of popular music in the 1990s, and that certainly impacted things here. By the time 1999 rolled around, that dynamic had flipped on its head pretty considerably, and my dad was bringing home CDs regularly. There was always music playing of one sort or another — rediscovery of bands from his teenage years, discovery of new artists, concerts in Las Vegas and LA, all that. I remember seeing Dream Theater live in 2004 in Los Angeles, when they played all of their first album. It was my first time in the city, and I marveled at the tall buildings. It was also the first time I took a film camera on a road trip, which is something I haven’t done much since. It was really a transitional era in so many ways.

This album, of all the albums here, is evocative — but it’s not just about what I was listening to, about my friends — it’s sort of a family album. It’s full of little memories and recollections.

I went through a bit of a metal phase in high school. Lots of black metal, the completely unsavory political connections of which I didn’t learn until much later. Progressive metal, though very little from the 1990s made its way into my rotation, save this album. None of that really stuck with me — but this album does still today. Front-to-back, it’s a triumph.