Mike Portnoy, drummer and co-founder of Dream Theater, recently reflected on how he and his bandmates were once considered outliers at Berklee College of Music due to their passion for progressive metal. Ironically, today’s Berklee students are now flocking to the prestigious music school largely inspired by the same genre and band that was once seen as unconventional.
Progressive metal wasn’t even a defined genre back in the mid-1980s when Portnoy, guitarist John Petrucci, and bassist John Myung first met and began jamming at Berklee. The trio bonded over a shared admiration for bands like Rush—a taste that, at the time, was often considered nerdy and far outside the jazz- and classical-dominated culture of Berklee.
In a recent interview with Tom Power on CBC’s Q, Portnoy discussed this cultural shift and the band’s early beginnings, as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar.
“We started writing original music right out of the gate at Berklee when we formed in ’85. We would spend half the time doing covers. You know, we’d do Rush covers, or Iron Maiden, or whatever we were listening to at that time.”
When asked whether he and his bandmates felt like misfits at Berklee, Portnoy responded candidly:
“Big time. There were jazz guys, and you’d go down the hallway, and you’d hear everybody doing Miles Davis covers, or Chick Corea stuff, or jazz standards, swing stuff. And then, you go past our room, and we’re playing like ‘La Villa Strangiato’, ‘Xanadu’, and doing all these Rush covers.”
He added:
“We were definitely the outcasts at that time. And now, you go to Berklee, and it’s all Dream Theater kids. They’re all playing Dream Theater songs. They’re all into this prog metal world that has evolved over the last couple of decades.”
Even while immersed in a jazz-heavy environment, Portnoy, Petrucci, and Myung pushed forward with their own style. They didn’t just play covers—they immediately began crafting original material, which eventually led to their first demo.
“At Berklee, the three of us started writing material that turned into our first demo in 1986, the Majesty demo.”
Dream Theater’s evolution continued rapidly from there. Just a few years later, they secured their first record deal and found their longtime vocalist.
“A few years later, we got our first record deal and eventually found our singer, who was from up here in Toronto, James Labrie. We were sent an audition tape from him. He was Kevin Labrie at the time.”
Portnoy’s reflections underscore how Dream Theater helped redefine what was once considered fringe or niche into something that today’s aspiring musicians admire and emulate. The genre they helped pioneer—once misunderstood at institutions like Berklee—has become a respected and influential force in modern music education.
