For this Loud List, we salute one of the greatest drummers to ever pick up a pair of sticks. From his beginning with Dream Theater, to filling in for Avenged Sevenfold and beyond, we compiled these 10 Unforgettable Mike Portnoy Moments.

One of the earlier Dream Theater interviews we could find was a Headbanger’s Ball video from 1993. Shortly after the release of Images and Words, Dream Theater spoke to MTV while headlining the Aardschokdag Festival in the Netherlands. After talking about avoiding the trappings of being a “trend band,” Portnoy got a nervous John Petrucci to join him for a Beavis & Butthead impression.

One hilarious moment comes from a Dream Theater show, where singer James LaBrie cut an instrumental break early, much to Portnoy’s displeasure. You could see Mike getting hot under the collar about his bandmate’s decision, but instead of causing a scene, Portnoy took it out on his drums, absolutely crushing his kit as Dream Theater said goodbye to their fans.

Of course, we had to include Loudwire’s most popular YouTube video ever, Mike Portnoy playing ‘Name That Tune’ on a Hello Kitty drum kit. Portnoy’s powerhouse drumming was far too much for the toy kit to handle, breaking apart on multiple occasions. Mike eventually hit the kick drum so hard that it caved in, rendering the Hello Kitty instrument even more useless than it originally was.

Check out these 10 Unforgettable Mike Portnoy Moments in the Loud List above.

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