The Twelve-step Suite (also known as the Twelve-step Saga or Alcoholics Anonymous Suite) is a set of five songs by American progressive metal and rock band Dream Theater. One song was featured on each Dream Theater studio album from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence to Black Clouds & Silver Linings. The lyrics to each song, written by the band's then-drummer Mike Portnoy, deal with his experience of alcoholism. Each song represents a certain number of the Twelve Steps. Various lyrical and musical themes run through the Suite. It was written by the band with the intention of eventually playing it live as one piece. Background By the end of Dream Theater's tour to promote their 1999 studio album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, former drummer Mike Portnoy considered his alcoholism and drug abuse to have gone out of control: Portnoy went through periods of using other drugs, including marijuana, prescription drugs, and cocaine, though he considered alcohol to be his "drug of choice." Bandmate James LaBrie noted that Portnoy was "drinking like a fish;" his drinking had become a source of tension within the band. Portnoy consumed his final alcoholic drink on April 20, 2000 (his thirty-third birthday) after the final show on Dream Theater's Scenes from a Memory tour. He found the Alcoholics Anonymous twelve-step program (which he considers to have "saved his life"), and made it a priority to attend meetings while touring. Portnoy's struggle with alcohol was previously the subject of "The Mirror," a song from Dream Theater's 1994 album Awake. After he stopped drinking, Portnoy decided to write a suite of tracks describing the twelve-step program which would span several albums. He views the Suite as a concept album spread over five releases. Portnoy started with an initial lyrical idea for the entire Suite, but musically the band "approached it fresh" when writing each track. The Suite was planned as something which would eventually be performed live in its entirety. All songs are dedicated to "Bill W. and his friends." Portnoy described the process of writing the tracks as "very therapeutic." Upon finishing the Suite in 2009, however, he reflected that he had "dug [himself] into a hole with it. It was a nice idea seven years ago. ... After a while it became like an obligation hanging over my head, like a homework assignment." He said that he "didn't know if [he] would