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Imagine Dragons

Origin

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

Genres

Alternative rockPop rockIndie popElectropopPopArena rock

Years Active

2008-present

Labels

Interscope Records / KIDinaKORNER

Members

• Dan Reynolds
• Ben McKee
• Wayne Sermon

Website

http://www.imaginedragonsmusic.com

Imagine Dragons is a pop-rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. They gained exposure after the release of their debut studio album, Night Visions, in September 2012. Since then, they have gone on 5 world tours, and gained exposure on major late night shows like The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Billboard magazine named them "The Breakthrough Band of 2013", and Rolling Stone magazine called their single Radioactive "the biggest rock hit of the year."[1]

Contents

• 1 History
  • 1.1 Early Years (2008-2010)
  • 1.2 Night Visions (2012-2014)
  • 1.3 Smoke + Mirrors (2014-2016)
  • 1.4 Evolve (2016-2018)
  • 1.5 Origins (2018-2020)
  • 1.6 Mercury - Act 1 & 2 (2020-2024)
  • 1.7 Loom & Lineup change (2023-present)
• 2 Charitable contributions
• 3 Influences
• 4 Band Members
  • 4.1 Current Members
  • 4.2 Former Members
  • 4.3 Touring Members
• 5 Discography
  • 5.1 Studio Albums
  • 5.2 Extended Plays
• 6 References

History[]

Early Years (2008-2010)[]

In 2008, lead singer Dan Reynolds met drummer Andrew Tolman at Brigham Young University, where they were both students. They recruited Aurora Florence, Dave Lemke, and Andrew Beck for their band (Dan Reynolds acted as lead vocalist, Andrew Tolman was the drummer, Aurora Florence acted as the violinist and vocalist, Dave Lemke was the guitarist, and Andrew Beck acted the keyboardist and volcalist). The original band recorded an unofficial album, Speak To Me, and 7 demos (which were given to a fan by Aurora and later recovered in July 2017). Aurora Florence and Andrew Beck left after less than a year. In 2009, Tolman recruited longtime high school friend Daniel Wayne Sermon, who had recently returned to his hometown of American Fork, Utah from the Berklee College of Music. Tolman later recruited his wife, Brittany Tolman, to sing backup and play keys. Sermon then recruited another Berklee music student, Ben McKee, to join the band after recording their first EP from this lineup, Imagine Dragons (EP). With Reynolds singing lead, Imagine Dragons won BYU’s "Battle of the Bands" and other local competitions. The band released another EP titled Hell and Silence in 2010, recorded at Battle Born Studios, in Las Vegas, NV.

They got their first big break when Train's frontman fell sick just prior to the Bite of Las Vegas Festival 2010. Imagine Dragons were called to fill in and performed to a crowd of more than 26,000 people. Local accolades including "Best Local Indie Band 2010" (Las Vegas Weekly), "Las Vegas' Newest Must See Live Act" (Las Vegas CityLife),Vegas Music Summit Headliner 2010, and more sent the band on a positive trajectory.[2]

Night Visions (2012-2014)[]

Theresa Flaminio departed from Imagine Dragons in early 2012, leaving them as a four-piece. The band worked closely with Alex da Kid, with whom they recorded their first major label release at Westlake Recording Studios in West Hollywood, California. An EP entitled Continued Silence was released on Valentine's Day (February 14, 2012) digitally and peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200. The band also released an EP titled Hear Me in 2012.

Shortly after, "It's Time" was released as a single and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.The music video debuted on April 17, 2012 on all MTV affiliates and was subsequently nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the "Best Rock Video" category. "It's Time" was certified a double platinum single by the RIAA.

The band finished recording their debut album Night Visions in the summer of 2012 at Studio X inside Palms Casino Resort and released the album in the United States on the day after Labor Day (September 4, 2012). It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart with first week sales in excess of 83,000 copies, the highest charting for a debut rock album since 2006. The album also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative and Rock Album charts as well as the top ten on the Australian, Austrian, Canadian, Dutch, German, Irish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Scottish, Spanish, and United Kingdom Albums charts. It won a Billboard Music Award for Top Rock Album and was nominated for the Juno Award for International Album of the Year. Night Visions is certified platinum by the RIAA as well as in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. The album produced three tracks that reached the Billboard Top 40, four tracks in the ARIA Top 40, and five tracks charting in the UK Top 40.

The band embarked on the Night Visions Tour in 2013. The album's second single "Radioactive" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs, Billboard Rock Songs, and Swedish singles chart and has sold more than seven million singles in the United States, smashing a record by spending 87 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. "Radioactive" stayed at No. 1 on the Hot Rock Songs chart for a record-breaking 23 weeks and ultimately became the genre's biggest hit of 2013.[38] It peaked at No. 3, becoming their first top ten single in the United States and broke the record for the longest run into the top five. It is the best-selling rock song on the Nielsen SoundScan running list of best-selling rock songs in digital history.[39] By the end of 2013, "Radioactive" had already sold over 3 million copies.[40] Rolling Stone called it "the biggest rock hit of the year". It was also the most streamed song of 2013 on Spotify in the United States.[41] It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, winning the latter of the two. In 2015, it was certified diamond by the RIAA for sales in excess of 10 million copies in the United States.[42] Third single "Demons" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Pop Songs and No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold more than 5 million copies in the United States to date.[35][43]

Billboard listed them as one of "2012's Brightest New Stars" and later "The Breakout Band of 2013".[44] Imagine Dragons won the 2014 Billboard Music Awards for Top Duo/Group, Top Hot 100 Artist, and Top Rock Artist. Amazon.com called the band their "Favorite Rock artist of 2012".[45]

In 2013, Imagine Dragons returned to Europe and North America with the Night Visions Tour.[46] The band announced 13 additional US summer tour dates which also sold out.[47] The band then announced a North America Amphitheatre tour.[48] The band also confirmed that they were unable to fulfill the request of acting as support for Muse.[49] Pollstar listed the band in their Top 20 Concert Tours list by average box office gross despite their average ticket price being the third lowest on the list.[50]

The band released a live album, Live at Independent Records, in April 2013.[51][3]

Smoke + Mirrors (2014-2016)[]

The idea behind the second studio album, dubbed as their "New Year's resolution",[52] was to create music and finish it when the band feels that their work is done.[53] Since the beginning of the Night Visions Tour, the band had been writing new material for an upcoming album, and, even as early as the start of the tour, had been recording demos for the album, before entering the studio.[54] By the time that they entered the studio to work on the album, they had amassed 50 demos to work from.[55]

Imagine Dragons released a number of singles for other projects including a song for the film Transformers: Age of Extinction, called "Battle Cry" (June 2014) and song "Warriors" for the 2014 League of Legends World Championship (September 2014).[56] They also are one of the most liked pop rock bands in the U.S.A

On October 24, they revealed the lead single to the upcoming album, "I Bet My Life" via several visual snippets on Facebook and Instagram. It was released on October 27.[57] It was sent to US Alternative radio for adds on November 3.[58]

Working with Metric, which did a three-song acoustic set, Imagine Dragons played at the Mayan Theater in Los Angeles on February 5, 2015. The half-hour set included the breakthrough songs "It's Time" and "Radioactive" from Night Visions. The performance was the live debut for "Summer" and "I'm So Sorry", along with "Gold" and "I Bet My Life" from the album Smoke + Mirrors, which was released on February 17, 2015. The band's 2015 North American summer tour began in Portland, Oregon on June 3.

During the band's tour, Imagine Dragons released two non-album singles. "Roots" was released on August 26, 2015 and "I Was Me" on October 12, 2015 via iTunes. The band also released a cover of "I Love You All the Time" by Eagles of Death Metal on December 18, 2015, in support of the victims of the November 2015 Paris attacks. The Smoke + Mirrors Tour ended on February 5, 2016 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The band released a one night only concert film, Imagine Dragons In Concert: Smoke + Mirrors, in select theaters on March 2, 2016. The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray under the title Imagine Dragons: Smoke + Mirrors Live.[4]

Evolve (2016-2018)[]

On September 27, 2016, Imagine Dragons began teasing their third studio album with a tweet simply saying "studio". The band continued posting cryptic messages on their Twitter account for the next four months. On January 28, 2017, the band started posting a series of videos teasing the album's first single.[59] The time-lapse videos featured lead singer Dan Reynolds drawing surreal images on a drawing pad. Morse code was hidden in the videos and translated to "objects of same color".

On February 1, 2017, Imagine Dragons released "Believer" as the lead single for their next album. "Believer" was used as part of the Super Bowl ad for the Nintendo Switch.[60] Imagine Dragons were part of the Wayhome summer 2017 lineup in Oro-Medonte, Ontario.[61] On April 27, 2017, Imagine Dragons released "Thunder" as the second single from their third album.[62] On May 8, 2017, Imagine Dragons announced their third studio album Evolve, as well as a new track "Whatever It Takes", which was released on the same day.[63] A tour in support for the album was also announced within the same day. The tour was held across 33 countries from September 2017 through September 2018.

Evolve was released on June 23, 2017, worldwide. The album reached the top five in most countries but was met with mixed critical reception. The band performed in NOS Alive, Portugal on July 8.[64] "Whatever It Takes" was released as an official single off the album a few months later on October 6, 2017.[65] The song won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video in 2018. On February 14, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single titled "Next to Me" on Twitter. The song was released as part of a re-issue of Evolve on February 21, 2018.[66] [5]

Origins (2018-2020)[]

On June 12, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single in collaboration with Kygo titled "Born to Be Yours" on Twitter. The song was released on June 15, 2018.[67]

On July 12, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single titled "Natural" on Twitter. The song was released on July 17, 2018.[68] The song was used as the anthem for the 2018 ESPN College Football season.[69] On September 18, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced a new single titled "Zero", which was released on September 19, 2018. It was used in the end credits of the Walt Disney Animation Studios film Ralph Breaks the Internet.[70]

On October 3, 2018, Imagine Dragons announced their fourth studio album, Origins, which was released on November 9, 2018. "Natural" and "Zero" serve as the lead singles off the album, while "Born to Be Yours" is featured on the international deluxe edition of the album. The band has described this album as a sister album to their previous work Evolve.[71] On October 31, 2018, Imagine Dragons released their third single off the album, "Machine".[72] Lastly, on November 6, 2018, Imagine Dragons released their fourth single of the album, "Bad Liar".[73]

On January 7, 2019, Imagine Dragons performed the halftime show for the 2019 College Football Championship game. The band performed "Natural", "Bad Liar", "Thunder", and a special version of "Believer" with rapper Lil Wayne. The new version of the song was released on streaming platforms the following day.[74][6]

Mercury - Act 1 & 2 (2020-2024)[]

A year and a half after the release of Origins, Ben announced they were working on a new album and it was going to be the best one. When they ended the record, Dan said he "loved this record the most".

The first snippets of the album appeared on 4 secret videos which got posted in Imagine Dragons's YouTube channel after they were found. These videos would give a lot of hints during the album's cycle, for example, there were many Mercury references and that hinted the album's title.

On March 8, 2021, Imagine Dragons announced a dual single featuring Follow You and Cutthroat, very different from each other. Not long after that, they said "the new album would have two sides, one looking to the world and the people around Dan (Follow You side) and the other one looking at Dan's emotions and inner world (Cutthroat side), with one song at the end that tied both sides. He also said the title of the album was going to reflect the themes of duality of the album. At that moment, they hadn't decided to split the album in two yet.

Very shortly after, 19 songs were registered on BMI and ASCAP. 8 of these songs were left out, and out of the 11 remaining ones, two songs were renamed (Number One got renamed to #1 and Beautiful Day got renamed to No Time For Toxic People).

On June 29, 2021, a new single, Wrecked (which got registered on BMI before), was announced, expected to release on July 2. Its artwork hinted it was gonna be from the Cutthroat side of the album. That same day, a tweet from the band was posted. It was a black image with white text reading "IF ANYONE GUESSES THE ALBUM TITLE TONIGHT, WE WILL ANNOUNCE IT TOMORROW". The most popular guess was Today And Tomorrow, but someone went on saying Mercury. And that was the album's title, but it wasn't just Mercury. The full title was Mercury - Act 1. It was going to have 13 songs (with Wrecked as track 3, Follow You as track 10 and Cutthroat as track 11) and was expected to release on September 3. A few weeks after, Dan almost confirmed there was gonna be an Act 2 with the song that was going to tie both sides.

Dan said Mercury - Act 1 had that title because the word "mercurial" means "characterized by rapid and unpredictable changeableness of mood". They changed the title to Mercury to make it easier to remember and to make it sound more like a world.

On mid July 2021, a new song, No Time For Toxic People, appeared at a Jeep commercial.

The tracklist and song lengths were revealed on August 20, 2021, two weeks before Mercury - Act 1's release. Fans had guessed most of the tracklist before by looking the producer list on Apple Music and a low-resolution Target tracklist picture, but still they didn't know that two songs had been renamed. The renames were discovered when the tracklist was announced.

The next day, they released a self-titled single under the name Ragged Insomnia, which was gonna help finding a password for the #MercuryAscending hashtag. Alexa was a very useful hint to help fans get that password, it turned out to be "everybody is a genius". That week was very intense; some snippets were revealed too, along with the lyrics of Dull Knives, one of the songs that were gonna appear on Mercury - Act 1. It also was confirmed that Mercury - Act 1 wasn't gonna have any deluxe versions.

Not long after the album release, the Mercury tour was announced, it was starting on early February 2022.

On April 6, the band announced that Mercury – Act 2 would be released on July 1, 2022. The 18-track album will be released as part of a double album containing both Mercury albums.[7]

Loom & Lineup change (2023-present)[]

On March 3, Drummer Daniel Platzman announced on his website that he has left Imagine Dragons to focus on his health, leaving Imagine Dragons to continuing as a trio of Reynolds, Sermon and McKee. Loom is Imagine Dragons' sixth studio album following the release of Mercury - Acts 1 & 2 and came out on June 28, 2024. The first snippets of the album were released on March 10th through teasers for the single "Eyes Closed". By the end of March, the band's website updated to have a page where users were sorted into three teams and could play games through "four doors". The games were also used to slowly tease details about the album. On April 3, 2024, Imagine Dragons released the first single, "Eyes Closed". On April 22, 2024, Loom's release date was revealed, and the winning team of the four doors game got snippets of the album.

Charitable contributions[]

The group along with the family started The Tyler Robinson Foundation named after Tyler Robinson who died of cancer and was a fan of Imagine Dragons. The foundation helps people battling with cancer.[8]

Influences[]

Dan Reynolds cites Arcade Fire, Muse, The Beatles, Paul Simon, and Harry Nilsson as some of his and the band's artistic influences. In terms of success, Reynolds credits the groundbreaking work of bands like Mumford & Sons for bringing indie rock to a new levels of commercial success in recent years.[9]

Band Members[]

Current Members[]

• Dan Reynolds - Vocals, Percussion, Guitar (2008–present)
• Ben McKee - Bass, Backing Vocals, Keyboards (2009–present)
• Wayne "Wing" Sermon - Guitar, Cello, Backing Vocals (2009–present)

Former Members[]

• Aurora Florence - Piano, Vocals, Violin (2008)
• Andrew Beck - Guitar, Vocals (2008)
• Dave Lemke - Bass (2008-2009)
• Brittany Tolman - Piano, Backing Vocals (2009–2011)
• Theresa Flaminio - Piano, Backing Vocals (2011–2012)
• Daniel Platzman - Drums, Viola, Backing Vocals (2011–2023)

Touring Members[]

• Ryan Walker - Piano, Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar, Mandolin, Backing Vocals, Tambourine (2012–2015)
• Will Wells - Piano, Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar, Mandolin, Backing Vocals (2015–2017)
• Elliot Schwartzman - Piano, Keyboards, Rhythm Guitar, Mandolin, Backing Vocals (2017–2022)
• Andrew Tolman - Drums, Backing Vocals (2023–present; official member 2008–2011)

Discography[]

Studio Albums[]

• Night Visions (2012)
• Smoke + Mirrors (2015)
• Evolve (2017)
• Origins (2018)
• Mercury - Act 1 (2021)
• Mercury - Act 2 (2022)
• Loom (2024)

Extended Plays[]

• Speak To Me (2008)
• Imagine Dragons (2009)
• Hell and Silence (2010)
• It's Time (2011)
• Continued Silence (2012)
• Hear Me (2012)
• The Archive (2013)
• iTunes Session (2013)
• Shots (Remixes) (2015)
• Live At AllSaints Studios (2017)
• Mercury - Act 1 (Amazon Music Live) (2021)

References[]

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons
2. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#2008%E2%80%932011:_Early_years
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#2012%E2%80%932014:_Night_Visions
4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#2014%E2%80%932016:_Smoke_+_Mirrors
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#2016%E2%80%932018:_Evolve
6. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#2018%E2%80%93present:_Origins
7. ↑ https://shop.imaginedragonsmusic.com/products/mercury-acts-1-2-2cd
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#Charitable_contributions
9. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_Dragons#Musical_style_and_influences