The music of Imagine Dragons carries a supernatural charge of positivity, which magnetically attracts music lovers with absolutely different tastes.
The main styles in which the members of Imagine Dragons play are alternative and indie rock. But the musicians are not limited to these genres. Their music includes a lot of pop-rock and electronica, and sometimes even folk-rock and hip-hop.
Unlike young rock bands that haven’t been able to get from garages to the stage for years, this unusual band announced themselves as a new star in the world of modern rock music almost immediately.
The beginning of Imagine Dragons’ history
Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds began taking his first steps in music as a piano player at the age of six. Then at age 13, he would sneak over to his older brother’s computer to turn on the sound recording feature and sketch out songs about his teenage experiences and frustrations.
But the actual story of Imagine Dragons began a little later, in 2008, when Reynolds met drummer Andrew Tolman while attending Brigham Young University.
Finding similar musical tastes and life aspirations, the two students decide to form a band, and guitarist Andrew Back, bassist Dave Lemke and keyboardist/violinist Aurora Florence join the lineup.
The fluidity of the Imagine Dragons lineup
Over the next nine years, the Imagine Dragons lineup changes several times. So unless you’re a fan who wants to know every little detail of the band’s history, you can skip the next two paragraphs.
Without playing a year in the band, Beck and Florence leave. Then in 2009, Tolman invites his high school friend Wayne Sermon to join the band as a guitarist. A little later Andrew brings his wife Brittany Tolman into the band, who takes her place at the keyboards and sings on backing vocals. After that, Lemke leaves and Ben McKee takes the bassist’s place at Sermon’s invitation.
In 2011 the spouses Tolman leave the band. McKee invites Daniel Platzman to replace the drummer, and Brittany is replaced by Theresa Flaminio, only to leave six months later. After her, there was no permanent keyboardist in the band, but for concert tours, Ryan Walker (2012-2015), William Wells (2015-2017), and Eliot Schwartzman (2017-…) are brought in.
The current permanent lineup of Imagine Dragons is vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Dan Reynolds (the only one who has stayed with the band from its inception to the present day), guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman.
Through thorns to the stars on the fast track
The Imagine Dragons began their musical career by winning the university’s “Battle of the Bands” and several other local (Utah) contests.
Imagine Dragons record their first song “Speak to me” the year they formed the band (2008) with their original lineup.
Then Reynolds decides to move the band (with a renewed lineup) to Las Vegas – to his home. The band began to perform regularly, though at first mostly at night – in casinos and strip bars.
But after the performance at the Vegas Music Summit festival (as headliners in front of a crowd of 26 thousand people) and Bite of Las Vegas (Most Popular Band of 2010), everything changed: invitations to the radio airings, loud titles (“Best Indie Band of 2010”, “Best LP of 2011”, etc.), awarded by the prestigious music publications, a contract with a major record label (Interscope Records).
Till the moment of signing the contract the band manages to record three mini-albums. The eponymous debut EP “Imagine Dragons” is released September 1, 2009. The following year, on June 1, the second EP “Hell and Silence” is released. The third mini-album “It’s Time” is released on March 12, 2011.
The fourth EP “Continued Silence” is released on Interscope (14.02.12). Track 1 “Radioactive” instantly gets top positions in the music charts all over the world, is nominated for half a dozen of awards (4 wins) and then becomes the band’s calling card. In the U.S. this track has received the status of a diamond by the sales results (more than 10 million copies).
All 4 mini-albums are rather warmly received by the critics and listeners (especially “Continued Silence”). Later, Reynolds informs that with these releases the band was “testing the ground” in order to release a really cool debut album.
And that’s exactly what they did – “Night Visions”, recorded under the guidance of producer Alex Da Kid, was released on September 4th, 2012.
As soon as the single came out, it immediately started “skimming the cream”: 1st place – in Scottish Albums and three Billboard TOP charts (“Rock Albums”, “Alternative Albums” and “Catalog Albums”); 2nd – in Billboard 200 and British charts; other top places in the weekly charts of 20 other countries.
In just 2 weeks, 83,000 copies were sold, making the record the most successful debut album since 2006.
Imagine Dragons’ “Night Visions” went gold in seven countries. And it went “platinum” in 14 countries. Among them – 4 times 2 times “platinum” (Austria, Mexico, Sweden, USA) and once 3 times (Canada)!
Also among the achievements of Imagine Dragons’ debut album is the victory in the “Top Rock Album” category of the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. And the track “Radioactive,” which the single inherited from the EP that preceded it, was named “the biggest rock hit of the year” by Rolling Stone magazine.
A repeat, not as resounding, but a success nonetheless
Before releasing a second album, Imagine Dragons once again decided to take the tried-and-true path of “testing the waters” by releasing mini-releases.
First, the EP “The Archive” was released (February 12, 2013). Then the band wrote three soundtracks: “Monster” for the IOS game “Infinity Blade III”; “Battle Cry” for “Transformers: Age of Extinction”; “Warriors” for “Divergent Chapter 2: The Insurgent”.
Finally, after the release of three more singles (“I Bet My Life”, “Gold” and “Shots”), when the musicians realized that the majority of the new tracks “caught” the listeners and critics, the release of the second LP was announced.
The Imagine Dragons album “Smoke+Mirrors” was released on February 17, 2015. It was supported by an almost year-long world tour (12.04.15-05.02.16).
Also the video concert “Smoke+Mirrors Life” was filmed for the album release. It was shown in cinemas around the world on March 2, 2016.
This time, the criticism of the album was more mixed – mostly positive, but there were also evaluations marked “average”. In particular, Metacritic rated “Smoke+Mirrors” at 60/100.
As for the chart achievements of the second album, it basically repeated the successes of the debut album, raising the bar even higher in some places: number 1 in Canada, Scotland, Britain and on three American Billboard charts.
As for the sales, things were a bit more modest this time – only gold status in 7 countries. Though you must admit that you can’t really call such results a failure.
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