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Imagine Dragons

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Updated Jan 19, 2021 at 02:47AM EST by Y F.

Added Jan 22, 2019 at 04:42PM EST by Adam.

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About

Imagine Dragons is an American pop rock band known for hits including "Radioactive" and "Thunder." The band is comprised of lead vocalist Dan Reynolds, lead guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee, and drummer Daniel Platzman. While the band is very popular, they have generated a significant anti-fandom, which critics have compared to that of Nickelback.

History

The group formed in 2008, releasing the EP Speak to Me that year.^[1] Over the following four years, the group grew in popularity, releasing three more EPs: Imagine Dragons (2010), Hell In Silence (2010) and It's Time (2011). The title track from It's Time peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song's video debuted on April 17th, 2012, and was nominated for an MTV VMA for Best Rock Video (shown below).

The group released a full-length debut, Night Visions, on September 4th, 2012, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[2] The album also featured "Radioactive" and "Demons" which would go on to be some of the band's biggest hits (shown below).

On February 17th, 2015, the group released their second album, Smoke + Mirrors. On June 23rd, 2017, the group released Evolve, their third album, which featured hit songs "Whatever it Takes" and "Thunder" (shown below).

Their fourth album, Origins, was released on November 6th, 2018.

Online Presence

The group is very popular online, with nearly 6 million Twitter followers,^[3] 13 million Facebook fans,^[4] and 4.6 million Instagram followers.^[5] Their YouTube channel has over 16 million subscribers^[6] and 9,000 subscribers in its subreddit.^[7]

Reception

Imagine Dragons albums have consistently been reviewed mostly poorly by critics, with each full length scoring between a 47 and 60 on Metacritic.^[8] The group has been criticized for being bland and over-produced in a way that does not mask their shortcomings. However, they have been nominated for and won dozens of awards from most every major awards show.^[9]

Anti-Fandom

While the group has a wide online fanbase, it has also generated a vocal anti-fandom. Many have unfavorably compared the group to Nickelback.^[10]^[11] An /r/OutOftheLoop^[12] post asking about the hate the band gets was deleted after gaining 2,300 points. Anthony Fantano agreed with a commenter on video saying that Imagine Dragons was way worse than Nickelback (shown below).