Depending on who you ask, Imagine Dragons are either one of the greatest arena rock
bands ever — or the worst thing that has ever happened to rock music.
Beyond that, however, most people remain unfamiliar with the band's background.
Here are a few things you might not know about Imagine Dragons.
Imagine Dragons is a pretty trippy band name, but it might actually be hiding an even stranger
one.
According to ThoughtCo, the name is actually an anagram, and only the band members know
what it truly stands for.
Predictably, this has led to plenty of speculation around what the band's other name could be.
Imagine Dragons fans even have a Reddit thread where they obsess over the "Anagram Theory"
and comb the band's back catalog for clues that may or may not be there.
Some of their finest suggestions so far include "Raiding Mangoes," "Amigos in Danger," and
"Mage Dan Origins," that last one presumably being a reference to the band's singer, Dan
Reynolds.
As great it is to imagine that some of the biggest pop hits of recent years have come
from Raiding Mangoes, the truth may not be quite as exciting as that.
As the American Music Awards website noted, guitarist Wayne Sermon has insinuated that
the real answer isn't likely to be revealed anytime soon — and is probably pretty anticlimactic
anyway.
He explained:
"At this point, it's been built up so much that anything we say is going to be a letdown.
We might just leave it up to everyone's imaginations.
They probably have better guesses than the real answer."
Unlike the universally mocked Nickelback — who have managed to become the 11th best-selling
band of all time despite their notoriety — Imagine Dragons tend to specifically draw the ire
of fellow musicians.
Consequence of Sound reports that members of bands like Slipknot, The 1975, Foster the
People, Smashing Pumpkins — and even Marilyn Manson — have all thrown shade towards the
band in public, with Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour even labeling them "the new
Nickelback."
"It's a harsh world."
Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds says he finds the criticism "extremely harsh" but
has nevertheless taken it in stride for a full decade — despite the fact that the
bile and hatred has actually affected his mental health.
In 2019, he finally addressed his critics and said that, while he's not particularly
angry about it all, he is pretty disappointed in the way the music industry tends to embrace
that kind of antagonistic mentality.
Instead, Reynolds would prefer a more healthy environment in which artists actually support
each other despite differences in matters of style and taste.
However, Reynolds' biggest gripe isn't even about him or his band.
Instead, he worries that famous figures openly mocking Imagine Dragons could lead to kids
getting labeled uncool (and even bullied) just because they like the band.
He's also concerned that his own kids might be made fun of when they grow older, because
of the very public and very nasty comments often made about their dad's band.
Music is obviously the thing Imagine Dragons are most known for, but they're also extremely
active in a number of charity circles.
The band does tons of charitable work, either by raising money themselves or collaborating
with other bands and brands.
According to Look to the Stars, they're involved with at least five charities and four causes,
and have a nonprofit cancer foundation of their own.
Some of their most high-profile efforts include a headline spot at the Vegas Strong concert,
which raised over $700,000 for the victims of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, and a joint
project with the Angry Birds brand for a cancer charity.
In addition to all that, singer Dan Reynolds is also a prominent LGBTQ activist.
The Independent reports that he created the LoveLoud Foundation in 2017 to support the
community and help young people find acceptance within their communities.
The foundation even has its own festival, which sold out its 17,000 tickets in its first
year, with all profits directed to LGBTQ charities.
In 2018, the festival raised a million dollars for charity.
Imagine Dragons' own charity is called the Tyler Robinson Foundation, which helps cover
basic living expenses for families dealing with childhood cancer.
You'll notice that none of the band members are named Tyler Robinson, though.
According to Deseret News, Robinson was a 16-year-old Imagine Dragons superfan who was
diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
He found strength in their music, and their song "It's Time" became a kind of personal
anthem to him.
One day, he was attending one of their concerts in Utah when vocalist Dan Reynolds happened
to spot Robinson from the crowd, singing along to the song, and connected with the young
fan.
The band learned of the boy's condition, and they ended up keeping in touch after the concert
and throughout Robinson's treatment.
After being declared cancer free, he unexpectedly fell in a coma and passed away in 2013, at
only 17 years old.
Today, Tyler Robinson's legacy and positive outlook on life against all odds live on in
the form of his namesake foundation.
He has also been immortalized in the band's official catalog: The cell phone video his
brother recorded at the concert where Robinson and the band first connected is included in
the music video for the song "Demons."
Dan Reynolds has always been open about the fact that he struggles with mental health
issues.
According to the BBC, while the band was riding its first tsunami of popularity, Reynolds
was wrestling with severe depression — and, at the same time, simultaneously adhering
to the absurd schedule of a newly world-famous entertainer.
In 2016 and early 2017, he pushed through a full world tour of 110 concerts on five
continents, at which point he realized he was becoming so numb that he needed to get
help — or else lose his family and his life.
Reynolds says depression has been with him since his school days, but back then he'd
just "ride it out" whenever it hit.
Later, he avoided medication because he feared it would change the way he made music.
It wasn't until 2016 that he first decided to see a therapist and face his issues.
He has since started treating his brain by changing his diet and taking up yoga and meditation,
which has been something of a game-changer.
He says he still finds it difficult to calm his mind, however, and that he would very
much like to do it without the aid of antidepressants.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call or chat online with
the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
In 2012, Imagine Dragons recorded their first album, Night Visions — in a pretty unorthodox
place.
According to alt-rock radio station 105.7 The Point, the Las Vegas rockers recorded
their debut album in a casino — more specifically, on the third floor of the Palms in Vegas.
According to Diffuser, the band had already worked there on an EP — and evidently their
experience was good enough to convince them to return.
Of course, they didn't just set up their equipment in the middle of a casino and hope no one
would ruin their drum track by hitting the jackpot.
The casino had its own recording studio that guitarist Wayne Sermon has described as "world-class,"
and while the space itself was obviously soundproof, he says the atmosphere was quite surreal.
The band would walk through a busy casino and lock themselves into a small, isolated
space without windows — so it was easy to forget what was outside.
They'd then get hungry and leave the studio, only to be hit with all the hustle and bustle
of a casino in full swing.
"Helloooo!"
What do Imagine Dragons and Spider-Man have in common?
According to Cleveland.com, not a lot — but that's just because the band are too good
at songwriting.
"Awww.
Ms. Brandt, get me a violin."
Reportedly, hit producer Alex da Kid started working with Imagine Dragons because he was
looking for inspiration for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the Broadway musical he was
developing with U2.
Da Kid figured that the up-and-comers would be ideal collaborators for the Spider-Man
score, but soon ran into a problem: The demos Imagine Dragons had recorded were "too good."
Imagine Dragons never got to join forces with Peter Parker, but one thing led to another,
and da Kid ended up producing the band's first album, Night Visions.
Unfortunately, nobody's quite sure which songs on that album were recorded for the musical
— but it's probably no coincidence that the tracklist includes songs like "Radioactive"
and "It's Time."
As such a mightily popular band, it's probably not surprising that Imagine Dragons have their
own documentary.
Despite being named after one of their songs, however, Believer isn't actually about the
band at all.
Instead, Believer is a documentary the band's singer Dan Reynolds made about young LGBTQ
people who also happen to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
— more commonly known as Mormons, a religion that doesn't generally embrace the LGBTQ community.
Reynolds, who is a Mormon himself, has a strange, is one of his religion's most prominent famous
faces, yet he has tons of LGBTQ fans struggling with the religion's restrictions.
The documentary focuses on his efforts to organize his LoveLoud festival in the Mormon
heartland of Utah, in order to promote support and acceptance of LGBTQ people and raise money
for charity.
In the process, he has to juggle his own genuine desire to help these people while also trying
to avoid alienating his church, and address concerns like soaring suicide rates among
young LGBTQ Mormons.
While Reynolds doubtless knows that one documentary can't change an entire religion, the hope
is that, by addressing this taboo, he might at least help start important conversations
at a few Mormon dinner tables.
Imagine Dragons are pretty hard to categorize outside the "pop rock" label most of the media
seems to file them in — but if you ask the band themselves, at least three of them out
of four have never worried about being labeled "rock" at all.
In fact, according to the New Yorker, guitarist Wayne Sermon, drummer Daniel Platzman and
bassist Ben McKee are all trained jazz musicians.
They met at Boston's Berklee College of Music and all of them played in various jazz ensembles
— before destiny came calling.
Still, even at the height of their fame, they haven't forgotten their roots.
While on the road, these unlikely rock stars have been known to spend their nights off
checking out the interesting jazz joints in whichever towns they visit.
Imagine Dragons are known for their very distinct, drum-heavy style, as befits a band with two
able percussionists in their line-up.
But according to the New Yorker, this isn't just a stylistic choice.
No, this signature sound was born out of necessity.
During their early days in Las Vegas, the band played a lot of parties, and the parties
generally took place in casinos.
They immediately discovered that they were competing with the sound of a whole bunch
of slot machines, and learned to counter the clanging by developing an explosive, percussion-driven
sound that could cut through all the noise.
In a 2012 interview, bassist Ben McKee revealed that ambient noise wasn't the only thing they
were fighting in those early days.
He says the stages they played were tiny, the casinos smoky, and distractions were everywhere,
so no one would have even noticed them if they hadn't quite literally learned to bang
their own drum.
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