Follow Billboard. All rights reserved. But who, outside of their fans, is actually taking notice? Frontman Dan Reynolds, 30 and bassist Ben McKee, 32, are clearly dressed for showtime -- Reynolds wearing a sleek floral jacket and pants set, and McKee in patterned multi-colored joggers -- while guitarist Wayne Sermon, 33, and drummer Daniel Platzman, 31, have yet to get in costume, still rocking more of the sweats-and-tees look.
The half-in, half-out visual scheme represents where Imagine Dragons is at as a band in You won't find the answer from critics, certainly, who have roundly dismissed the group when they've even bothered to pay attention, and you definitely won't find the answer from the band itself, whose socially conscientious public conduct eschews any kind of rock-star narcissism or behavior traditionally suggestive of a band on top of the world.
Luck, right time, right place The quartet released their debut album, Night Visions , in , and the LP -- a bombastic blend of stadium-rock muscle with hip-hop backbone largely courtesy of producer Alex Da Kid and EDM aesthetics -- ultimately went supernova. But it was a step back from the omnipresence of Night Visions -- the album produced just a single short-lived top 40 hit, the No.
The album debuted at No. Imagine Dragons thriving on streaming may be surprising, but it's hardly shocking. The group's focus on beats and drops as much as on riffs means the can blend in on playlists with Lil Uzi Vert and Taylor Swift as well as they can with Kings of Leon and Cage the Elephant. It's not just a bunch of passive playlist listens responsible for their Spotify and Apple success either, as Kelly explains.
Because you might have a critic who would say, 'Oh, they just happen to be getting their plays from a playlist. Their songs are really sticky. So we try to create music that we love. Our band is gonna live and die by the music. I think that Evolve is a more palatable album for this generation and this time period. In many ways, Imagine Dragons makes sense as the most palatable band for this generation and this time period.
Like Twenty One Pilots, the only other American band from this decade playing on the same figurative and occasionally literal top 40 stages, Imagine Dragons come from the rock world, but are not tethered to it. It feels logical in an era where all major genres -- not just rock -- are increasingly defined by what they take from other forms of music.
The most unavoidable EDM duo of the decade seem like they really, really want to start a late-'00s blog-indie band. Still, in the pop space, where bands of any stripe are in relatively short supply, it often falls to Imagine Dragons to serve as the default keepers of the rock flame. They're striking history lessons coming from the Dragons, because there's no obvious Cornell or Petty DNA in the band's music specifically -- except for in the size of the venues they tend to play.
We're getting to a point where the only rock music that can and will float to the top is the kind that is hybrid in some particular way. At the rate they're going, Imagine Dragons are on track to emerge from the s as the decade's reigning rock act, if one of their soundalike counterparts doesn't steal that title.
Yet, their defining legacy — reshaping popular rock music for the streaming age — won't necessarily be one of quality. However, their music will remain in the pop culture milieu for a while. Their songs are too big not to.
They are a convenient cog that fits comfortably in this new streaming machine that the labels have desperately facilitated to save their business. Ultimately, the most notable thing about Imagine Dragons' music is that it sells.
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