Let’s be honest: Imagine Dragons en masse can become exhausting, considering the band’s nearly perpetual visibility since 2013. In hindsight, “Welcome to a new age” was fairly prophetic.
“Radioactive” and its electro-rock gloom, influenced in part by the then-waning trend towards dubstep in pop music, defined the band’s dangerous sound to Top 40 listeners, and laid the blueprint for what’s likely been the most all-encompassing success any rock band has experienced in the last five years. The band’s first major hit holds two notable records with Billboard: the slowest ascension to the Hot 100 Top 5 (42 weeks, gotta love persistence) and the greatest amount of time spent on the chart, at a massive 87 weeks. Panic! at the Disco's 10 Greatest Songs: Critic's Picksįor many fans who would now consider themselves Imagine Dragons diehards, “Radioactive” was the clear entry point. When this decade soon wraps up, “Demons” will be there as one of the defining rock ballads of the 2010s. So much of the band’s aura orbits around Reynolds’ personal battles with depression and other physical diseases, and a line like “look into my eyes, it’s where my demons hide” cuts right to the core - he and the band write music to expel all sorts of trauma, and while their performances are impassioned and regularly inspiring, there’s always a storm lying just below the surface. The band’s quintuple-Platinum-certified single and gargantuan adult contemporary crossover has been played to death on radio and reality singing shows, but at its foundation, “Demons” remains one of Imagine Dragons’ greatest sonic achievements. “Believer” brought the band back to radio in 2017 and it’s furthered the quintessential “Imagine Dragons sound,” one which nascent rock bands will emulate for years to come.
#DEMONS SONG THAT WOULD END THE WORLD MOVIE#
The syncopation in the pre-chorus reels you in and the operatic hook - a recent staple in movie and video game trailers - remains striking, even after the thousandth play. Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds: Love Letter to the LGBTQ CommunityĢ017’s leader on the year-end Hot Rock Songs chart was something of a “Radioactive: Part II.” “Believer” similarly asserts itself with crashing digital rhythms looming over light-treading guitar, but with a renewed sense of urgency that was sometimes lost on Smoke + Mirrors. “Amsterdam” is a microcosm of Imagine Dragons’ entire aesthetic: beyond the catchy choruses, there’s depth - and often darkness - at every turn.
#DEMONS SONG THAT WOULD END THE WORLD FULL#
Despite its ostensibly uplifting “your time will come” hook, the mid-tempo fan favorite “Amsterdam” is a song full of regret and denial, hinging on Reynolds’ apologies to his family for disappointing them (stemming from his expulsion from Brigham Young University, perhaps?). Like much of Night Visions, “Amsterdam” was recorded and released on a prior EP, 2011’s It’s Time, when the band still clung more tightly to its alt-rock roots than to the electro-claps that would come to define it. What we’d give for a heavier band like Disturbed or Godsmack to swoop in and cover this one. “Friction” is as heavy as ID have gone thus far, and - at least across these forceful three minutes - it certainly suits them. Reynolds reins his voice into a villainous quiver before the full band blasts through the incendiary chorus. The band’s most sonically sinister track extended its lifespan earlier this year with a feature in the new Mission Impossible: Fallout trailer, though “Friction” had been a standout hard-rock jam all along.
Imagine Dragons' 'Evolve' Is First Album With 3 Alternative Songs No.
If you’ve checked out Imagine Dragons’ electrifying new Evolve World Tour, then you know the most poignant section of the show comes during the mid-performance acoustic set, featuring live cello, an auxiliary stage, and a moving revamp of the Night Visions album cut “Bleeding Out.” In the new, half-time rendition, passion and romantic stakes are finally realized in a song that was always nearly there, and should become a set staple, played just like the above video. See our list of the monster band’s ten greatest songs so far: a mix of singles and killer album tracks that round them out as an outfit that can do plenty more than just write the hits.ġ0. leg and will be trekking around arenas and amphitheaters all summer long.īut for all its grandeur and confetti blasts, Imagine Dragons is often driven by darkness, regret and deep introspection, all of which are present in lyrics of some of its biggest songs - if you stop singing along long enough to actually listen to what you’re saying. The group’s most stadium-ready project to date fuels Imagine Dragons’ latest world tour, which earlier this month kicked off its second U.S. Imagine Dragons: Who Wants to Talk About the Biggest Band of 2017?