Imagine Dragons - Origins

Imagine Dragons
Origins
2018
Spotify

There always seems to be that one band that everyone you know hates, but somehow they are the biggest band in the world. For me that band is Imagine Dragons. Every article, every friend and damn near everything else talks about just how awful they are yet they are the most streamed rock band on Spotify. That shouldn't shock you because like Post Malone and Drake Imagine Dragons know how to work the system. They put their songs in commercials, end up on every playlist, put songs in movies and find any venue they can put their music in your ears. It has an effect of not blowing you away, but becoming familiar. When you listen to the same thing over and over you can't help but start to just assume that is what you are supposed to be listening to, like this is what music is supposed to be. The formula is so dialed in for Imagine Dragons: anthemic, pounding drums, palatable guitar riffs and a faux idea of bucking the system.  "Machine" is almost a perfect summation of Imagine Dragons; style. It has all the traits I described as well as an empowerment message that is ankle deep at best. All this would be fine if it was done with some self awareness that this is the kind of music they are making but instead Imagine Dragons fancy themselves modern day philosophers with all the right ideas about love and the world at large. Those are the high level criticisms, but on top of all that they also put out some absolute stinkers.

"Bad Liar" might be one of the worst offenders on Origins with this heavy slow beat and this pinning style of singing that sounds so ridiculous. It's almost like Imagine Dragons find a way to aggregate all of the music that is popular and awkwardly smash it onto an album. There is something for everyone, but not necessarily something good. This approach has helped them achieve a popularity that no other band in history has been able to replicate. Their debut album spent five years on the charts. FIVE YEARS. They also have almost forty million streams on Spotify a month with some of their bigger songs rapidly approaching a billion. Those numbers are simply staggering and for a band that has maintained a level of anonymity unheard of in today's pop world. Can you name one of the members of this band? Do you follow any of them on instagram? Likely not, and they've pitched themselves that way: a band that is about the music and the music only. That would be fine if they were exploring new musical territory and pushing boundaries, but they are just sticking to a formula that's proven to work. The high minded idealism about the music feels laughable when you actually hear it. I'm sure this album will do incredibly well and break all kinds of record, especially since one of the songs is a lead track for the new Wreck it Ralph movie, but that doesn't make it good, or maybe it does.

4.9 out of 10