88 Fun Facts About Imagine Dragons

Which member of Imagine Dragons is the band's lead guitarist?

Wayne Sermon. A Berklee College of Music graduate, he went on to recruit fellow Berklee student Ben McKee to play bass.

Before Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds spent two years as a missionary in which state?

Nebraska. He has said meeting gangs, addicts and broken families there made him see the world in a different way.

Where did Dan Reynolds meet the band's original drummer in 2008?

Reynolds met the band's first drummer while both were students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, in 2008, and the band formed there.

Which Imagine Dragons song got a video spoofing the theory that the Moon landing was faked on a film set?

On Top of the World. Its makers hid Stanley Kubrick references throughout, a joke on the claim that the director staged the landing and left clues in his later films.

Whose illness gave Imagine Dragons their first big break at the 2009 Bite of Las Vegas Festival?

Train frontman Pat Monahan's. With Train off the bill, the unsigned band were called back on stage to fill the gap.

Which label signed Imagine Dragons in November 2011?

Interscope. Until then the band had put out three EPs entirely on their own, recording the first two at a Las Vegas studio.

Which English producer did Imagine Dragons start working with after signing a record deal?

Alex da Kid. He approached the band himself, emailing Reynolds out of the blue to ask whether they wanted to write together.

What was Imagine Dragons' debut single, released in February 2012?

It's Time. Reynolds wrote it at the lowest, most depressed point of his life, yet it climbed into the Billboard Hot 100's top 20.

What was Imagine Dragons' debut album?

Night Visions. Its hit 'Radioactive' grew out of Reynolds's depression, yet the band set its video in an underground fight club for puppets.

In which city did Imagine Dragons film a black-and-white video of Dan Reynolds dancing among alien-faced dancers?

Dubai. Director Joseph Kahn filmed around landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Marina after the band teased fans with desert photos.

Which song broke the Hot 100 weeks record held by 'Radioactive'?

Blinding Lights. 'Radioactive' lasted 87 weeks partly because trailers kept it in earshot, among them ones for the game Assassin's Creed III and the film The Host.

Which Grammy did 'Radioactive' win at the 2014 ceremony?

Best Rock Performance. The track topped alternative radio first, and only after that did it cross over to pop stations and climb the Hot 100.

Which rapper joined Imagine Dragons for a 'Radioactive' mash-up at the 2014 Grammys?

Kendrick Lamar. A remix with a new Lamar verse followed, and they performed it together on Saturday Night Live.

Which 2014 film got the Imagine Dragons song 'Battle Cry'?

Transformers: Age of Extinction. Director Michael Bay hand-picked the band to write a song for his summer blockbuster.

What was the lead single from Smoke + Mirrors?

I Bet My Life. Reynolds wrote it about his once-strained relationship with his parents and the bond they still hold on to.

Which retailer aired a live commercial of the band performing 'Shots' during the 2015 Grammys?

Target bought a four-minute block of the 2015 Grammys broadcast for a live commercial of the band playing 'Shots', nine days before Smoke + Mirrors came out.

Whose 'I Love You All the Time' did Imagine Dragons cover in December 2015 for Paris attack victims?

Eagles of Death Metal. Josh Homme urged artists to cover the song so the proceeds could go to victims of the Bataclan attack.

'Sucker for Pain', with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa and others, came from which film's soundtrack?

'Sucker for Pain' appeared on the Suicide Squad soundtrack in June 2016, teaming Imagine Dragons with Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa, Logic, Ty Dolla Sign and X Ambassadors.

Which 2016 sci-fi film featured the song 'Levitate'?

Passengers. Sony set the song to footage of the leads falling in love aboard their spaceship, in both a trailer and a music video.

In which Imagine Dragons video do two It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars get a private concert?

Follow You. Kaitlin Olson books the band as a birthday surprise for Rob McElhenney, who turns up expecting his real favourite, The Killers.

Which product's Super Bowl ad used 'Believer' in 2017?

The Nintendo Switch. Reynolds has said 'Believer' grew out of painful chapters in his life, including living with ankylosing spondylitis.

What was Imagine Dragons' third studio album, released in June 2017?

Evolve. It followed a planned year off, which Reynolds said the band needed after not stopping in about six years.

Which song from Imagine Dragons' third album won the 2018 MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video?

Whatever It Takes. Its video floods the room until the band is underwater, then cuts to them playing on as the stage burns.

Which esports team did Imagine Dragons become co-owners of in 2018?

In 2018 Imagine Dragons joined Steve Aoki as investors in ReKTGlobal, the parent company of the esports team Rogue.

Which Disney animated film used 'Zero' over its end credits?

Ralph Breaks the Internet. Co-director Rich Moore called it a bold end-credits pick, because the song is about someone who feels like a zero.

Which song did Imagine Dragons mash up with Khalid at the 2017 AMAs?

Thunder. Dan Reynolds sings of classmates who laughed at his dreams of stardom, then turns the tables: he is on stage and they are up in the cheap seats.

Which Italian singer features on the final Origins single, 'Birds'?

Elisa. The band asked her to sing it with them while she was still busy working on a single of her own.

Which Netflix series' soundtrack featured 'Enemy' with rapper JID?

Arcane. Reynolds said the song is about internal conflict and division, echoing the show's story of two sisters pulled onto different paths.

What was the lead single from Mercury - Act 2?

Bones. Reynolds said he wrote it dreaming of what conquering death would feel like, having never found proof that life goes on.

Which former member returned as touring drummer when Daniel Platzman stepped away in 2023?

Andrew Tolman, the band's founding drummer, rejoined as touring drummer in 2023 after Daniel Platzman stepped back from the road.

Where was the concert filmed for Imagine Dragons: Live in Vegas, released on Hulu in 2023?

Allegiant Stadium. The band that once played six-hour casino gigs in Las Vegas came back to headline the city's largest stage.

Which video game did Imagine Dragons promote with 'Children of the Sky' in 2023?

Starfield. The song came out on August 30, 2023, and the game's composer, Inon Zur, helped work the Starfield theme into it.

What was the lead single from Imagine Dragons' 2024 album Loom?

Eyes Closed. It arrived on April 3, 2024, after weeks of cryptic teasers that sent fans hunting for clues on the band's website.

Which Imagine Dragons song is Dan Reynolds's tribute to his late sister-in-law, Alisha?

Wrecked. Reynolds was with her when cancer took her, the first death he had ever witnessed, and called the song his way of dealing with it.

Which frontman said Nickelback were handing Imagine Dragons the scapegoat baton?

Slipknot's Corey Taylor said in an interview that Nickelback had passed the 'scapegoat baton' to Imagine Dragons, the band that had inherited the flak once aimed at Nickelback.

What is the name of the charity Imagine Dragons founded in 2013 to help young people with cancer?

The Tyler Robinson Foundation. Tyler was a teenage fan who died of cancer at 17, and the band's 'Demons' video ends with a dedication to him.

Which festival did Imagine Dragons help organise in 2017 to raise awareness of LGBTQ youth?

LoveLoud. The first festival, held in Orem, Utah, gave its profits to LGBTQ groups including The Trevor Project and GLAAD.

Which composer collaborated with Dan Reynolds on the 2018 single 'Skipping Stones'?

Hans Zimmer. The song was made for Reynolds's documentary Believer, and its proceeds went to LGBTQ charities.

What did Imagine Dragons' United24 ambassadorship raise money for in 2022?

Ambulances for Ukrainian medics. The drive raised more than $6 million, enough to buy 92 vehicles already helping medics in the field.

Which band's frontman joked that his group gives its rejected songs to Imagine Dragons, then apologised?

Foster the People. Mark Foster said sorry weeks after Reynolds publicly called out bands that kept taking shots at his, and pledged to help him in future.

Which Imagine Dragons song was written for the 2014 League of Legends World Championship?

Warriors. The band paused work on their next album to write it, since League of Legends was their favourite game.

Which DJ collaborated with Imagine Dragons on 'Born to Be Yours' and later 'Stars Will Align'?

Kygo. The Norwegian DJ and the band both teased their first collaboration on social media days before it came out in June 2018.

Which producer executive-produced Imagine Dragons' Mercury albums?

Rick Rubin. Reynolds said Rubin pushed him to stop leaning on metaphor and write more vulnerably.

Which VR rhythm game released a paid Imagine Dragons music pack of ten songs in June 2019?

Beat Saber. The pack was unveiled alongside demos of a brand-new 360-degree level built around 'Believer'.

Which Latin star featured on the May 2024 remix of the lead single from Imagine Dragons' album Loom?

J Balvin. The Colombian reggaeton star turned the song into a bilingual track weeks before Loom came out that June.

Which Imagine Dragons single did Dan Reynolds co-write with his wife as their marriage was breaking down?

Bad Liar. The pair announced a divorce that year but never signed the papers, and when the song came out they were dating each other again.

Which Las Vegas casino do Imagine Dragons appear to rob in their 'Sharks' video?

Bellagio. The heist ends with Dan Reynolds pulling a lever that frees sharks into the resort's fountains, where he surfs among the fins.

Which Imagine Dragons song's video was released in support of World Mental Health Day in 2022?

I Don't Like Myself. The band partnered with the Crisis Text Line, whose number appears in the video's description.

Which 1980s action star boxes Dan Reynolds in Imagine Dragons' music video for Believer?

Dolph Lundgren, Rocky IV's Ivan Drago, had never appeared in a music video before. Reynolds took a month of boxing lessons and was still nearly knocked out by a stray right to the jaw.

Imagine Dragons say their band name is what kind of wordplay on a phrase only the members know?

An anagram of a secret phrase is all the band will admit to. Dan Reynolds has said every member approved it, and the original words have stayed inside the group.

In Imagine Dragons' Radioactive video, what fights in the underground ring above the band's dungeon?

Puppets and stuffed animals are forced to battle a hulking purple beast until a pink teddy bear floors him with one punch. Alexandra Daddario plays the drifter who then frees the band.

Which future chart-topper did Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds sign to his Night Street Records label in 2021?

Benson Boone had walked away from American Idol and built a TikTok audience when Reynolds signed him. His 'Beautiful Things' became the world's biggest-selling single of 2024.

Imagine Dragons' Radioactive took the record for most weeks on the Hot 100 from which Jason Mraz song?

I'm Yours lost the longevity record when Radioactive reached 87 weeks on the chart. The Imagine Dragons hit had also made what was then the slowest climb into the top five.

Imagine Dragons named the album Loom after what kind of 1990 release, Dan Reynolds's introduction to music?

A computer game called Loom, a Lucasfilm fantasy adventure, has its hero work magic by playing four-note tunes. Reynolds met it at six, and the album built on its name is about new beginnings.

Which DJ's 2019 album Tim includes 'Heart Upon My Sleeve', a collaboration with Imagine Dragons?

Avicii first released the track as an instrumental on his album True. The Imagine Dragons version arrived on the record that was completed after he died in 2018.

Imagine Dragons played the opening ceremony of which soccer showpiece in Madrid in June 2019?

Champions League final night opened with the band's medley amid fireworks, before Liverpool defeated Tottenham 2–0. Mohamed Salah converted a penalty inside two minutes.

Imagine Dragons recorded their first EPs at Battle Born Studios, a Las Vegas studio owned by which band?

The Killers took over the studio in 2008 and opened it to other artists a year later. Elton John, B.B. King and Mötley Crüe have all recorded there too.

Imagine Dragons recorded the song Who We Are for the soundtrack of a 2013 film in which franchise?

The Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire plays the song on screen, which only four tracks from its soundtrack album can claim. The words nod to District 12 and its rebels.

Three members of Imagine Dragons' longtime four-piece line-up studied at which music school?

Berklee in Boston put the three in the same guitar ensemble. One of them dropped out in his final semester to join the band in Las Vegas.

Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons and Nico Vega singer Aja Volkman recorded an EP together under which name?

Egyptian began in 2010, when Reynolds opened a show for her band and asked for help finishing some demos. The pair, who married the next year, recorded and released a four-track EP on their own.

Dan Reynolds says pain from which chronic spinal condition helped inspire Imagine Dragons' hit Believer?

Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory disease that Reynolds first revealed to fans from the stage in Leeds in 2015. He says the song is about making pain his greatest strength.

Besides drums, which string instrument did longtime member Daniel Platzman play for Imagine Dragons?

Viola sat beside drums and percussion in his credits throughout 13 years in the band. He left for good in 2024, after pausing the year before to look after his health.

Which band did Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds get signed after discovering them on the radio from a hospital bed?

X Ambassadors were unsigned when he caught an acoustic song of theirs while laid up in Norfolk, Virginia. He urged his label to sign them, and Imagine Dragons later guested on their platinum debut, VHS.

Which network premiered Believer, the 2018 documentary about Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds and LGBTQ Mormon youth?

HBO showed the film in June 2018, five months after its Sundance debut. It tracks Reynolds, raised in the church, as he challenges its stance on LGBTQ members and stages a benefit concert in Utah.

In which martial art did Imagine Dragons singer Dan Reynolds win a bronze medal at a 2023 tournament?

Jiu-jitsu, in its Brazilian form, earned him a white-belt bronze at a Jiu-Jitsu World League event held at UCLA. By 2024 he had moved up to a blue belt.

Dan Reynolds, later the singer of Imagine Dragons, reached which Boy Scouts rank as a teenager in 2005?

Eagle Scout was one marker of a busy Las Vegas childhood. The seventh of nine children, he also studied classical piano and learned drums so he could play in his brothers' bands.

Which actress sits a driving test at the DMV in Imagine Dragons' music video for Cutthroat?

Olivia Munn co-stars with Adrian Martinez in the video, which was shot in Las Vegas. Her character spends much of it simply waiting for her turn.

Imagine Dragons wrote the song Monster for the 2013 third instalment of which iPhone action game series?

Infinity Blade III plays the song over its final cutscene, and again whenever the player equips a weapon named the Imagine Dragon. The band described themselves as pretty big gamers.

Imagine Dragons' Ready Aim Fire opens an album of music inspired by which 2013 Marvel superhero film?

Iron Man 3 arrived with Heroes Fall, a concept album by various artists released the same day as the film's score. Imagine Dragons have its opening track.

Imagine Dragons released Not Today for which 2016 romantic drama, partly filmed at Pembroke Castle in Wales?

Me Before You, adapted by Jojo Moyes from her own novel, stars Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin. The song was the second single from its soundtrack.

Which violinist's cover of Imagine Dragons' Radioactive with a cappella group Pentatonix became a YouTube hit?

Lindsey Stirling posted the collaboration on her own channel in 2013, where it has been watched well over 100 million times. Kelly Clarkson and Bullet for My Valentine have covered the song too.

Imagine Dragons' Radioactive lost the 2014 Grammy for Record of the Year to which Daft Punk hit?

Get Lucky, made with Pharrell Williams, was part of a five-award night for the French duo. Radioactive had brought Imagine Dragons their first Grammy nominations, and it did win its other category.

In which country did Imagine Dragons film the music video for their 2015 single Roots?

New Zealand footage is intercut with home videos of Dan Reynolds from infancy to early adulthood. The band had played the song live for the first time weeks earlier, in Melbourne.

Which Japanese singer, the singing voice of Uta in One Piece Film: Red, joined an Imagine Dragons remix in 2024?

Ado sang on the fourth and last remix of 'Take Me to the Beach', released that December. Earlier versions had featured Baker Boy, Ernia and Jungeli.

At which Los Angeles venue did Imagine Dragons film a 2025 concert movie with the LA Film Orchestra?

Hollywood Bowl hosted the band for four nights in October 2024, and the last show became the film. It reached cinemas the next March.

Which European capital hosted the last Smoke + Mirrors Tour show and names a track on Imagine Dragons' debut album?

Amsterdam ended the 108-show tour in February 2016. The song of the same name began as a free iTunes download, yet it later sold enough in the United States to be certified platinum.

Which music streaming service named Imagine Dragons its most streamed group of the year for 2018?

Spotify's 2018 title came as the band became the first rock act with four songs past a billion streams each. Billboard later ranked three of their hits as the top rock songs of the 2010s.

Imagine Dragons performed live at the 2014 League of Legends world final, held in which Asian capital?

Seoul staged the final in front of more than 40,000 fans, and 27 million viewers watched it. Taipei and Singapore had hosted the group rounds.

Imagine Dragons played the 2014 Bringing Human Rights Home concert in Brooklyn for which organisation?

Amnesty International was one of several causes the band took up in 2014. A year later it gave every cent from the charity single 'I Was Me' to the UN Refugee Agency.

Which ukulele-playing America's Got Talent winner opened for Imagine Dragons on tour in summer 2018?

Grace VanderWaal had won the show at 12, singing her own songs. She took up the ukulele after watching a Brazilian au pair play one and seeing a Twenty One Pilots video.

Numbers on Imagine Dragons' Smoke + Mirrors cover were coordinates leading fans to prizes hidden where?

The Nevada desert hid an autographed guitar, drumsticks, Polaroids and a pass for free tickets to the whole tour. The artwork itself was first revealed as puzzle pieces handed to 13 fans.

Which British singer dismissed Imagine Dragons' Radioactive as 'nothingness' and suggested a nonsense title for it?

Matty Healy of the 1975 said the song might as well be called 'Pikachu Banana'. When Dan Reynolds objected to such jibes, Healy replied that nobody in a huge band gets to be free of criticism.

On which website did the original five-piece Imagine Dragons post their first demos in 2008?

MySpace got the demos in the year the band formed, yet the guitarist and the pianist had both left by the end of it. The line-up kept changing until 2011.

Imagine Dragons headlined the first night of which festival founded by Jay-Z when it came to Los Angeles in 2014?

Made in America had launched in Philadelphia two years earlier and added a Los Angeles edition in 2014. Ron Howard had already directed a documentary about it.

Which institution gave Imagine Dragons' Dan Reynolds its Hal David Starlight Award in 2014?

Songwriters Hall of Fame judges reserve the prize for rising writers. It was renamed in 2006 after a former chairman who had backed new talent.

Which 2012 Imagine Dragons EP reached number 40 on the Billboard 200 months ahead of their debut album?

Continued Silence was the band's first release on a major label, issued on Valentine's Day 2012. Anyone who bought its songs paid less for the full album when it arrived.

Imagine Dragons finished their debut album at Studio X, a studio inside which Las Vegas casino resort?

The Palms housed the studio where the band wrapped up recording in the summer of 2012. The album came out that September and entered the Billboard 200 at number two.

Former Imagine Dragons drummer Daniel Platzman holds a degree in which specialist field of music?

Film scoring led him to compose for Africa Investigates, a documentary series on Al Jazeera English. He also contributed music to the 2017 film Best F(r)iends.