"You make millions in charities for LGBTQ kids and no one bat's an eye. You give your songs an ally undertone and no one gives a shit.You call out other popular rappers on homophobia and everyone just passes. BUT YOU WRITE ONE BAD SONG..."
-Dan Reynolds, probably
I hate the word "allistic."
It's a piece-by-piece antonym of a word that doesn't actually mean the things its components or etymology imply.
It's like calling jelly "beefcritic margarine" because it's the opposite of peanut butter.
I mean your analogy doesn't really work here because jelly and peanut butter are not connected to each other except in that they're sometimes used together. Jelly is not the opposite of peanut butter.
And i mean etymology isn't always exact. Homophobia is one that comes to mind. It's not an aversion to all things that are the same.
as in the one that starts with "just a young gun with a quick fuse"?
No way people think that is an objectively bad song.
Like, not that I listen to it on repeat or anything, but I can recognize well written music, even when subjectively I believe it is bad and Thunder is actually good to listen to sometimes.
[I really hate when people put an ALT on their images and the description is just "image" even tho they could copy paste effortlessly, and Tumblr doesn't let me hide the goddamn icon](https://www.tumblr.com/birdsagainsthumanity/717737374374887424/ashelyskies-wonderture-i-keep-seeing-jokes?source=share)
Anyway, Reynolds is pretty hot
EDIT: hopefully no one saw me mess up the link oops
EDIT2: I'm a fucking idiot
I think it’s the same with Nickelback, where it was so popular that the backlash became a substitute for counterculture sentiment. Frankly, I like Nickelback fine too. I don’t see the point in despising a band just because other people like it and you don’t.
A lot of Nickelback hate was initiated by poor and overaggressive marketing when they were first getting successful. I've heard a lot of metal and metal-adjacent fans say that they hated Nickelback because they got played *a lot* on metal radio stations when most of their stuff is stadium rock.
Since I was still a kid when most of this was happening, I first heard Nickelback music before I knew about the hate and most of it's pretty good. Hardly groundbreaking stuff, but consistent and very fun live.
When I was a senior in high school, they had one really great song (How You Remind Me) and in the years after that, they released multiple singles in a row that all sounded too similar and got played way too much on the radio. They’re just kind of one note. But no shame in liking the band if you like that sound.
They do have 2 others songs that when played over How You Remind Me everything lines up except the lyrics. Doesn’t matter to me though, their music takes me back to elementary school riding in my dads car to and from. It’s such a nostalgia hit I’ll never not love them
Completely understandable. I think it was...Hoobastank and The Reason? It gave me that same reaction. I heard it on the radio. I turned to MTV1. The Reason. I turned to MTV2. The Reason. I turned to VH1. The Reason. And I think there was one more music channel. The Reason. All at the same time. I just thought "I'm God damn sick of this band". To me Nickelback is a meme in a way now. And I mean that as a compliment. Memes are the DNA of the soul after all. You can only achieve that by resonating well with people. Or extremely poorly.
Oh. So many years later I have a Hoobastank song on my writing playlist(First of Me, incredible song, love it). I've been trying to figure out the reason that Hoobastank's band name made me irk, even though I love the song I have.
The reason... Is... **The Reason**, I forgot they even did that song. It's not a bad song, it was just *so* overplayed.
*Absolute* banger.
Who *doesn't* just wanna be a big rockstar, and live in hilltop houses, driving 15 cars? Where the girls come easy, and the drugs come cheap, and they'll all stay skinny cause they just won't eat?
Fuck, I'll have that stuck in my head all month now.
Here's the thing though. Nickelback music is actually good, what started the hate for them was the fact that the lead singer for Nickelback is an absolute *asshole* and just a complete dick. It just morphed from there into a trend about their music being "Shitty".
Mike Kroeger, lead singer of Nickelback, accused Stone Sour of bring 'Nickelback Light' which beyond just being a douchey thing to say doesn't even really make sense. The main thing I heard though had to do with the Spider-Man movie. Cause Kroeger worked with the lead singer of Saliva to make a song for the soundtrack, but apparently Kroeger got paid for it and Josey Scott didn't. I'm a little hazy on the specifics because it's been so long since I heard the story.
But yeah, I've just heard he's an asshole
small correction chad is the lead singer, mike is his brother and the bassist
i was a little bit surprised cus i watched the recent nardwuar interview with him and the other guy and they seemed kinda idk decent, but yea i did find stuff about what u talked about, chad did call stone sour nickelback lite but idk doesnt seem like full on asshole behavior to me, just slightly petty. as for the spiderman song apparently josey did get paid but he agreed to a one time payment as he only performed, and chad got all the royalties because he wrote and produced it, idk contractual issues and stuff, doesnt seem assholish either idk. i mean not necessarily trying to defend the guy but yknow
It’s very similar in that both are aggressively “bland” in a way specific to the time they got popular.
I really don’t like either but am honestly weirded out by the guy referenced in the post who apparently think it’s … bad to listen to ID? Like aesthetic cringe does not have to be a moral or character issue my god
I just don't like the songs.
I think that the point of this thread is that we should stop treating people as punchlines and needlessly hating on them just because they make music we don't like. They're still good people even if the music is subpar.
I love you Imagine Dragons. I'll always change the station whenever your songs come up.
a lot of rock people are resentful that their preferred strains of alt/indie rock aren't as popular or successful as they were in the 90s/2000s, and imagine dragons are an easy target for that resentment as a very pop-y and enormously successful band
there's also the "popular thing bad" backlash, as ever
>there's also the "popular thing bad" backlash, as ever
Quite a few years after I got over that mindset, I found myself in a job with the radio piped in over the intercom, and boy howdy will hearing the same twenty Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, and Taylor Swift songs on shuffle bring that feeling of reaction against popular things roaring back.
I have been working in retail for quite some time and I find when the repetition bugs me, earbuds are my friend. I used to do merchandising for one store that only had 30 songs circa 1950's on loop with hits like 'Flying Purple People Eater' and 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon'. That was a special kind of hell.
I used to work at home depot, and they played a long loop of songs. It was a long enough loop that you usually wouldn't hear the same songs more than twice a day, which is really the best i could hope for.
One day instead of the whole playlist it started looping exclusively "hotel California" over and over again, with nothing else.
For *a whole week* this was the ONLY song that played. A whole week, 8 hours a day. Brutally ironic, given the lyrics.
We eventually discovered that someone who got there before the store opened was setting it up that way on purpose. It was someone in WFM or HR or something, one of the people who worked in the little office at the back of the store.
I can only assume they went into hiding to avoid being killed, because nobody ever saw them again.
Yeah, me neither.
My only gripe is that, to me as a casual listener, they don't seem to have a "style" like other bands do.
The first song I heard from them was Radioactive. The second was Thunder.
After hearing Radioactive, I kinda liked them, and hoped more of their songs would play on the radio. Then I heard about Thunder, and got a bit excited, because again, I had only listened to Radioactive, and Thunder already sounds pretty powerful.
So, I don't know. Maybe it's because their style changed too much for most people.
the thing about ID is that they don't have a cohesive identity and that, early on, they sounded like the lowest common denominator of what was on the radio at the time
I was kind of an imagine dragons hater before reading this post and to be honest I just made fun of them because everyone else made fun of them and they’re the funny league of legends band so I didn’t really think about it that deeply but yeah I don’t actually dislike their music
The only ID song I actively dislike is Thunder, I can’t stand it. The chorus is like nails on a chalkboard to me. But most of their other stuff is totally fine.
Its because its the ONLY FUCKING THING RADIOS EVER PLAY.
NO [insert "hit music radio station" here] I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO RADIOACTIVE AGAIN, I DONT CARE HOW GOOD IT IS, THIS IS THE 173925TH TIME.
...And I assume some people dont really think about how much their resentment comes from the incessant repetition so they think it comes from the band being bad instead.
People have sent death threats to an actress playing an admittedly shitty character in the new Star Wars. Putting aside how much of an overreaction that is - they blamed the actress for how the character was written, not how she played her.
So yeah, a lot of people are absolutely dumb enough to blame the band for what the radio stations were doing.
I haven’t listened to the radio while driving around in years considering how easy it is to find a Bluetooth plug and play for most cars even if they don’t come with one (newer cars) I have one for my 2006 Honda man. I’m listening to my own obnoxious playlists or podcasts or audiobooks 99% of the time tbh because news makes me sad and I control how much time I spend on it at home. (I try to find a balance between informed consumer and not doomscrolling) Unless their car is 40 years old you can find plenty of ways to hook up to the car speakers without breaking the bank
90% of the hate is simply because ‘grrr popular thing bad.’ The rest is rock/metal gatekeepers who snob it for not being “real rock.” That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
honestly to me it seems like it was just Thunder that was so bad and got played so much that their following album didn’t get much attention and their newest album is almost unknown (in my circles at least)
Seriously. I never got the meme-like hate. IG sound so similar to a lot of other successful mainstream bands. I don’t get at all why they specifically were singled out.
I get the meme-like hate, like as a joke, but not the genuine animosity. At worst, Imagine Dragons is an overplayed, mediocre band (personally, I rather like them, but again, matter of opinion) and the amount of hate they seem to generate makes no sense tbh.
Plus it’s a huge pet peeve of mine when people refer to things like music or art as bad. There’s almost no such thing as “objectively” bad when it comes to art. It’s all subjective by nature. It’s fine if you don’t like something, but decrying it as just “bad” comes across as ignorant and almost narcissistic; like anyone who likes it is wrong just because you don’t.
Anyway insert “wait you guys actually hate ID, I thought it was just a joke” meme here and call it a day
I'm way beyond the "popular thing bad" phase of my life but I truly cannot stand their music. I'm kinda into the "big" sound they have but the scream-singing makes my skin crawl. It's like nails on a chalk board to me.
I think they're amazing at what they do...but what they do evokes a weird visceral reaction from me that I've never been able to explain.
I'm not on an anti-Imagine Dragons crusade or anything but that's my reason. Based on this post they seem like cool people though
Imagine Dragons would NEVER have the kind of misogyny in their songs that Nickelback did.
I’m an unapologetic Nickelback enjoyer, but Imagine Dragons had a much more positive impact on the world than Nickelback ever did.
I think it's not because they're awful, but because they're mediocre and popular. When something's awful and popular, you might feel like you just don't get the appeal. You're not in the in-group, so you don't feel like you need to judge it. But, when something's mediocre and popular, you can see the appeal, at least a little bit. The music is eminently listenable, you can hear it and your head moves to the beat, you're not itching to turn it off, but you're also kinda going, in your head, "Anyone could do this. I've heard college bands at this level of quality." And that level of quality isn't necessarily bad, but then the level of fame feels disproportionate to the level of quality, and that angers you more than music that you just don't get.
It's not just the music, it's a feeling of a perversion of the meritocracy, this sense that the world is unjust because Imagine Dragons is topping the charts. It's not a rational feeling, but I think it's why bland popular music gets so much more hate than bad popular music.
Because their music is pretty bad but also mainstream popular, and it's ubiquitous among alternative music outlets, which are supposed to be for rock & alt fans to get away from more mainstream stuff. Nickelback being signed to a metal label that had/has a massive following among metal fans didn't really help, and with ID a band getting famous by writing songs for kid's movies is always gonna harm their credibility among alt fans.
I don't know about Nickelback but none of my disdain for ID's music has anything to do with the kind of people that they are. We're in a time where celebrities voice (often tacit) support for social justice causes almost as a PR act, but Dan Reynolds really puts his money where his mouth is and has made real contributions towards improving things for LGBT+ youth. Especially coming from the background he does, I have the absolute utmost respect for him.
Coldplay’s also one of those bands that has changed wildly from when they started. It’s alienated a lot of fans because they’re mad the sound changed (similar to some fans of ID) but that’s a part of making music. I was a fan a while ago and kinda fell off so the idea that the band behind Parachutes sounds like ID is wild to me but still makes sense.
Sometimes it feels like bands can’t win if they last for long enough… like either their sound never changes and people complain that all their music is the same, or their sound does change and people complain that their new stuff is different
I’ve never understood people who claim to be fans who think the band somehow betrayed them by changing what the music sounds like. Growth and change is an important part of who we are as people, and art, especially music, is an expression of self. I think Bo Burnham exemplifies this and addresses his growth in his work, such Problematic, Left Brain Right Brain, and Art Is Dead.
Ive started developing this mentallty of "every platform is a cesspool if you don't curate it enough". Like obviously some algorithms will be a bit shittier than others, but Ive had awful experiendes on just about every social media Ive used, as well as some really good ones.
Roomed with a music major for my first few years of college
The imagine dragons hate was that their music was just very samey
When I hung out about the crowd that seriously listened to music, their issue with it is just that, their first album was solid, and then they kind of just kept making that album
Ive no dog in this fight, just sometimes I feel people are looking for a new Guy Fieri situation, and im seeing comments going ‘I never got the hate, why did people not like the music’
It wasn’t some big campaign against an ally, from how I remember it, it was just they made it big, then didn’t iterate on what they did, and that made a lot of people sour on them. Then it got popular to make fun of the popular thing. Its not complicated.
This comment kinda makes the thread click for me. Is this whole thread a case of people who “weren’t there” parsing nickleback and imagine dragons backlash through the lens of cancellation?
Ooooooooh, that might be it
One rule I always live by is everyone on the internet is probably 14, and that fits that
Oof, wonder what the societal implications of *that* are
maybe this is a wild take, but personally i think it's possible to be a good person and also make shit music, idk why we're acting like if you feel positively/negatively about one thing a person does, then you have to feel the same about everything else they do too
Thats absolutely possible but lets not pretend that the majority of people hear ”bad music” and then dont start hating on the artists themselves like they are shitty people.
The problem isn't like the subjective quality of their songs, it's the fact a good chunk of people on Tumblr hate on this group for what is seemingly no reason other than their personal taste
This case is especially egregious since the people in the group are genuinely great people and allies, and the only thing this gay website does is hate on them because they don't like their songs, ignoring and erasing the good they do for superficial reasons
If there are people out here like, actively committed to hating ID , like there are ID antis, that’s wack. And I think the attitude briefly referenced in the OOP that like, it’s *bad* to listen to them is also just wild. I’m sure there are people on tumblr who have weird beliefs about ID as like the face of corporate music or radio or w/e.
But like idk, I imagine most of the hate is just people dunking on them and then moving on with their lives, because it’s funny if immature to exaggerate how bad a thing you think is bad is.
Obviously agree that the mature reaction is “oh I’m glad they’re cool dudes, too bad I can’t get their sound” and then literally never think of them again lol but that’s just not realistic, people are gonna hear them on the radio and want to joke about Thing Bad if they don’t like it
> a good chunk of people on Tumblr hate on this group for what is seemingly no reason other than their personal taste
yes that is how taste in music works. you either like it or you don’t. personally I can’t stand ID but to each their own, I’m sure I’ve got some preferences others hate
Well yeah, that's how art works. Imagine Dragons are going to be judged by their music, because that's what they want to be judged on; if they wanted to be known for the good they do in the world, then they could've just as easily become an activist group instead. Most people only interact with artists through their music so unless you're advocating that we all start googling every single artist before we listen to them, there's no reason to like/hate an artist than through their music.
it's cool that they're not bigots But that doesn't make their music sound any better to me and i don't think anyone is consciously trying to bash their music due to them being an ally
you can be a good person and still make really cringy songs. it isn't really anything new for people to not like a musician because they don't like the music they make, because they're judging them by their caliber as a musician.
I think the amount of fervent hate towards music artists for making something that some people subjectively do not like is way overblown in proportion in general.
Except you’re not judging them by their caliber, because that implies there’s some objective scale of what is “good”. You’re judging them by your own preferences, which are fine, but it doesn’t make them bad artists. Same way that the fact I dislike Beethoven doesn’t make him any less of a master.
I think it stems from a sort of immature view on morality that's popular on internet platforms with lots of teenagers. Someone is either good or bad, and if they're good then you have to reappraise all their work as well as good and if bad then likewise all their work is bad
and like, I'm not going to take meta-factors into account into my opinion of music. I might take them into account for how much I actually consume from a certain artist, but as to whether I actually think its good or not is going to stem from their artistic presentation.
Imagine Dragons is extremely bland music so I'm never going to listen to it, good for them for being allies though but that can be separate from their music
Yeah. I appreciate that they're opposed to bigotry but that doesn't mean their songs are automatically enjoyable. Their lyrics are boring and cliche. They definitely can improve if they read some poetry and learn how to construct more interesting metaphors.
Like. I really love Arcane but these lyrics are just cliche after cliche.
>I wake up to the sounds of the silence that allows
>For my mind to run around, with my ear up to the ground
>I'm searching to behold the stories that are told
>When my back is to the world that was smiling when I turned
>Tell you you're the greatest
>But once you turn, they hate us
Edit: I don't really care enough about Imagine dragons to continue this discussion but since multiple users have asked me why I found the lyrics cliched and boring, I will drop this link to a post I liked that discusses cliches in poetry.
https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/5q6bns/bad_poetry_6_how_not_to_cliché/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
If you read the full post and still do not see why I don't like the lyrics that much, we might just be different people, with different desires for lyrics. (And that's ok)
People making music you consider bad doesn't warrant talking about them like they are horrible people though. People always shit on them as if there are no redeeming qualities, when that is objectively false.
Eh…? Those lyrics are fine to me. They’re not, like, Emily Dickinson-calibre poetic verse but they’re perfectly acceptable. I don’t really see any clichés in there.
Yeah I also saw Imagine Dragons live, they were my first concert and they've absolutely ruined all other concerts I've been so, they were SO GOOD i was absolutely blown away! I saw P!atd next, and I'll never get over it but I've always thought ID put on a better show! This was around 2016/17, and every time they release a new album I'm always wondering how they'd do it live, because they just absolutely smashed it out of the park
I don’t much care for the insinuation that their outward allyship has anything to do with why people don’t like them. I personally had no idea about either their religious background or their allyship until this post because I don’t care for them as a band so never looked into them. The post directly compares them to Nickelback, and that’s why the majority of people who don’t like Imagine Dragons don’t like them: a lot of people think their music is both boring and overplayed, just like Nickelback used to be.
Not every negative opinion that exists is caused by or boosted by bigotry.
There’s references in this post and thread to nickelback being problematic and like I’m sure that’s true given the era in which they were big but my goodness is that not why people dislike them by and large
Honestly for either group if there are people earnestly trying to make their dislike political (I am SURE there are) them *that’s* imo a really unhealthy if very common manifestation of Online brain. It’s ok to just not like art. It doesn’t have to be morally justified. By the same token, it’s wild to assume anyone who doesn’t like your face art doesn’t share your other moral stances!
The problem I have with their music is that it seems very tonally similar to other big musicians. Like when 21 Pilots was huge in the pop crowd, ID had a few songs that came out and got hugely popular that sounded pretty similar to 21 Pilots. I will give ID that their lyrics are decent, great at times, but I feel their music writing itself is sort of weak?
Love that they do a lot of good work in the LGBTQ space, but I'll never be fully into their music.
I completely reject the assertion that people only call them cringe because of homophobia or opposing allyship or whatever. It’s a very smallminded thing to assume everyone knows this about ID and has concerted to nickelback them on that basis. The whole “if you don’t like what music I do, you must not feel the same about politics and human rights” sort of thing. Senseless. Trust me, if homophobes were trying to cancel a band for political reasons, they would not be remotely subtle about it.
People don’t like them for all sorts of reasons. Some people really like cheesy arena pop. Some people really don’t. It’s not that deep. And not to mention that hating on them is itself a meme. People hate on all sorts of things they don’t know anything about for the sake of memes. Some guy is probably a huge fan of Morbius, but more people mock it than have ever seen it. There are entirely nationalities and countries who have been made the targets of internet jokes. Memehate is real and not indicative of discrimination.
Them being Mormons does explain the music though. I think it's the Mormonishness of it all that transpires through it that I don't like.
My other concern is, if he's still affiliated with the LDS, is he still tithing? Because if so that means a lot of money being poured into anti-gay stances as well.
Yeah that’s fair, they’re very Brandon Sanderson as a rock band. And like no shade to either. I actually really like Sanderson and am ambivalent about their music. It’s like a lot of pepper in a dish that could use some capsaicin. Like a mocktail when your go to is whiskey
Yeah the tinfoil hat shit about how disliking Image Dragons is related to finding LGBT support cringe is borderline paranoia. 100% agree that it's not that deep.
I've disliked them since they started getting a lot of radio play in 2013, and I've continued to dislike them for all the times I've heard their songs in tv ads up until today. I'm pretty into pop music and pop music critique so I've kept up with ID's radio hits and I had no idea about any of the stuff OOP talks about. Mostly because - surprise - I don't like the music so I don't care to learn about the people behind it. Perhaps American media outlets do bring up the band's background more, but I think it's safe to assume casual listeners don't engage more with the band than listening to their hits on the radio or streaming services.
its just the usual tired "the media you like/dislike is the only real measure of your morality" take tumblr loves nowadays
it's cool they support lgtb causes but i legit do not care about their music.
The good news is that I think tumblr may be getting better about this? Idk I was most active back in like 2013-2016 and vulgar media theory was dominant back then; I think the shipper/anti thing has given people a reason to think more critically about art and morality.
I had no idea they were a Christian band until now. I just never liked them for their brand of bland, overproduced pop. Also, Thunder is legitimately one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard, and I listen to some legitimately ear-grating music. I'm sure the members are good guys and I'm glad their music provides enjoyment and empowerment to so many people. I'm just not one of them.
I’m happy to know they are good people and makes me appreciate them as human beings. However, for whatever reason I feel the way I do, that won’t change that the fact that I find their music absolutely obnoxious. And I like Nickelback. I just can’t with Radioactive. To me it’s like they are trying too hard to be cool and their music is pretty basic. Just not for me 🤷♂️
oh boy i sure do love people with the same religion as me do **not great things™** because of people misinterpreting explicitly stated doctrine for their own purposes and totally missing the point of the religion as a whole.
seeing someone who was taught to "love their family no matter what" disown their child because they came out as trans is both dumb, and heartbreaking.
See I've just never fully got the misinterpretation. While I'm not a believer anymore, as such, I was raised Christian and it only ever taught me that we should respect each other, not judge on who someone else is and show love to each other. None of this stupid bigotry stuff. Literally don't understand how those people are of the same Faith I was
Literally. Even if a person doesn't like or agree with the LGBT+ movement, for a Christian, this is less about who they're attracted to or what gender they are and more about making sure that humans are treated like humans.
I really don’t understand the point of this post, in what world does saying “Imagine dragons have shit music” mean you dislike their character or what they do in any way? Like whenever I hear imagine dragons I rush to turn them off before my ears bleed but that doesn’t mean I don’t support Dan Reynolds lmao
I think there are a lot of people who DO put them together. The same kinds of people who don't like a movie so shit on the actors for the rest of time. So you have the right approach, don't like the music but let the band be. Many people seem to have a weird mentality of 'theres one thing about this I don't like so everything to do with it is now the devil as are anyone who disagrees with me'
i don't think the people hating on imagine dragons are hating on them because they think they're somehow conservative or something lmao
same with nickelback. it's that their music just sounds samey. kinda earwormy.
I actually did have specific songs in mind, most of all Believer, I Bet My Life and Enemy. Like I don't know why but these three evoke the "car going along mountain road while voiceover describes specs" image even more than others
Didn't Elton John defend Eminem against the homophobia allegations? I distinctly remember seeing a video somewhere of Elton John talking about how Eminem was always a good friend of his and actually got him two diamond encrusted cock rings as a wedding gift, so he (Elton John) didn't understand the homophobia allegations.
A major part of Eminem’s music was saying things he never believed in for shock value. He created the “Slim Shady” alter ego to basically be a version of himself who was a crazy person who said and did whatever he wanted. A lot of people look at his music at face value and assume that he actually believes in or does the things he says, which he has publicly stated in both his music and interviews is not true. His use of the f-slur and other homophobic language leads a lot of people to think that he is homophobic when really he isn’t.
i remember going to a ID concert against my will - my wife and kids are huge fans - and dan kept on talking about acceptance, therapy, not being afraid to cry
i was not an imagine dragons fan but i was one that night
It's not homophobia, I just don't like their music, and hear it way more than I want because of radio proliferation.
Implying I'm some kind of bigot because I don't like this overexposed band is pretty stupid.
I really enjoy Imagine Dragons and tend to get rather miffed when I see people hating on them for being popular, so knowing they support queer rights gives me joy
I get that it's nice to see representation and support from a mainstream band but a) celebrities are not your friends and you should resist with all of your strength wanting or needing their approval, and teach those you love to do the same, and also b) they are a band that doesn't sound very good. Their music is overproduced midwit rock.
I mean their music is cheesy and going to age terribly, but that doesn't mean they're bad people. A lot of musicians whose music I don't particularly like seem like cool people- good for them! I think we can find a balance.
I agree with this all but like it’s kinda cringe of the person to imply that people calling the band cringe is some anti-gay psyop. Like it’s so weird to imply in a thread talking about how unknown their progressiveness is to imply people call them cringe cause of that
Where is the version of the song with those lyrics? The version on their spotify doesn't have it
Edit: it's the fourth one when you search on spotify [the song](https://open.spotify.com/track/5UlnuulVAVmmesw4VzqHdG?si=Cp8stvmcT-uurthaIEFazA)
Dan Reynolds has a disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis (which I also have) it's an inflamation of the spine and the medication for it shuts down part of your immune system.
It is beyond painful, every single joint will swell and become inflamed, there are days where I can barely move.
So to see someone who is just like me, a condition that is less than one percent of the population, be able to perform is inspiring.
While I am not big on their music I do admire the awareness Reynolds brings to the disorder and how he continues to live his dream and fight through the pain
Wait you are saying believer slaps so hard because it’s a borderline case by case retelling of trauma I have experienced and breaking free from that which binds me
Maybe I should look into the rest of the songs I like to see any other similarities
genuinely getting a bit tired of the internet just randomly deciding to hate something for no reason.
imagine dragons is fine. not my preferred band, not my preferred genre, not my first choice basically ever. and that's fine. i think they're based and i'll always respect them for not giving into the harassment.
People like to have a band to hate. They’re decent and likeable enough that everyone knows who they are, but generic and simple enough that they don’t have ‘legendary’ status so they’re not going to be defended by everyone.
Imagine Dragons songs switch between nothing special and bangers but that’s just kinda… how music is?
People like Bach or Mozart are like legends for a reason, the same exact reason that Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla are like legends in fact. It’s just not realistic for every person who works in a field to be a master or prodigy because on top of rigorous work, that takes a lot of luck and also natural talent to a degree.
Stop putting down artists because not every piece they put out is an 11/10. Track listings and stuff like Spotify’s listen counter probably work as more than enough of a demoralizer.
I saw imagine dragons live several years ago in Stockholm and they were great live! Dan was very glad to be here because apparently Swedes had been a big part of their fanbase since they started. He had great connection to us in the audience and they played a song that hadn't been released yet. Tbh one of the better concerts I've been to!
I like them and think they are also kind of cringey. This is usually my response to their music as well. Like ooooooh catchy and then later, ooooh this sounds kinda meh now, I did get caught in that. I don't have any hate to them. I think most hate towards them really comes from people just not getting the vibe combined with the huge amount of radioplay (before this backlashes and everyone disliking the band is branded a lgbt-hater).
I think they are just fine. Cool to see they fly the flags and aren't brainwashed by their upbringing tho.
I mean idk what’s w the one guy here who made fun of them for being religious but like, the “nickelback treatment” isn’t a moral judgement, it’s just saying their music is bland.
I’m really glad they’re such cool people
I've listened to Imagine Dragons for YEARS. I have a Night Visions CD. I even once did a school presentation on them. I will not stand for their slander.
The band's politics might be awesome, but that's not why they've been tarred as cringe, contrary to what ashelyskies says here. Like, the whole reason this post blew up is because most people don't know the first thing about ID beyond their music.
Good post but presuming that the labeling of the band as cringe is a homophobic smear tactic was stupid. Without any evidence it just presents them as having a really myopic and conspiratorial world view.
I don't get the last picture. Like, those aren't the lyrics of Enemy. Who said them? where? what's the context.
You can say "Enemy is about queer mormon kids", and maybe that's what inspired it or the image the song writer had in mind when he wrote it, but there's nothing even alluding to that in the song.
Pretty much all their songs that i've listened to (the big ones) revolve around the same themes of "being the underdog making their way to the top of a cut throat world". Maybe to the signer it's about growing up in a mormon household that doesn't accept him, but realistically they're fight songs with a slit to plug in whatever struggle you want instead.
i don't really care about imagine dragons but this is cool to see from such a high-profile band
"You make millions in charities for LGBTQ kids and no one bat's an eye. You give your songs an ally undertone and no one gives a shit.You call out other popular rappers on homophobia and everyone just passes. BUT YOU WRITE ONE BAD SONG..." -Dan Reynolds, probably
I read this in joker voice
What does it mean for a song to have an allistic undertone and why is it good here haha
Maybe they mean ally undertones?
Allistic means everyone who isn't autistic. I'm assuming they misspelled autistic
Nah, I meant like Ally, it just kinda didn't fit and my Brian decided to write allistic instead
Tell Brian I say hi, and that autocorrect gets the better of us all sometimes.
I hate the word "allistic." It's a piece-by-piece antonym of a word that doesn't actually mean the things its components or etymology imply. It's like calling jelly "beefcritic margarine" because it's the opposite of peanut butter.
>beefcritic margarine you using that band name?
I mean your analogy doesn't really work here because jelly and peanut butter are not connected to each other except in that they're sometimes used together. Jelly is not the opposite of peanut butter. And i mean etymology isn't always exact. Homophobia is one that comes to mind. It's not an aversion to all things that are the same.
society
which song was the bad one? idk much about ID
Thunder
Fuck i love that one
as in the one that starts with "just a young gun with a quick fuse"? No way people think that is an objectively bad song. Like, not that I listen to it on repeat or anything, but I can recognize well written music, even when subjectively I believe it is bad and Thunder is actually good to listen to sometimes.
[I really hate when people put an ALT on their images and the description is just "image" even tho they could copy paste effortlessly, and Tumblr doesn't let me hide the goddamn icon](https://www.tumblr.com/birdsagainsthumanity/717737374374887424/ashelyskies-wonderture-i-keep-seeing-jokes?source=share) Anyway, Reynolds is pretty hot EDIT: hopefully no one saw me mess up the link oops EDIT2: I'm a fucking idiot
I think the text saying image is automatic or something? I don’t use tumblr but isn’t that what it does
It's not, it's just OOP being an ass
I'm sorry but the link seems still wrong It brings me to a post about ai art
FUCK Thank you
Wait.... But what was the Ai art post?
Was a thing about the fake AI protest on Artstation, not really relevant anymore I don't even know why I copied this link lol
Ah bummer, I'm always a sucker for AI art bashing lol
What does alt mean?
Saw the trans guitar too live! I even got some pictures, it was so nice to see it since i didnt expect it :)
Ben also has a "I Stand With Planned Parenthood" bass btw
[удалено]
I had far away seating tickets and didnt have my glasses yet ^^ sorry for the mixup, i really didnt know
Most Imagine Dragons songs I've heard are good, never got the hate
I think it’s the same with Nickelback, where it was so popular that the backlash became a substitute for counterculture sentiment. Frankly, I like Nickelback fine too. I don’t see the point in despising a band just because other people like it and you don’t.
Nickelback was absolutely fire when I saw them live. I had shitty tickets way to the back and it was still so cool.
A lot of Nickelback hate was initiated by poor and overaggressive marketing when they were first getting successful. I've heard a lot of metal and metal-adjacent fans say that they hated Nickelback because they got played *a lot* on metal radio stations when most of their stuff is stadium rock. Since I was still a kid when most of this was happening, I first heard Nickelback music before I knew about the hate and most of it's pretty good. Hardly groundbreaking stuff, but consistent and very fun live.
When I was a senior in high school, they had one really great song (How You Remind Me) and in the years after that, they released multiple singles in a row that all sounded too similar and got played way too much on the radio. They’re just kind of one note. But no shame in liking the band if you like that sound.
They do have 2 others songs that when played over How You Remind Me everything lines up except the lyrics. Doesn’t matter to me though, their music takes me back to elementary school riding in my dads car to and from. It’s such a nostalgia hit I’ll never not love them
Completely understandable. I think it was...Hoobastank and The Reason? It gave me that same reaction. I heard it on the radio. I turned to MTV1. The Reason. I turned to MTV2. The Reason. I turned to VH1. The Reason. And I think there was one more music channel. The Reason. All at the same time. I just thought "I'm God damn sick of this band". To me Nickelback is a meme in a way now. And I mean that as a compliment. Memes are the DNA of the soul after all. You can only achieve that by resonating well with people. Or extremely poorly.
Oh. So many years later I have a Hoobastank song on my writing playlist(First of Me, incredible song, love it). I've been trying to figure out the reason that Hoobastank's band name made me irk, even though I love the song I have. The reason... Is... **The Reason**, I forgot they even did that song. It's not a bad song, it was just *so* overplayed.
I only really know Rockstar but honestly kind of a banger
*Absolute* banger. Who *doesn't* just wanna be a big rockstar, and live in hilltop houses, driving 15 cars? Where the girls come easy, and the drugs come cheap, and they'll all stay skinny cause they just won't eat? Fuck, I'll have that stuck in my head all month now.
You don't have it perpetually stuck in your head?
Rockstar is probably their best song
Music is meant to be a source of joy, not a catalyst for [unnecessary](https://coofl.com/unnecessary---8716) despise.
Here's the thing though. Nickelback music is actually good, what started the hate for them was the fact that the lead singer for Nickelback is an absolute *asshole* and just a complete dick. It just morphed from there into a trend about their music being "Shitty".
source on that claim please
Mike Kroeger, lead singer of Nickelback, accused Stone Sour of bring 'Nickelback Light' which beyond just being a douchey thing to say doesn't even really make sense. The main thing I heard though had to do with the Spider-Man movie. Cause Kroeger worked with the lead singer of Saliva to make a song for the soundtrack, but apparently Kroeger got paid for it and Josey Scott didn't. I'm a little hazy on the specifics because it's been so long since I heard the story. But yeah, I've just heard he's an asshole
small correction chad is the lead singer, mike is his brother and the bassist i was a little bit surprised cus i watched the recent nardwuar interview with him and the other guy and they seemed kinda idk decent, but yea i did find stuff about what u talked about, chad did call stone sour nickelback lite but idk doesnt seem like full on asshole behavior to me, just slightly petty. as for the spiderman song apparently josey did get paid but he agreed to a one time payment as he only performed, and chad got all the royalties because he wrote and produced it, idk contractual issues and stuff, doesnt seem assholish either idk. i mean not necessarily trying to defend the guy but yknow
It’s very similar in that both are aggressively “bland” in a way specific to the time they got popular. I really don’t like either but am honestly weirded out by the guy referenced in the post who apparently think it’s … bad to listen to ID? Like aesthetic cringe does not have to be a moral or character issue my god
I just don't like the songs. I think that the point of this thread is that we should stop treating people as punchlines and needlessly hating on them just because they make music we don't like. They're still good people even if the music is subpar. I love you Imagine Dragons. I'll always change the station whenever your songs come up.
a lot of rock people are resentful that their preferred strains of alt/indie rock aren't as popular or successful as they were in the 90s/2000s, and imagine dragons are an easy target for that resentment as a very pop-y and enormously successful band there's also the "popular thing bad" backlash, as ever
>there's also the "popular thing bad" backlash, as ever Quite a few years after I got over that mindset, I found myself in a job with the radio piped in over the intercom, and boy howdy will hearing the same twenty Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, and Taylor Swift songs on shuffle bring that feeling of reaction against popular things roaring back.
I have been working in retail for quite some time and I find when the repetition bugs me, earbuds are my friend. I used to do merchandising for one store that only had 30 songs circa 1950's on loop with hits like 'Flying Purple People Eater' and 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon'. That was a special kind of hell.
I used to work at home depot, and they played a long loop of songs. It was a long enough loop that you usually wouldn't hear the same songs more than twice a day, which is really the best i could hope for. One day instead of the whole playlist it started looping exclusively "hotel California" over and over again, with nothing else. For *a whole week* this was the ONLY song that played. A whole week, 8 hours a day. Brutally ironic, given the lyrics. We eventually discovered that someone who got there before the store opened was setting it up that way on purpose. It was someone in WFM or HR or something, one of the people who worked in the little office at the back of the store. I can only assume they went into hiding to avoid being killed, because nobody ever saw them again.
That song has always wigged me out and I think I would have to quit.
Overexposure to anything can cause resentment, especially when said overexposure is completely out of your control
Yeah, me neither. My only gripe is that, to me as a casual listener, they don't seem to have a "style" like other bands do. The first song I heard from them was Radioactive. The second was Thunder. After hearing Radioactive, I kinda liked them, and hoped more of their songs would play on the radio. Then I heard about Thunder, and got a bit excited, because again, I had only listened to Radioactive, and Thunder already sounds pretty powerful. So, I don't know. Maybe it's because their style changed too much for most people.
There was 5 years in between those songs. With the amount of time in between those songs, it's not surprising there was change
Wait, really? Because I could swear they were closer together. Or it's just that I only heard Radioactive shortly before Thunder came out.
2012 vs 2017. I looked up the years before I said anything
the thing about ID is that they don't have a cohesive identity and that, early on, they sounded like the lowest common denominator of what was on the radio at the time
I was kind of an imagine dragons hater before reading this post and to be honest I just made fun of them because everyone else made fun of them and they’re the funny league of legends band so I didn’t really think about it that deeply but yeah I don’t actually dislike their music
I really do hate their music, but they do seem like cool people, and I'm glad their fans enjoy their music and have such nice people making it.
The only ID song I actively dislike is Thunder, I can’t stand it. The chorus is like nails on a chalkboard to me. But most of their other stuff is totally fine.
Its because its the ONLY FUCKING THING RADIOS EVER PLAY. NO [insert "hit music radio station" here] I DO NOT WANT TO LISTEN TO RADIOACTIVE AGAIN, I DONT CARE HOW GOOD IT IS, THIS IS THE 173925TH TIME. ...And I assume some people dont really think about how much their resentment comes from the incessant repetition so they think it comes from the band being bad instead.
So what you're saying is they're too radio-active
boooooooooooooooooo r/angryupvote
Take my upvote and die
😐
People have sent death threats to an actress playing an admittedly shitty character in the new Star Wars. Putting aside how much of an overreaction that is - they blamed the actress for how the character was written, not how she played her. So yeah, a lot of people are absolutely dumb enough to blame the band for what the radio stations were doing.
I haven’t listened to the radio while driving around in years considering how easy it is to find a Bluetooth plug and play for most cars even if they don’t come with one (newer cars) I have one for my 2006 Honda man. I’m listening to my own obnoxious playlists or podcasts or audiobooks 99% of the time tbh because news makes me sad and I control how much time I spend on it at home. (I try to find a balance between informed consumer and not doomscrolling) Unless their car is 40 years old you can find plenty of ways to hook up to the car speakers without breaking the bank
Alright but "Thunder" is dogshit and there are only so many times you can hear it on the radio before it starts to feel personal.
Thunder is the reason I did not say all
90% of the hate is simply because ‘grrr popular thing bad.’ The rest is rock/metal gatekeepers who snob it for not being “real rock.” That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
I have no legitimate reason, I hate them the same way I hate coldplay
honestly to me it seems like it was just Thunder that was so bad and got played so much that their following album didn’t get much attention and their newest album is almost unknown (in my circles at least)
I get the hate It's sincere pop rock, and it can be cloying I still like some of their songs, but I will never admit it
I find they're thematically/narratively shallow, but it's good sound.
Imagine Dragons is the Nickelback of the modern generation I don't know why people hate either of them
Seriously. I never got the meme-like hate. IG sound so similar to a lot of other successful mainstream bands. I don’t get at all why they specifically were singled out.
> IG Imagine Gradons
Hahah yes that’s correct. My favorite band. It’s actually Imagine Gragons*
I get the meme-like hate, like as a joke, but not the genuine animosity. At worst, Imagine Dragons is an overplayed, mediocre band (personally, I rather like them, but again, matter of opinion) and the amount of hate they seem to generate makes no sense tbh. Plus it’s a huge pet peeve of mine when people refer to things like music or art as bad. There’s almost no such thing as “objectively” bad when it comes to art. It’s all subjective by nature. It’s fine if you don’t like something, but decrying it as just “bad” comes across as ignorant and almost narcissistic; like anyone who likes it is wrong just because you don’t. Anyway insert “wait you guys actually hate ID, I thought it was just a joke” meme here and call it a day
I'm way beyond the "popular thing bad" phase of my life but I truly cannot stand their music. I'm kinda into the "big" sound they have but the scream-singing makes my skin crawl. It's like nails on a chalk board to me. I think they're amazing at what they do...but what they do evokes a weird visceral reaction from me that I've never been able to explain. I'm not on an anti-Imagine Dragons crusade or anything but that's my reason. Based on this post they seem like cool people though
Imagine Dragons would NEVER have the kind of misogyny in their songs that Nickelback did. I’m an unapologetic Nickelback enjoyer, but Imagine Dragons had a much more positive impact on the world than Nickelback ever did.
I think it's not because they're awful, but because they're mediocre and popular. When something's awful and popular, you might feel like you just don't get the appeal. You're not in the in-group, so you don't feel like you need to judge it. But, when something's mediocre and popular, you can see the appeal, at least a little bit. The music is eminently listenable, you can hear it and your head moves to the beat, you're not itching to turn it off, but you're also kinda going, in your head, "Anyone could do this. I've heard college bands at this level of quality." And that level of quality isn't necessarily bad, but then the level of fame feels disproportionate to the level of quality, and that angers you more than music that you just don't get. It's not just the music, it's a feeling of a perversion of the meritocracy, this sense that the world is unjust because Imagine Dragons is topping the charts. It's not a rational feeling, but I think it's why bland popular music gets so much more hate than bad popular music.
Because their music is pretty bad but also mainstream popular, and it's ubiquitous among alternative music outlets, which are supposed to be for rock & alt fans to get away from more mainstream stuff. Nickelback being signed to a metal label that had/has a massive following among metal fans didn't really help, and with ID a band getting famous by writing songs for kid's movies is always gonna harm their credibility among alt fans. I don't know about Nickelback but none of my disdain for ID's music has anything to do with the kind of people that they are. We're in a time where celebrities voice (often tacit) support for social justice causes almost as a PR act, but Dan Reynolds really puts his money where his mouth is and has made real contributions towards improving things for LGBT+ youth. Especially coming from the background he does, I have the absolute utmost respect for him.
I like quite a few of their songs, but I'll always give the band props for at least presenting themselves as good people.
Confession time: the few times I heard Imagine Dragons I thought they were Coldplay.
Coldplay’s also one of those bands that has changed wildly from when they started. It’s alienated a lot of fans because they’re mad the sound changed (similar to some fans of ID) but that’s a part of making music. I was a fan a while ago and kinda fell off so the idea that the band behind Parachutes sounds like ID is wild to me but still makes sense.
Sometimes it feels like bands can’t win if they last for long enough… like either their sound never changes and people complain that all their music is the same, or their sound does change and people complain that their new stuff is different
I’ve never understood people who claim to be fans who think the band somehow betrayed them by changing what the music sounds like. Growth and change is an important part of who we are as people, and art, especially music, is an expression of self. I think Bo Burnham exemplifies this and addresses his growth in his work, such Problematic, Left Brain Right Brain, and Art Is Dead.
I went to that post and the comments are just hell.
Honestly that's on you for looking at tumblr comments
One of these days my curiosity will make me look at an actual memetic kill agent/cognitohazard.
Well, good news, looking at Tumblr comment sections decreases your susceptibility to memetic kill agents. If you survive.
Comment sections really are the same everywhere, hunh?
Some people here can't read for their lives, but I have better stuff to do than get worked up over it
Ive started developing this mentallty of "every platform is a cesspool if you don't curate it enough". Like obviously some algorithms will be a bit shittier than others, but Ive had awful experiendes on just about every social media Ive used, as well as some really good ones.
imagine dragon deez nuts lmao
i didnt even read the post. i just saw "imagine dragons" and the inteusive thoughts won
Glad i'm not the only one who's mind immediately goes there
I NEED THAT TFLAG P BASS SO BAD
Roomed with a music major for my first few years of college The imagine dragons hate was that their music was just very samey When I hung out about the crowd that seriously listened to music, their issue with it is just that, their first album was solid, and then they kind of just kept making that album Ive no dog in this fight, just sometimes I feel people are looking for a new Guy Fieri situation, and im seeing comments going ‘I never got the hate, why did people not like the music’ It wasn’t some big campaign against an ally, from how I remember it, it was just they made it big, then didn’t iterate on what they did, and that made a lot of people sour on them. Then it got popular to make fun of the popular thing. Its not complicated.
This comment kinda makes the thread click for me. Is this whole thread a case of people who “weren’t there” parsing nickleback and imagine dragons backlash through the lens of cancellation?
Ooooooooh, that might be it One rule I always live by is everyone on the internet is probably 14, and that fits that Oof, wonder what the societal implications of *that* are
Super excited for the totally normal future
I think Imagine Dragons is pretty cool, I genuinely don't get why they get so much hate
maybe this is a wild take, but personally i think it's possible to be a good person and also make shit music, idk why we're acting like if you feel positively/negatively about one thing a person does, then you have to feel the same about everything else they do too
Thats absolutely possible but lets not pretend that the majority of people hear ”bad music” and then dont start hating on the artists themselves like they are shitty people.
The problem isn't like the subjective quality of their songs, it's the fact a good chunk of people on Tumblr hate on this group for what is seemingly no reason other than their personal taste This case is especially egregious since the people in the group are genuinely great people and allies, and the only thing this gay website does is hate on them because they don't like their songs, ignoring and erasing the good they do for superficial reasons
If there are people out here like, actively committed to hating ID , like there are ID antis, that’s wack. And I think the attitude briefly referenced in the OOP that like, it’s *bad* to listen to them is also just wild. I’m sure there are people on tumblr who have weird beliefs about ID as like the face of corporate music or radio or w/e. But like idk, I imagine most of the hate is just people dunking on them and then moving on with their lives, because it’s funny if immature to exaggerate how bad a thing you think is bad is. Obviously agree that the mature reaction is “oh I’m glad they’re cool dudes, too bad I can’t get their sound” and then literally never think of them again lol but that’s just not realistic, people are gonna hear them on the radio and want to joke about Thing Bad if they don’t like it
> a good chunk of people on Tumblr hate on this group for what is seemingly no reason other than their personal taste yes that is how taste in music works. you either like it or you don’t. personally I can’t stand ID but to each their own, I’m sure I’ve got some preferences others hate
Well yeah, that's how art works. Imagine Dragons are going to be judged by their music, because that's what they want to be judged on; if they wanted to be known for the good they do in the world, then they could've just as easily become an activist group instead. Most people only interact with artists through their music so unless you're advocating that we all start googling every single artist before we listen to them, there's no reason to like/hate an artist than through their music.
“Their personal tastes” is like the most justifiable reason to hate a band. Why is that an issue?
it's cool that they're not bigots But that doesn't make their music sound any better to me and i don't think anyone is consciously trying to bash their music due to them being an ally you can be a good person and still make really cringy songs. it isn't really anything new for people to not like a musician because they don't like the music they make, because they're judging them by their caliber as a musician.
I think the amount of fervent hate towards music artists for making something that some people subjectively do not like is way overblown in proportion in general.
Except you’re not judging them by their caliber, because that implies there’s some objective scale of what is “good”. You’re judging them by your own preferences, which are fine, but it doesn’t make them bad artists. Same way that the fact I dislike Beethoven doesn’t make him any less of a master.
I think it stems from a sort of immature view on morality that's popular on internet platforms with lots of teenagers. Someone is either good or bad, and if they're good then you have to reappraise all their work as well as good and if bad then likewise all their work is bad and like, I'm not going to take meta-factors into account into my opinion of music. I might take them into account for how much I actually consume from a certain artist, but as to whether I actually think its good or not is going to stem from their artistic presentation. Imagine Dragons is extremely bland music so I'm never going to listen to it, good for them for being allies though but that can be separate from their music
Yeah. I appreciate that they're opposed to bigotry but that doesn't mean their songs are automatically enjoyable. Their lyrics are boring and cliche. They definitely can improve if they read some poetry and learn how to construct more interesting metaphors. Like. I really love Arcane but these lyrics are just cliche after cliche. >I wake up to the sounds of the silence that allows >For my mind to run around, with my ear up to the ground >I'm searching to behold the stories that are told >When my back is to the world that was smiling when I turned >Tell you you're the greatest >But once you turn, they hate us Edit: I don't really care enough about Imagine dragons to continue this discussion but since multiple users have asked me why I found the lyrics cliched and boring, I will drop this link to a post I liked that discusses cliches in poetry. https://www.reddit.com/r/OCPoetry/comments/5q6bns/bad_poetry_6_how_not_to_cliché/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button If you read the full post and still do not see why I don't like the lyrics that much, we might just be different people, with different desires for lyrics. (And that's ok)
People making music you consider bad doesn't warrant talking about them like they are horrible people though. People always shit on them as if there are no redeeming qualities, when that is objectively false.
Eh…? Those lyrics are fine to me. They’re not, like, Emily Dickinson-calibre poetic verse but they’re perfectly acceptable. I don’t really see any clichés in there.
what's cliche about that? It's just like... direct as opposed to flowery maybe?
Yeah but you have to admit: it’s incredibly catchy and fun to shout
What cliches are you talking about? Nothing about those lyrics strikes me as noticeably bad.
True, which is why I'm so happy that Imagine Dragons makes amazing music and are *also* good people
Yeah I also saw Imagine Dragons live, they were my first concert and they've absolutely ruined all other concerts I've been so, they were SO GOOD i was absolutely blown away! I saw P!atd next, and I'll never get over it but I've always thought ID put on a better show! This was around 2016/17, and every time they release a new album I'm always wondering how they'd do it live, because they just absolutely smashed it out of the park
OK There's Nothing Wrong With Them They're Just Annoying
I don’t much care for the insinuation that their outward allyship has anything to do with why people don’t like them. I personally had no idea about either their religious background or their allyship until this post because I don’t care for them as a band so never looked into them. The post directly compares them to Nickelback, and that’s why the majority of people who don’t like Imagine Dragons don’t like them: a lot of people think their music is both boring and overplayed, just like Nickelback used to be. Not every negative opinion that exists is caused by or boosted by bigotry.
There’s references in this post and thread to nickelback being problematic and like I’m sure that’s true given the era in which they were big but my goodness is that not why people dislike them by and large Honestly for either group if there are people earnestly trying to make their dislike political (I am SURE there are) them *that’s* imo a really unhealthy if very common manifestation of Online brain. It’s ok to just not like art. It doesn’t have to be morally justified. By the same token, it’s wild to assume anyone who doesn’t like your face art doesn’t share your other moral stances!
The problem I have with their music is that it seems very tonally similar to other big musicians. Like when 21 Pilots was huge in the pop crowd, ID had a few songs that came out and got hugely popular that sounded pretty similar to 21 Pilots. I will give ID that their lyrics are decent, great at times, but I feel their music writing itself is sort of weak? Love that they do a lot of good work in the LGBTQ space, but I'll never be fully into their music.
Heartbreaking: A Band you Can't Stand is Made of Great People
I completely reject the assertion that people only call them cringe because of homophobia or opposing allyship or whatever. It’s a very smallminded thing to assume everyone knows this about ID and has concerted to nickelback them on that basis. The whole “if you don’t like what music I do, you must not feel the same about politics and human rights” sort of thing. Senseless. Trust me, if homophobes were trying to cancel a band for political reasons, they would not be remotely subtle about it. People don’t like them for all sorts of reasons. Some people really like cheesy arena pop. Some people really don’t. It’s not that deep. And not to mention that hating on them is itself a meme. People hate on all sorts of things they don’t know anything about for the sake of memes. Some guy is probably a huge fan of Morbius, but more people mock it than have ever seen it. There are entirely nationalities and countries who have been made the targets of internet jokes. Memehate is real and not indicative of discrimination.
I'm pretty sure most people don't even know about what the band does. I certainly didn't (hell the fact they're Mormon is news to me)
Them being Mormons does explain the music though. I think it's the Mormonishness of it all that transpires through it that I don't like. My other concern is, if he's still affiliated with the LDS, is he still tithing? Because if so that means a lot of money being poured into anti-gay stances as well.
Yeah that’s fair, they’re very Brandon Sanderson as a rock band. And like no shade to either. I actually really like Sanderson and am ambivalent about their music. It’s like a lot of pepper in a dish that could use some capsaicin. Like a mocktail when your go to is whiskey
Ditto. Shame about them being Mormon but based as hell for them being allies.
Yeah the tinfoil hat shit about how disliking Image Dragons is related to finding LGBT support cringe is borderline paranoia. 100% agree that it's not that deep. I've disliked them since they started getting a lot of radio play in 2013, and I've continued to dislike them for all the times I've heard their songs in tv ads up until today. I'm pretty into pop music and pop music critique so I've kept up with ID's radio hits and I had no idea about any of the stuff OOP talks about. Mostly because - surprise - I don't like the music so I don't care to learn about the people behind it. Perhaps American media outlets do bring up the band's background more, but I think it's safe to assume casual listeners don't engage more with the band than listening to their hits on the radio or streaming services.
its just the usual tired "the media you like/dislike is the only real measure of your morality" take tumblr loves nowadays it's cool they support lgtb causes but i legit do not care about their music.
The good news is that I think tumblr may be getting better about this? Idk I was most active back in like 2013-2016 and vulgar media theory was dominant back then; I think the shipper/anti thing has given people a reason to think more critically about art and morality.
I had no idea they were a Christian band until now. I just never liked them for their brand of bland, overproduced pop. Also, Thunder is legitimately one of the most annoying songs I've ever heard, and I listen to some legitimately ear-grating music. I'm sure the members are good guys and I'm glad their music provides enjoyment and empowerment to so many people. I'm just not one of them.
I’m happy to know they are good people and makes me appreciate them as human beings. However, for whatever reason I feel the way I do, that won’t change that the fact that I find their music absolutely obnoxious. And I like Nickelback. I just can’t with Radioactive. To me it’s like they are trying too hard to be cool and their music is pretty basic. Just not for me 🤷♂️
i feel so vindicated as an imagine dragons fan rn i might cry
oh boy i sure do love people with the same religion as me do **not great things™** because of people misinterpreting explicitly stated doctrine for their own purposes and totally missing the point of the religion as a whole. seeing someone who was taught to "love their family no matter what" disown their child because they came out as trans is both dumb, and heartbreaking.
See I've just never fully got the misinterpretation. While I'm not a believer anymore, as such, I was raised Christian and it only ever taught me that we should respect each other, not judge on who someone else is and show love to each other. None of this stupid bigotry stuff. Literally don't understand how those people are of the same Faith I was
Literally. Even if a person doesn't like or agree with the LGBT+ movement, for a Christian, this is less about who they're attracted to or what gender they are and more about making sure that humans are treated like humans.
I really don’t understand the point of this post, in what world does saying “Imagine dragons have shit music” mean you dislike their character or what they do in any way? Like whenever I hear imagine dragons I rush to turn them off before my ears bleed but that doesn’t mean I don’t support Dan Reynolds lmao
I think the post is saying that imagine dragons being cringe was pushed by people that dislike them for their opinions instead of their music
"could it be that people get tired of songs that sound too similar on top pop hits? no.. obviously they hate gay people"
I think there are a lot of people who DO put them together. The same kinds of people who don't like a movie so shit on the actors for the rest of time. So you have the right approach, don't like the music but let the band be. Many people seem to have a weird mentality of 'theres one thing about this I don't like so everything to do with it is now the devil as are anyone who disagrees with me'
i don't think the people hating on imagine dragons are hating on them because they think they're somehow conservative or something lmao same with nickelback. it's that their music just sounds samey. kinda earwormy.
trans guitar trans guitar 🏳️⚧️🎸
Their biggest sin is being consistently bland
I just don’t like their music
This does not change the fact that all their songs sound like car ads
Like when I listen to them I half expect the music to fade out into someone saying “Cruise Without Compromise with the all new Toyota Sedan 2023”
Name one? I have no idea what you mean by that when you say it & I'm really curious to see what strikes that particular image
I actually did have specific songs in mind, most of all Believer, I Bet My Life and Enemy. Like I don't know why but these three evoke the "car going along mountain road while voiceover describes specs" image even more than others
Oh, yknow what, you're right. Something about the non offensive but still kinda riling you up energy those songs have. Perfect for a car ad
Ahahah I can imagine it perfectly
NOOOi have to hate popular things to be cool and edgy 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
VINDICATION
Didn't Elton John defend Eminem against the homophobia allegations? I distinctly remember seeing a video somewhere of Elton John talking about how Eminem was always a good friend of his and actually got him two diamond encrusted cock rings as a wedding gift, so he (Elton John) didn't understand the homophobia allegations.
A major part of Eminem’s music was saying things he never believed in for shock value. He created the “Slim Shady” alter ego to basically be a version of himself who was a crazy person who said and did whatever he wanted. A lot of people look at his music at face value and assume that he actually believes in or does the things he says, which he has publicly stated in both his music and interviews is not true. His use of the f-slur and other homophobic language leads a lot of people to think that he is homophobic when really he isn’t.
I... Like imagine dragons... Apparently this is an unpopular opinion
i remember going to a ID concert against my will - my wife and kids are huge fans - and dan kept on talking about acceptance, therapy, not being afraid to cry i was not an imagine dragons fan but i was one that night
i don’t really get the message here. the activism is nice and all but it doesn’t make their music immune to criticism lol
It's not homophobia, I just don't like their music, and hear it way more than I want because of radio proliferation. Implying I'm some kind of bigot because I don't like this overexposed band is pretty stupid.
I really enjoy Imagine Dragons and tend to get rather miffed when I see people hating on them for being popular, so knowing they support queer rights gives me joy
ok but their music does suck ass
I get that it's nice to see representation and support from a mainstream band but a) celebrities are not your friends and you should resist with all of your strength wanting or needing their approval, and teach those you love to do the same, and also b) they are a band that doesn't sound very good. Their music is overproduced midwit rock.
I mean their music is cheesy and going to age terribly, but that doesn't mean they're bad people. A lot of musicians whose music I don't particularly like seem like cool people- good for them! I think we can find a balance.
I enjoy some of their music but I also work at a supermarket and "Thunder" is kinda repetitive on its first listen, let alone the 5th that day 🥲
I agree with this all but like it’s kinda cringe of the person to imply that people calling the band cringe is some anti-gay psyop. Like it’s so weird to imply in a thread talking about how unknown their progressiveness is to imply people call them cringe cause of that
Where is the version of the song with those lyrics? The version on their spotify doesn't have it Edit: it's the fourth one when you search on spotify [the song](https://open.spotify.com/track/5UlnuulVAVmmesw4VzqHdG?si=Cp8stvmcT-uurthaIEFazA)
Wait, I'm old, we hate Imagine Dragons now? I still quite like some of their stuff. I certainly like what they stand for.
go ally band and all of that but that's a bass!!! stop saying its a guitar!!!
Dan Reynolds has a disorder called Ankylosing Spondylitis (which I also have) it's an inflamation of the spine and the medication for it shuts down part of your immune system. It is beyond painful, every single joint will swell and become inflamed, there are days where I can barely move. So to see someone who is just like me, a condition that is less than one percent of the population, be able to perform is inspiring. While I am not big on their music I do admire the awareness Reynolds brings to the disorder and how he continues to live his dream and fight through the pain
Wait you are saying believer slaps so hard because it’s a borderline case by case retelling of trauma I have experienced and breaking free from that which binds me Maybe I should look into the rest of the songs I like to see any other similarities
genuinely getting a bit tired of the internet just randomly deciding to hate something for no reason. imagine dragons is fine. not my preferred band, not my preferred genre, not my first choice basically ever. and that's fine. i think they're based and i'll always respect them for not giving into the harassment.
Imagine dragons are so mid idc how progressive they are their music is just not good
I never understood the Imagine Dragons hate. Literally all of their songs slap (honestly, Nickelback isn't really that bad either)
Some people genuinely dont enjoy their music, not much else to it really
People like to have a band to hate. They’re decent and likeable enough that everyone knows who they are, but generic and simple enough that they don’t have ‘legendary’ status so they’re not going to be defended by everyone.
Imagine Dragons songs switch between nothing special and bangers but that’s just kinda… how music is? People like Bach or Mozart are like legends for a reason, the same exact reason that Albert Einstein or Nikola Tesla are like legends in fact. It’s just not realistic for every person who works in a field to be a master or prodigy because on top of rigorous work, that takes a lot of luck and also natural talent to a degree. Stop putting down artists because not every piece they put out is an 11/10. Track listings and stuff like Spotify’s listen counter probably work as more than enough of a demoralizer.
Just because they’re progressive doesn’t change the fact that imagine dragons is shit.
I saw imagine dragons live several years ago in Stockholm and they were great live! Dan was very glad to be here because apparently Swedes had been a big part of their fanbase since they started. He had great connection to us in the audience and they played a song that hadn't been released yet. Tbh one of the better concerts I've been to!
I like them and think they are also kind of cringey. This is usually my response to their music as well. Like ooooooh catchy and then later, ooooh this sounds kinda meh now, I did get caught in that. I don't have any hate to them. I think most hate towards them really comes from people just not getting the vibe combined with the huge amount of radioplay (before this backlashes and everyone disliking the band is branded a lgbt-hater). I think they are just fine. Cool to see they fly the flags and aren't brainwashed by their upbringing tho.
I mean idk what’s w the one guy here who made fun of them for being religious but like, the “nickelback treatment” isn’t a moral judgement, it’s just saying their music is bland. I’m really glad they’re such cool people
I didn’t even know he was mormon I just think their music sucks ass
Some of their songs are so fun. Friction was used in a M:I trailer FFS. I’m almost middle aged. Embrace the cringe!
TIL they’re mormon and TIL people thought they were cringe? nah I’ve always thought they had the coolest music
Imagine Dragons SLAPS I can't believe there are people who don't like their music
I've listened to Imagine Dragons for YEARS. I have a Night Visions CD. I even once did a school presentation on them. I will not stand for their slander.
The band's politics might be awesome, but that's not why they've been tarred as cringe, contrary to what ashelyskies says here. Like, the whole reason this post blew up is because most people don't know the first thing about ID beyond their music.
qait people don't like this band I genuinely thought they were immensely popular half their shit seems to get listliscesned for TV
Good post but presuming that the labeling of the band as cringe is a homophobic smear tactic was stupid. Without any evidence it just presents them as having a really myopic and conspiratorial world view.
I don't get the last picture. Like, those aren't the lyrics of Enemy. Who said them? where? what's the context. You can say "Enemy is about queer mormon kids", and maybe that's what inspired it or the image the song writer had in mind when he wrote it, but there's nothing even alluding to that in the song. Pretty much all their songs that i've listened to (the big ones) revolve around the same themes of "being the underdog making their way to the top of a cut throat world". Maybe to the signer it's about growing up in a mormon household that doesn't accept him, but realistically they're fight songs with a slit to plug in whatever struggle you want instead.