Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds has responded after Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor recently called the band’s music “awful.”
Reynolds says he’s had to deal with negative comments for the last 10 years and that he’d much prefer that artists supported each other rather than simply make “vile” comments about their style of music.
In a series of posts on Instagram, Reynolds calls out Foster The People, Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot and The 1975 for their comments in the past, saying:
"For a decade now I’ve dealt with critics and other bands saying extremely harsh things about my band.
“Not what I would call ‘fair criticism’ – which I always try my best to receive and learn from – but actual click-bait horse shit. Words filled with vile and hate meant to feed humanity’s need to laugh at each other’s imperfections and fails.
“I’ve stood silently and taken it for years. It has added to the depression I’ve dealt with since youth. I don’t say this in search of sympathy, but just as a fact.
I don’t feel anger towards them - just more of a sadness that this industry embraces, even celebrates, this mentality
Dan Reynolds
“It’s not the person that causes me the feelings of stress and depression, but what it does to the world we as a band have created.
“How it could possibly make a kid feel ‘not cool’ listening to Imagine Dragons? I hate that thought. Wondering if my kids will be made fun of as they grow older because someone thinks my band isn’t cool.”
Reynolds adds: “I’ve gotten over the fact that guys in other bands – The 1975, Foster The People, Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot etc – feel a need to talk badly about my band for whatever reason.
“I don’t feel anger towards them, actually, just more of a sadness that this industry embraces, even celebrates, this mentality.
“I wish it felt like a place where artists stood by each other and supported one another – regardless of our different tastes and voices.”
He goes on to say that he and his Imagine Dragons bandmates are “authentically ourselves and strive to bring positivity and empowerment to the world,” and concludes: “We’ll continue to do just that.”
