I need someone to tell me when Imagine Dragons became a meme or when they became analogous to Nickelback (and someone needs to tell me when *they* became a meme). In 2012, I only knew of their song Tokyo - which wasn't even, at the time, their biggest hit note 1. It was iconic in that it was just their friends and family dancing to their song and recorded in the greatest 5 megapixels that a cell phone, or more likely a point-and-shoot camera, would be able to take. Presuming their budget at that time, it's no surprise that they were nowhere near headlining the 2012 91X Wrex the Hall concert.

Wrex the Hall was a concert that 91X FM in San Diego would host around Christmas time and featured a slew of up-and-coming and well-known alternative rock artists in a roughly 5-hour timeframe. The 2012 repertoire would feature headliners The Killers alongside M83, Passion Pit, Tegan & Sara, and The Joy Formidable with newcomers Youngblood Hawke, Audio Addiction, and new-to-the-scene Imagine Dragons. I told my friend, Raul, that I had once seen Tegan & Sara and Imagine Dragons in the same concert hall, to which he asked, "That was out of irony, right?"

Raul and I are no longer friends note 2.

I still enjoy watching a string of music videos on YouTube and still include Tokyo on the list, though when someone who happens to be walking by asks who sings it, I hesitate to give a response:

"This song's catchy. Who's playing?" "Uhh, Imagine -" "Oh God, Imagine Dragons? Never mind." "No, I mean, Imagine the People. They're a low-key band; you probably wouldn't know of them."

Dialogue straight out of an early 2000s Disney Channel sitcom.

The 2012 Wrex the Hall was one of the best concerts I've seen, if not just for seeing Joe Berry (or James King, can't exactly remember who was there) ripping the epic sax solo in M83's Midnight City. For an alternative rock concert, the crowd was also extremely well-behaved, which could either complement the people of San Diego's strength to remain civil or a diss at their inability to rock out. Nevertheless, I will still wear my concert merch hoodie when it's a Saturday afternoon and I want to lie back and chill out to classic Imagine - the People...