For those who remember 2011 with nostalgic fondness, let’s dredge up the Spider-Man musical from the annals of our memories. Better yet, let’s go back to the rumor that spread around that time that the band Imagine Dragons were involved in the project. Specifically, the one where their hit song “Radioactive” was initially supposed to be featured in the musical.
Videos by American Songwriter
While the fact that Bono and The Edge actually composed the music for Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is interesting in itself, the rumor about Imagine Dragons is a well-known falsehood at this point. It’s been officially debunked many times, but before that, it sparked articles and memes that circulated and spread like wildfire. Personally, I believed it for a long time, as many people did.
The official rumor was that Imagine Dragons’ entire debut album Night Visions was supposed to be reworked from Turn Off the Dark songs. This was debunked, but there’s still a sliver of truth to the statement.
In a 2017 interview with producer Alex da Kid, American Songwriter inexplicably unearthed the rumor again, revealing some interesting details.
So, Did Imagine Dragons Write for Spider-Man Musical or Not?
Alex da Kid was working on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark with Bono and The Edge in 2010, but also hooked up with Imagine Dragons while they were working on their debut album.
“The reason I got together with [Imagine Dragons] in the first place was because I was working with Bono and the Edge from U2 on the Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark musical, and I wanted people to bounce ideas off of,” said Alex. “Radioactive” began as a beat that Alex had, and he and lead singer Dan Reynolds worked on other pieces together for months which became much of Night Visions.
So, “Radioactive” is linked to Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark through its producer, Alex da Kid. Is it possible Imagine Dragons had the musical in mind when they worked on the lyrics? Well, maybe not.
“‘Radioactive,’ to me, it’s a very masculine, powerful-sounding song, and the lyrics behind it, there’s a lot of personal story behind it, but generally speaking, it’s a song about having an awakening; kind of waking up one day and deciding to do something new, and see life in a fresh way,” Reynolds said of the song in 2013. Almost a decade later, Renolds looked back on the song, realizing that it was related to his struggle with Mormonism.
While it turns out “Radioactive” and Night Visions were not actually scrapped from Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, the rumor remains a funny moment in internet history that rears its head again every handful of years like a plague.
Featured Image by Wagner Meier/Getty Images
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