Scott's Spotlight #3-- Panic! at the Disco

May 19, 2025

Scott's Spotlight #3-- Panic! at the Disco

Originally posted to Facebook on September 19, 2024

Link to post:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/GN9iB7QeQxhU9YST/

Welcome to the 3rd edition of Scott’s Spotlight (#scottsspotlight) For more information about what that is. See the following post : https://www.facebook.com/share/Gc2VkwHQWGLdeaDd/?mibextid=oFDknk .

In the spotlight this week we have Panic! At the Disco (PATD). Much like 21 Pilots (issue #1)This “band” has been wildly popular in mainstream music for many years, but my prog and harder rock oriented friends may not know much about them. Over the years “they” have been very eclectic, and I think that there are several songs that will appeal to prog fans and maybe even hard rock fans. (the reason for the quotation marks around “band” and “they” will become apparent as the story unfolds.)

PATD formed as a quartet in 2004 in a suburb of Las Vegas. Schoolmates guitarist/singer Ryan Ross and drummer Spencer Smith recruited bassist Brent Wilson from another nearby high school. Wilson, in turn, recommended that the band audition his schoolmate Brendan Urie as a rhythm guitarist. However, once the band heard Urie’s voice in rehearsals, the band decided to have him as the primary lead vocalist, although Ross would occasionally sing some lead parts.

Although they began as a Blink-182 tribute band, they soon began writing their own material. They sent a demo tape of a few songs to Pete Wentz, the bassist of up and coming pop-punk band, Fall Out Boy. Wentz was starting a sub-label of the Fueled By Ramen label called Decaydance Records, and after attending a rehearsal of PATD, he signed them as the first artist on the label. Upon signing their record deal, the members each dropped out of schooling to focus on the band. Ross, who had started college, had a “falling-out,” with his father, while Urie, who was still in high-school was kicked out of his parents’ house.

Wentz hyped the band by wearing a “Wentz! At the Disco” t-shirt on stage during Fall Out Boy concerts, and bringing up the band in interviews. The biggest promotion came during a press “junket” before the 2005 MTV VMA’s, saying:

"I've got a couple of bands coming out soon on Decaydance, one being this band called Panic! at the Disco. Their record is going to be your next favorite record. It's called A Fever You Can't Sweat Out – get it before your little brother does."

“A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out” was released in September 2005. The album was divided into two halves. The first half is described as “electronic dance punk,” while the second is more “Vaudevillian” with piano, strings and accordion. (This eclecticism would be a recurring theme in their music throughout their career.) Many of the songs have long convoluted titles, which are usually literary references. While the first single, “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage,” did moderately well, hitting #77 on the Hot 100, it was the second one “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies,” was a hit in many countries hitting #7 on the Hot 100, and as high as #5 in New Zealand. “I Write Sins…” helped the album peak at #13 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart, and #2 on the Top Rock Albums chart, as well as charting well in many countries around the world. The video for “I Write Sins…” was quite popular as well, and won at the 2006 VMAs.

In May of 2006, bassist Brent Wilson was dismissed from the band but no reason has ever been publicly disclosed. He was replaced by Jon Walker.

After touring for the better part of two years supporting the first album, during which time they began developing very theatrical live shows, the band took a break to begin developing the follow-up album. After initially developing song ideas in the winter of 2006, the band formally convened in March of 2007 to rehearse and further develop the songs for the second album, which was to be called “Cricket & Clover.” However by August, the band became bored with the songs and scrapped them to go back to the drawing board. According to Ross, the album was 3 quarters complete when it was scrapped. The result, however, is an album that I think many proggers, and especially Beatles fans will enjoy, called “Pretty. Odd,” released in March of 2008. All of the songwriting was done on acoustic guitars and then fleshed out into complete arrangements. The songs took on a very Beatle-esque flavor. The biggest hit from the album is entitled “Nine in the Afternoon,” and includes changing time-signatures. The band members claim that there was no intention of writing in a Beatles style, but that they were all fans of Beatles music, so that influence came through in the writing process. Urie, who is a strong multi-instrumentalist, adept at guitar, piano and drums, took a larger role in the songwriting process this time. While Ross wrote all of the lyrics on the first album, and Ross, Urie and Spencer Smith were credited with writing all of the music, this time Urie contributed 2 songs as sole writer, and his name is listed first on 3 collaborative band compositions. Ross is either the sole writer, or listed first in the credits on the other 10 songs.

Following the touring cycle for “Pretty. Odd,” the band released the live album/video “Live in Chicago.” It would turn out to be the final product released under the band name as a 4-piece band. There was a split down the middle of the band as Ross and Walker wanted to go more in the retro-rock direction, while Urie and Spencer wanted to do more polished music. Ross and Walker chose to leave the band and formed a band called the Young Veins (who only released one album), while Urie and Smith carried on as PATD. This news was released on June 6, 2009. The band already had plans to tour with Blink-182 (remember, PATD began life as a Blink-182 tribute band), and record a new album. Urie and Smith announced that this would go on as planned. The duo of Urie and Smith released a song called “New Perspective,” for the soundtrack of the movie “Jennifer’s Body,” that was well-received. Guitarist Ian Crawford and bassist Dallon Weekes were recruited as touring members for the Blink-182 tour in August 2009. Much of 2010 was spent recording the new album, “Vices and Virtues,” released in March of 2011. Interestingly, even though he did not play on the album, bassist Dallon Weekes helped design the cover concept, and actually appears on the album cover, albeit wearing a mask. Weekes would soon be named as an official member of the band. Urie is credited with nearly every instrument on the album with the exception of drums and percussion, played by Smith, and trumpet & accordion, played by Mike Bolger. There are two backing vocal units credited as well–Plastiscines, and the West Los Angeles Children's Choir. The album did well and spawned 3 singles: “The Ballad of Mona Lisa,” “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)”, and “Let’s Kill Tonight.”

The next album, “Too Weird To Live, Too Rare to Die,” released in October of 2013. featured Weekes as a full member, along with Urie and Smith. Weekes contributed to the composition of all but 3 of the album's songs. The album contains three singles: “Miss Jackson,” “This Is Gospel,” and “Girls/Girls/Boys,” as well as an EP featuring the song “Nicotine.” “This Is Gospel,” is incredibly relevant, however, as it deals with the addiction issues of drummer Spencer Smith. I think it is one of their finest songs. Smith would soon leave the band to deal with those issues in rehab. He still is associated with the band’s record label, as a manager and talent scout. Drummer Dan Pawlovich would become the touring drummer from then on. “Girls/Girls/Boys.” has become a favorite song to show support for the LGBTQ+ community, especially at PATD concerts, although, in truth, it's more about a “menage a trois” Urie experienced as a teen with two girls, but the two girls ultimately decide they don’t need him. Around this time, Guitarist Kenny Harris replaced Ian Crawford as a touring member.

By April of 2015, it was confirmed that Spencer Smith had officially left the band. Before long, it also became known that Dallon Weekes’ status had reverted to a touring member. This would leave Urie as the only official member of PATD, thus becoming a solo project for Urie from then on. The fist album to be released following that is “Death of Bachelor,” released in February of 2016. Urie wrote and/or co-wrote every song on the album, and played all instruments, except drums on “Hallelujah,” and horn parts. The album did quite well, attaining double platinum status for sales of more than 2,000,000. The title track reflects his transition to married life with his wife Sarah, and leaving his wild child days behind. It is sung in a Frank Sinatra/Crooner style. Other singles from the album include: “Hallelujah,” “Victorious,” and “The Emperor's New Clothes.” Additionally “L.A. Devotee” was released as a music video, as was “Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time.” A feature of this album is to use samples from well known songs in a creative way (fully credited to the writers of the original songs). “Hallelujah,” begins with the intro from Chicago’s “Questions 67 & 68,” while “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time,” uses “Rock Lobster,” from the B-52s.

Following the tour, the Urie released a live album (“All My Friends, We’re Glorious: The Death of a Bachelor Tour.”) and Dallon Weekes departed as touring bassist, he would be replaced by Nicole Row. (As an aside, the change was visually drastic, as Weekes is a dark-haired guy, well over 6 feet tall, while Row is a petite, blonde-haired young woman.) She is a wonderful bassist as a graduate of Musician’s Institute in L.A.. Also in the interim between albums, PATD released a stunningly good cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” for the “Suicide Squad” movie soundtrack. Urie and company began playing the song during the “Death of a Bachelor Tour,” and it is included on the aforementioned live album.

The following album, “Pray for the Wicked,” was released in June of 2018, and was quite successful as well. Singles from the album include: “Say Amen (Saturday Night)” (which has one of the funniest video scenes ever, BTW), “High Hopes,” and “Hey, Look Ma, I Made It.” It was discovered that if a viewer watched the following videos in this order (opposite of when they were released), they link together to make a story. “Say Amen…”, “This is Gospel,” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” (Links will follow the post in the comments if you want to try it.) “High Hopes” would go on to become PATD’s most successful song of all, dethroning “I Write Sins, Not Tragedies,” from way back on the first album. In the break between legs of the tour, longtime touring guitarist, Kenny Harris, was fired following several allegations of inappropriate activity with underage fans. He was replaced by Mike Naran. Following the touring cycle, Urie would put the project on hiatus, with the exception of an appearance on the “Frozen 2” soundtrack with a version of “Into the Unknown,” and a duet with Taylor Swift, “Me!” (Pure cheese, BTW, it sounds like a song from a nonexistent Disney Channel movie, just sayin’...)

While on hiatus, in 2020, there was some controversy involving Urie. The following is an excerpt from the Brendan Urie Wikipedia Page:

In 2020, Urie was accused by two anonymous Twitter users of having inappropriately touched, groped, or otherwise sexually harassed them when they were underage between the years 2009 and 2011.[91][92]

Later that summer, the Twitter hashtag #BrendonUrieSpeakUp trended as a result of those accusations and Panic! at the Disco's security manager Zack Hall being accused of sexual misconduct and physical abuse.[93] Urie was also criticized on Twitter for past remarks that have been perceived as racist[a] or transphobic,[b] including a joke about rape—which, made during a live performance over 10 years ago, initially received positive reception.[98][99][100][101] After several months, Urie appeared on a livestream to announce that Hall was no longer working with the band, though he received criticism for stating he would remain close friends with him.[102] Urie apologized and announced that all of his crew members will receive anti-harassment training.[102] Urie stated "I can't tell you how sorry I am to those that have been hurt and to those who have had to wait while I took the time I needed to listen and just learn" while also denouncing the allegations against himself as "entirely untrue".[102]

(No charges have been filed to date, to my knowledge.)

PATD would return with a final release, “Viva Las Vengeance,” in 2022. While not as commercially successful as the previous albums, it is actually my personal favorite. It was recorded on analog tape, old-school style. It is a very classic rock/power pop type of album, and to my ears, it is chock full of classic rock Easter eggs. The title track, “In the Middle of a Breakup,” “Local God,” and “Don’t Let the Light Go Out,” were all released as singles. While I know, from personal experience, that some shows on the tour were not well-attended, the Madison Square Garden show in NYC was PATD’s highest grossing concert ever. If you are a classic rock fan, I really recommend this album. In fact, in 2 instances on the album, the songs were so heavily influenced by classic songs, that the writers of the original songs were given writing credits–”God Killed Rock and Roll” credits Russ Ballard of Argent, as it is similar to “God Gave Rock and Roll to You,” and the recently-departed Eric Carmen received a writing credit on “All By Yourself,” and as you might guess, it is similar to “All By Myself.” Some other comparisons I have are below:

“Viva Las Vengeance”- Immediately, it has a similar riff to Spencer Davis’ “Give Me Some Lovin’” and a Beatle-esque electric 12-string guitar solo.

“In the Middle of a Breakup”--I feel Cheap Trick vibes here

“Don’t Let the Light Go Out”-- Feels a lot like The Motels’ “Only the Lonely,” and has a fantastic melodic guitar solo.

“Star-Spangled Banger” – Big arena rock choruses (a la Def Leppard) and Thin Lizzy verses, and the ending of “Let It Be,” by the Beatles.

“Say it Louder”-- Definitely the Police!

“Sugar Soaker” – Sweet’s “Little Willy” mixed with ELO’s “Do Ya.”

“Something About Maggie”-- Major Beatles vibes with changing time-signatures.

“Sad Clown”--This is an extravaganza, Queen at their most theatrical.

“Do It All to Death” – More Queen, but more like “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

As the tour was winding down in early 2023, Urie announced that he would be ending PATD following the tour. His wife was having their baby and he wanted to spend time raising it. While that is certainly true, I have some speculation. It appears that PATD’s recording contract was concluded following Viva Las Vengeance. There was also a hint in a line in “High Hopes,” from the previous album “Pray for the Wicked: – “I’ve got one more run and it's gonna be a sight to see.” My personal theory is that Urie kept the PATD name as a solo artist to fulfill the recording contract. I suspect that he’ll take a bit of time off, and come back under his own name. I’d love it if he formed a band with the core touring band he ended up with– Dan Pawlovitch on drums, Nicole Row on bass and Mike Naran on guitar, but only time will tell if I am right. Urie is a majorly talented guy with a phenomenal voice. I’d really be surprised if this is the last we hear from him.

From Comments:

Links:

From “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out”:

“Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZxUtZ2ZgI...

“But It’s Better if You Do”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBtH2YlNiNc...

“I Write Sins Not Tragedies”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc6vs-l5dkc...

“Build God, Then We’ll Talk”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFSIm3Zeecg...

From “Pretty. Odd”