This week brought some sad news for emos across the globe as Brendon Urie announced the disbandment of Panic! At the Disco.
The band’s sophomore album Pretty. Odd. (2008) marked a change in sound for the group as Ryan Ross and Jon Walker left the band due to creative differences, leaving Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith as the only remaining members.
Vices & Virtues (2011) and Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! (2013) followed before Smith officially left the band.
Death of a Bachelor (2016) saw Urie’s write solo for the first time, albeit with a team of writers, the lead single ‘Hallelujah’ reached number 40 on Billboard’s Hottest 100. Six years later and Urie dropped what would be Panic!’s final album, Viva Las Vengeance (2022).
As a band known for changing up their sound with every album, we thought it might be fun to look back and reminisce on some of our favourite P!ATD tracks throughout the years.
‘Golden Days’ (2016) – Emma Edwards
I’d pretty much grown out of my emo phase by 2016, but I was still beyond excited by the release of a new Panic! album when Death of a Bachelor came out.
My highlight from the unpredictable pop album is ‘Golden Days’. Sonically, Urie’s vocals are strong as ever here as his voice soars, and the explosive chorus adds a shot of serotonin. It’s the best of both worlds; a little old Panic! and a little new.
Lyrically a little sad but it has important themes; time passes, we get old and grey, but we’ll always have memories of the golden days.
‘Miss Jackson’ (2013) – Amy Smith
Like just about everyone who enjoys alternative music, I went through a hardcore Panic! at the Disco phase. Choosing a favourite song would be hard given how many of them are imprinted on my brain, providing a soundtrack to some of the biggest moments in my life to date.
Miss Jackson holds a particularly special place in my heart though; I will never forget hearing it for the first time when I was fifteen years old and in desperate need of a song to scream along to. I don’t necessarily think it’s their most ambitious song lyrically, instrumentally or vocally, but it’s undeniably catchy and really captures everything I love about this band/Brendon Urie.
They’re quirky, often experimental and always threaten us with a good time. The era may be over, but P!ATD will live on forever through their legacy of giving us permission to be too weird to live and too rare to die.
‘Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)’ (2011) – Amy Smith
I was four when A Fever Can’t Sweat Out came out, so it’s not really my generation’s Panic! album, but even over a decade later, some of these songs burrowed their way into my soul. I think we all love ‘I Write Sins, Not Tragedies’, I guess now I’ll never get my chance to scream “wedding” at Brendon Urie when he says “shotgun” and I’m going to be sad about it forever.
I’m also a sucker for “Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)” – I think it’s one of my favourite vocals from Urie, the backing vocals are so fun to sing along to and I love how poppy and joyful it is. Listening to it today has made me hugely emotional- Panic! may not be my favourite band anymore, but they helped make me the music fan and person I am today. I think I really am ready to leap and ready to live now, and they were for sure part of making that happen.
‘Northern Downpour’ (2008) – Emma Edwards
Cast your mind back. The year is 2008. ‘Nine in the Afternoon’ is playing on the radio, and you’ve just discovered YouTube for the first time. You decide to search for your new favourite band, and you discover an official video on their Vevo page called ‘Northern Downpour’. The nostalgia is real.
From the beautiful softly strummed acoustic guitar intro to the melancholic vocal delivery; from the dreamy melodies between Urie and Ross to the lulling lyrics throughout, Pretty. Odd. era Panic! are the band I fell in love with.
Hazy guitars and lyrics packed with literary references, this song somehow makes me simultaneously feel happy and sad, every single time I hear it.
The track inarguably showcases some of the band’s best song writing and showcases their ability to write meaningful lyrics: “I know the world’s a broken bone, but melt your headaches call it home” always felt so special to me.
‘Time to Dance’ (2005) – Louise Andrew
My first ever band tee was Panic!, which I purchased inspired by their album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out. It’s one I can listen to and tell you exactly what song will be next, so trying to narrow down to my favourite is a tough decision given they are all remarkable in their own unique way. However, if I was to choose one track I’d have to go with ‘Time to Dance’.
It’s a track you can’t help but move to- it’s in the title, right? Whether it’s toe-tapping, hair swooshing or pelting out along to Brendon’s insane vocals to your hairbrush in-front of the mirror, you cannot help but dance like no one’s watching.
Listening to this track gives me the feeling of youth in my stomach, with my senses of my emo days coming back to me which consist of the smell of Tresemmé hair spray from my lengthy fringe, the taste of cherry chapstick and gum, feeling the spikes from my belt, and seeing my safe crowd of fellow emos partying to this track. It’s the ideal song to suit every mood, from dance, to a slow and building up bridge which contains a moment to scream from the top of your lungs “come on, come on, this is screaming this is screaming…”
But to end, I feel it’s appropriate that back in the days when you’d face constant heartbreak over crushes and boys making us cry, I have to say the announcement of Panic! At The Disco no more has topped all other heartbreaks. However, I fully understand and support their announcement. Just like the like a line in this song, “Boys will be boys” and with that I’ll cherish the “time to dance”.
