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One of the biggest acts to emerge out of the emo movement of the mid-2000s,
Panic! At the Disco transcended their early fame, transforming into a vehicle for singer
Brendon Urie's charismatic, cross-pollinated brand of pop. Championed from the start by fellow emo-pop favorites
Fall Out Boy,
Panic! At the Disco found success on MTV and on the charts with the wordy, hyperkinetic anthem "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" from their 2005 debut
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. However, their follow-up, the '60s psychedelia-influenced
Pretty. Odd., split fans and critics, and found them beginning a creative journey that would also see lineup changes.
Urie and co-founding drummer
Spencer Smith pushed the band's sound toward synthy, '80s-style new wave and dance-punk on 2011's
Vices & Virtues, and expanded into a swaggering blend of electronic pop, hip-hop, and R&B on 2013's
Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! With the departure of
Smith in 2015,
Urie took the helm as the sole original member and mastermind behind the band's sound. Despite the changes and ever-evolving music scene,
Panic! At the Disco have retained a loyal following and remain creatively engaged, scoring chart-topping albums with 2016's
Frank Sinatra-influenced
Death of a Bachelor and 2018's
Pray for the Wicked. The group's seventh studio album, Viva Las Vengeance, arrived in 2022.
Formed in 2004,
Panic! At the Disco came together when high school friends
Spencer Smith (drums) and
Ryan Ross (guitar) began covering
blink-182 tunes together. After tiring of playing another group's material, they recruited two additional classmates, guitar/vocalist
Brendon Urie and bassist Brent Wilson, and the newly formed quartet decided to model their name after a line in
Name Taken's "Panic." Crafting pop-influenced songs with theatrical touches, quirky techno beats, and perceptive lyrics,
Panic! At the Disco posted several demos online that caught the attention of Decaydance Records, the Fueled by Ramen imprint headed by
Fall Out Boy's
Pete Wentz. Even though
Panic! At the Disco had yet to play a live show, they subsequently became the first band signed to
Wentz's label.
With their record scheduled for release in September 2005,
Panic! At the Disco joined the successful Nintendo Fusion Tour and hit the road alongside
Fall Out Boy,
Motion City Soundtrack,
Boys Night Out, and
the Starting Line. The band continued touring into early 2006, while their single "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" found its way onto MTV and the Billboard Top 40. Proving to be a popular lineup, the Nintendo tour consistently sold out venues across the country. Wilson was fired from the group mid-year; undaunted,
Panic! continued with their friend
Jon Walker on board for a full summer tour that culminated with appearances at Lollapalooza and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. The band picked up a Video of the Year award at MTV's annual VMA ceremony, beating out heavy-hitters like
Madonna and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a collector's box set version of
Fever (featuring random
Panic! paraphernalia and a DVD) came out just in time for the 2006 holiday season.
After additional tour dates, the bandmembers announced that they were eliminating the exclamation point from their name, a sign that seemed to foreshadow the mature, less emo-driven rock featured on
Pretty. Odd. Released in March 2008, the sophomore album peaked at number two in the U.S. and showcased an evolving band whose tastes had grown to encompass
the Beatles' psychedelic pop. The group supported the album with another round of shows, one of which was captured on the CD/DVD release
...Live in Chicago. The band took a hit in June 2009, though, when
Walker and
Ross left the lineup in order to form their own group,
the Young Veins.
Urie and
Smith soldiered on in the studio as a duo, though they did fill the holes in their touring lineup with Ian Crawford and
Dallon Weekes. In 2011, they released their third studio album, the
John Feldmann- and
Butch Walker-produced
Vices & Virtues.
Two years later, the band returned with
Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! Once again produced by
Walker, the album was inspired by
Urie's hometown of Las Vegas and featured a title borrowed from
Hunter S. Thompson's classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. An eclectic album that showcased
Urie's interest in hip-hop and electronic music, it was also the first album to feature
Weekes in the studio. After several live shows in 2013,
Smith left the band's tour, citing his ongoing substance abuse issues.
By 2015,
Smith officially announced he had left the band. Around the same time,
Weekes' position was once again downgraded to touring member. With
Urie at the helm,
Panic! At the Disco finished out the year by releasing the singles "Hallelujah," "Victorious," and "The Emperor's New Clothes." All of the songs were included on the band's fifth studio album, 2016's
Death of a Bachelor, which featured co-production from
Urie and longtime engineer
Jake Sinclair. The album debuted at number one in the U.S. and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Album. A tour followed, resulting in a concert album.
In 2018,
Urie returned with the full-length
Pray for the Wicked, which topped the Billboard 200. Once again produced by
Sinclair, it featured the singles "High Hopes," "King of the Clouds", and "Say Amen (Saturday Night)," the latter of which became the group's first number one single. In 2019, the group contributed a version of the song "Into the Unknown" to the Frozen II soundtrack before beginning work on another album. The
Urie-,
Sinclair-, and
Mike Viola-produced "Viva Las Vengeance" arrived in June 2022. Recorded live to tape, the song worked as the lead single and title track off
Panic! At the Disco's seventh studio album Viva Las Vengeance. ~ Corey Apar