Panic! At the Disco started with four childhood friends: Ryan Ross, Spencer Smith, Brent Wilson, and Brendon Urie.The band now only features one of the original four, Brendon Urie. Some of the members left due to forming their own band, while others left for health reasons. But, what interested me most was the fact that songwriter Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker did in fact leave the band due to the dramatic shift in sound from one album to the next.
Yet, perhaps, this is precisely the reason why Panic! At The Disco (briefly for some time they were Panic at the Disco, but lets not explore that too much) keeps their listeners coming back each and every album. It is always some sort of surprise for which direction they will go in next. The band cannot fit just one genre, but has the innate ability to transcend across several different sounds and themes. Each album has been described as a different mosh-posh of combined genres by various music critics. See, each album was a musical experiment that seemed to never go awry.
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out: 2005
The album was categorized as baroque pop,electropunk, and pop punk. However, there is also a bit of a political twist to this album. Punk is political--it's inescapable. Or, as Panic! says this album is introduced in this way: "Ladies and gentlemen, we proudly present, a picturesque score of passing fantasy." Each song characterizes a different element of society that we must be conscious of and must diminish.
I particularly noticed this type of political spin in the song below. The famous lines: "Just for the record,/The weather today is slightly sarcastic with a good chance of:/A. Indifference or/B. Disinterest in what the critics say." It was their first album, and of course the pressure was on them to both succeed in the music business but to also fit their record label. However, it was also dependent on the critics.Were they going to make or break the potential of the band? This song in general had the vibe that there was more to the music business then making bank, to put it point blank. They were here to create music that will speak to the culture that we subjected too, with a hypnotic sound to match. Maybe this is why this album became the album of most of our middle school days? We felt constrained and forced to fit neatly in our society's constructed boxes put before us. As Panic! says: "If you talk you better walk you better keep your mouth shut/ With more than good hooks while you're all under the gun." We have a role to play, whether we realize it or not, and it's better to be conscious of it then be subjected to it.
In the last song of the album, "Build God, then We'll Talk," it spins on the lyrics from the Sound Of Music's "My Favorite Things." Panic! states: "There are no raindrops on roses and girls in white dresses./ It's sleeping with roaches and taking best guesses/ At the shade of the sheets and before all the stains/ And a few more of your least favorite things." Damn, that may sound a little much at first--but let's put it into perspective. The song "My Favorite Things," pigeonhole women in particular into these "feel good" and stereotypical images. However, this can also be related to anyone. There is more to life than just the cheery aspects, and this song touches upon those darker shades. Panic! repeats the line:
"Inside, what a wonderful caricature of intimacy." These roles, that I mentioned above, we are expected to fill. However, there is power in being conscious in what we are expected to be versus who we are going to be. Panic! in this album in particular was somewhat trying to have us smash the patriarchy, but, back then, this album filled the bedroom of our middle school days with angst. We didn't even realize the half of it.
Pretty.Odd: 2008
This album has characterized baroque pop and psychedelic pop. This album was an ode to the music that their parents listened too such as: the Beach Boys, the Kinks, and the Beatles. A more feel good direction that represents that they have grown, and their music will follow suit.
Although the sound has changed to a cheery and upbeat sound, it is still slightly political in a sense. In the most well known sound, "Nine in the Afternoon," Panic! states: "Into a place where thoughts can bloom/Into a room where it's nine in the afternoon/And we know that it could be/And we know that it should/And you know that you feel it too/'Cause it's nine in the afternoon." Right after, the lyrics say, "Picking up books we shouldn't read." Still suggesting to the audience to think for yourself, but instead to be wary and conscious of society around you--use it to your advantage. Learn from those around you, and do not mistake the dreary and heart-wrenching realities of life as bricks weighing on your soul.
Alongside this general message, the album is fairly similar to The Beatles, "Sgt.Peppers Lonely Heart Club's Band." Both albums have varying themes centered on love,acceptance, peace within and outside of yourself, and transcending above what is expected. It's feel good tunes with a powerful message marching behind it. Particularly in, "When The Day Met The Night," you can hear that both introductions below are vaguely similar. However, I think what is most striking about this song in particular is the harmony between an unlikely but destined pair--the sun and the moon. This song illustrates the tale of two opposites falling in love: how they met, how they’ve helped each other through difficult times, and how they’ve stuck together despite being opposites. What is even more fantastic about the song is that their are no prescribed genders to the characters in the song, therefore it can easily be applicable to any relationship.
Yet, what interests me about this song, and each one following after, is the emphasis on plot line--that each person has a distinct story of love and of acceptance. This album speaks to the aura of hope and the emphasis that love is everywhere. Also, most importantly, that each person has a distinct story to share with the world--even if that story is part of the books you "shouldn't" read. It's still worth being told.
Vices&Virtues: 2011
This album has been characterized as a combination of alternative rock,baroque pop, electropunk, and pop rock. As the last album spoke only of love, this album was the dangers of only consuming love rather than giving it away. It expresses the excesses of love,lust, and material items. Also, how these things can easily become a blinding and binding curse within you. It's the tug between our addictions and our true sense of self. Yet, it all boils down to what we love in ourselves and in others.
The album takes off with the "Ballad of Mona Lisa," which is direct reference to the Urie's inner struggles and not just a ballad about two lovers. See, Urie states that this song in particular highlights what he has been going through personally. It is struggling to juggle the duality of his personality – the side that screws up and destroys everything and the other side that tries to pick up the slack. These lines truly emulate this daily struggle: "She paints her fingers with a close precision/He starts to notice empty bottles of gin/ And takes a moment to assess the sins she’s paid for." One side of him is struggling with the image he portrays outward to the world, versus the addict he may be inside. There is more than what meets the eye in each person you meet, including yourself.
In "Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)," truly explores the dangers of the excesses of love and having it completely consume a person. The song explores the haunting of a love that seems to be unable to leave its host. Panic! states: "Ever since we met/I only shoot up with your perfume/It's the only thing/That makes me feel as good as you do/Ever since we met
I've got just one regret to live through/And I regret never letting you know!" Simply put, love is a drug and it's easily to get hooked on what may not be the best for you. However, it also touches about the material items I mentioned before--the focus on having this all consuming person as a bottle of perfume. It smells nice but it's extraordinarly potent and all encompassing. Similar to their first album, "Vices&Virtues," venture through the more difficult aspects of love.
Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! : 2013
This album was the bands way on exploring electronic music and synth-pop. However, other genres that seem to fall under this album is dance-pop,emo,hip hop, indie rock, pop, and rock. By this point, Brendon Urie was the one-man-band. Spencer Smith left the band during the tour because he needed to first take care of himself. He has been struggling with the abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol. The themes of struggle seemed to pop up in this album. This album and The Death of A Bachelor tend to have some overlap in stylistic elements and also seem to be a response to one another lyrics wise. By this point Brendon had full reigns on the band and its direction, so he had the complete artistic freedom to make such links.
In particular, "This is Gospel," illustrates the link between these last two albums. This song was originally about how Brendon has been a little angry at his former band-mate, Spencer Smith. It's a song that represents the struggle of wanting to help someone you love who is going through tough trials, but not having the ability to break through the wall they surrounded themselves in. It's both the pain of wanting to help them, but, having to watch them succumb to nothing. This type of pain is represented clearly in these lyrics: "Don’t try to sleep through the end of the world/And bury me alive/'Cause I won’t give up without a fight." Urie exemplifies the pain behind watching someone you love crumble, and not wanting to give up on them even if they have already given up on themselves.
A theme throughout Panic's! albums is an emphasis on the human experience, which include these darker images of life. However, matched with Urie's hypnotizing vocals and a good beat--it doesn't seem all that bad.
Death of a Bachelor: 2016
So, by this point in the game--Urie is an official one man show. He is the only one left that is a permanent member of the band. As I mentioned before, these two albums seemed to reflect one another. This album has been characterized as a mixture of pop,rock, and hip-hop. A smaller list of genres only because Urie has matured as an artist by this point, but also he knows that his sound is going to be unique regardless of its labels. Which, rings true to his message in the first album--to always deny or rise above the labels society may box you into.
Both this music video for "This is Gospel," and "Emperor's New Clothes," play of the theme of succumbing to your demons. Urie particularly played with the elements from the children's books by Hans, "The Emperor's New Clothes." The story is a tale of a King who hires "weavers" (who he doesn't know are con artists) to make him elaborate clothes to wear. The King wants these clothes to stand out, and exemplify his wealth and status to his people. The "weavers" then wove him an outfit primarily made with "invisible silk." The King, the fool, wears these clothes under the understanding that only the intelligent can see the clothes. When the garments were finished, the emperor was too ashamed to admit he couldn’t see his clothes, yet still walked out to public wearing them.
The difference between the King in the story, and in this song is that this "demon" is away of his own foolishness. Yet, he still wants all the same glory, nonetheless. The song illustrates succumbing to your demons and what is left of you afterwards. Panic! states: "Welcome to the end of eras/Ice has melted back to life/Done my time and served my sentence/Dress me up and watch me die/If it feels good, tastes good/It must be mine/Dynasty decapitated/You just might see a ghost tonight." There is only so much that one can take until they have been succumbed by both the demons they can and cannot control. Nevertheless, the control that is has over a person is overwhelming. In "Emperor's New Clothes," it represents the duality between how you act and what you know about yourself. In the song, this King knows exactly what is happening to them but they still fall trap to it regardless.
Simply put, this album goes back to the roots of the first album on calling out the illusions of life and being conscious of them. Another perfect example of this is in "LA Devotee," which calls out the LA folks that cling dearly to the LA stereotypes with all their might. Basically, clearly outlining that many people fall trap to and are all-consumed by materialism but who also personifies the glitz, glamour and fantasy-like quality of living there. Panic! has always been able to call-out the illusions of life, but the sound has always changed a little with it. This has kept us coming back because we know that Panic! will touch upon some of these hard-pressed issues, but will always keep our ears dancing to the different sound that comes with it.
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