Jump to content

Panic! at the Disco

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Toasty! (talk | contribs) at 22:51, 10 January 2008 (moved Hooray for moving trouble. to Panic at the Disco over redirect: I messed up. sorry.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Panic! at the Disco

Panic at the Disco (formerly titled as Panic! at the Disco, and often shortened to merely Panic!, P!ATD, P!@tD, or PATD) is a band that originated in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. Their sound incorporates elements of pop, electronica, dance, and rock, along with many others. Their 2005 debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, reached #13 on the US Billboard 200, and has sold over 1.6 million copies since its September 2005 release.

History

2005: Origins and signing

The band was formed in the suburban area of Summerlin, Las Vegas, by the two childhood friends Ryan Ross on the guitar and Spencer Smith on the drums. Since the age of thirteen, the two played Blink-182 covers in bands of different formations. Ryan and Spencer then created a band under the name of "Summer League", possibly a reference to the suburb in which they lived, with childhood friends Brent Wilson, and Trevor who would later leave the band.

'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out,' Panic!'s debut album

It was at Palo Verde High School where Brent met Brendon Urie. Wilson had asked Urie to try out as guitarist for Panic!, as they were looking for a replacement at the time. Originally, Urie was not the band's lead singer. Rather, the position belonged to current guitarist and lyricist, Ryan Ross. However, when the band heard him sing backup during a rehearsal, they were impressed with his vocal abilities and unanimously decided to make him the singer, the band then settled on the name 'Panic! at the Disco.' They got the name from the lyrics of a song called "Panic", by Name Taken: Panic at the disco / Sat back and took it so slow / Are you nervous? Are you shaking? / Save compliments to praise complation / We don't have to feel we fit in / We can move back / We can leave them. [1] Although the band often says that the name comes from the song Panic by The Smiths, it was revealed that the Name Taken song did lend inspiration, but that the song by The Smiths is easier to explain to those who are unaware of Name Taken.

In order to promote their music, the band contacted Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz through LiveJournal, and sent him a link to their PureVolume site. Wentz was apparently so impressed that he took a trip to Las Vegas to meet the band in person. After seeing them practice in their garage, he asked if they would sign with his Fueled by Ramen imprint label Decaydance.

2006: Debut album and departure of Brent Wilson

Panic! at the Disco released their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out on September 27th 2005, quickly building up a fan base through PureVolume and MySpace, though achieving little commercial recognition. After a consistent presence in PureVolume's top 10 signed artists, and reaching number one in MySpace's indie charts, Panic! at the Disco were featured on MTV's Total Request Live on January 17th 2006, where they premiered their music video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies." Featuring Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque and an eerie circus wedding theme, the video débuted at #10 on the TRL countdown, later winning the Video of the Year award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, beating out major artists such as Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The single itself, released April 27th 2006, peaked at #7 in the US charts.

The band was originally third-billed for the Truckstops & Statelines Winter Tour in early 2006, which was headlined by The Academy Is... and included Acceptance as direct support and Hellogoodbye on the line-up. Due to their alarming increase in popularity before and during the tour, the band ended up getting pushed above Acceptance to second-billed every night playing right before the headliner and "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" outsold The Academy Is...'s debut album, "Almost Here" during the tour.

File:Panicatnme.jpg
In the NME, the band talks about emo

Their second single, "But It's Better If You Do", was released in the UK on May 1st, 2006 where it debuted, and peaked, at #23. The accompanying music video, released the previous month, portrays the band playing in a speakeasy in 1930's America, which, according to Urie, shows "the dark and secluded style of Panic." [2]

"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" music video

The band officially announced the departure of their bassist, Brent Wilson, with a message on the band's website on 17 May 2006. Wilson has since claimed that the decision to leave was not his, and that he was fired without warning for monetary reasons, though the rest of the band deny this.[3][4] Wilson is now demanding a cut in royalties, and has threatened he will take his former band to court if need be.[5]

Just days after Wilson's departure, the band embarked on their first headlining tour through Europe, with long-time friend, Jon Walker, filling in for the summer tour as a temporary bassist while a permanent replacement was sought. All of the dates were sold out, with some, notably Manchester, selling out in a matter of hours. Upon their return, the band embarked on a two-month North American headlining tour with supporting acts The Hush Sound, OK Go, The Dresden Dolls, and Lucent Dossier Vaudeville Cirque, still retaining Jon Walker as a temporary bassist. On July 3rd of that year, the band's MySpace profile was edited to list Walker as bassist/vocals, and he became a permanent member of Panic! at the Disco.

The success of their first two singles helped catapult their debut album to to the top of the Billboard Independent chart and to #13 on the Billboard 200 in July 2006. The video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" has been streamed from YouTube almost 8 million times and the song itself is also the most requested song on New York City radio station Z-100,[citation needed] leading Urie to say he feels the song and video have been overplayed; "[It] isn't the only song we've written." [citation needed]

Towards the end of July 2006 Panic! at the Disco released their third music video, "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off." The video features people with fish tank helmets walking the streets of what appears to be a studio back lot. The video only shows the band in one shot, reportedly because they felt that their looks were distracting from their music.

In early August 2006, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out went platinum, having sold over one million albums.

During Panic!'s opening song on August 25, 2006 at the Carling Weekend: Reading Festival, an unknown audience member threw a bottle at the stage, which struck and temporarily knocked out Brendon Urie, forcing the band to stop playing. After some minutes, he got back up and shouted to the crowd, "You can't take me out! Let's see how well you guys do with my left side", and continued with the same song. [6] In a phone interview Ryan Ross stated that "We [Panic!] were kinda expecting that [The bottling] going into the Reading, because we heard that that's kinda a tradition they have over there" and then continued by saying that "We walked on and we were kinda expecting that to keep our heads up the whole time, and unfortunately Brendon, he was catching bottles coming towards me and Jon and then he was dodging them himself, and kinda just didn't see one coming that I saw and it got him pretty good, and I dunno that's the only time anything like that's ever happened so hopefully we won't have to worry about anything like that too much." [7]

The band embarked on a world tour in the later part of 2006. It included dates in Australia, New Zealand, and continental Europe. On November 7, 2006, they kicked off their first-ever arena tour with Bloc Party (who shortly dropped out because of drummer Matt Tong suffering a collapsed lung) and Jack's Mannequin. The Plain White T's were added to the next few weeks of The Nothing Rhymes With Circus Tour. They opened up the shows beginning in New York through November 26 in Iowa. After that, Cobra Starship were on the tour through December 9 in San Diego. The band appeared along with Fall Out Boy, Marilyn Manson, and other bands on the special edition soundtrack of Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas covering "This Is Halloween", which was re-released in 3D on October 20.

Their most recent and final single from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, "Build God, Then We'll Talk", was released on March 5, 2007. The accompanying music video portrays the fallacy of relationships.

In May 2007 it was announced that a Smashing Pumpkins Tribute LP would be released, compiled by MySpace and Spin. The LP features Panic!'s cover of "Tonight, Tonight" and was included free in the June 26 2007 issue of Spin. [8]

2007-2008: Pretty. Odd.

Panic! at the Disco began writing their follow-up album in early 2007 but decided to start from scratch in July 2007. When asked by MTV in an interview why Panic! had scrapped their whole record and chose to rewrite it Ryan Ross explained "We were just piecing stuff together up in the cabin. We would take lyrics, and we didn't really have ... a band set up", he explained. "We were just writing on pianos and guitars separately and just throwing other things in there, and it didn't really sound like a band, it sounded like a film score." As for the new album at this point "We've got about six or seven songs that are pretty much complete ... and [they're] a lot more uplifting. They've got a more positive outlook to them. It's kind of hard to write a bunch of sad songs if you're not sad anymore. I guess they're pretty different than the songs on the first album. I mean, we wrote those songs like three to four years ago, so obviously we've changed a lot in terms of everything — what we like and what we think is good." [9]

File:PATD-pretty odd album cover.jpg
'Pretty. Odd.,' PATD's sophomore album, whose cover references the American release of 1964's The Rolling Stones

In July 2007, Panic! at the Disco began performing new songs from their upcoming album at the various festivals and gigs. Three of the new songs have been officially titled : "It's True Love", "Middle of Summer" and "Nine in the Afternoon" as stated by Ryan Ross in an interview with MTV however "It's True Love" might not make the final album. "We hadn't played a show in a while, and we wanted to play something new, but that song's probably not even going to make the record at this point", said Ryan Ross "We've changed a lot of what we want to do with the record. And I feel like we're happier with the new songs we have so far than we ever were with any of the old songs on the last record." [10]

Another song, first mentioned by Pete Wentz, has also been announced; titled "Things Have Changed".

The band planned to have producer Danny Elfman, who worked on the original Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack, but have since been confirmed that Rob Mathes, who worked on the re-release of the soundtrack which Panic! was featured in with a cover of "This Is Halloween", will now produce the record. [11] Rob described the album as “the most significant music project I have done in a while in that it is young and intense, adventurous and endlessly creative. Working with these young kids has made me look at music the way I did when I discovered early records by The Who and Brian Eno-period David Bowie when I was 16. For this project I am also filled with “gratitude”. [12]

On November 19th on the NBC drama Heroes a recorded portion of Panic!'s song "Nine in the Afternoon" was played during a scene where Claire Bennet is practicing for a pep rally. [13][14]

On December 11, 2007 it was announced on Billboard.com that Panic!'s second album is set to be released on March 25, 2008. Later that day Panic!'s MySpace posted a bulletin with a link to their website which was completely white and blank, starting a viral marketing campaign ahead of the release of the album. The source code of the website contained a message :

"Oh, hello
Glad you could make it
Did you have any trouble finding the place?
Hope you enjoy"

The website also displayed a crossword style puzzle, which said "_O_ _D_N_ _H_V_ _T_ _ _ _R_Y_". When the web page was scrolled down, it revealed the other letter of the fill-in saying "You Don't Have to Worry...". In addition, highlighting the page revealed a clock in the top left corner. The source code was edited to read : "Oh, back so soon?".

On 18th of December, the website was soon changed again to show a 4 by 4 puzzle grid with the bottom right grid showing the numbers 1:1:08, the top left grid plays a short clip of Brendon singing : "Oh, how it's been so long". The source code was changed to hint that this is a preview of the new album :

"Oh, back so soon?
It's really nice to see you again
Care for an hors d'oeuvre?"

On the 25th of December, the quality of this clip was improved along with a new clip appearing with the vocals : "We're so sorry we've been gone". The source was changed to read : "HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!"

The video for "Nine in the Afternoon" was shot on the 21st and 22nd of December ahead of a possible release as a single in January 2008. In an interview with MTV the band, they claimed that they didn't know what was happening to their website. "['You don't have to worry'] is a lyric in the first track of our new record," explained drummer Spencer Smith. "We chose it to open the record, [because] it was written for that purpose." [15]

On January 1st the page source message has been changed to 'WE'RE SO STARVING'. Another puzzle piece was also unlocked, it leads you to a blog from the band that updates you on the progress of the CD, and give you a "rough version" of a song called "We're So Starving". The song barely goes over a minute and contains the lyric "You Don't Have to Worry". The band said that lyric was going to be in the first track, which means this song is, in fact, the first on the new album. The band also announced on the blog update that they would be mixing the album at Abbey Road Studios.

On January 7th the page was changed from the puzzle to another crossword style line which said "_P_A_T_ _ _ _D_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _". The title for the webpage page was changed to say 01:10:08. The pages source simply states "Nice to see you again."

Later on the next day, the puzzle changed and now says "_P_E_T_ _ _ _D_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _"

On Wednesday, January 9th the exclamation point in the band's name was dropped.

Later that same day, the website's layout was changed to include a puzzle that when you scrolled down , filled in the crossword puzzle. It ultimately read: "Pretty. Odd. 3:25:08". Additionally, the source code was changed again to read: "Nice to see you again Sorry for being late Traffic was really bad Hope you weren't waiting too long"

Finally, on Thurday, January 10th the page was changed to the logo for the Honda Civic Tour, which the band is headlining this year. There are no links or announcements regarding show dates. They will most likely take place after the album's supposed release in March. Interestingly, there is no secret message within the site's source code.

On January 10th the albums name was confirmed to be "Pretty. Odd." via their My Space page. Also confirmed was the album's release date of March 25th, 2008, as well as the new punctuation of the band's name (omitting the exclamation point).

Performances

Panic! at the Disco is known for old-style circus shows, where they bring an entourage of contortionists and dancers on stage with them as they perform.

They also had a notable performance in Times Square during the New Year's Eve celebrations in December 2006/January 2007 with Carson Daly. They performed two of their hit songs, "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" (Last performance in 2006) and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" (First performance in 2007). Although both songs include swear words Panic! at the Disco sang censored versions of the songs, because the event was performed on live network television.

Live, they have also performed cover versions of Third Eye Blind's "Slow Motion", Radiohead's "Karma Police", Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight, Tonight", two versions of Counting Crows' "Round Here", K-Ci and Jojo's "All My Life", Britney Spears' "Baby One More Time", Nelly Furtado's "Maneater", Queen's "Killer Queen", The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", Blink-182's "What's My Age Again?", and The Band's "The Weight". [16]

Style

Panic! at the Disco, like many bands within Decaydance Records including Fall Out Boy, are subject to wide debate about their musical genres. The main reason for this is the wide variety of different musical elements in their debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. While Panic! has been called an emo band [17][18][19][20][21], they themselves do not consider their music emo as stated in an interview with NME, "Emo is bullshit. We want to be the new Radiohead". However, some point out that they are signed to a record label owned by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy, a band considered by many to be emo. Also, their circus-esque attire during shows (Although Panic! has gone on record to say they only dress up because they only have one record worth of songs) is used as evidence. In the collector's edition of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, Panic! stated that they are "Just rock", a thought shared by many of their fans (of which many think of emo as being an insult). However Panic! have gone on record many times saying that their second album would be completely different from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, as Rolling Stone wrote in an article: "The group cemented its current direction with a song called "Nine in the Afternoon". "It’s influenced by the music our parents listened to: the Beach Boys, the Kinks, the Beatles", says Ross. "Our new songs are more like classic rock than modern rock. We got older and started listening to different music – and this seems like the natural thing to do right now."[22]

Band members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Albums

Album info Chart positions RIAA Certification
US Billboard 200 US Independent Chart UK Albums Chart Australia
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out 13 1 17 11 Platinum
Live Session EP (iTunes Music Store exclusive) N/A
Pretty. Odd. N/A

Singles

Year Song U.S. U.S. Modern Rock UK AUS Album
2005 "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" 77 5 - - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006 "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" 7 12 25 12 A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006 "But It's Better If You Do" 104 - 23 15 A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2006 "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" 104 28 39 26 A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2007 "Build God, Then We'll Talk" - - - - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
2008 "Nine in the Afternoon" - - - - Pretty. Odd.

Videography

DVD

Panic! at the Disco released a limited edition collector's set. Only 25,000 of these were made worldwide and currently about 1,200 are left for sale in mint condition. The box contains a DVD of their live concert in Denver, a limited edition CD of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, pictures of the band, a blank diary, a poster, lyric cards, tour program, a phenakistoscope, and a certificate of authenticity.

Awards

  • Won: Video of the Year (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Nominated: Best Group Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Nominated: Best Rock Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Nominated: Best New Artist in a Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Nominated: Best Art Direction in a Video (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Won: Best Video International (2006) for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
  • Worst Band of 2007[25]
  • Nominated: Best Boxed or Limited Special Edition Package (2007) for their limited edition Collector's Box

References

  1. ^ http://www.patdonline.com/references.php
  2. ^ http://www.cartoondollemporium.com/ratemusic.php?id=22&rank=1
  3. ^ http://www.spin.com/features/news/2006/06/060614_panicatthedisco/
  4. ^ "Panic! at the Disco Split Gets Nasty: Band Alleges Wilson Did Not Play On LP", MTV.com, Jun 12 2006.
  5. ^ "Panic! at the Disco Sued by Former Bassist". Altpress.com. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
  6. ^ Carsten (2006-08-25). "Panic! At The Disco Frontman Collapse On Stage". PunkBands.com. Retrieved 2006-08-27.
  7. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_uPNRKqvjQ
  8. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1559829/20070517/panic_at_the_disco.jhtml
  9. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1569648/20070913/id_0.jhtml
  10. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1566450/20070806/panic_at_the_disco.jhtml
  11. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1556222/20070403/panic_at_the_disco.jhtml
  12. ^ http://robmathes.blogspot.com/2007/11/rob-mathes-and-friends-perform-14th.html
  13. ^ http://www.patdonline.com/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1195589432&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&
  14. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoriN18Xp5k
  15. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1578529/20071222/panic_at_the_disco.jhtml
  16. ^ http://www.patdonline.com/lyrics/
  17. ^ Gitlin, Lauren (October 20, 2005). "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out : Panic! At The Disco : Review : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "The Killers Vs Emo - band hit out". NME. July 6, 2006. Retrieved October 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Byrom, Cory (November 29, 2005). "Panic! at the Disco: A Fever You Can't Sweat Out: Pitchfork Record Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ McKinlay, Fiona. "Panic! At The Disco - A Fever You Can't Sweat Out : album review". musicOMH.com. Retrieved October 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ Loftus, Johnny. "allmusic ((( A Fever You Can't Sweat Out > Overview )))". All Music Guide. Retrieved October 23. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2007/11/16/in-the-studio-panic-at-the-disco-with-bonus-pete-wentz-video-interview/
  23. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003683808
  24. ^ http://www.videostatic.com/vs/2007/week50/index.html#entry-42763696
  25. ^ http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/1689011
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Panic!_at_the_Disco&oldid=183502819"