Panic! at the Disco



A band created in 2004 by childhood friends Ryan Ross (guitarist/main songwriter), Spencer Smith (drummer), and Brent Wilson (bassist), and later, joined by Brendon Urie (lead singer) and Jon Walker (who replaced Brent in 2006). They were discovered by Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz and signed to his vanity label, Decaydance.

Their name comes from a line in the song "Panic" by Name Taken, but due to the relative obscurity of this reference, the band usually cite "Panic" by The Smiths, which contains the line "Burn down the disco" in its chorus and is better known.

They are known for their quirky fashion sense, rampant stage gay antics, and longer than life song titles. Popular songs include "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", "The Ballad Of Mona Lisa", "But It's Better If You Do", and "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off".

As of July 2009, Ryan Ross and Jon Walker are no longer members and have formed their own band, The Young Veins.

As of 2011, the band has two replacement members, Dallon Weekes (bassist, formerly from The Brobecks) and Ian Crawford (guitarist, formerly from The Cab). They are not official members yet, but it sure looks like they are.

Studio albums to date:
 * A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (2005)
 * Pretty. Odd. (2008)
 * Vices & Virtues (2011)

Live albums:
 * Itunes Live Session EP Exclusive (2006)
 * ...Live in Chicago (2008)
 * Itunes Live (2011)

Compilation albums:
 * Introducing... Panic at the Disco (2008)
 * Panic! at the Disco Video Catalog (2011)


 * Adorkable: Brendon, just so much.
 * Also Ryan and Spencer.
 * We must mention Ian and Dallon too.
 * Bishonen: Brendon and Ryan.
 * Butt Monkey: Brent Wilson is this among many fans, who are fond of telling jokes about him working at a McDonald's now that he's not with the band and/or various sarcastic comments saying they love him and are big fans.
 * Creative Differences: Why the band split.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Brendon, Ryan, and Spencer are prime candidates for this trope, though this has changed of late.
 * Mr. Fanservice
 * Excited Episode Title: They were originally called "Panic! at the Disco." The exclamation point was most certainly official, and God help you if you forgot that when it was.
 * The exclamation point is back for the third album, according to their website.
 * Fan Nickname: Brendon: Bden and Brenny Bear. Ryan: Ryro and (by his detractors) Ryho. Jon Walker: Jwalk. Ian Crawford: Een.
 * Faux Yay: Makes up one-third of their act, to the delight of fans.
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble. One of the lineups, at least.
 * Brendon - Sanguine
 * Ryan - Melancholic
 * Jon - Phlegmatic
 * Spencer - Choleric
 * Guyliner: But of course!
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Ryan and Spencer used to be, arguably.
 * Keet: Brendon might well be the poster boy for this trope.
 * Moustache Of Failed Heterosexuality: Oh, boys...
 * Poor Man's Substitute: Inverted. No one really gives much thought anymore to original bassist Brent Wilson (Probably because Jon Walker was around longer and much more willing to smile in photo shoots)
 * It seems like Dallon Weekes and Ian Crawford are about to become this, after Ross' and Walker's departure. Though many fans adore them, many are still quite bitter over the split.
 * Promoted Fanboys: The guys were huge fans of Fall Out Boy, and followed Pete's livejournal before sending him a sample of their music and ultimately getting signed to his label.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Is it Panic! at the Disco or Panic at the Disco? Maybe it's Panic v. 1.0 and 2.0? But what about Brent Wilson? Does that mean there's a Panic 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0?
 * Stage Names: Ryan changed his name from George Ryan Ross III, and Spencer from Spencer James Smith V.
 * Actually, the V is probably not really in Spencer's name, but got tacked on by fans because of his wikipedia page.
 * The Pete Best: Brent Wilson to Jon Walker.
 * The Teetotaler: Ryan and Spencer, when the band started. Reason C (Ryan's dad).

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Tropes relating to the music and videos
"I led the revolution in my bedroom, and I set all the zippers free.. / We said "no more war, no more clothes, give me peace," oh kiss me... / We are a hurricane, drop our anchors in a storm..."
 * Album Title Drop: "Things are shaping up to be pretty odd."
 * Book Ends: Vices and Virtues. Both the opening song "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and the ending song "Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met...)" feature the line Mona Lisa, pleased to please ya.
 * Break Up Song: "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" - Then think of what you did/ And how I hope to God he was worth it
 * Chewing the Scenery: After the video for "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" Brendon will be puking up scenery for weeks.
 * Concept Video: Nearly all of them. Notable examples are the videos for "But It's Better If You Do" where the boys are musicians in an illegal strip club, and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", featuring a circus wedding filled with clowns in lingerie!
 * "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" is a funeral scene.
 * Continuity Nod: The opening of "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" music video has multiple nods towards the video for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". This includes the view of church pews, the focus on Brendon's hat, and of course "closing the goddamn door".
 * The clocks in the same video are all set to nine o'clock.
 * So is the big one in "Ready To Go".
 * Emo: Calling them this around fans is considered taking your life into your own hands.
 * Finger on Lips: For the video to "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", Brendon would cover his mouth for "whore" and "goddamn".
 * Intercourse with You: "Hurricane" most definitely counts.

"Brendon: Can we fast-forward to go down on me? That means a blowjob!"
 * Also, "New Perspective". No more need be said, when I'm inching through your bed...
 * Brendon even lampshaded another line at the SDCC performance:

"I'd never heard a better sound coming out/ Than when you're whimpering my name from your mouth"
 * One of the bonus tracks for Vices and Virtues, "Kaleidoscope Eyes".

"I've been to Tokyo, and to South Africa; so many places that you may say I've seen it all, but my favorite place is the warm embrace of holding your hair back in a bathroom stall"
 * Another one of the bonus tracks for Vices and Virtues, "Bittersweet", has this little gold nugget


 * Not necessarily. That can be interpreted as holding their hair back while they vomit.
 * Long Title: Offenders include "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" and "There's a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven't Thought of It Yet".
 * Lyrical Dissonance: Most of A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.
 * New Sound Album: Pretty. Odd., causing the Broken Base. But with the breakup, there is every indications that Vices & Virtues will be more in line with A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.
 * Non-Appearing Title: "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off".
 * Hell, most of the songs on A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.
 * Of Corpse He's Alive: Friend of the band Shane Valdés did a short called "A Weekend at Pete Rose's" starring Brendon, Spencer, and Pete, with this trope as a premise.
 * One-Woman Song: "Sarah Smiles"
 * Shout-Out: Many of the songs on A Fever You Can't Sweat Out are named after lines from Chuck Palahniuk novels. "Time to Dance", in particular, is one big long reference to Invisible Monsters.
 * "Time to Dance" is interesting because if you haven't read Invisible Monsters, it seems like a song about teen pregnancy, and some of the lines that reference it seem to have little meaning in the scheme of the whole song (namely "hiding in estrogen and wearing aubergine dreams"). Brilliantly done double meaning.
 * "Build God, Then We'll Talk" has a shout out to The Sound of Music.
 * "Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off" and "But It's Better If You Do" are references to the movie Closer- spoken in the same breath, no less.
 * "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage" comes from Palahniuk's Survivor
 * "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines" has a bridge which references lines from Palahnuik's Diary ("just for the record, the weather today..." is a reference to a line the main character often says). Guess the boys are big fans!
 * "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" refers to a line in the Douglas Coupland novel Shampoo Planet ("I am writing a list of tragic character flaws on my dollar bills with a felt pen. I am thinking of the people in my universe and distilling for each of these people the one flaw in their character that will be their downfall--the flaw that will be their undoing. What I write are not sins; I write tragedies.")
 * "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines" is also from Shampoo Planet. ("Torrid tunage from London beckoned- songs about money written by machines.")
 * "Kaleidoscope Eyes" is part of a line from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" ("Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly,/a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.")
 * Steampunk: The fashion and the items used in 	"The Ballad of Mona Lisa" are clearly influenced by the genre.
 * Surreal Music Video: "Nine in the Afternoon" has the guys waking up in color-coded bedrooms and that's around the time things stop to make any sort of sense.
 * It actually makes some sense if you know anything about the Beatles.
 * "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)" seems to follow suit.
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: "We're So Starving".
 * Take That: "London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines" is one aimed towards the then-fledgeling scene community (back when it was an offshoot of emo). This, of course, was not caught on by the MySpace crowd.
 * Who Dunnit to Me?: How the video for "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" plays out.

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