Panic! at the Disco 31,149

Named after a line from Name Taken’s “Panic,” Panic! at the Disco was formed by guitarist Ryan Ross, drummer Spencer Smith, bassist Brent Wilson, and vocalist Brendon Urie in 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In March 2005, they became the first group to be signed to Pete Wentz’s label, Decaydance Records (now DCD2), rising quickly to stardom due to their pop-influenced songs with theatrical themes, quirky techno beats, and perceptive lyrics. Their debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, was released on September 27, 2005 while the band was on tour opening for Fall Out Boy, and by the following spring they were headlining their own tour. In May 2006, bassist Brent Wilson was fired due to his “lack of responsibility and the fact that he wasn’t progressing musically with the band,” and replaced by Jon Walker, who had met Panic! while they were touring with The Academy Is…, for whom he was the guitar technician and videographer. At the 2006 VMAs, the band won Video of the Year for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”

In early 2007, the band took some time off from touring and stayed in a cabin in Mt. Charleston, Nevada to focus on writing their next album. Cricket and Clover, also referred to as “the cabin album,” was a “modern fairy tale” concept album but was ultimately scrapped as it became too ambitious. However, the scrapped album’s sound influenced the direction the band ultimately took with their sophomore album, Pretty. Odd., which broke away from the pop-punk and vaudevillian sound of their debut record in favor of Beatles-inspired baroque folk.

With the release of Pretty. Odd., the group revealed a new logo which excluded the use of the renowned exclamation point. Guitarist Ryan Ross explained how it was becoming a nuisance.

At least for me, it got a little bit annoying to try to write that every time you’re typing the name. It was never part of the name to us… People started writing it, and then it ended up in more and more things like that, so there it was. When we started doing new promo stuff for this album, we just told everyone not to use it anymore.

On July 6, 2009, guitarist Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker left the band, citing creative differences to “embark on a musical excursion of their own,” forming The Young Veins. The band then brought back the exclamation point with the release of “New Perspective” the following month. In regards to why they brought it back, Spencer Smith said:

For me and Brendon, there were aspects of our first album that did sort of go away on Pretty. Odd. that we’d like to bring back to our band. There was some theatricality and some different styles of music, and we want to make a record that is drawing from both our previous albums. And it just seemed like it would be a fun thing for our fans. Hopefully, there’s less of a big deal [made] about it coming back than there was about it going away. It seems like a new chapter, so having that as part of the band seemed like something we could bring back.

Dallon Weekes joined the band’s official lineup in 2010 after becoming their touring bassist in 2009. He worked on the band’s third and fourth albums: 2011’s Vices and Virtues and 2013’s Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!. In summer 2013, drummer Spencer Smith left the band abruptly due to his struggles with addiction. Dallon Weekes also stepped back down to the role of touring member prior to the 2016 release of Death of a Bachelor, before officially leaving the band in late 2017 in order to focus on his own band iDKHOW. This left Urie as the sole member of the band for the remainder of its existence, accompanied by touring members during live shows. He released two more albums before announcing the band’s dissolution on January 24, 2023, partly due to the pregnancy of his wife.

For over a decade, the band, and its innovatively artistic music videos received many accolades. The band won two Video of the Year awards: one (for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”) at the 2006 VMAs, and another (for “Emperor’s New Clothes”) via the 2015 Rock Sounds Readers Poll. The latter also won Best Music Video at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards, while “Hallelujah” received Song of the Year at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards. Urie also won an award for Best Vocalist at the 2014 Alternative Press Music Awards. Four years later, he won the Best Artist award at The Rock Sound Awards 2018.