After 19 years, Panic! At the Disco, a band who once stood alongside My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy as the “Emo Trinity,” concluded their final show in AO Arena in Manchester, England on Friday, March 10th of 2023. However, the end of Panic! came a lot later for some than it did for others. Down to their last remaining member, Brendon Urie, the band already felt like it was holding on by the skin of their teeth in the heat of controversy in their final few years. Although the band has never claimed a particular style or seemed to stick with a single genre for more than a few songs, which is what made some Panic! fans (and myself included) displeased.
Panic! At the Disco began in the early 2000s with Ryan Ross (guitar), Spencer Smith (drums), Brent Wilson (bass), and Brendon Urie (lead vocals) and their debut album was a success and remains their most sold album. After their debut, Wilson was asked to leave the band and was replaced with Jon Walker. Following their second album in 2008, “Pretty. Odd,” Ross and Walker left the band due to “creative differences” and were replaced with Dallon Weekes. Following their fourth album in 2011, Spencer Smith decided to leave due to personal issues. Finally, Weekes decided to leave the band following the bands 2016 album. It was also around this time that Panic! was beginning to get recognition for their debut album and Rolling Stones Magazine and Kerrang! acknowledged the success of their first album as well as the sale of their debut album increasing in 2011. In their final two albums, Urie as the sole remaining member continued to release music. It was clear this acknowledgment was getting to his head.
The band was already known for their rock and baroque pop fusions with other genres like folksy singer-songerwriter in “Pretty. Odd,” experimental pop punk in “A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and Vices and Virtues,” electropop in “Too Wierd To Live, Too Rare to Die”, and jazz with hints of R&B in “Death of a Bachelor.” Urie tried to continue the trend with “Pray for the Wicked” which was a unique rock retro-roaring 20s fusion. This was the first album released without the other band members and fans were split because of how far removed this album felt from their previous albums, musically and lyrically. The songs were full of egotistical lyrics and too many high notes that overpowered the listener. Frankly, it felt like Urie was just trying to show off how high his voice could go as opposed to using it sparingly as he once had. Ironically, this was the album with the hit song “High Hopes” that shot Urie into the spotlight and landed them a seat on the radio-man’s setlist. Around this time, Urie’s contreversial past had been coming back to bit him as well as the contreversial past of Dallon Weekes. However, he continued onto the final album under Panic! At the Disco’s brand.
“Viva Las Vengeance” was the final nail in the coffin for many longtime fans. It felt as though Urie was trying to emulate Elvis Presley’s 60s rock style with this pseudo-showtunes and choir vibe but its oversaturated show tunes that were hard to swallow. Its overly sexual lyrics are forgettable despite the chorus of the song taking up most of the runtime. Sexual lyrics, although were not uncommon for the band, there was at least a killer backtrack to keep the listener excited about the song. However, in light of who we know to be the frontman to be, it left a bad taste in many mouths. Although some of the songs had unique melodies like the chorus of “Star Spangled Banger,” the lyrics were way to repetitive. Lyrics aside, the album felt like the soundtrack to a 60s musical set in high school with its marching band melodies in “Middle of a Break Up” to its swinging prom night style song with “Don’t Let the Night Go Out.” The album came to a close with the melody from the first song on the album “Viva Las Vengeance,” thus ending the album as poorly as it began.
Panic! At the Disco will never lose their title as members of the “Emo Trinity” because their debut album will whip them clean of their flops but its disappointing to look back on the evolutionary downfall of a band that once captured the hearts of fans everywhere. If only they had ended on a high note, and not the one Urie tried to shove down our throats.