Panic! At The Disco

Panic! at the Disco emerged from Las Vegas in 2004, formed by high school friends Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith with classmates Brendon Urie and Brent Wilson. Their early demos led quickly to A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out in 2005. Its second single, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies,” became the band’s defining early breakthrough, earning diamond certification in the United States; the album was certified quadruple platinum. The record’s mix of pop-punk energy, theatrical arrangements and electronic detail set the group apart from many of their contemporaries on the Fueled By Ramen and Decaydance roster.

The lineup shifted during the extensive touring behind the debut. Wilson was dismissed in 2006 and replaced by bassist Jon Walker. Panic! at the Disco then made a sharp stylistic turn with Pretty. Odd. in 2008, an album preceded by “Nine in the Afternoon” and markedly different from the sound of its predecessor. Ross and Walker favored that new direction, while Urie and Smith wanted to take the band elsewhere. Both Ross and Walker left in 2009 and went on to form the Young Veins, leaving Urie and Smith as Panic!’s remaining members.

As a duo, Urie and Smith issued “New Perspective” for the 2009 film Jennifer’s Body and expanded their live lineup with bassist Dallon Weekes and guitarist Ian Crawford. Weekes became a full member in 2010, although Vices & Virtues, released in 2011, was recorded by Urie and Smith and produced by John Feldmann and Butch Walker. Crawford departed after that album’s tour cycle. Urie, Smith and Weekes recorded 2013’s Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!, but Smith stepped away before its release because of health- and drug-related issues. He officially left in 2015 after no longer performing live with the band.

Weekes returned to touring-member status in 2015, and Panic! at the Disco became Urie’s solo project. Death of a Bachelor arrived in January 2016. Weekes formally departed in December 2017, while touring players including Nicole Row supported the project onstage. Panic! released Pray for the Wicked in 2018, featuring “High Hopes,” its highest-charting single. The seventh and final studio album, Viva Las Vengeance, followed on August 19, 2022. After the Viva Las Vengeance Tour concluded in March 2023, Urie disbanded Panic! at the Disco.