Panic! at the Disco began as a desperate gamble by four high school friends in Las Vegas who abandoned their education to chase a dream that had no safety net. In 2004, Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith, classmates at Bishop Gorman High School, formed a cover band playing Blink-182 songs before recruiting bassist Brent Wilson and singer Brendon Urie from Palo Verde High School. The group rehearsed in Smith's grandmother's living room, eventually dropping out of school to focus entirely on music. Ross's father disowned him for quitting college, and Urie's parents kicked him out of the house after he left high school. They signed a recording contract without ever performing a live show, a move that drew immediate internet scorn and skepticism from the music community. Their big break came when Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz heard a demo sent via LiveJournal and flew to Las Vegas to sign them to his new label, Decaydance Records. This partnership catapulted the band into the spotlight before they had played a single concert, setting the stage for a career defined by rapid ascent and intense scrutiny.
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
The band's debut album, A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, released on the 27th of September 2005, was forged in a grueling five-and-a-half-week marathon session in College Park, Maryland. The four members lived in a cramped one-bedroom apartment on bunk beds, working twelve to fourteen hours a day with no days off, often fighting over trivial things like eating someone's cereal. The album was a sonic split personality, featuring electronic dance punk on the first half and Vaudevillian piano and strings on the second, inspired by film scores from Danny Elfman and Jon Brion. While sales started slow, debuting at number 112 on the Billboard 200, the release of the second single, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, changed everything. The song became a diamond-certified phenomenon, and the music video won Video of the Year at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. The band's subsequent Nothing Rhymes with Circus Tour turned them into headliners, featuring theatrical dance numbers, skits, and costumes that drew comparisons to Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope Tour. However, the pressure of sudden fame and the physical toll of touring took a toll, culminating in a bizarre incident at the 2006 Reading Festival where a bottle hit Urie in the face, knocking him unconscious before the band continued their set.The Great Schism
In 2008, the band attempted to reinvent themselves with Pretty. Odd., a deliberate departure from their debut's electronic sound toward a more organic, Beatles-inspired style. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 139,000 copies in its first week, yet it failed to match the commercial success of their debut. The creative differences between the band members began to fracture the group, with Ross and Walker favoring the retro rock direction while Urie and Smith wanted to push the sound further. By July 2009, Ross and Walker announced their departure, citing a mutual desire to pursue their own creative paths. They formed a new band called The Young Veins, leaving Urie and Smith as the sole remaining members. The split was amicable on the surface, with Ross stating there was no argument, but it marked the end of the original lineup. The band re-entered the studio to record their third album, Vices & Virtues, with touring members Dallon Weekes and Ian Crawford filling the void left by Ross and Walker. Weekes was eventually inducted as a full-time member, but the band's identity was forever altered by the loss of its founding songwriters.