HOW DID FOUR HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS FROM LAS VEGAS BECOME ONE OF THE BIGGEST ROCK BANDS OF THE 2000'S?

FIND OUT HOW BRENDON URIE AND COMPANY FLIPPED THE VEGAS MUSIC SCENE ON ITS HEAD AND REINVENT THE POP PUNK WHEEL HERE!

THE GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK BELONGS TO RISING POP ROCK ROYALTY: PANIC! AT THE DISCO.

ORIGINALLY FORMED BY DRUMMER SPENCER SMITH AND GUITARIST RYAN ROSS, BASSIST BRENT WILSON WAS INVITED TO JOIN, FOLLOWED BY FRONT-MAN BRENDON URIE, ONCE THE OTHER THREE REALIZED THE LATTER’S TRULY UNIQUE SINGING POWER.

AFTER RECORDING DEMOS IN THEIR HOMETOWN OF LAS VEGAS IN 2004, PANIC! AT THE DISCO CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF FALL OUT BOY BASSIST PETE WENTZ WHO SIGNED THE BAND TO HIS OWN FUELED BY RAMEN IMPRINT, DECAYDANCE RECORDS. IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE BAND, ORIGINALLY NAMED PET SALAMANDER, WAS DESTINED TO BE MORE THAN JUST A BLINK-182 COVER BAND.

WITH ALL MEMBERS OF THE GROUP HAVING RECENTLY GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL, THEY DECIDED TO FOLLOW THE RECOMMENDATION OF FUELED BY RAMEN TO RECORD THEIR DEBUT ALBUM IN COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND AT S.O.M.D. STUDIOS.

THE SESSIONS TOOK PLACE OVER FIVE WEEKS, AS MOST OF THE SONGS HAD BEEN WRITTEN BY URIE, ROSS AND SMITH PRIOR TO ENTERING THE STUDIO. BETWEEN JUNE AND SEPTEMBER OF TWO-THOUSAND-FIVE, THEY’D REHEARSE AND RECORD FOURTEEN HOURS A DAY, WITH URIE EVEN BLOWING OUT HIS VOICE UPON ALBUM COMPLETION!

THE ALBUM, TITLED "A FEVER YOU CAN’T SWEAT OUT", SHOWCASED A TALENT FOR WRITING CATCHY ROCK HOOKS, WHILE MAINTAINING AN APPRECIATION FOR CLASSICAL BAROQUE POP. THE ALBUM WAS SPLIT IN TWO, WITH THE FIRST HALF FOCUSING ON POP-PUNK AND EMO SONGS, AND THE SECOND HALF FEATURING ACCORDION AND ORGAN AMONG OTHER TRADITIONAL INSTRUMENTATION.

FIVE SINGLES ACCOMPANIED THE RELEASE, INCLUDING “THE ONLY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MARTYRDOM AND SUICIDE IS PRESS COVERAGE” AND “LYING IS THE MOST FUN A GIRL CAN HAVE WITHOUT TAKING HER CLOTHES OFF”, BOTH BEING MARGINALLY SUCCESSFUL.

HOWEVER, IT WAS THE BAND’S NEXT SINGLE, “I WRITE SINS, NOT TRAGEDIES”, THAT BECAME A COMMERCIAL SUCCESS. IT PEAKED AT NUMBER SEVEN ON THE BILLBOARD HOT ONE HUNDRED, BEING THE BAND’S ONLY TOP TEN SINGLE UNTIL 2015. THE ACCOMPANYING MUSIC VIDEO, PARODYING TURN OF THE CENTURY CIRCUS PERFORMANCES, WAS VOTED THIRD ON BILLBOARD’S LIST OF THE BEST MUSIC VIDEOS OF THE TWO-THOUSANDS.

THE FREEDOM TO MAKE THE MUSIC THEY WANTED AND TO SET THEMSELVES APART FROM THE LAS VEGAS SCENE MADE "A FEVER YOU CAN’T SWEAT OUT" A COMMERCIAL AND CRITICAL HEAD-SCRATCHER UPON RELEASE. THE ALBUM DIVIDED CRITICS, WITH ROLLING STONE AND KERRANG! PRAISING IT, BUT LEAVING PITCHFORK UNIMPRESSED. STILL, IT HAS GONE ON TO BE A “GENRE-DEFYING BLUEPRINT”, PERFECTLY REPRESENTING WHERE EMO MUSIC WAS AT, CIRCA TWO-THOUSAND-FIVE.

“I WRITE SINS, NOT TRAGEDIES” STILL REMAINS A STAPLE OF 2000'S POP NOSTALGIA, AND WAS NOMINATED BY MTV AND FANS ALIKE AS THE BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF THE 2000'S.

ALL THESE YEARS LATER, WITH PANIC! AT THE DISCO UNDERGOING MANY SONIC SHIFTS AND LINEUP CHANGES, IT’S STILL HARD TO FIND A MOMENT IN THEIR DISCOGRAPHY THAT REIGNS MORE SUPREME. FOR ITS CABARET-STYLE PERFORMANCES, TONGUE-IN-CHEEK CHART-TOPPING SINGLES, AND REVERED POP PUNK LEGACY, "A FEVER YOU CAN’T SWEAT OUT" BY PANIC! AT THE DISCO IS OUR GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK.