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.

AS GANGSTA RAP WAS STARTING TO TAKE OVER THE NEW YORK SCENE, WHAT WAS LL COOL J TO DO BUT FIGHT BACK? FIND OUT HOW HE PULLED OFF ONE OF THE BIGGEST COMEBACKS IN HOP HOP HISTORY HERE.

LL COOL J WAS FACING SOME SERIOUS BACKLASH AFTER THE RELEASE OF HIS THIRD ALBUM, “WALKING WITH A PANTHER” IN NINETEEN EIGHTY NINE. MANY PEOPLE WITHIN THE HIP HOP COMMUNITY THOUGHT LL HAD LOST THE NARRATIVE, AND WITH HIS SALES DWINDLING, HE NEEDED TO MAKE HIS NEXT MOVE A BIG ONE.

LL VOWED TO GET BACK TO HIS HARDCORE HIP HOP ROOTS, AND SINCE THE IN-HOUSE DEF JAM PRODUCTION SQUAD L.A. POSSE HAD RECENTLY LEFT THE LABEL, HE INSTEAD ENLISTED THE HELP OF DJ MARLEY MARL TO GIVE THE NEW ALBUM A MORE AGGRESSIVE, IN-YOUR-FACE SOUND. MARLEY MARL’S ABILITY TO CHOP AND REWORK SAMPLES WOULD END UP BECOMING A CAREER-DEFINING SOUND FOR THE PRODUCER.

RECORDING SESSIONS FOR THE NEW ALBUM WERE HELD AT LL’S HOME STUDIO, THE “HOUSE OF HITS” IN CHESTNUT RIDGE, AND AT CHUNG KING STUDIOS IN NEW YORK CITY.

FIVE SINGLES WERE RECORDED AND RELEASED WITH THE ALBUM. “AROUND THE WAY GIRL” PEAKED AT NUMBER NINE ON THE BILLBOARD HOT ONE HUNDRED AND BECAME LL’S FIRST TOP TEN SINGLE.

OTHER SINGLES FOR THE ALBUM INCLUDED “TO DA BREAK OF DAWN”, “THE BOOMIN SYSTEM” AND “SIX MINUTES OF PLEASURE”, ALL CHARTING AND GIVING LL SOME RECOGNITION ON THE BILLBOARD, DANCE AND RAP CHARTS.

HOWEVER, IT WAS ANOTHER SINGLE THAT WOULD GIVE LL’S NEW ALBUM ITS NAME. INSPIRED BY HIS GRANDMOTHER TO “KNOCK OUT” HIS NAYSAYERS, “MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT” WAS RECORDED AS A MISSION STATEMENT FOR LL COOL J, SILENCING HIS CRITICS AND ANYONE IN THE RAP GAME WILLING TO RUN THEIR MOUTH. THE SONG HIT NUMBER ONE ON THE BILLBOARD RAP SINGLES CHART, AND PROVED LL’S STAYING POWER IN THE FACE OF GANGSTA RAP.

RELEASED ON SEPTEMBER FOURTEENTH, NINETEEN-NINETY ON DEF JAM, “MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT” REIGNITED INTEREST IN LL COOL J, AND HE PROVED HIMSELF TO BE AS TOUGH AND FUNNY AS ALWAYS. FRANK MEYER OF YAHOO! MUSIC SAID LL HAD SET THE WORLD ON FIRE, AND THE EPONYMOUS SINGLE EARNED LL A GRAMMY FOR BEST SOLO RAP PERFORMANCE, BEATING OUT ICE-T AND MC HAMMER FOR THE AWARD.

“MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT” HAS SINCE BEEN DECLARED LL’S BEST ALBUM, AND HAS BEEN CERTIFIED DOUBLE PLATINUM BY THE RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA.

RECORDED AS A CLAP BACK AGAINST A CHANGING RAP LANDSCAPE, “MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT” SHOWED THE WORLD THAT LL COOL J WASN'T A RAPPER TO BE IGNORED, AND HE STILL REMAINS A HOUSEHOLD NAME TO THIS DAY.

ITS TIMELESS PRODUCTION, TOUGH AS NAILS LYRICS, AND ITS MESSAGE TO ALWAYS STICK TO YOUR GUNS IN THE FACE OF OPPOSITION ALL SHOW WHY “MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT” BY LL COOL J IS OUR GREATEST ALBUM EVER...THIS WEEK.