Panic! At The Disco has dominated the alternative music scene ever since their first album was released in 2005. This album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, featured Brendon Urie’s powerful vocals, guitarist Ryan Ross’s poetic lyrics, bassist Jon Walker, and drummer Spencer Smith. The band followed Fever with a second album, Pretty. Odd. in 2008. This album was a stark contrast to the group’s first. Before Panic! released their third album, Walker and Ross left the group. In 2011, the release of Vices & Virtues proved that Urie and Smith could continue to succeed without Walker and Ross. Though Smith left the group soon after, Urie has released three more Panic! Albums. He really is a man that can do it all and personally my favorite vocalist. Between their 6 studio albums, a couple live albums, and songs for movie soundtracks, Panic! definitely has some great tracks. But how do these songs stack up against each other?
Top 10 Panic! At The Disco Songs:
(1) “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…),” Vices & Virtues
Within 4 minutes and 13 seconds, this song will take you through every emotion expressed in the rest of the album before it. Every entrance in this song is one to be celebrated. The song begins beautifully with a conductor counting off a children’s choir. Next, a group starts singing the chorus of the song, but in French. Urie’s vocals cut clearly through the complex layer of instruments accompanying him. Percussion, strings, electric guitar, and keys are all masterfully mixed to emphasize the emotion with which Urie sings. After Urie sings “wood floors, they creak ”, this lyric is echoed in the percussion, as one can hear the sound of wood creaking. The song closes with the children’s choir singing “Mona Lisa pleased to please ya…” referencing the first track of the album, “The Ballad of Mona Lisa”. Not only is this the perfect track to close out the album, but it also demonstrates Panic!’s immense musical talent.
(2) “New Perspective,” Jennifer’s Body Music From the Original Motion Picture
I was so upset when this song was taken off of Spotify for a year. Similar to Nearly Witches, this song beautifully combines electric guitar, keys, percussion, and layered vocals to enrapture the listener. The bass line is phenomenal. This is a song that I did not mind going to YouTube to listen to. Don’t worry, it’s back on Spotify now!
(3) “Dying in LA,” Pray for the Wicked
A beautiful piano ballad. With only the keys to accompany him for the first minute, Urie demonstrates his powerful vocal ability. I haven’t even been to LA, but the raw emotion with which Urie sings has the ability to make you feel every feeling he felt during this experience. And the strings are gorgeous, too!
(4) “Northern Downpour,” Pretty. Odd.
A song with the ability to transport its listener into a field of flowers. The simple acoustic guitar and soft, sweet vocals create the most serene ambience. Each entrance is refreshing and emotional. I did not know a bass entrance could make me feel this way. Ross and Urie harmonize beautifully. This song has me screaming “sugarcane in the easy morning, weathervanes my one and lonely”, as if I know what it means. Either way, it hits.
(5) “Girls / Girls / Boys”, Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!
An all-star bass line. A catchy chorus. A mind-bending bridge. This song will have you dancing at any hour of the day.
(6) “This Is Gospel”, Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die!
The first Panic! Song I ever heard. My first love and a beautiful tribute to Spencer Smith. Urie’s vocals are angry, desperate, and demand to be heard. My middle school anthem. As the lyrics suggest, this song truly is “the beat of my heart”.
(7) “Hallelujah”, Death of a Bachelor
My other middle school anthem. I’m a big fan of the horns in this song and the beat begs to be danced to.
(8) “Death of a Bachelor”, Death of a Bachelor
No doubt this song deserved to have the album named after it. This song combines jazz elements and a trap-like beat to make a unique and timeless bop.
(9) “Impossible Year”, Death of a Bachelor
Yet another moving ballad. One second in and you will instantly feel some type of way. Urie’s vocals are deep, rich, emotional, and articulate. There’s also a sad jazz instrumental.
(10) TIE: “There’s a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet,” A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out & “That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed),” Pretty. Odd.
- “There’s a Good Reason”– Confession: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is my favorite Panic! Album. Every song on it makes me feel like I am in a speakeasy during the Roaring 20’s. This is a stand-out. This song is so fast-paced and every second of it is exciting. The percussion! The piano! The lyrics! The horns! The dynamic contrasts! The vocals! A song that defines the first era of Panic! At The Disco and hints to many things that have kept their musical legacy alive from 2005 until now.
- “That Green Gentleman”– The electric guitar, catchy chorus, harmonies, and unforgettable opening line certainly make this a top-tier song. The defining moment of this track occurs at around 2:20, when Urie deviates from singing the chorus with Ross to sing his own melody. This moment proved that despite the completely different nature of this album from the one before it, Urie still had the pipes to dominate the music scene for years to come.
And now for all of the other songs categorized into tiers.
Tier 1: BANGERS
Songs that would be in the top ten if there were spaces for them.
Build God Then We’ll Talk, But It’s Better If You Do, She Had The World (alternate version), The End Of All Things, Dancing’s Not A Crime
Tier 2: Certified Bops
Songs that are very good.
Camisado, Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off, Nine In The Afternoon, Behind The Sea, The Ballad of Mona Lisa, Let’s Kill Tonight, Hurricane, Always, Sarah Smiles, Vegas Lights, LA Devotee, Hey Look Ma I Made It, (F*** A) Silver Lining
Tier 3: Lawful Good
Songs that are good.
London Beckoned Songs About Money Written by Machines, I Constantly Thank God For Esteban, Memories, The Calendar, Miss Jackson, Say Amen (Saturday Night)
Tier 4: I will allow it
Songs that are pretty good/ok. The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage, Nails for Breakfast Tacks for Snacks, Time to Dance, I Write Sins Not Tragedies, I Have Friends in Holy Spaces, The Piano Knows Something I Don’t Know, She Had the World, Mad as Rabbits, Trade Mistakes, Ready to Go, Collar Full, Victorious, Golden Days, Old Fashioned
Author’s Note: I Write Sins Not Tragedies is here because I’m tired of it. It’s good but even Brendon Urie is tired of it. It’s been 15 years.
Tier 5: Where is the flavor?
Songs I don’t really care for/might even dislike.
Introduction, Intermission, Do You Know What I’m Seeing?, When the Day Met the Night, Pas de Cheval, Nicotine, Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time, House of Memories, The Overpass, King of the Clouds, Roaring 20s
Author’s Notes: Some of y’all boutta be real mad at me. Roaring 20s is in here because I feel like he’s yelling more than singing and I hate that. Other than that the song is fine and i don’t hate it. Introduction and Intermission are here because I don’t care about them. All the Pretty. Odd. songs that are here are here because I don’t care about them. Nicotine is here for some reason idk. I just don’t really care for it. All the other newer songs are here because they are irrelevant.
Tier 6: Why everyone left.
As you know from the intro, lots of Panic! members have left over the years. These songs I dislike enough to say they were a reason for or result of someone leaving.
We’re so Starving, She’s a Handsome Woman, Folkin Around, From a Mountain, Girl that You Love, Casual Affair, Far Too Young to Die, Crazy = Genius, The Good the Bad and the Dirty, One of the Drunks
And the worst two songs: High Hopes, Emperor’s New Clothes
Author’s Note: Emperor’s New Clothes made me sad because Brendon Urie has crazy talent yet he used it to make this? I heard the intro of High Hopes and gagged. I get that it has a really important message. It’s a fine pop song and I probably just hate it because it’s overplayed.
Thx for reading xoxo
Linnea
Emperor’s New Clothes was a BANGER