EXTRACURRICULAR: Goodbye, Panic! At The Disco.

    It was 2012 (or so). I had just gotten really into the band fun., and I was combing through all their songs, wanting to be familiar with every single one of them. One of them was a song called "C'mon", which was a collaboration with a band called Panic! At The Disco. As I listened to it, I thought the other band sounded pretty cool, but didn't really go listening to their stuff, for whatever reason.

    That was, until my best friend at the time, a guy named Alex, told me his favorite band was Panic! At The Disco. I thought to myself hey, that's the band from that fun. song. Knowing that, and knowing that they were apparently my best friend's favorite band, I had to check them out. So I did. And I loved them. The first song by them (that wasn't that fun. collaboration) I really listened to was "Ready To Go (Get Me Out Of My Mind)".

   I listened to them a lot and grew to love them. I learned that you never, under no circumstances, forget the exclamation mark (unless you shorten their name to "Panic"). They became my second favorite band. Though that title would soon be taken by Bastille (who became my first favorite band after fun. broke up and had maintained that position ever since), Panic never left my top favorite bands. Never has since. 

    Panic! At The Disco helped me get through the end of middle school, all of high school, and all the years afterwards. 

   The band went through a lot of line-up changes, basically each album had different band members behind it. But the one constant member was the frontman and lead singer, Brendon Urie. Eventually, Urie lost all his bandmates and chose to make Panic! At The Disco just his solo project. For the last three Panic albums, Panic! At The Disco was not the name of a band; it was Brendon Urie's stagename. His continuing on Panic as a one-man band showed his dedication to his art, and some of Panic's best music came from that era. 

    I woke up yesterday (January 24, 2023) to a message from my best friend, Logan. I opened it to see that he shared a post from The Rolling Stone, which said that Panic! At The Disco was retiring. I went to his Instagram and saw that he wrote a post explaining why and that he was going to stop after this tour he's on. Why? Because his wife is pregnant.

    Now, I don't know what it's like to raise a kid. But I know from the obvious, and what my parents and other parents I know have said, that it's extremely difficult. I can imagine it's even more difficult when you have a job like the one Brendon Urie has. He has to spend so much time away from home, whether it's making music or going on tour around to so many places around the world to play it on a stage for so many adoring fans (thankfully I got to be one of those adoring fans during his Pray For The Wicked tour).

   But many band members have kids and keep making and performing new music even as they raise their kids. Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Weezer, Blink-182, and many others have dads in their line-up. So, I think Urie's decision to end Panic is kind of a drastic choice, but I understand why he made it and I respect that he is choosing to put his family first.

    Nevertheless, it hurts. It's sad to see an artist who has meant so much to you for so many years say he's officially hanging up his hat. To know that there will probably never be more new music from him. But, at the end of the day, we have seven great Panic! At The Disco albums to enjoy. He may not be making to music, but he's made a lot that's still there for us to enjoy. I don't think he meant it intentionally, but in the song "High Hopes", he says "I got one more run and it's gonna be a sight to see". The album after the one that song is on was his last. He really did have one more run, and it really was a sight to see. I'm gonna keep on bumping Panic! At The Disco.