Panic! At the Disco: A Successful blink-182 Cover Band (ft. Josh Custodio)

In the latest episode of Columbia House Party, hosts Jake Goldsbie and Blake Murphy are joined by "The Brain Genius" Josh Custodio (@j0shc) to discuss Panic! At the Disco's debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Well, imagine, Jake pacing a podcast and he can't help but to hear an exchanging of words between Blake and Josh about wrestling. And also Brendon Urie. Find out more about Panic's contested roots as a blink-182 cover band, how the band eventually became a Urie solo project but not before releasing two underrated follow-up albums, and where Fever stands up in the pop-punk pantheon on this week's podcast.

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See you next week for another episode of CHP.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Sit tight. I'm gonna need you to keep time. Come on,
just snap snap, snap your fingers for me. Good good,
Now we're making a podcast. Come on, just tap tap
tap your toes to the beat. And I believe this
may call for a proper introduction. And well, don't you
see I'm the host and this is your latest episode

(00:48):
of Columbia House Party. Jake, what's up? Man?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Half expecting to do the whole song there?

Speaker 1 (00:53):
Thought about it.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
That was a long one. I think that's the longest
one so far.

Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, I mean to push thirty seconds.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, I think from now on we should just making
them longer and longer and longer, and eventually we'll just
be reading full songs.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
One thing I did think about, and our guest today
is going to tell us what he thought was coming
in that spot when he joins us in a little bit.
But someone in the discord, they wondered in the discord chat, which,
by the way, if you would like to be a
part of Patreon dot com slash Columbia House Party, they
were trying to figure out what lyric I would use
to open the tell all your Friends episode and what

(01:29):
I revealed in the discord, which up until now is
something you would only know if you're a Patreon supporter.
More incentive to do that at patreon dot com slash
Columbia house Party is that there actually is a pattern
and a system to choosing these I don't just pick
them at random or or I don't pick them on
whatever I feel like doing. They are. There is a
system in place here that determines the opening lyric.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
I didn't know there was a system this.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, there's a system. So real heads will know which
which lyric is coming. I guess if they figure out
which album is coming which something we obviously do such
a great great job hiding Jake and no one listening
to this podcast right now bother to look at the
title of the episode. So as we build this drama
now to introduce the episode, they'll surely be wondering what

(02:16):
song started with sit tight. I'm gonna need you to
keep time. Come on, just snap, snap snap.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
When we're not recording, I want you to tell me
what the what your system is, because I will want
to know.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
I will do that. It's a little bothersome that you
haven't figured it out on your own, but.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
I would think that's been pretty established that I'm not
always paying attention, so.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
That's fair, Jake. This is the first time you listen
to this album all the way through? Is that correct?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes? But I realized in the course of listening to
it all the way through the first time that I
knew like half of it just from like being around
people that we know.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Also literally half the album with singles.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, which I didn't realize. I don't think I realized
that some of these songs were by this band, that
they were from this album, or that they were singles.
They're just like songs I've encountered.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Well, Jake, Luckily we have a friend, a brain genius
in fact, who can help guide us through this. Today.
We need you to imagine I'm pacing the pews in
a church corridor and I can't help but to hear
panic at the disco's two thousand and five monster, a
fever you can't sweat out.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Well.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Imagine as I'm pacing the pews in a church chorridor
and I can't help but to hear. No, I can't
help but to hear in exchanging of words, what a
beautiful wedding, What a beautiful wedding, says a bridesmaid too.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
What a shame, What a.

Speaker 5 (03:53):
Shame of.

Speaker 4 (03:57):
Ti I'm in with the heavens people. Ever heard it
up closing? God damn door? No, it's much better to
face these kinds of things. Well, listen to the points
of nationality, shot dead, not these two people ever heard
of closing?

Speaker 3 (04:13):
God damned? Or No?

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Much better to face these kinds of things with the
sets of.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
All Right, So, Jake, you are not or were not
super familiar, or at least you didn't think you were
super familiar with Panic at the Disco is a fever
you can't sweat out. So to help us go through
one of my favorite albums when I was in my
late teens early twenties, is a friend of the podcast,
a wonderful podcaster himself, the brain genius Josh Custodio. Josh,

(05:08):
what's up, man, Fellas.

Speaker 6 (05:10):
I'm so excited to be here on Columbia House Party,
a program that I love. And not only do I
love this program, I'm going to go to bat for
this album we're looking at today. I know this is
a divisive one, but I could not be more excited
to talk about this record with you two.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Yeah, we're thrilled to have you on. I've been wanting
an opportunity to have you on for a little while now,
and we actually this came about you coming on. This
episode actually came about by accident when we were texting recently.
So for anyone who doesn't know and follow Josh, you
can do so at Jay's zero shc on Twitter, a
great follow for wrestling especially but all things in general.

(05:48):
He has a patreon at that same at Jay zero
shc where he does a lot of wrestling and UFC content.
If you haven't checked out Josh's projects a Double Dud's
with Our Boy the Zoobs, or or Bad Childhood or
Wrestling Brain, I want to highlight that when you first
reached out about doing the podcast, I asked you to
give me a list of potential albums, as we normally

(06:11):
do with our guests, and it was basically, first of all,
it was a great list, and it was kind of
a top hits of the albums we haven't done yet
but are high on the spreadsheet or have been requested
the most. And it also revealed that you and Jake
are kindred LCD sound System Spirits. You were both of
that last show.

Speaker 2 (06:30):
You took this away from me to do fucking panic
at the disco.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Well, he can come back on in January to do
LDD sounds.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
How'll fucking dare you?

Speaker 1 (06:40):
It's not like Josh does anything other than podcasting. Yeah, God,
don't mess around, Jake. I'll add it to the spreadsheet
right now, the spreadsheets open.

Speaker 2 (06:51):
Let's do it, yeah it, let's put it all.

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Josh. You willing before even seeing how this goes? Are
you willing to come back on and do LCD now?

Speaker 6 (06:59):
Listen? Warning should really be in your guys this direction
quite frankly, I will come on here anytime talk about
any record. But yeah, you're right, Blake. As you mentioned
that Jake was also at that Fugazi h Madison Square
last show. Jake, I don't know, how do you have
a strange relationship to that show?

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Not so much the show, but definitely to the band.

Speaker 6 (07:18):
Me too, and I thought that that would be something.
So yeah, anytime I would be happy to come on
and chat about them for any of their records, no
matter how many years from now we're talking about.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Now, this is the issue, Jake, with me controlling the
spreadsheet and handling the guests in this case, is that
I got to call that shot. I got to bury that.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
You know that that is the benefit you get from
being the one who has any idea with what is
happening with this show, which I certainly do not.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
Appana get the disco episode without Josh would have been
me talking about how good some songs are and you
being like, I hated this shit.

Speaker 6 (07:53):
Well for a shadow light, right, yeah, it definitely.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Will before we get into a fever. You can't slit out, Josh,
what we're What were your guesses at the opening lyric?

Speaker 5 (08:01):
Here?

Speaker 6 (08:02):
Okay? So here was that?

Speaker 5 (08:03):
Now?

Speaker 6 (08:03):
I thought we might be on video chat, so I
did write these down. I have evidence in front of me,
wow that these are my guesses now, all incorrect. But
the first one being well, we're just a wet dream
for the web scene. Make us it, make us hit,
make us a podcast. I thought that was a very
likely contender.

Speaker 1 (08:20):
London Beckins songs, By the way, is that one very nice?

Speaker 6 (08:24):
Look at you Blake like it's nothing? And is it
this exactly where you'd like me? I'm exactly where you'd
like me, you know, recording a podcast?

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Perfect, it's good stuff. The one that I went with,
do you have more? Or is that it no?

Speaker 6 (08:36):
I mean, they didn't get any better from there, you know,
And since I missed anyway, what's the.

Speaker 1 (08:39):
Point the one I did the one I did use
was the only difference between martyrdom and suicide is press coverage.
The song we played off the top, by the way,
was I write sins, not tragedies. And at some point
in the first one hundred episodes of this podcast, I
promise that I will actually remember to introduce the first
song that we play, or at least name it as

(09:00):
we come out of the clip one of these times.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Fair most you'll probably know that one, So I think.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yes, But I still if we're gonna use a clip
of the song, I should credit these artists. Brendan Urie
seems like a nice man, but I don't want him
coming for me. He rolls with he rolls with Taylor Swift,
which makes me think he's probably litigious about things like that.
So I write sins, not tragedies. By panic at the discs,
you you need.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
To calm down.

Speaker 6 (09:22):
Yeah, if there was ever a band where you'd be forgiven,
forget it, for forgetting the song titles, though, this would
be it. Right.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Yeah, We're we're gonna talk about a little bit the
Panic at the Disco followup Boy parallels and how they
got unfairly grouped together. And my theory is that more
than the Pete Wentz connection or the timing connection, it's
the long and nonsensical song titles that made people confuse them. Sometimes.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
I'm glad we're gonna talk about that because that's like
fifty percent of my notes about this episode.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Okay, we before we get into your notes, Jake and
my notes, Josh, we talked about all the different albums
you could have come on to do. Why was Panic
on the list and bringing up the rear no lesson barely.
I had you sent me a top five, we might
be waiting a month and talking LCD sound system, But
you added a sixth to your list and it was
Panic at the Disco's a fever you can't sweat up.

Speaker 6 (10:13):
So, Blake, I did send you a list of six
er right, and this was sixth place. But it was
one of the ones that I was sort of hoping
you would pick because there's an angle I can take
with it over on my podcast, Your Bad Childhood. It's
all about looking at nostalgia items and finding out if
they hold up or not. And Panic at the Disco's
a fever you Can't Sweat Out sort of happened at
a time where I was exiting the pop punk phase
of my life, So it was I was very into

(10:33):
this style of music. It would have made a lot
of sense for me to be into Panic at the
Disco about a year before this album came out, but
I was sort of into the the LCD sound systems,
the My Morning Jackets, the Modest Mouses. I was in
that vicinity. I got to this album late. I actually
wasn't into it when it first came out, which I
think makes it sort of I think my relationship to

(10:53):
it is sort of an anomaly in that way, but
I was trying. I was like, I'm excited to revisit
this album, not only to figure out if it holds up,
but if I figure out why it still managed to
sort of hang out as I was dropping that sort
of phase of my life.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, that makes complete sense that we're gonna dive into
some of that and some of the some of the
song specifics, because you know, the the hanging on to
some of those songs or looking back on our connections
to them at the time is gonna be pretty funny.
I think, Jake, you never, like you said, you never
really engaged with this album in full. You just kind of,
like through osmosis of listening to music generally in this area,

(11:30):
absorbed some of the songs. Do you have any I
mean this is this is probably one that we were
gonna do this without a guess, but it was gonna
be a heavy me one. You don't have a ton
of connection here.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
Right, no note at all. I panic sort of, as
we discussed way way back in our Followed Boy in
MCR episodes, Panic came out right as I was like
rejecting this kind of music because I was so in
my like that's not punk or cool thing, even though
like secretly I loved MC artist and tell anybody.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Yeah, you being a theater kid and rejecting MCR and
panic remains a weird thing.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
To look back on. Well, and like I think your point.
The reason I want to talk about like the follow
up Boy panic thing is because less so than my
chpical romance, like I very much grouped them together when
I was younger, and I was super not into follow
Up Boy, and therefore I also wasn't into Panic. And
also I couldn't stand the esthetics of the I write

(12:31):
Sins video and it was just like, Nope, I know
what that is, and I just never got into it.
And then I guess, yeah, through osmosis or whatever of
just like existing and knowing us and our friends, I
now know half this album without knowing it.

Speaker 1 (12:47):
All right, Well, I have connections to this as well
that are gonna come up later. I want to get
us to our first break, so instead I will just
say that if my friend Jeff is listening, an apology
around our Panic at the Disco experience together is coming soon.
We're going to talk about a fever you can't sweat
out after this, all right, So before we lay it

(13:21):
out there for my buddy Jeff, let's quickly go through
the band's history, which was very very short before a
Fever you Can't Sweat out Now for anyone who might
be confused by us referring to a they for Panic
at the Disco, because it is now just a Brandon
uri solo project. There are five former members, and the
band was initially a four piece of whom Brandon Urie

(13:43):
was the fourth member and not the initial lead singer.
It was created by Ryan Ross, and Spencer Smith, who
were childhood friends in suburban Vegas, and they added first
Brent Wilson on bass, and then Wilson invited Yuri to
be the band's guitarist. Initially and during rehearsals at Smith's
grandmother's place, they realized that Brendon Uri should be the

(14:05):
lead singer, because well, Brendan Uriy sounds like Brandon Uri.
It is a little jarring to go back, especially on
pretty odd in vices or virtues. I had forgotten completely
that Ryan Ross still is like a secondary vocalist on
some tracks and the you know, given where Brandon URI's
kind of enormity as a front man has gone, it

(14:25):
was striking to go back and be like, oh, yeah,
Ryan Ross sings on these albums as well, not as much.
On A Fever you Can't Sweat Out, It's a heavy
ury album. And obviously he was to Jake's point about
the aesthetic. He was the face of the band, despite
being the fourth man in and not the original singer
this band. By the way, it has been contested whether

(14:46):
they started as a Blink one eighty two cover band
or not. The band's backstory when they first hit the
scene in two thousand and five, I came up in
interviews and had been reported that they were a Blank
cover band. However, Ever, on a Twitch stream in twenty nineteen,
brendan Ury said they weren't really a Blink cover band.
They just didn't have any songs yet, and to kind

(15:08):
of get a feel for each other as a band
and to practice, they would play a lot of Blink
one eighty two songs. If you are curious what a
panic at the disco Blink one eighty two cover band
may have sounded like, well, brendan Uri, Spencer Smith, and
Pete Wentz made a brief appearance at Warped Tour two
thousand and nine, the fifteenth anniversary of warp Tour. They
were they Decade Ince All Stars, which is the name

(15:31):
of Wentz's imprint on Fuel by Ramen, and they covered Dammit.
So shout out to our friends at Blink one fifty
five and the conclusion of their excellent podcast series and
a wonderful compilation of damn It covers. This is what
a panic at the disco? Damn It cover second?

Speaker 3 (16:01):
So Roy tell me you think, tell me I won't shine?
Come on, You'll hold he I cats you I know.

Speaker 7 (16:11):
That believe in you, Mossa, have your razors, seize her,
swam in.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
The pictures, hold down.

Speaker 4 (16:29):
This steps that a big chase sat on your face
shining shots her.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
To sme here say that I got shot money and
people I'm losing.

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Do you mind?

Speaker 6 (16:46):
It's let me now you will have the most?

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Can you go? Sad to so walking on that stead
So he's throw the a server plan. Let everybody.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
Now. I sent that song to both of you guys
ahead of time. Josh, you said you had heard it before, right.

Speaker 6 (17:34):
I'd seen that clip. Yeah, I don't know if i'd
seen the entire performance before, but I've seen that retweeted
into my feed before. Look at Panic covering Blank?

Speaker 1 (17:42):
What did you think?

Speaker 6 (17:43):
Yeah? I mean you could sort of imagine how spiritually
this band could have started, like whether they were or
weren't a blank on a to cover band at one
point at time, you could imagine, like spiritually, especially with
being Ryan ross led on vocals, how they would have
started that or that could have been like a good
starting point for them. But I'm not crazy about I'll say,
their covers in general. There's an exception to that later,

(18:06):
but I don't think that this performance particularly captures what
I like about damn It.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
That's fair, it does capture it also like it kind
of highlights I guess that it always seemed like there
was a little bit of internal tension and whether that
was like between members or just between the songwriting process
and the way that they were marketed and received. But
Brendon Urie's vocals are kind of different from now. Obviously,
Patrick Stump has done very well as also a quality

(18:34):
vocalist in the pop punk range, but they kind of
went stadium rock after a couple of albums, and you know,
so I think, you know, Brendon Urie's vocal abilities maybe
were in contrast to what people wanted them to sound like,
and had they gone down the more blink route, I
don't know that it hits as well as doing this
this own thing I mentioned followup boy and Pete Wentz.

(18:54):
Pete Wentz is a big part of the Panic at
the Disco origin story via live journal. Panic at the
Disco sent Pete Wentz a demo. He left recording sessions
for From Under the Cork Tree to meet with them
and eventually signed them to their imprint on Fuel by
Ramen Decadence Records, which is now d C D two
or D two DC some acronym like that. The follow

(19:17):
Up Boy connection initially also led to the two bands
being grouped together musically, which really isn't all that accurate.
Uri and Stump are two of the better traditional singers
in the poppunk genre, and both of those groups love
these elaborate referential song titles. But that's about where the
connection ends. And before we dive into the album itself,
let's talk about that follow Up Boy connection here, because

(19:38):
I do think that a lot of people in our
general age range probably came to Panic through people saying,
you know, the two thousand and five version of recommend
if you like follow Up Boy, Josh, did you get
some of that and your pushback to that? Was that
at the time or has that been a more recent
thing when you look back on it.

Speaker 6 (19:56):
Yeah, I'm thrilled. I think Jaken sidled the gate the
fair comparison between Fallout Boy and Panic at the Disco,
and that is actually how I felt about it at
the time. I liked some of the follow Up Boys singles,
but I wasn't a huge from Under the Cork Tree
or Infinity on hig. I like both those albums, but
I wasn't as into either of those albums as I
was into a fever you can't sweat out now. In
terms of which one is age better, that's a whole

(20:18):
other discussion. But I'm like you, I thought, even though
you're right, they both are two better technicians, two better
sort of pure voices within the pop punk space. Like
you say, follow Boy feels a little more stadium rock
to me and Brendan Yuri, I can't speak as much
to the late career more pop stuff, but he has
a bit more of that theater kid, you know, back
of the rafters, big note stuff that I associate with

(20:38):
Fallout Boy. Plus and that's to say nothing of like
all the baroque and carnival shit going on on this record.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
Yeah, and there's a lot of that. And I want
to talk about what their concert were like after we
talk about the album, Jake, the Followup Boy connection. Do
you think that, given where you were at that time,
like that follow Boy, that forced Followup Boy connection was
part of the reason you kind of kept Panic at Armsland.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
I think it's part of it. I also want to
say that I actually kind of disagree with both of you.
And maybe it's because I'm coming at this with like
fresher ears, but like, I totally think that the comparison
is fair and because to me, like I think Uri
and Stump both are very talented vocalists, but like I

(21:24):
completely think they sound very close to each other. Like
I thought High Hopes was a followed boy song for
a long time, and I wish it was a nobody's song,
and listening to this, I feel like I would have thought.
I think there's a couple songs here that I also
thought were follow up boy songs.

Speaker 6 (21:42):
Jake, I'll meet you halfway on this one, because I
do think that, especially with certain songs there is I
could see that certainly, like the coarse, giant core structure
is definitely in the blood of both bands. But what
about like the electronic breakdowns and the circus noise.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, that's where I was going to. I think the
second half of the record, because this is a very
weirdly sequenced record, which I'm sure we'll talk about that obviously,
musically and instrumentally doesn't sound like follow up boy. It
almost feels like and like Blake. Maybe you can tell
me if this is true. It almost feels like they
were like, Okay, we'll write the album that sounds like

(22:21):
the bands we want to sound like that are popular
right now, and then we'll write the album that we
want to make. And the first half of this up
to and including the song titles, which to me just
read like budget followut Boy titles are like, Yeah, I
understand why the band could be frustrated by the comparisons,
especially because their leaning seem to be a little different,

(22:42):
but like, I totally get why they were grouped together.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, in terms of the song titles, like how many
times can you reference Chuck Pallinik on one album? So, Jake,
I will just say this, but I'm gonna build off
your point about the album sounding like two different half albums.
I am going to play a clip here from the
song Time to Dance, which is off the first half
of this album, and we're gonna play a clip of
the demo version, and we're gonna play a clip of

(23:08):
the album version, and I am going to explain to
you after why so this is Time to Dance version
one and version two.

Speaker 6 (23:47):
Just for the come that's just did you.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
Let's here's the setting, that's the magazine A long go
the balls the Boy.

Speaker 7 (24:11):
How some composer, Where is your poster?

Speaker 3 (24:15):
No, no, you're bullying I trager hair bully the Trager.
How some composing her? Where is your boster? No, No,
you're bully. I Trager. Here bully, I Trager. Shove on.

(24:36):
This is screaming photo shouble. Come on, this is screaming.
This is screamy. This is screaming for.

Speaker 7 (24:57):
Puzzle, Big Boys Day that bundle bu bu Buz, Jimmy Heavy.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
Gimmy Battles, Dammy Jimmy, Teddy Kenny.

Speaker 7 (25:13):
When I say shock, saybody shock, Comebaty Shock.

Speaker 3 (25:18):
Come Bob Bustwary Dream.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
So you mentioned, uh, Josh. One of the things he
pointed out was kind of the electronic and dance elements
and the synths on this to differentiate them from balla
Boy and Jake. You mentioned how the album kind of
sounds like two different halves. Well, that track Time to
Dance is off the first half of the album. The
first half of the album the album structured introduction six songs,
intermission five songs, and the first half of the album,

(25:59):
like you suspected Jake is kind of meant as the
electronic dance punk half and the second half is more
like vaudeville rock. Matt Squire, who they work with to
produce this album and has produced bands like Everywhere, from
Good Charlotte and All Time Low to Arianna Grande and
Demi Lovado and like Hollywood, Undead and Under Oath in between.

(26:19):
He had to convince them actually to use the rock
songs on the second half. We played I Write Tragedies
off the top, and that's probably their most well known
song that is firmly on the back half that sounds
a little more rocky. Time to Dance is not the
most certainly not the most popular song off that first half,
but I play the two different versions so that I

(26:40):
can share a connection and get to this apology to
my friend Jeff about this album. So in two thousand
and five, when this album came out, Jeff, who is
a friend of mine from as far back as grade
seven in Cambridge, he was moving out of residence and
into house at the University of Waterloo and I was
helping him move and as part of that move, we

(27:01):
drove from Cambridge to Brantford to go to Ikea, as
you do when you live in the region. In the
two thousand and five Time, and you know, you don't
really know where to get furniture. So we hop in
his car and we're driving to Ikea and we're playing
a fever you can't sweat out. And Jeff was one
of my primary music friends. Earlier that summer, we'd gone

(27:21):
to Warp two together and I'm like, Jeff, Man, I
think you have the wrong version of this album or something,
and he's like, no, like I got it when it
came out. We argued a bunch about who had the
right version of a couple of these songs. And why
I need to apologize is that Jeff had the right versions,
and I swore he had the wrong ones and I

(27:42):
had the right ones. There were demo versions of Time
to Dance, Commisado, and Nails for Breakfast, Tax for Snacks
that all had kind of dancier, more electronic demo versions
that I had because those were leaked copies and I
was on that leak shit. But Jeff had the proper
versions and I was incorrect. So Jeff, I know you

(28:04):
listened to occasional episodes of this podcast when the band
suits you. I hope you listening to this one, and
I'm sorry to you and I'm sorry to your Volkswagen
for disrespecting the music you put on in that Volkswagen
on the way to Akia. Did either of you guys
run into it? I guess Jake, if you weren't a
big Panic fan, you wouldn't run into this. But Josh,
did you get the Hey, these leaks aren't the real

(28:25):
songs experience with this one?

Speaker 5 (28:27):
You know what?

Speaker 6 (28:27):
I actually don't think I did with this record. But
obviously that's a phenomenon that over my early music listening
experience was just happening on mass I legitimately thought not
to get too off base here, but what was the
first thing lost? Sam's Town by the Killers? It doesn't
look a thing like Jesus, what's that song called when
you were young?

Speaker 5 (28:46):
Nine?

Speaker 6 (28:47):
When you were young? I had a torrent of that
that had a clip from the radio station beforehand that
went K rock, and I thought that was part of
the song.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
It's like how from like two thousand and eight to
twenty ten, every song that I played in my car
started with like dj ill Will.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
Now that's a credit to dj ill Will, though not
a discredit to the superio of music.

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Let's try to bring this back so The band had
relocated to College Park in Maryland to record this album
in the summer of two thousand and five. They all
shared a one bedroom apartment and slept on bunk beds,
and it sounded like they really got on each other's nerves. Which, yeah,
that seems like a stressful process to have to write
and record an album over five and a half weeks,

(29:31):
where they said they put in twelve to fourteen hour
days because at the time they got signed, they barely
had any original songs and they had never even played
a live show together. So you know, there's a little
bit of obviously, you know, it seems in retrospect, it
seems very intentional the way the album is laid out,
and it's like, hey, we've got this one, funkier side
where we're very much our own thing, and then we've

(29:51):
got this second, you know, still unique side, but a
little closer to us doing you know, what everyone else
is doing right now. And I'm sorry if I'm over
speaking for you, but that's kind of the vibe you get,
right is like, hey, we've got this experimental first half,
and then we've got the second half that is going
to be more radio hits and is closer to follow
Boy in comparison.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Yeah, I would just flip the halves of what you said,
because I feel like the first half is the follow
out Boy radio half and the second half is the
experimental theatrical nonsense.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Although the first half does have a lot more of
the like electronics stuff on.

Speaker 2 (30:28):
It does, but the second half I feel has more
of the strings and the maybe it's just maybe it's
just because it is like.

Speaker 1 (30:36):
Orchestra heavy on the second half, and I yeah, there
are you can kind a lot of covers of the
second half songs by uh An Orchestra.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
So that makes sense. I can see that.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Yes, all right. So one of the ways that Panic
stood out, obviously is with Brendan Urie. And again, this
is just him now, but at this point he's kind
of the he's the face, and he's a very handsome
face obviously, and is you know, obviously what Panic was
trying to do musically was the most interesting thing about them.

(31:07):
But Uri was the hook, and he sets the tone
for kind of that sound shift on the two different
halves of the album, highlights his vocal range and if
you're trying to get teen hearts beating his when he
turns it, I will. This is not my phrasing. This
is Josh's phrasing when he gets a little sexier on

(31:29):
a certain song called lying as the most fun a
girl can have without taking your clothes up. That's when
you really get the teens hooked. This is that song?

Speaker 2 (31:37):
Is it still?

Speaker 8 (31:37):
Needing makes you swem and you think about them and
the lights or doom and your hands shaking as you're
sighting off your track, think of what you did and
how I hope to God he.

Speaker 5 (31:48):
Was worth it. As the lights are doom and your
heart is racing as your fingers.

Speaker 6 (31:52):
Touched at a better kiss, better touch?

Speaker 8 (31:55):
How better fuck than any boil ever meets?

Speaker 6 (31:58):
Sweet?

Speaker 5 (31:58):
Did you have manybos? It?

Speaker 8 (32:01):
Look past the sweat?

Speaker 5 (32:02):
I better love, deserving though exchanging body heat than the
passenger seat.

Speaker 8 (32:07):
Don't you know it will always just be me?

Speaker 3 (32:12):
That's get this? Need not feed? He daft tot. Don't
this dust your void? Tug my girl, you des feed
and w Africa. Don't this duffer your boys in tug
my girls? How do you des feed? And wrong? I
love a boy dad like glinker. Don't this dust your boys?

(32:40):
And hard than greats faster last, let's get these teen
Hearts beat faster.

Speaker 6 (32:53):
Yeah, I gotta tell you about lying is the most
funny girl can have. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that.

Speaker 3 (32:58):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (32:59):
I legit only sent this to my girlfriend at the time,
thinking it would be like, you know, kind of a
mood setter, be like you know this that like I
legitimately thought this was a hot song listening to this back.
I listened to this three times for this podcast. This
is a profoundly un sexy song in execution. Am I
wrong here?

Speaker 7 (33:16):
No?

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, I mean, I'll I'll leave it to Jake, But
it's not a other than like I understand the pre
chorus of let's get these teen hearts beating faster faster
and like his whisper singing might might do it for you.
But twins, yeah, yeah, way do you see my ah?

(33:38):
That's the radio. By the way, if you ever heard
that song on the radio.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
I feel I do feel like though with this band,
and I can't really speak to their later stuff, but
this album. We talked a while ago about sort of
like the the emo quadrant and like how that was
represented to the population at large, about how sort of
like the lyrical song Things was taken from followed Boy,
and the makeup and aesthetics was taken from My Chemical Romance,

(34:06):
and I'm sure there's more I'm thinking of. I feel
like the I guess like the teen girl appeal. For
lack of a better term, I don't like that phrasing,
but sort of like the way that the media and
that EMO in two thousand and five was portrayed as
like a new big genre for teen girls to find,

(34:27):
like crushes in which is a stupid, reductive way of
talking about music, but it did happen. I feel like
that comes from panic at the disco and like Pete Wentz,
I guess.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
Well, if you guys were curious where the sexiness comes from,
they were inspired by Natalie Portman in the movie The
Closer with Clive Owen. Yeah, they explained end quote. Natalie
Portman was so sexy. She plays a stripper and wears
this pink wig. Her and Clive Owen have a couple
of lines that they share. We thought that was so cool.

(34:58):
Clive's character says, tell me some thing true, and she
says lying is the most fun of girl can have
without taking her clothes off. And then she says.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
About people being miserable and cheating on their spouse.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Yes, that's right, and then she says, but it's better
if you do, which also lying is the most fun
of girl can have without taking a clothes off, leads
us into the intermission, and then but it's better if
you do takes us out of the intermission on the album,
So a nice little, nice little reference to Natalie Portman there.

(35:32):
You know, I don't know have we done a did
we talk about Natalie Portman when we did a Lonely
Island bonus episode?

Speaker 2 (35:36):
Jake, I can't remember. I think it came I think
it came up briefly, but not enough, is what I
would say.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Okay, Josh, I don't I don't want to do the
the mal rats thing and ask you to personal questions
to close a good story. But what did your what
did your girlfriend think of the song you sent her?

Speaker 8 (35:53):
So?

Speaker 6 (35:54):
I do think I don't think it was because I
think I don't remember the exact reaction to the song
sending and I wish I did, but she was my
long term girlfriend. I mean we eventually had sex again,
Like the song didn't do enough to stop it forever,
you know what I mean? But but no I don't
think it was like, oh wow, honey, great song choice.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Yeah, all right, so that that was the fourth single
off of this album. I followed. The only difference between
Martyrdom and Suicide is press coverage. There is there are
a lot of songs, a lot of singles off of
this album. Five of the eleven real songs will call
them to be exact. There is kind of a weird
timeline of success for this album. So the pre album

(36:37):
leaks come out, and there's the bit of the followup
boy Buzz because Wentz signs them, and then it kind
of dies out, like they tour with a couple bands
and it's not They're not an immediate success when this
album comes out in September of two thousand and five,
and then I Write Sins Not Tragedies comes out in
early two thousand and six, which kind of helps them

(36:58):
explode and leads them into some summer two thousand and
six headlining tours. Jake, I know I Write Sins not Tragedies.
You mentioned is kind of like where you put up
your block to panic get the disco. How dare you
disrespect the two thousand and six MTV VM A Video
of the Year but can you explore that a little
bit more of just like you know, it's come up

(37:19):
a couple times where a song is just so big
and obviously, you know a band is not defined by
their single, like float On is a great, modest mouse song,
but it does not give you an accurate picture of
what the rest of that album is like. Really, and
you know, in this case, I write sins, not tragedy
does give you a better example of the album. But
do you do you think you would have I guess

(37:43):
digested this album a little differently had one of the
other singles been the one that hooked you instead of
I write sins.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
I doubt it because I think I was too deep
in my like anti this kind of music narrative. Okay,
So I don't think would have made a difference. I
do think it probably would have made me come back
to this sooner than this episode, because that's fair because
I like follow up boy now, and I like those

(38:11):
records now, and I listen to those records now.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
I also, I don't want to spoil the final segment,
but I really think you would like vices and virtues
in Pretty Odd.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
And I do want to check them out because I
liked a lot of this too, So now I'm curious.
So I think the answer is yes and no. I
think back then no, but as like an adult who
can think for myself, then yes. But because I still
don't like this song, that song to even today.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
So now, if you had listened to that song, and
you turn on the album and you were listening to it,
start the front and you're waiting for I write sins,
not tragedies, your favorite, for your first favorite panic of
the disco song to play. As that ended, you would
flow into a song that I can only imagine still
has a Pavlovian response for our boy Josh his former ringtone,

(38:58):
I constantly thank God for us.

Speaker 6 (38:59):
The yeah, I paid three ninety nine to have the
course of this song be the thing that happens when
my U you know the little blue clamshell, No Ki,
everybody had. I had that and uh every time it
ran strike up the band whoah you know, and I
remember the dame. It was a good choice.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
At one point in my life, ringtones were an odd craze.

Speaker 6 (39:23):
It feels absurd, doesn't it. Like even a couple of
years after, it feels like the most insane behavior ever.

Speaker 1 (39:29):
I will say Josh having the New Day theme as
my ringtone for a while, wash was a nice way
to wake up though.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
Okay, now see now I changed my mind. That actually
sounds fantastic. If I could just say one thing about
the I Wright Sins video, it's I think that it
actually well, it did obviously a tremendous amount to break them,
break them and introduce people to their esthetic. I think
there were a lot of people who were turned off
by that, like that exact vibe they were giving off,
like I don't know if you two remember Punch much

(39:55):
the like Request by phone video channel much music had,
but they had a rule where they couldn't play the
same two videos back to back. So you'd call in
and you'd vote on which video you wanted to be played,
but they couldn't do the same two back to back.
And there was an era where I swear to God,
it would be like a song then I write Sins
not Tragedies, then a different song. Now we're back to
I Write Sins not tragedy. It's like for days, every

(40:17):
other song was I Write Sins not Tragedies. And I
just remember my social circle being like the Circus band
like that was the thing in their mind about it.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
Yeah, it's a I guess one of the weird things
about this album is and I realized we're running a
little long for this segment, but whatever. I would have
sworn that this was a high school album for me.
And maybe it's because the leaks came out so early
or whatever, but this album being two thousand and five,
and obviously I know it's two thousand and five. There
is a reference in one of my tattoo sleeves to

(40:48):
just how good a year in pop punk two thousand
and five was. There is not that this really qualifies
as pop punk, but close enough for our purposes.

Speaker 2 (40:55):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
It was a high school album in my head, and
that it's not is a little surprising to me. I
guess it was for you, Jake. I forget how old
you are, Josh. Was it high school for you?

Speaker 6 (41:06):
So it would have been in my grade twelve? But
I didn't listen to it until after high school. So
that university, yeah I was. I was in university out
of high school being like, what's up with this panic
at the disco all the thirteen year olds are talking about?

Speaker 1 (41:22):
So we're gonna get into just how young the audience
skewed relative to me an age old nineteen at the
time this album came out, and we were going to
talk about how this album was received and where Panic
went after after this. All right, So as you may

(41:49):
have gathered from all of our own conflicted or changing
feelings over time, A Fear you Can't Sweat Out was
received divisively, and in retrospect it's still received fairly divisively.
The reviews and takes are all over the place. It
was eventually included at number thirty nine in Rolling Stone's
forty Greatest Emo Albums of All Time and Karanng's fifty

(42:10):
Best Rock Albums of the two thousands, But if you
go back and read those reviews or you read some
retrospectives on them, it's still a mixed bag. Now. One
of the biggest challenges for Panic coming out of the
I guess not early succeests, but just coming out of
having made an album was they had only a couple
weeks to learn how to be a live band, and
they had never played live shows before. The band claims

(42:31):
they only had two weeks to figure that out, which
is a pretty big deal when you're going to tour
nationally under Fall Up Boy or Motion City Soundtrack or
Boys' Night Out or the starting line who I will
take every opportunity to bring up on this podcast, as
Jake knows. So, not only were they not ready as
a live band, this album also sold poorly. Initially, it
hit number one thirteen on the Billboard charts, which isn't

(42:53):
terrible for something from this genre, but only ten thousand
in sales early on. And then the video for I
Write Sins Not Tragedies gave them a huge push. It
shot up the charts, It cracked five hundred thousand sales,
they got a headlining tour, and then they eventually went
double platinum. And this is the point in the podcast
where I have to talk about Benji Molina for a second.

(43:14):
If that's okay with you.

Speaker 6 (43:15):
Guys, Sure it's fine by me. Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (43:19):
So it is July fifteenth, two thousand and six. I
spent my summers in university working at the Toyota factory
in Cambridge on the manufacturing line. And one of the
friends I made there was this guy named Andy who
was a couple of years older than me but had,
you know, was a huge baseball fan and had some
overlap in music taste. So you know, we put together
a softball team for our assembly line to enter the

(43:41):
company Slope Pitch tournament and talked about things like follow
Boy and Panic at the Disco. Neither of us wanted
to go see Panic at the Disco alone, and we're
in that territory of like, none of my friends really
messed with this, so I don't think I can convince
anyone else to go. So we opted to make a
seat of it, and we were going to see a

(44:02):
four pm Roy Halliday start before we went to see
Panic at the Disco at the Molson Amphitheater. We figure, hey,
it's a Roy Halliday game. That's a nice, safe, quick game,
and then we'll just shoot over the Amphitheater. We've got
plenty of time. Unfortunately, Brandon League blows a two run
lead in the eighth inning. The game is rolling along

(44:22):
and hits. This had to have happened only a handful
of times in Holiday's whole career. The game pushes over
four hours, it ends up being four hours and twenty
three minutes. It goes into the fourteenth inning. We're watching
the clock this whole time, and neither of us wanted
to leave. We did not care about the Dresden Dolls
who were opening and mixed vaudeville in with their performance

(44:44):
like Panic at the Disco did. Apparently they did, like
what they call the celluloid vaudeville show that included short
films along with their music. Anyway, around eight PM, we're like, look,
we can't miss Panic, It's the reason we came here.
Tickets were expensive. We can give it one more inning,
and then we have to do the unthinkable baseball fan
thing of leaving in extra indings. Finally, in the bottom

(45:06):
of the fourteenth, with one out, Benji Molina singles home
lyle Overbay and we make it just in time to
see Panic at the Disco in concert. Josh, have you
ever seen them in concert?

Speaker 5 (45:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (45:18):
No, far outside of their prime. I would say in
twenty sixteen, I saw them in Weezer.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
How is that?

Speaker 6 (45:24):
Well, Folk Channel, Some things are overrated and some things
are underrated.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
Seeing Weezer and Panic at the Disco in twenty sixteen
is exactly what you think it is. To the letter,
it could not be a more what you were expecting experience.
Whatever that is to you, I will say.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
That I have seen Weezer in like the last half decade,
and I completely agree.

Speaker 1 (45:47):
Twenty ten, so I think that was maybe at the
edge of its still being a fun experience.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
It's still fun, but it is exactly what you think.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Sorry, you know what I'm talking.

Speaker 6 (45:56):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (45:58):
Anyway, So I went to see two and six Hour
Panic at the Disco, and not only were Andy and
I two of like the only people there that could
drink the beer. The has to be the shortest beer
line in the history of the Mulson Amphitheater which is
now Budeweizer Stage. This is before you could get those
King cans. Andy had to drive back to Toronto, but
twenty year old me at this point, who was only

(46:20):
just entering his drinking prime after a second year at university,
made I made good use of it. Anyway. So the
show was really interesting because they did mix in all
this vaudeville stuff and it was, you know, as much
performance as it was concert. It was pretty cool and
I don't know how to do it justice really with

(46:40):
someone having been there. But if you've seen I write
since Non Tragedies the music video, you know it's not
quite to that level. But it's it's not far off
from that, which as a concert, when you're a band
that only has eleven songs, it probably makes sense to
beef up your your live performance, like like quite literally
did not have a non album so that they could

(47:00):
have played anyway to fill that time. So a thirty
five minute concert maybe wouldn't have gone over that well
for you know, a headliner, So they had to spruce
it up with that stuff. From there, the band started
to have some turnover. Wilson alleged he was kicked out
of the band without explanation or apology, and the band
later countered by saying, well, he wasn't developing musically enough,

(47:23):
and Brandon Ury actually had to re record all the
base parts on the album because Wilson wasn't up to
the task. You know, there has been there wasn't a
ton of turnover in the time between you know, they've
they've had five other members play those three roles. But
like I said, after their fourth album, the last two
have just been brandan URI's solo projects. Technically, the albums

(47:44):
that did follow were pretty odd in two thousand and eight,
Vices and Virtues in twenty eleven, and Too Weird to
Live too, Here to Die. In twenty thirteen, from There Again,
Yuri becomes a solo project for Death of a Bachelor
and Pray for the Wicked and Josh. Would you believe
me that only one song off of a Fever you
Can't Sweat Out is in Panic at the Disco's Spotify

(48:07):
top ten?

Speaker 6 (48:08):
You gotta be kidding me? Only one? Only one is
that I Write sins.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Yes, it's I write sins. Instead, it's filled with a
lot of songs off Death of a Bachelor, a couple
off Pray for the Wicked, and this collaboration with Taylor Swift.

Speaker 9 (48:22):
I promise that you'll never find another like me. I
know that I'm a handpool baby Oh. I know I
never think before chom. You're the kind of gut the ladies.
And there's a lot of coltious there. I know that
I would say go on the phone and never leave
well in the phone long and Shovel's gonna follow where

(48:43):
I wrote, And there's a.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Lot of clutious.

Speaker 9 (48:46):
But one of these things is not like the others,
like a rainbow with the colors, baby dog. It comes
to a promise that you'll never find another like me.

Speaker 3 (49:02):
I'm the only one of me. That's the fun of me.

Speaker 9 (49:13):
You're the only one of you, that's the fun of you.
And I promise that nobody's gonna love me like you?

Speaker 4 (49:21):
What's gonna make it about me? I know you never
get just what you see. I will never follow you there, Abe.

Speaker 9 (49:32):
And then we had a fight album The Rain.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
You went after me and I never want.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
To see you are going.

Speaker 10 (49:41):
Because one of these things is not like the others
have been. In Winter, A m your summer and be
till Ben comes to a lover promise such you'll never
find another like me, Ali bank on me.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
I'm the only one of me.

Speaker 9 (50:14):
Body's gonna let you like me.

Speaker 2 (50:18):
Is that Taylor Swift song credited to Panic or just
credited to Uri, No, it's.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
It is Taylor Swift featuring Brandon Urie of Panic at
the Disco. Even though Panic at the Disco is just
Brandon Urie. It would be like me saying Blake Murphy
of Blake Murphy, right.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
I also to your to your point about the Spotify
top ten, I looked at the set list FM Panic
at the Disco data as it were, and also only
have one song from AEVA. You can't sweat Out and
like two from Pretty Odd Advices. I think so they
seem he seems to have very much. It's around twenty fourteen.

(50:56):
It's just like Flips, so he seems to have very much.
Been like, that's not a thing we've talked about anymore.

Speaker 1 (51:02):
Yeah, I'm a solo guy who wants to play to
young moms. Yes, and do like New York Like he
played New Year's even Times Square the other year. I
remember I was at a friend's house in Cambridge for
like a New Year's party and someone yells in from
the other room, Blake, aren't.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
You into this shit?

Speaker 1 (51:18):
I'm like, what he died about? I look and it's
like I didn't even recognize the song at that point,
because I don't. I think Death of a Bachelor had
just came out, or I hadn't listened to the Death
of a Bacher yet or something. Anyway, but yes, I
am into that shit. We're going to talk about how
much I like some of those albums in a minute.
You also might be surprised to learn that Fever is

(51:39):
their least successful album in terms of charting. Pretty Odd
and two Weird both hit number two. Bachelor and Wicked
both hit number one, Vices and Virtues hit number seven,
and Vices is the only one to not go at
least one time platinum. High Hopes, which was mentioned earlier
and I refuse to play a clip of is his
highest charting single, and a Fever you Can't Sweat Out

(52:02):
eventually cross through to going double platinum. So it's at
this point in the podcast where we normally, you know,
pick something to rank or debate. This is the rare
occasion where I actually have takes that I'm passionate about,
and I'm not just setting up Jake and the guests.
But before we get to that, Josh, like you said,
you have your your podcast, your bad childhood, where you

(52:23):
look back on some of this nostalgia stuff and you
might feel differently about it now. And I'm curious, does
Panic at the Disco qualify here as something you look
back on and cringe a little bit about having liked
as much as you did.

Speaker 6 (52:37):
Well, it's so interesting because you've both nailed it. Really
is sort of a tale of two albums to me,
and at some points even a tale of two songs
within the track. I think of that opener, the Martyrdom,
and this and that and it's like I really am
enjoying it until the electronic breakdown or there's like a
there's tons of like reversing the beat on this album,
like it just drums in reverse to like create a

(52:58):
breakdown sense that takes me out of these And so
I find that even in the songs I like, there
are moments of cringe and the ones that strip that
away a little bit, I actually still enjoy to a
great deal. So it's fifty to fifty in some ways,
but ultimately I was cringing more than I would like to.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
And Jake, you kind of feel almost the opposite that
you didn't give it a chance initially and you don't
like I write sins not tragedy still, but the album
was actually I think, to snapshot what we were talking
about before, you like it better than maybe you expect
it to. Going back to it other than the heavy single, yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:30):
I do the I like it for a lot of reasons.
I now enjoy this kind of music. I don't think
it's an album I'm going to go back to very often,
but if someone threw it on, I definitely wouldn't object
to it. And I think there's like a good handful
like five or six tracks, especially in the first half
of the album that fit really well in sort of

(53:54):
a soundtrack for two thousand and five emo and pop
punk that I think maybe because of the direction that
URI's gone, or maybe because they change their sound or
I don't know, but it does kind of feel like
other than I write sins, this kind of gets left
out of that conversation, and I feel like it maybe shouldn't.

(54:17):
And I actually I went and expecting to be like,
this is fine, but I actually and I guess that
is kind of my reaction. But I definitely enjoyed it
more than I expected to.

Speaker 1 (54:25):
All Right, Josh, did you how much did you continue
with Panic after a fever? You can't split it? Did
you stick with them through Pretty Odd and vices and virtues?
I know you're not a modern day Panic at the
disco guy, but how long did you stick with them?

Speaker 6 (54:40):
So I only listened to I write Sins that did
not follow them to Pretty Odd until maybe four years ago,
five years ago A Palla Mine was like, no, Like,
Pretty Odd is a very good album. It's nothing like
the first one. It's almost like a sixty Sunshine pop
band sort of thing going on. I was like, well,
that sounds interesting, sort of a Panic at the Disco
take on something that I like to begin with, but

(55:02):
I found that it and I think you actually are
a fan of this album, Blakes. I don't mean to
dump all over it. I did enjoy it, but maybe
it was just oversold to me as like this sort
of hidden great and I didn't really register with it
in that way.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
Yeah, that's that's entirely fair. My take is actually that
Vices and Virtues, which is their least successful album, is
the one that is the hidden great, and I think
it's them at their songwriting sharpest and they find the
right groove with some of the stuff that they were
trying to do on pretty odd. It's also like throughout
the album it's kind of a masterclass in harmonies. So

(55:37):
my hottest take with Panic at the Disco tends to
be that everyone's opinion of Brandon Uri or Panic is
rooted as the guy from I write Sins not tragedies
or the modern day like Death of a Bachelor slash
Taylor Swift collaborator, and in the middle there is a
really good, you know, career development and maybe like, yeah,

(56:00):
if you were laying out what a traditional band trajectory,
looks like the albums are all in the wrong order,
like his Coke Album is his fifth album instead of
his everyone Knows Your third album is supposed to be
a coke album, and then the fourth album is when
you you know, you have to try to rediscover yourself
artistically and create the next you know, the next three
album sequence. But so they're all out of order. But

(56:21):
I argue that Vices and virtues from very good to excellent.
It's it's one of it's still one of my favorite albums,
and easily my favorite Panic at the Disco album. And
then I would argue that Pretty Odd and Death of
a Bachelor are both good and slept on because of
again people anchoring to the initial Panic at the Disco

(56:42):
or what he is now. I don't have a ton
of time for Pray for the Wicked or Too Weird
to Live, Too Rare to Die, Like Too Weird to Live,
Too Rare to Die just seems like a band at
the edge of the you know, at the edge of
their time together, which they were, and Pray for the
Wicked just didn't do it for me. But Death of
a Bachelor as a first like solo pass is actually
pretty good with some pretty catchy songs also some very

(57:03):
cheesy songs that set up that Taylor Swift collaboration very well.
But yeah, that's my my hot take is that as
much as I appreciate a fever you can't sweat out
and a lot of the songs on this and what it,
you know, the place that it held for me in
two thousand and five and two thousand and six, Vices
and Virtues is by far the best panic album and
slept on because of kind of the enormity of a

(57:27):
fever you can't sweat out as like a cultural snapshot.
So if you guys have the time and the energy,
I recommend Vices and Virtues.

Speaker 6 (57:33):
I'll give it a listen.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
So yeah, sure, yeah, I.

Speaker 1 (57:37):
Mean do it, especially like Josh, if you liked Pretty Odd,
like especially pretty how pretty Odd contrasts to a fever
you can't sweat out. I think Vices and Virtues like
they figured a lot of that stuff out that maybe
didn't get all the way there on Pretty Odd.

Speaker 6 (57:50):
So that's encouraging. That's the path that I would hope
that they would have gone down.

Speaker 1 (57:55):
Yeah, and it's a little folkier too, so I think
it like in terms of like trying an album, trying
to for ten years like it just it's not as
I don't know, it's less like genre dependent. It's just
kind of a standalone thing is pretty good. Anyway. We
are not going to rank Panic at the disco albums here.
I have made my take clear, and you guys both
really only care about a fever. You can't swit out.

(58:17):
So what we're gonna do instead, Josh, this is normally
the time in the podcast where we choose a song
from this album for the mixtape, and whether that's our
favorite or the one we feel best represents the discussion,
or the one the guest wants on there for some
other reason. We can go a lot of directions with
this before we do that, Jake, I want your top

(58:38):
songs off the album, since you are someone who came
to it later and doesn't like the song that most
people for sure know from the album.

Speaker 2 (58:46):
I would say that my favorite is Introduction and Intermission.
No London Beckins songs about money blah blah blah. I
really liked, I really liked I think Time to Dance
kicks ass. I won't lie. Yeah, that song's great. That
song should be bigger than it is, but it's better
if you do. I think, as much as I don't

(59:07):
like that second half as much, I think that's the
best example I guess of that like what they were
trying to accomplish there, whether or not I think it
fully worked or not. So I would say those are
my three favorites, and like I would say that that
first half, so like only Difference till intermission, I can

(59:28):
any of those are totally fine by me, except maybe
Lying is the most fun a girl can have because
that song's weird.

Speaker 1 (59:35):
Of course, but it's so sexy and it does do
a good job highlighting how we, you know, vibe with
music as teens and early twenties versus looking back on it, Josh,
I know you're very fond of I constantly thank God
for esbum, which if anyone was curious, if you look

(59:56):
on genius dot com, where you can see how many
times people have looked up the lyrics for songs tenth
out of eleven on the album.

Speaker 6 (01:00:02):
Oh Wow Sleeper Pick, I would say that despite paying
money for it in the past, and maybe that's part
of why I it is not here that isn't the
one I'm gonna put forward here. I actually like the
songwriting on a couple of these songs more than I
thought I would. And nails for breakfast Tacks for snacks
is actually kind of like an interesting song to me.

Speaker 3 (01:00:28):
What your mouth?

Speaker 5 (01:00:29):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
Because your stage is third enough that you just might
swallow your tongue.

Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Show you a who wants to give up the ghost
with just a little more poison.

Speaker 5 (01:00:41):
That was it?

Speaker 4 (01:00:43):
God who chokes in these situations running?

Speaker 3 (01:00:46):
They don't know he got a head?

Speaker 4 (01:00:49):
Is he?

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
God who chokes in these situations? Running?

Speaker 6 (01:00:53):
They don't know he got any.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
Relaxing, we can get away your cut above all the rest,
stick outside patients on first name basis, with all the
top buzzi show.

Speaker 3 (01:01:11):
For goot, I saw the sets. I'll set the bells nice,
get a day time.

Speaker 7 (01:01:24):
Prescribe also set, I'll set the bells nice, shine.

Speaker 5 (01:01:32):
In time, the hospice says, relaxing, we can get away.
You're a cut above all the rest, stick aside patients
on first name basis with all the top buzzy show.

Speaker 1 (01:01:53):
So sorry, Jake, I can't remember was that in your
okay list or in your reject list?

Speaker 2 (01:01:58):
That's in my okay. Let's I'm fine with that, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
Nails for breakfast, tax for snacks going on. This is
the weekly me typing into the microphone. Nails for Breakfast
for Snacks going on the mixtape.

Speaker 6 (01:02:11):
Can I just say one thing that I can't stop
thinking about about this record?

Speaker 5 (01:02:14):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (01:02:15):
I love this program and I love coming on because
I was learned so much between the two of you.
Both are such great minds for music, and then I
get to learn things. And Blake said something right before
we cut to the song, the Taylor Swift one, and
I can't stop thinking about it. You're telling me there
was a guy who threw away the Panic at the
disco meal ticket because he wasn't he couldn't get good
enough at base.

Speaker 1 (01:02:35):
Yeah apparently, wow, that is he claims they kicked him
out without explanation, and they did over a phone call,
and the band, from what I gathered trying to find
media about it, the band did not want to like
throw him under the bus and be like this guy's trash.
But the guy tried to sue them for royalties for
twenty five percent of the royalties off of Fever you
Can't Sweat out, and then they had to be like, look, man,

(01:02:57):
Brandon had to redo all your parts?

Speaker 5 (01:03:00):
Oh my lord?

Speaker 6 (01:03:01):
Yeah you think you think for Panic at the disco
you can practice bass a little. I mean, I'm a
basis you can get to that level. You lock yourself
at a room for a couple of weeks, you could
be at that level.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
What was this guy thinking they only had a couple
of weeks though maybe maybe it was you know, five
and a two weeks to learn to play live. Maybe
that's all it was.

Speaker 6 (01:03:17):
I guess you know what I had it considered that
short window might to really hoop the guy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:21):
Yeah, oh man, Josh, do you have any other takes
on the album or Panic before? Before we wrap things
up here.

Speaker 6 (01:03:27):
I just want to say that there is space for
my life in a band, a band that entirely makes
songs like but it's better if you do. There's room
in my life for that. I listen. I went back
to that one a couple of times at the end
of that. It's not my favorite. I don't think it
represents the album the most. But like you called out,
exiting intermission just into this sort of like loungey you know,
I'm not saying it's a billy Joel song, but like

(01:03:49):
evocative of something a little bit more in that sphere,
certainly than the rest of the album. I could get
into a band doing more of that thing, for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:03:56):
What about you, Jake, any any takes before we take
off here?

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
No, I think so. I don't think so, but I am.
I do find the whole Panic journey very interesting, and
I find it, to go back to the fall Up
Boy comparison, I find it interesting that despite all of it,
both kind of ended up in the same place, just differently,

(01:04:20):
which I think makes sense as they kind of started
in the same place but differently as well.

Speaker 1 (01:04:26):
Cool, all right, Well, so Nails for Breakfast, tax for Snacks,
going on the mixtape from Panic at the discos, a
fever you can't sweat out Josh at you know you can.
You can get all his wrestling stuff, Wrestling brain, All's
UFC stuff, and the Cruiser RAK Classic Special New Japan Breakdowns.
I've been on a couple of times. I love it.
He is to spoil a part of what I assume

(01:04:49):
is going to be in his Cruise Rak Classic Breakdown
is the coda Abushi of podcast guests. Oh Josh, thank
you so much man.

Speaker 6 (01:04:57):
You two are the best couldn't appreciate it anymore. People
have a wonderful evenn.

Speaker 1 (01:05:01):
We would also like to thank mister Dylan who has
to take all this mess and put it in a
cohesive podcast that work, all those VisiC cues in and
everything we could not deal with every so thank you
to Dylan. Please try to finish