On January 24th, Brendon Urie, the sole remaining member of Panic! At The Disco, announced that the project would be ending after 19 years following a final tour of Europe. Urie’s reasoning was the upcoming birth of his first child and a desire to be with his family. 

The band was formed in 2004 by drummer Spencer Smith and guitarist Ryan Ross in the suburbs of Las Vegas as a blink-182 cover band. The band was joined by bassist Brent Wilson and lead vocalist Brendon Urie. Once they started developing their own original they reached out to Fall Out Boy guitarist Pete Wentz, who was so impressed with the group he began promoting them and got them to signed to a label, Fueled by Ramen.

The group’s debut album, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, and its top single “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” was a major success. The group rode the wave of the rise of emo rock music that was popular at the time but also kept its own unique sound and a vaudeville persona. With new bassist Jon Walker, the group released their second album Pretty. Odd in 2008 and climbed the charts, the group’s concerts became bigger and more theatrical . In 2009, Ross and Walker left the band, due to creative differences. Smith and Urie, joined by Dallon Weekes, embarked on a successful co headlining tour with blink-182 and released the third album Vices and Virtues, another success and the single “New Perspective” for the film Jennifer’s Body

The band’s fourth album, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! hit number two on the Billboard 200 in 2013. Smith left the band due to his struggle with alcoholism shortly after, with Weekes stepping down as an official member as well.Panic! At The Disco became a solo project headed by Brendon Urie, and the band’s sound went fully into a pop rock direction. Urie released three albums, Death of a Bachelor, Pray for The Wicked, and Viva Las Vengeance, under the Panic! at The Disco moniker. “High Hopes” from Pray for The Wicked became the project’s most successful single, hitting number 4 on Billboard.

The band leaves behind an interesting legacy. One as a member of the “Emo Trinity” of successful emo rock bands, alongside Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. The band had successful sales for every album and have been streamed and bought millions of time. While the Panic!’s later work had a lukewarm reaction from fans and many fans feel that Urie “retiring” Panic! is redundant since it stopped being a band years ago. Their body of work and exciting live shows is undeniably successful and they had legions of loyal fans. The retirement of Panic! at the Disco marks the end of an era and a chapter closed in music history.