Panic! at the Disco

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RPF Fandom
Name(s):	Panic! at the Disco, briefly Panic at the Disco
Scope/Focus:	Core band in Bandom
Date(s):	2004-2009
See also:	Fall Out Boy, The Academy Is...
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Panic! at the Disco, often abbreviated Panic! or P!ATD, was a pop/alternative rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2004. Since 2015, it has become the solo project of Brendon Urie, the band's only remaining founding member, until he retired in 2023. Its lineup has changed significantly over the years, and include former members and colleagues of The Academy Is... and The Cab.

As the first band signed to Pete Wentz's label Decaydance (an imprint of Fueled By Ramen), Panic! is one of the core Bandom bands, and the subject of a significant amount of fanfiction.

Fandom History

See also: Timeline of Bandom and Bandom History

Conception, 2004-2006

Childhood friends Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith formed a band as teenagers, going through several names and lineup changes before introducing Brent Wilson and Brendon Urie in early 2004 and deciding on the name Panic! at the Disco. The first fandom heard about this band was in late 2004.

Early PATD fandom was drawn mainly from teenage fans of Fall Out Boy and other Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen bands. Many of the intro posts in the patd LiveJournal community mentioned hearing about the band from Pete Wentz's blog or FOB message boards. Others mentioned streaming site PureVolume or the FBR CD sampler. A few mentioned seeing Ryan Ross's posts promoting the band on the tightpants LiveJournal community. At the time, the band hadn't ever played live. Instead, teenage Ryan Ross had, according to legend (bandom primers), nagged Pete Wentz online to get him to listen to the band's demos. Pete was in LA at the time and drove all the way to Vegas to watch them rehearse, shortly thereafter signing them to his new label and becoming an early promoter of the band. This, plus Pete and Ryan's somewhat sexually-charged leaked AIM conversations, make up a large portion of Wentzross lore.

In early PATD fandom, fans were active on forums, MySpace, and LiveJournal; some fans created fansites. Fandom had contact with the band online, leading to some fourth wall issues for fanfic writers. Many of the fansites and forums have since gone offline, MySpace suffered various massive data losses, and many fans have had their LiveJournal accounts deleted after the servers moved to Russia and the TOS was changed to comply with Russian law.

patd, the first LiveJournal community for PATD fans, was created in December 2004. It saw massive growth over the course of 2005 after the band debuted with electro-cabaret-pop punk hybrid phenomenon A Fever You Can't Sweat Out in September. Fanfic featuring the band followed soon after. Crossover slashfic featuring the members was posted as early as October 2005 in slashypunkboys. In November 2005, posts on rareslashpairs about Panic slash prompted other fans to comment that they had expected it. In January 2006, someone on slashypunkboys asked where to find PATD slash and was referred to slashatthedisco, the first and largest LiveJournal community for posting PATD slash, which was created in September 2005.

In 2006 many more LiveJournal communities were created, including pairing-specific communities for Ryan/Brendon and Ryan/Spencer (communities for other pairings were not created until 2007 or later). protecturprost8 was created as a higher quality alternative to slashatthedisco; discoattheslash was created as a non-elitist alternative to protecturprost8, and rydenfree was created in response to the perceived ubiquity of Ryan/Brendon fanfic. patdslashseek was created after slashatthedisco banned fic finding posts.

Rise of Bandom, 2006-2008

Crossover interest between PATD and other Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen bands began early, due to how the band was first advertised. Cross-pollination of the fandom continued when Panic! went on their first tour with The Academy Is.... This tour was where they met future member Jon Walker, a guitar tech for The Academy is.... Brendon also appeared in Fall Out Boy's 2006 music video, A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me".

In May 2006, Brent Wilson was fired from the band and replaced with Jon Walker. (It is a subject of some debate how friendly of a departure this was, though it seems to be generally agreed upon that it was not particularly planned or congenial.) At the time some fans were upset, but a majority of fans joined the fandom after this incident, so Brent, who had never been the most popular member, became a footnote in the band's backstory, mostly used as a side character in early-days fanfiction. Panic 2.0 was the name of Panic!'s lineup containing Jon.

In part due to their sudden mainstream fame and their connections with other bands, adult slash fans became interested in Panic! and started damnyouwentz in March 2006 for crossover fic. This led to the growth of Bandom as a multi-band fandom, which in turn enticed more slash fans into Panic! fandom. Bandom exploded in 2007, Panic! being one of the three core bands. A lot of slash fan activity for Panic! occurred on crossover LiveJournal communities and challenges.

In March 2007, Panic! stopped touring and secluded themselves in a Nevada cabin to write their next album. Their isolation combined with the hallucinogenic drugs they were doing reportedly led to them going a little crazy and being unproductive. Cricket & Clover, the album they developed in the cabin but proceeded to scrap, is the subject of wild fan speculation. Fans started writing Cabin Fic almost immediately.

The actual second album, Pretty. Odd, came out in 2008 and was musically distinct from the first, reportedly inspired by Ryan's interest in The Beatles. Pretty. Odd was occasionally referred to by fans as "The Gay Album."

Post-Divorce

In June of 2009, the band split, which fans usually refer to as "the divorce." Brendon and Spencer remained in Panic! at the Disco, while Ryan and Jon left and formed The Young Veins. The split was reportedly amicable, with both halves of the band wanting to go in different directions musically. This is not reflected in most fanworks, which typically represent the split as a bitter temporary or permanent fracturing of intense intra-band friendships and/or romantic relationships. Despite disbanding and eventually leaving the public eye, Ryan and Jon remain popular in some sections of the fandom.

The band's split broke up the fandom's most popular ship, Brendon/Ryan, but gave a boost to Brendon/Spencer, which was popular for a few years. Brendon/Ryan has remained popular, but the participation rates in the annual Bandom Big Bang writing/art challenge show that, at least on LiveJournal, the band's split coincided with bandom gradually losing interest in Panic!. The musical shift in Pretty. Odd. and their fall from relevance may also have been contributing factors.

The band's third album, Vices & Virtues, was released in March of 2011. "Vices" was the first album the band released that was not primarily written by Ross. Fanfiction often represents it as being written by Urie, or Urie and Smith, but Wentz had a significant role in its writing. Fans have often interpreted the album as being almost entirely about a possible break-up with Ryan Ross, or more generally about the break-up of the band. The loss of half the band necessitated hiring touring musicians, Ian Crawford of The Cab and Dallon Weekes, who were subsequently featured in fanfiction. Many fans shipped Brendon/Dallon. Ian left in 2012 and doesn't seem to have been as popular in fanfiction. Due to drug problems, Spencer unofficially left the band after the fourth album came out in 2013 and formally left in 2015, possibly leading the Brendon/Spencer ship to lose popularity.

Fandom post-LiveJournal

In the 2010s, Bandom fans migrated to Tumblr and AO3, so some LiveJournal fanfic is still accessible in 2024. Despite Brendon Urie's retirement in 2023, new waves of pre-split Panic! fans (specifically fans of Ryan Ross) still crop up consistently on Tumblr and Twitter. The 2006 unnamed Summer Tour documentary Live in Denver, as well as archival blogs like prettyoddfever and pathetic-at-the-disco are popular among new fans, some of whom were not even alive at the same time as the band's first two albums, much less experienced it.

Fanon

The band's history was considered mythological, likely due to its partial fictionalization, the band's rapid rise to fame, and the seemingly random involvement of Pete Wentz. Panic! folklore has been noted to resemble fanfiction, many details having been transmitted through fanfiction itself. "Most everyone at a certain level of involvement with Panic knows these things and no one can remember exactly how they learned them," says a blog, referring to the fans.

Ryan/Spencer slash fic usually take place early in the band's conception, involving the two as younger teenagers with mutually "unrequited" crushes, internalized homophobia, and jealousy over girlfriends. Fic sometimes makes the boys go to different high schools, but always includes a sleepover scene.

Fan narratives emphasize family drama during the band's early stages. Urie is typically on extremely bad terms with his family in this period and for some time after. He is kicked out of his family's house, which is usually attributed to his family's devout Mormonism and Urie's experimentation with weed -- or, in slash fiction, his queerness. Urie lives in an apartment by himself, works at a fast-food establishment typically called 'Smoothie Hut,' and struggles with finishing high school, often dropping out. Ross' father is typically characterized as an alcoholic, which was confirmed, and as neglectful and physically (and often emotionally) abusive, which is not verifiable. His mother left when Ross was young. Ross did drop out of college after his first year, and have a subsequent falling out with his father.

Ross' voice is typically affectionately described in fanfiction as "shitty," which he agreed with in an interview. According to fanon, Ross decided that Urie would take over lead vocals after hearing him sing. According to fandom narratives, he was either too shy to request to sing instead of Ross, or genuinely unaware of his musical ability.

The band found other local bands bland, which "influenced them to be different and creative". Fan narratives typically have Ross conceal his correspondence with Wentz until his visit was confirmed, and some of the band members unable to meet Wentz due to prior commitments. Wentz signed the band to Decaydance despite their lack of experience performing.

The band firing Wilson is also dramatized. Fanfic often has him be absent on a certain show date as the last straw before the split.

Cabin Fic explore the shifting dynamics in the band after their rapid rise to fame, highlighting Ross smashing his own guitar due to frustration over the album, and their recreational use of marijuana and mushrooms.

See #Themes and Tropes below.

Controversies

Multiple allegations of sexual assault and offensive behavior have been made against Urie. Zack Hall and Kenneth Harris have also been the subjects of similar allegations.

2020 allegations against Urie and Hall

Two fans, who were underage at the time the events took place, have alleged that Urie sexually harassed and assaulted them, and was aware that they were underage. An article from The Daily Dot, "Brendon Urie accused of sexual harassment, pedophilia," is one of few, if not the only, coverage to use that term.

Allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct have also been made against Zack Cloud Hall in 2020, starting before the underage fans' allegations against Urie were made. Hall "has worked with Panic! since the early 2000s" and has been "a seeming gateway to all things Panic!". Allegations against Hall came after posts by Weekes, who discussed Hall's actions during his own time in Panic!, calling them "abusive behavior" which Hall "dismissed as 'jokes'" and saying that things got worse when Weekes "stopped 'playing along'". After Weekes' posts, "several fans [began] digging into Hall’s questionable history and calling for his removal from the team". In response to fan testimony of harassment from Hall, Weekes' wife Breezy shared that she was subjected to sexual harassment by Hall when Weekes was in Panic!, and that she only tolerated it so Weekes could keep his job.

In 2022, Weekes edited an Instagram post to include the caption "#tbt To when I was shot with an airsoft gun on stage in the middle of playing a song and I had to pretend ti was funny so I could keep my job", referring to an incident where Urie did just that. Weekes has before and since made multiple allusions to his time in Panic! being troublesome.

Past allegations

Urie has also been the cause of repeated controversy prior to the 2020 allegations. "With the rise of the new allegations, Urie's history of racist, sexist, and ableist actions, in addition to other times in which he touched someone without their consent, have come back to light". The 2020 allegations resulted in discussion of Urie's sexually inappropriate and/or aggressive actions, and other offensive behavior. A frequently-cited thread by a now-suspended Twitter user includes sourced claims of Urie's slut-shaming women, fetishizing bisexuality, slamming homosexuality, fat shaming, and engaging in transphobia and ableism.

Urie's past controversies also includes his "allegedly admitting to repeatedly sexually assaulting (or "sexually harassing", worded differently by a different source with similar content in the article) former P!ATD member Ryan Ross".

Urie was also accused of using drugs to sexually assault an ex-girlfriend, although she rescinded the allegations after harassment from Panic! fans. This incident is not widely known, and appears to have been absent from the 2020 discussion of Urie's actions. However, it was less prominently spread by beachdeath, a prominent Tumblr user and founder of The Niche, in response to news of Urie's collaboration with Taylor Swift years before.

Kenneth Harris was dismissed from the band in 2018 following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct involving underage fans, which Urie called "a personal matter" in his tweet announcing Harris' dismissal.

Fan responses to controversy

Fan discourse and online campaigns

Fan responses to the 2020 allegations, and the discussion of Urie's past actions, were mixed. It appears that Bandom opinion has mostly turned against Urie.

The allegations against Hall were met with fan campaigns for Urie to "speak up" and for Hall to be fired. They included the Twitter hashtags #firezackhall and #brendonuriespeakup, the Twitter account @firezackhall (since deactivated), Carrd pages, and a petition.

Allegations against Urie, and the rediscovery and discussion of his history of inappropriate and offensive behaviour, resulted in Urie's fall from some fans' favour, and the Twitter hashtag #BrendonUrieIsOverParty. (That hashtag had been previously used for other Urie-related controversies, but this specific instance is worth noting.)

Other fans have attempted to discredit the allegations against Urie. This includes the Twitter hashtag #WeStandWithBrendonUrie - and the conclusion by the Meaww article's writer that Urie is innocent. A small handful of other fans accused the alleged victims of falsifying their claims, claiming that Urie's accusers' stories were similar to certain Panic! fanfiction(s), that the shows they attended were in fact 18+, and that the accusers' Twitter accounts were only established to make false claims and subject Urie to controversy. In one Reddit thread relating to the allegations, "many users defend[ed] the singer, saying his behavior has been taken too seriously".

Bandom/RPF-related responses

Fan production of Panic! fanfiction on AO3 is significantly slower than it was during their heyday and its early 2010s revival. Not enough Panic! fanfiction is being produced to analyze the impact of the allegations on Urie's bandom presence. However, some recent Ryden fanfics have been edited after the 2020 allegations to feature disclaimers that the author condones Urie's actions.

Bandom fans on Tumblr and Twitter have exhibited a strong, but not universal, tendency to couple their renouncement of Urie with support and appreciation of Ross. Fans emphasize Ross' contributions to Panic!'s early lyrics, aesthetics, and sound, and mock Urie both for his actions and for what is presented as a degradation of Panic!'s artistic merit into grating commercialized pop.

Urie's attempts to kiss Ross onstage elicited mainly positive responses in Bandom, up until fairly recent quotes from Urie caused those instances of "stage gay" to be reconsidered in the context of sexual assault and harassment. Some fans condemned Urie then, but not as emphatically as is common now. Some have retracted their statements condemning Urie, reflecting that the "stage gay" was a combined effort from Urie and Ross to appeal to fangirls. While the issue skewered toward queerbaiting which was typical of the time, there is strong evidence that their stage performances were scripted and all consensual.

Members

Former members

• Brendon Urie – lead vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards (2004–2023)
• Brent Wilson – bass (2004–2006)
• Ryan Ross – lead guitar, vocals, keyboards (2004–2009)
• Jon Walker – bass, guitar, backing vocals, keyboards, bells (2006–2009)
• Spencer Smith – drums, percussion (2004–2015)
• Dallon Weekes - bass, backing vocals (2010-2015)

Touring members

• Eric Ronick – keyboards, backing vocals (2006–2008)
• Bartram Nason – cello, keyboard, electric drums (2006)
• Ian Crawford – lead guitar, backing vocals (2009-2012)
• Dallon Weekes - bass, backing vocals (2009-2010, 2015-2017)
• Kenneth Harris – lead guitar, backing vocals (2013–2018)
• Dan Pawlovich – drums, percussion (2013–present)
• Nicole Row - bass, backing vocals (2018-present)
• Mike Naran - guitar, backing vocals (2018-present)

Fanworks

Pairings

Panic ship popularity on AO3, 2010-2020

Panic! pairings are most often slash, focusing on combinations of Panic!'s second lineup (Urie, Ross, Smith, and Walker).

Brendon/Ryan is the most popular pairing. The prominence of Ryden was especially high in early Bandom and in LiveJournal communities like slashatthedisco. Brendon/Spencer is also popular, and increased in popularity and intensity after the split. Brendon/Dallon, or "Brallon," is somewhat popular, likely due to Weekes' comparatively long stay in the band and some "stage gay" with Urie. GSF featuring the band's second lineup is not uncommon. Spencer/Jon is a relatively common side pairing in Ryden fanfic. As a main pairing, it is not very popular, and works focusing on "Joncer" tend to be shorter and less serious.

Sarah Urie, nee Orzechowski, is occasionally shipped with Urie. Due to bandom's strong interest in "bandslash," past Sarah/Brendon, or a Sarah/Brendon breakup, is more likely.

Panic! members are occasionally shipped with members of other bands, typically from the Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance, for example, Pete/Ryan or Wentzross.

Themes and Tropes

• High School AUs are quite popular, likely because Panic!'s members knew each other at that age and Ross and Smith went to high school together. There are also several college AUs.
  • High school AUs often address members' relationships with their families, focusing on Ross and Urie. Common elements include abusive/neglectful/alcoholic parents (Ross), religious and homophobic family (Urie), getting kicked out/disowned (Urie), occasional support from supportive friends' families (typically Smith's mother Ginger), and bullying. Wilson is usually a minor character.
• Coffee shop AUs are common, in which Jon works as a barista at Starbucks and Brendon at Smoothie Hut, since both of them actually held those jobs in the past.
• Cabin fic refers to stories set during the time the band went and locked themselves away in a cabin in the woods to attempt to write an album. These stories often involve a significant amount of drug use.
• The members' real pets are mentioned in fic. It seems to be a lot more common in bandom than in some other fandoms, possibly because so many of them talk about how awesome their dogs are in interviews and on Twitter. For example, Ryan's dog Hobo and Jon's cat Dylan.
• Divorce fic deals with the aftermath of the split between Brendon&Spencer and Jon&Ryan, either as fix-it fic in which they reconcile, or as a subject of angst.

A 2007 list of Panic slash tropes posted to slashypunkboys: 67 Things There Will Always Be in Panic!Slash, ^{Archived version}

Fanwork Examples

Fan art

• panic at the disco by Reuccia
• PANIC At The Disco by Bang-The-Doldrums
• Panic by catdragongrl
• Panic: At the Disco by r-ingo

Fanfiction

• The history of the band has been recorded perhaps best in wearemany's Give me more. Though highly fictionalized, the story uses a significant amount of research and actual history. (Brendon/Ryan, 2007)
• Fullcollapse (LJ, formerly nepenthe_) wrote a 200,000+ word Brendon/Ryan High School AU, during 2006/2007 called Infinite, Sometimes.
• Guernica is a blind Brendon/artist Ryan AU.
• Two Vatos Locos Full of Carnalismo and Inamoratos by wellthisisprettyrisque is a dark Soulmate AU story where soulmates dream together. (Brendon/Ryan, 2015-2016)
• Sunsetmog wrote many popular fics: e.g. If Music Be The Food Of Love (I'll Have The Veggie Burger) (High school AU), Here at the right time, Thereafter you have it (kidfic), You can sit beside me (High school AU)
• LittleMousling (AO3)
• Milk (aka the Milk Fic) is an infamous kink/shockfic. (Brendon/Ryan, 2011)
• The Heart Rate of a Mouse (AO3), abbreviated to THROAM, is a three-volume 500,000 word fic detailing the complex and intricate relationship of Ryan Ross and Brendon (Roscoe) Urie, set in the 1970s. It was written by Anna Green (arctic_grey) on her fic account beggarsnotes from 2009-2011, which has been purged since.

Fannish Resources

Primers

• Band Overview: Panic! at the Disco [active] by bandomguru in primedforbandom (2011-11-11)
• Panic! at the Disco Updated Primer & Picspam, part 1 by Roga on dreamwidth (2010-11-08)
• Panic At the Disco Primer part 1. by trippypeas (2009-02-17)
• Panic! Primer by Flimsy on livejournal (2007-07-24)
• omg it's an unlocked primer by cyclogenesis in damnyouwentz (2007-04-15)

Fanwork archives

• Panic fanworks at the Archive of Our Own (8.5K works as of 2024)
• panicatthedisco tag on Wattpad (1.2K stories as of 2024)
• Panic! at the Disco fanfics at FanFiction.net (which are not allowed due to their anti-RPF rule, but still exist: nearly 400 search results as of 2024, not all PATD stories)
• Fandomination.net: As of July 17, 2007, there were 278 PATD stories
• Fanworks.Org: As of 2017, there were 1.2K PATD stories
• Panic podfics at the Audiofic Archive (229 podfics as of 2016)

Communities

• patd - "The Official Panic! at the Disco LJ Community" (created 21 December 2004)
• slashatthedisco - the first PATD slash LJ community (created 29 September 2005)
• ryanlovesbrend - deleted community for Brendon/Ryan
• spencerxryan (created 12 August 2006)
• protecturprost8 (created 29 August 2006)
• fuckyou-patd (created 5 September 2006)
• discoattheslash - another slash comm (created 9 September 2006)
• patd-icons (created 1 October 2006)
• joncerr - comm for Jon/Spencer (created 27 February 2007)
• patdquestions - comm for asking canon questions for fic writing purposes (created 17 May 2007)
• failboatsinlove - comm for Brendon/Spencer (created 1 March 2009)
• stonersinlove - comm for Ryan/Jon (created 15 October 2009)
• thesameband, also on tumblr (created 23 January 2011)