On January 24, Brendon Urie, the lead vocalist of the pop-rock band Panic! At The Disco, announced the group’s disbandment.

The well-known band was formed in 2004 by high school friends Spencer Smith, Ryan Ross, Urie, and Brent Wilson. According to AllMusic, “after tiring of playing another group’s material, they [Smith and Ross] recruited two additional classmates, guitar/vocalist Brendon Urie and bassist Brent Wilson.” The band then started to make demos which they uploaded onto the internet, thus catching the attention of the label record Decaydance Records of Fueled By Ramen, but the rest is history.

Over the years, the group’s lineup changed. Member Wilson was fired from the group and subsequently found a new bassist in the form of Jon Walker in 2005. Another lineup change occurred in 2009 when founding member Ross and member Walker left to create their own band in 2009,  leading to the recruitment of members Ian Crawford and Dallon Weekes. The next founding member to leave the lineup was Smith in 2015, thus leaving room for the remaining founding member and lead vocalist, Urie to take the helm.

After more than fifteen years, Urie announced the group’s disbandment in an Instagram post on the band’s official page. His reason for disbandment was revealed to be his prioritization of his family but he didn’t forget to express his gratefulness to fans and the group’s successful musical journey.

Class of 2022 Wayne Hills student Deepak Sathish expressed feelings of sadness and said, “The last album tanked and was widely critically panned. It’s a shame too, because I was hoping he’d make one more really good album before stepping away . . . their music means a lot to me.”

Current Hills student, Jessica Smith said, “Sadness! At The Disco.”

Meanwhile, Senior Bethany Gonzales expressed feelings of happiness for their disbandment and contempt for the group’s lead singer: “That guy [Brendon Urie] is a creep” and should have “left their trash in 2017.”

It is clear there are mixed feelings regarding the group but it is worth noting that throughout the group’s history, they released 9 albums: A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005), Pretty. Odd. (2008), …Live In Chicago (2008), Vices & Virtues (2011), Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! (2013), Death of a Bachelor (2016), All My Friends, We’re Glorious: Death of a Bachelor Tour Live (2017), Pray for the Wicked (2018), and Viva Las Vengeance (2022). According to Billboard, the band’s top 5 songs are:

1. “This Is Gospel”
2. “Nine In the Afternoon”
3. “Hallelujah”
4. “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is the Press Coverage”
5. “Time To Dance”

Hills Senior Gianna Passaro was never an active listener of their songs but she expressed liking their song, “Let’s Kill Tonight” but added that “[she] didn’t know they had recent songs until [she] looked it up now.”

Sathish also said that his current favorite song of the group is “Far Too Young To Die.”

Although the band has disbanded, they’ll have a place in everyone’s “House of Memories,” whether it be positive, negative, or passive, their music will live on.