Looking Back at Panic! At The Disco’s Discography. What Was the Best?

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Finn Lyons, Assistant Arts and Entertainment Editor

With the recent breakup of Panic! At The Disco, it is as good a time as ever to take a look back at all the albums the band released over 19 years. The band made a lot of good music, but it most certainly had its stinkers.

The band released seven albums in total. In this list I will not be ranking all the live albums, singles, or special releases as I feel it is not fair to lump those in with studio albums.

#7 Viva Las Vengeance (2022)

Unfortunately, Panic! At The Disco’s most recent, and final album is awful. It feels as if there is no soul put into the songs. Most of the songs feel like corporate commercial songs or songs made specifically to be radio hits. Now there are definitely good songs on this album such as Local God, or Viva Las Vengeance but other than those two songs I would not say that there is anything else worth listening to on this album.

Best song: Local God

Worst song: God Killed Rock And Roll

#6 Pray for the Wicked (2018)

Despite this being the second worst album I still think this is a decent album and it has a lot of good tracks. This album began the problem that caused Viva Las Vengeance to flop, that problem being the corporatization of Panic! At The Disco’s music. Pray for the Wicked has a few great songs (F*ck A) Sliver Lining and High Hopes both being great songs but after that it drops down in quality. Not to say Say Amen (Saturday Night) or Hey Look Ma, I Made It are bad because they are not but the problem with these two songs is that they have amazing choruses but the main versus are “meh” at best. Other than the songs I mention the rest are just fine or just bad. The Overpass and Old Fashioned in particular just do not have the same Panic! At The Disco vibe as any other song on this album or albums previous.

Best song: (F*ck A) Sliver Lining

Worst song: The Overpass

#5 Vices & Virtues (2011)

From here on out, I think all the albums are good, but in the end some had to be ranked lower than others. The classical sounds mixed with newer pop and rock sounds make for an interesting mix of steampunk and pop rock that makes you want to dance but also makes you want to sit and listen to the story that the songs are telling. The reason Vices & Virtues falls down to five on my list is because there are a couple of songs that simply do not fit on the album. The songs Always and Sarah Smiles are completely different from the rest of the songs on the album. They are both great songs but when listening to the album in full they are jarring and would fit much better on a different album.

Best song: Ballad of Mona Lisa

Worst song: The Calendar

#4 Death of a Bachelor (2016)

Death of a Bachelor brings back the old Panic! At The Disco vibe from the first album. There is a ton of life in all of these songs, even if some of them are not amazing. The first half of Death of a Bachelor is electric and some of the best songs Panic! At The Disco has to offer but as you get closer to the end of the album the songs become electric, slower and more melancholic. I think this style works because it tells the story of well, the death of a bachelor. Like I said the beginning of the album is electric and groovy, it makes you want to dance as if you can not stop. Then the song Golden Days hits and you can see how this would mark a wedding and leaving the fast paced bachelor life behind and that is where the slower paced songs come in.

Best song: LA Devotee

Worst song: Impossible Year

#3 A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out (2005)

This debut album is a great vibe. It has the electronic wave that I have mentioned before and this would set the tone for the rest of the Panic! At The Disco albums to come. The vocals are the thing that stands out the most. They are very natural and crisp, and they stand out against the electronic waves behind the vocals. These two parts of the songs mix perfectly and it makes you want to get up and dance. The biggest problem is that most of the songs sound the same, a lot of them have the same melody just with different lyrics. Again, these songs are all good but they seem a bit lazy, but for a debut album it is great.

Best song: I Write Sins Not Tragedies

Worst song: There’s a Good Reason These Tables Are Numbered Honey, You Just Haven’t Thought of It Yet

#2 Pretty. Odd. (2008)

Pretty. Odd. is the perfect title for this album. The whole album feels like what you would imagine a psychedelic trip would be like. It has a mysterious, magical vibe with a for the time modern 80’s vibe to it. A lot of the songs flow right into each other, most notably We’re So Starving and Nine in the Afternoon. This album is just so fun it makes you just want to sway and chill out.

Best song: Nine in the Afternoon

Worst song: I Have Friends In Holy Spaces

#1 Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! (2013)

This is by far the best Panic! At The Disco album. This album feels ripped straight out of Las Vegas. It has that chaotic dancing feel that you would expect to find in Vegas, but there is also slower songs that also fit right into the Vegas feel. The faster paced dancing songs Vegas Lights and Miss Jackson (feat. LOLO) have some of the best beats, and builds ups and music drops in Panic! At The Disco’s entire discography. Looking at a song like Casual Affair is a perfect name and song for this Vegas themed album. You can not talk about this album without mentioning possibly Panic! At The Disco’s most popular song This is Gospel which is not only a song which tells a beautify story but also has a beautiful melody.

Best song: This is Gospel

Worst song: The End of All Things