Panic! At The Disco Top Five

Panic! are without a doubt one of the weirdest bands I have ever come across, but somehow they make it work, but they have been pretty successful in their time, especially with A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.

5) I Write Sins Not Tragedies
I don't know what to write about this song, because really, is there any way to really explain it?

4) Build God, Then We'll Talk
It's such a weird song (such a weird album), and I still don't quite get what they're aiming at, but I get the sense that whatever it is they've pulled it off, because I love this song.

3) Nicotine
The guitar riff coupled with that distant shout at the start just inspires in me this intense burning desire to hear this song live. Just listen to it. It would be fucking brilliant to be in a crowd, dancing away to this song blasting out of the speakers with the lights everywhere and just ugh

2) Vegas Lights
If you don't find yourself jumping about and punching the air and shouting to this song, then I think you might actually be dead. It's more pop than punk, but who cares when it's this awesome?

1) Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off
I am inclined to agree with the title of this song. It's so very emo, but who doesn't love emo? Plus the guitar in the background during the verses is so subtle that I never noticed how good it sounds until I saw the video.

Panic! Are Back!

I know I'm kind of late to the party here, but when my main source of internet is my phone, I tend to be very unwilling to click on links, so there's actually a couple of new songs by various artists that I need to listen to.
I am quite excited about Panic! At The Disco. Back when I first started getting into alternative music (emo, if that's how you insist on seeing it. I won't deny I have my leanings to the dark and angsty), I was drawn to them through the now-infamous I Write Sins Not Tragedies, which led me to getting A Fever You Can't Sweat Out (it's a weird album, but honestly absolutely brilliant as far as I'm concerned). Pretty Odd didn't quite get the same reception as its predecessor, and so it kind of passed me by - I still haven't sat down and listened to it properly as yet, but it sounds completely different to Fever... - but I was all over Vices And Virtues.
Then they went quiet, and they kind of drifted to the back of my mind. Brendon was still vaguely present in my mind through his tweets, but I had a lot of other bands to listen to.
Now, however, they're back. They've got two new songs; Miss Jackson, and This Is Gospel, off their upcoming album Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! (I was quite excited when I realised that's out of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas). So far, I haven't managed to actually listen to them, but from what I've heard from other fans they're following Panic!'s theme of reinventing their musical style with each album, and tagging onto the new deviation of pop punk that their big brother Fall Out Boy created earlier this year with Save Rock And Roll.

The fans were definitely right. It's definitely Panic!, but the slightly dirty but poppy feel to the music is quite Save Rock And Roll-y. I think that's a good thing, because when that album first came out I was kind of mixed about it, but now I and a lot of other fans have adjusted to the new style, it's a perfect time for Panic! At The Disco to start doing this. It's not eyeliner, angst and weird Victorian pantomime type music, like their older stuff. It's a lot more big beats and choruses full of backing singers doing slightly eerie shouting. It's a lot less focused on having complicated lyrics, but there is still a darkness in there that works well against what does sound more pure pop than pop punk or alternative.

I was apprehensive that they wouldn't be able to get me with both songs. Panic! has this way of making each song they do unique in a way that it can be quite difficult to guarantee that you're going to like a whole album based off one or two songs. However, I was proven wrong with this. A bit more upbeat than Miss Jackson, but still with that same kind of defiant feel, this has made me very excited about their new album.

Forgive me for bringing My Chem into this, but I'm seeing a slightly Danger Days-esque trend with my favourite bands these days. What I mean by that is that in the older music of some of these bands, it's just as good but there's a lot more darkness and complicated feelings. Then there comes a point where, in their real lives they battle whatever demons fuelled the previous stuff, and the music they make when they've overcome that tends to be a lot more cheerful, a lot more hopeful. MCR did it with Danger Days after the stress that had been building up throughout the Black Parade era, after getting their personal lives sorted and maturing. Fall Out Boy did it after dealing with their various issues - Patrick has admitted to being quite controlling over how the music was being made to the point of shutting out Andy and Joe, and Pete needed to deal with his excessive fame - and came back to us with Save Rock And Roll. Now, Panic! At The Disco, if the rest of their music follows this trend, are giving us Too Weird To Live . . . as their 'we've grown up' album. They've had a lot of issues with changing band members, and, as P!ATD fans will know, Spencer (drums) has backed out of their current tour to continue recovering from his addictions (well done, seriously Spencer).
Some people might not like that. There are some people out there who feel that artists make their best music while their lives are fucked up, and I will admit that I do really love a lot of the music I've heard that was created during bouts of extreme depression and drug use. But the thing is that we need happy music. We need happy, powerful music that follows on from the message of the previous music, that there are other people out there who suffer, and we need the music that says 'well yeah it's been bad, but we're here now and we've gotten past our problems and we're calm and happy and stable and we're going to make music to show that'.

A Cool Band Logo (21 of 30)

Panic! At The Disco, hands down. Any of their various logos, all of them. I drew and cut out my favourite band logos and stuck them on my wall, and I only did it because Panic!'s Vices And Virtues logo was so awesome. To celebrate this, listen to Camisado, off their first album.

Summery Tunes

Because it's summer, and I thought maybe you'd want some suggestions for happy songs to listen to while you lie in the grass and hold cats and drink beer and run screaming from the wasps. You know, barbecue-y, party-ish songs. Stuff to chill out to, while it's still safe to go outside.

MGMT - Electric Feel

Empire Of The Sun - We Are The People

Gorillaz - On Melancholy Hill

Bob Marley - Is This Love

Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream

Otis Redding - Sitting On The Dock Of A Bay

My Chemical Romance - Summertime

Sleeping With Sirens - All My Heart

Panic! At The Disco - That Green Gentleman (Things Have Changed)

Feeder - Seven Days In The Sun

Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World

All Time Low - Six Feet Under The Stars (Acoustic)

Without A Face - Stung

Morbid Songs For Morbid Writers

Aside from listening to music, I also like to write. I like to write morbid things about death and violence. To aid this cause, I made myself a playlist, and I think it may have broken with me. So, because maybe you're after a really depressing but cool collection of music, I will share this playlist with you.

Blink 182 - I Miss You

Blink 182 - Adam's Song

Echo And The Bunnymen - The Killing Moon

Gram Rabbit - Dirty Horse

Florence + The Machine - Cosmic Love

The Cure - Disintegration

The Cure - The Same Deep Water As You

My Chemical Romance - Romance

My Chemical Romance - Desert Song

My Chemical Romance - Interlude

My Chemical Romance - Cancer

Arctic Monkeys - 505

Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning

White Lies - Farewell To The Fairground

White Lies - Bigger Than Us

Deaf Havana - I Will Try

Deaf Havana - Times Change, Friends Leave And Life Doesn't Stop For Anybody

Deaf Havana - Nicotine And Alcohol Saved My Life

Panic! At The Disco - Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off

Bring Me The Horizon - Deathbeds

5 Songs: N

Panic! At The Disco - Nails For Breakfast, Tacks For Snacks

Little Boots - New In Town

Arcade Fire - No Cars Go

You Me At Six - No One Does It Better

Funeral For A Friend - Novella

5 Songs: I

Deaf Havana - I'm A Bore, Mostly

The Blackout - I'm A Riot? You're A Fucking Riot!

Leathermouth - I Am Going To Kill The President Of The United States Of America

Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins, Not Tragedies

Bob Marley And The Wailers - I Shot The Sheriff

5 Songs: B

Originally this thing was going to be ten songs but I could only find seven for A so I shortened it.

The Cribs - Back To The Bolthole
I just like this one because it's a really good song to make up your own words to and just kind of stamp angrily and flail your arms. Some would call that modern dance.

Panic! At The Disco - The Ballad Of Mona Lisa
So . . . so . . . scenekid . . . but I love them anyway. Panic! At The Disco's most recent album (not that recent really) Vices And Virtues didn't really set a foot wrong.

Leathermouth - Bodysnatchers 4 Ever
Obligatory Leathermouth because if you're not listening to them yet then you need to, and if you have and don't like them then GTFO. I don't like your kind here.

Bulls In The Bronx
In honour of their brand new video, and the fact that this is an awesome song with, actually, a very deep meaning that I won't go into here.

Butterfly With Bullet Wings
This song started my short-lived Smashing Pumpkins phase when I was 13, which kept up until I realised how annoying I find Billy Corgan's voice and the fact that 75% of my liking of them was really just drooling over the album artwork for Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness.

Songs You Need To Defend Pop Punk

(image from canyouseethesunset.com)

So I did that ‘songs you need to live’ thing the other day, and I was thinking that it was a bit too general. The songs you need differ on what you listen to. Therefore, I thought I’d try again, but with a slightly narrower selection.

This time, I’m doing The Songs You Need To Defend Pop Punk (the phrase 'defend pop punk' is apparently the slogan of the band Man Overboard who I need to listen to because bands). What’s Pop Punk? Self-explanatory – it’s the rebelliousness of punk music mixed with the daftness and shiny lights of pop. It’s a bit angsty, but not as much as other genres. It’s what – forgive me for using a very sweeping generalisation – your classical emo kid listens to when they’re happy (which, given the people that I know that would come under this mysterious ‘emo’ umbrella, actually happens quite a lot,so there). Guitars and drums and thrashing about, but in a happy, sunshine-y way (be prepared to hear those words a lot). It’s how you subversively get people into other kinds of rock music. Hopefully, when you listen to the songs you’ll understand better.

Blink 182 – Feeling This

Yes, it’s Blink 182 again. They are, however, the kings of pop punk. You say ‘pop punk’ three times in the bathroom mirror and turn the light off, when you turn it back on Mark Hoppus will be crouched in your sink. This song’s a good one, because it is a bit angsty and it’s about the typical horny teenager, but it’s all happy and bouncy at the same time. I had a phase last summer where I listened to this one about five times a day for a week straight. Then my mum said she didn’t like Blink 182, so I bought their best hits album as revenge.

All Time Low – Weightless

More people know this one than I think people would think. That sentence got away from me a bit . . . But it’s an awesome song, and I think the sort of signature song for ATL, or at least the one most people would recognise them by. It’s definitely the first song I remember hearing by them.

Fall Out Boy – Thnks Fr Th Mmrs

Come on, this is a brilliant song, and one of my favourites by them. You can’t say you know pop punk if you don’t know every word of this (or at least every phoneme, I don’t blame you if you can’t understand Patrick Stump). Big, loud, the kind of song everyone will dance to because everyone knows it.

The Offspring – Pretty Fly (For A White Guy)

This is just a song you need to know to live in general. If someone says “Give it to me baby” and you’re not in a porno and you don’t reply with “UH HUH, UH HUH” then you should be ashamed of yourself. Go and sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. I’m ashamed of you. You are not fly, no matter what race you are.

A Day To Remember – All I Want

Ok, maybe this one is slightly less well-known than the others (my favourite’s actually I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?), but you can’t deny ADTR’s presence. They’re a formidable force, and I think the fact that they managed to get so many other bands to show up in this video proves that.

Paramore – Misery Business

Off their 2007 album Riot!, this is probably their most well-known single alongside Ignorance, but I like this one better and it’s my blog so I’ll do what I like. I am somewhat opposed to the video for its slightly sexist edge – oh, the girl’s make up has been wiped off, look how much she was wearing ‘cause she’s the baddy in this and only bad girls wear makeup, godddddd – but other than that it’s a good one, and a catchy song (I don’t like saying the word ‘catchy’, I feel like a bad 80s DJ).

Green Day – American Idiot

I kind of wanted to put Basket Case here, but this is supposed to be about the songs that you absolutely need to know and, although you really should know quite a lot of Green Day’s songs because they’re massive, everybody knows American Idiot. Everybody. I was at a party and this song came on and everybody sang it. My nana was in the room while the video for this was on TV and she said she likes a man with ‘some moves’. I’m not sure she likes men with lots of green paint all over them though.

Bowling For Soup – Girl All The Bad Guys Want

I remember hearing this one years and years ago, before I actually knew what music was, or how one ‘creamed over tough guys’ (can I just say, why do they bleep out ‘goddamn’, but not that?). Not my absolute favourite song, but one I think it’s somewhat important to know.

Good Charlotte – Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous

Good Charlotte is one of my little sister’s favourite bands for some reason. Were all their songs this one, they’d be one of my favourites too. It’s more punk than pop, but I absolutely love this song, and the crazy hair.

Panic! At The Disco – I Write Sins Not Tragedies

I keep saying this, but everyone knows this one. My friend Ryan knows this one and he normally listens to Adele and stuff. But come on, it’s like the scenekid national anthem – stupidly long song title that has some deep, clever meaning that I haven’t figured out yet, similarly long-winded lyrics that still manage to be awesome.

There you go. Now, go forth and defend pop punk! Learn guitar and make boob jokes! Wear tight jeans and hair gel and take your top off on stage! Change your name to Tom Hoppus-Gaskarth! It’s 2:30am and that’s why I’m shouting!