the end (and the beginning)

I discovered this band one day back in my Freshmen year of high school while I was browsing through the used CDs in the record store of our local Specs. Then, later that week I think I looked at MTV and saw the most ridiculous and BRILLIANT video I had seen in my 15 years of life. I loved Panic at the Disco the first time I heard them. I loved their pretentious lyrics. I loved their pop rock sound, and I loved their attitude. This crazy attitude that music was meant to be enjoyed and the entire thing was a production that was all encompassing. Not just music or lyrics meant to be interpreted seperately, but it was a vision and a show and a movement. They brought Las Vegas to the scene in a way that The Killers never could. They embraced the show girl reputation and flipped it on its head and made everyone else stand up and listen to them.

Then they turned that sound around and they created something beautiful, something classic. Something that people thought was too much like the Beatles but was distinctively their own and it made me happy to see a band that I had loved from the start grow into themselves and their sound. Pretty. Odd. was different from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out but nonetheless brilliant in its own right. They tried something new and exciting and their fans loved them for trusting that we'd love it too.

But today they released to the world that they were parting ways. This band that's been such an inspiration to me. Brendon's voice and Ryan's words. Spencer's devotion and Jon's friendliness. Ryan and Jon were moving on musically while Brendon and Spencer would go on to do more with Panic at the Disco. I cried for hours, I was angry at Ryan and Jon for ruining something so brilliant I was pissed that they didn't survive the scene.

But now I'm content because Panic is my favorite band because it had 4 equally talented individuals. And whatever Brendon and Spencer do will be amazing because people that talented and devoted to music can not fail. And though I don't agree with Ryan and Jon for leaving, I can commend them for knowing when it was time to call it quits before they ruined something that was beautiful.

I'm excited for Panic's new material. I'll even say I'm excited for what Ryan and Jon will put out next. I hope and pray that this will not be the end of Panic at the Disco, that this will be just a stepping stone to greatess because I know, I know with everything in me that they are destined for great things.

(I know I sound dramatic, that's just how much I love every single boy in this band. Loved them for 5 years and won't stop).