Desert Island Disc Challenge: Panic! At the Disco

Editor’s note: As part of CMN’s ongoing music journalism program, we asked our team of music writers to take on the age-old challenge of choosing one piece of music they would like to have with them if they were stranded on a deserted island. It’s an absurd notion, but also irresistible. See all the different approaches they took to the challenge right over here.

The age old question of “If you were stuck on a deserted island what’s the one album you would take with you?” was a fairly easy one for me, but I knew it had to be something I wouldn’t ever get tired of. 

There are plenty of artists I enjoy, but their discography is limited, so I went with Panic! At the Disco. 

There are two main reasons I chose this band’s discography: first, they have a history spanning six albums. Second, every single album feels and sounds completely different, but somehow it’s still Panic.

It’s not like being stuck to one genre, because every album comes into it’s own by having a different vibe. Such as with the first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out was quite dark and had a circus feel as to later albums Death of a Bachelor feeling high energy rock and roll. To even Pretty. Odd. which differs the most in sound from all of their albums, in it’s Beatles-esque production. With any of their albums you will always know it’s Panic, but they do such a good job at making everything fresh and new, even if the basis is very much niche. 

I always need the option of music, whether I listen to it everyday or not, but especially with being on the island I would prefer to space out my listening to prevent myself from growing tired of those songs.  If I ever did tire of Panic for a certain amount of time, the idea is that if I need it it’s still available to me even if I have listened to all six albums 47 times. 

I think it would be a scarier and harder situation if there was no music at all on the island. Maybe at first the peace would be nice, or hearing the ocean, or critters that might be around. But our society is so plugged in, that if our ability to get on our phones and have an endless playlist of songs was just gone, it would be a unfathomable because of how wired we are this day and age.

Panic is a band that is near and dear to my heart because of a million different reasons but high on that list is because of how Brendon Urie treats his fanbase. The connection one has with an artist makes the music listening experience an out of this world trip. There is such a huge difference in listening to a song and then listening to your favorite song. The emotionalism is just immensely different. Being able to say that I wouldn’t tire of listening to them easily is comforting. I’m sure I would miss other kinds of music while I’m on the island, but it’s definitely not the worst situation to be in. Plus, I think Panic’s vast variety of music would suit my little island home quite well.