Panic! At the Disco's 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out' at 20

It started on a blog. In 2005, Panic! at the Disco recorded their first-ever demos on Garage Band, and teen guitarist Ryan Ross posted them on Fall Out Boy ’s LiveJournal with the intention of bringing his band’s music to a larger audience. But Ross got the attention of none other than Pete Wentz , pop punk’s de facto leader at the time. As emo legend has it, the FOB bassist was so impressed with Ross, lead singer Brendon Urie, drummer Spencer Smith, and bassist Brent Wilson that he made his way to their practice space in Vegas before offering them a record deal.

Wentz arrived to find four lanky teen boys who had never performed live and could barely sync their computer-created beats to their thrashing guitars. But it didn’t matter — he saw the bones of a great record. “It was kind