A love letter to early 2000s cabaret rock
For some reason, I skipped over my middle school boyband phase. Besides loving the Jonas Brothers from around ages 5-7, it took me until late high school to discover how much of a fangirl I can really be. First it was Glass Animals (when they were still good; someday I will write about the impact of their first two albums) and The Strokes. Then sophomore year of college, Blur, and most recently, early Panic at the Disco.
I didn’t know much about Panic at the Disco when it would’ve been actually normal for me to be into them in middle school. I teetered on the edge of the “emo” stuff from 2015-2017, but was pretty preoccupied with Melanie Martinez’s Crybaby. I didn’t listen to much else during the entirety of seventh and eighth grade. One random day about 2.5 years ago, while sitting in class, my friend texted in our group chat that someone she knew had 4 free tickets for the Panic concert happening in Detroit that night. I somewhat knew “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”, just by osmosis of the rest of the world, along with the overplayed pop radio hits. And I knew that the band used to be a lot better. We decided we needed to take those tickets and attend the show, but as a joke. I found out a few hours before the show that MARINA was opening, so that made everything a bit more legitimately exciting, but besides her performance the show was bad and the crowd was half empty. However, after many screechy high notes and questionable dancing from Brendon Urie, hearing everyone freak out when the intro to “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” finally played made me realize that I had missed out on something really huge.
I don’t really remember what motivated me to listen to A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out for the first time, but I’m crediting my roommate Allison, as she had been a hardcore Panic fan throughout her teenage years. If I had to guess, I probably saw a clip of their cover of “Karma Police” from their Live in Denver show (dreaming of the day this performance gets an official release like Live in Chicago), sent it to Allison, and was therefore prompted to give the album a go. It took a few tries before I really, really got it. I had to let my mindset slip into that of a 2005 teenager. The fact that I was so motivated to re-listen to it is how I should’ve known I’d love it as much as I do now.
Somewhat disturbingly, Panic at the Disco was my top artist on Spotify Wrapped this year (which does slightly surprise me, as I was also deeply obsessed with Metric this year). I say “somewhat disturbingly” because I think it was already June by the time I started getting into them. “Build God, Then We’ll Talk” happened to be the only Panic song on my top 5 for the year, though, in the fifth spot. I should be clear that my obsession lies in strictly Ryan Ross-era Panic, with the exception of “New Perspective” and a random handful of other songs I had stumbled upon in middle school. A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out and Pretty. Odd. have become frequent listens for me. The two albums are totally different sounds from each other too, which interests me even more. I somehow knew the tunes to all of the songs on Pretty. Odd. within only a few listens through. I did my normal amounts of deep-diving on the band, scrounged up some old interviews and photos on Pinterest. I watched Live in Denver, and Live in Chicago, and learned who Katie Kay and Dusty are, and how important Ryan Ross is. Something I really loved from something I read was how terrible their ratings were when their first album dropped, but that they still sold so many records and totally blew up. It was teenagers that loved them, and to any professional music reviewer, they were a joke, and too “theater-y”.
One thing that draws me to a band, and anything for that matter, is costumes. If a band has a cool setup on stage, or wears cool clothes, I’m probably going to be ten times more interested in their music. And with Panic, they had a circus-y, cabaret, vaudeville thing going on, which I am already in love with as it is. In October, my high school friend Macy and her roommate Andrea who live in Chicago even threw a costume birthday party themed around AFYCSO, and Allison drove us there and back over a weekend just so we could attend. Macy has also recently rediscovered her love for the band. Here’s some pics.
One of my more recent discoveries is The Ditty Bops, a folky, ragtime-y, costume-wearing duo comprised of Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett, hailing from Los Angeles. They’re not a sound that I would normally be drawn to, but something about their lighthearted, playful sound mixed with their creative lyrics makes them totally special to listen to. My absolute favorite that I’ve heard from them so far is “Short Stacks”, from their debut self-titled album. The intro is so whimsical and their vocal harmonies are pretty. Their music video for “Wishful Thinking” is also a must-watch for twee and stop-motion lovers. After an attempt at deep-diving them (there’s unfortunately not a ton out there archived for me to get my hands on), I learned that they would create a different performance out of every concert they played, wearing elaborate costumes and sometimes scripting out dialogue to bring on a musical theater feel. They even rode bikes as transportation for the entirety of one of their tours, which blows my mind.
Their costumes, videos, and sound also relate to that cabaret aesthetic; interestingly, Panic and The Ditty Bops both toured with The Dresden Dolls, known for their “dark cabaret” aesthetic. I don’t know a ton about The Dresden Dolls YET, but “Coin-Operated Boy” has been stuck in my head since the second I opened my eyes this morning.
I wanted to know more about the popularity of this cabaret aesthetic happening with music around that time, also considering bands like Tally Hall (a local favorite of mine whose nerdy charm is often overshadowed by their unpleasant fanbase), My Chemical Romance, The Killers, and more were all using elements of the aesthetic. According to some quick research, this aesthetic, probably best categorized as "cabaret rock", was made more popular because of films such as Moulin Rouge! (2001) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2003), and bands began theming their music videos or stage setups more theatrically, with Panic, The Dresden Dolls, and The Ditty Bops taking on the look pretty entirely. I definitely wouldn't consider The Ditty Bops to be a rock band, but I think cabaret could be a word to describe their style.
So, I think my main takeaway from all of this is that I miss when bands wore costumes on stage. And that cabaret rock must make its return! There is certainly a resurgence of Panic’s early days happening, seeing as they’re headlining the When We Were Young festival in October of 2025, with a specific note that they’re playing AFYCSO “in its entirety and more”. I think a lot of people are holding their breath to see if Ryan Ross will be part of that or not. While I was never involved with theater, I was a dancer, so I love everything visually over-the-top and theatrical. And, I am becoming more and more drawn to bands that I know were “theater kids”. Or bands that just have any sort of quirk about them. It’s so disappointing to love bands that were in their prime when you were a baby, which have now disbanded or have completely lost their charm. Oh, what I would give to have a time machine that could take me back to some concerts in 2005. I was two.
Please check out the Ditty Bops, especially people who enjoy twee things, as they seem to have disappeared from any type of spotlight and their first album is so lovely (I’m sure all of their music is, but that’s the only album I’ve fully delved into so far). My top four (couldn't narrow down to just three) recommendations for them are “Short Stacks”, “Sister Kate”, “Walk or Ride”, and “Wishful Thinking”. I definitely need to write something about that quality of “weird” that every band that I’ve really fallen in love with has had.
Love, Maddie
Here are some links I referenced for research:
Apologies to anyone I may have stolen images from, as it’s nearly impossible to find these images let alone their sources