"I Write Sins Not Tragedies" by Panic! at the Disco
The song that was everywhere in 2006, with the earworm chorus radio had to censor. Brendon Urie in a ringmaster's top hat, a circus crashing a wedding, and enough theatrical energy to define an era of emo-pop — every kid noticed what the stations cut out and learned the uncensored lyrics anyway.
Panic! at the Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" emerged from their 2005 debut album A Fever You Can't Sweat Out and became a single in January 2006. Written by Ryan Ross, Brendon Urie, and Spencer Smith with Urie on lead vocals, the track peaked at No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, ranked No. 20 on Billboard's year-end chart for 2006, and eventually earned RIAA Diamond certification.
Its music video, directed by Shane Drake, featured a circus troupe crashing a wedding, with Urie in a ringmaster's top hat and painted face narrating the chaos — an aesthetic that perfectly matched the song's theatrical pop-punk energy. The video won Video of the Year at the 2006 MTV VMAs, the first Video of the Year winner since 1989 to win nothing else that night. Radio stations famously censored the chorus — the "god" in "closing a goddamn door" got cut, and "whore" got shushed — but every kid with a radio noticed and learned the real lyrics anyway.
The song became a flagship of the mid-2000s emo and pop-punk wave, riding the same theatrical, eyeliner-and-waistcoat aesthetic as Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance.
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