Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

P!ATD Took Their Name From A Band Called Name Taken

Photo Credit: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Turner

Panic! At The Disco had one of those names that epitomized Myspace-era emo – the random punctuation and the fact that it was almost an entire sentence on its own. Some people believe the name was taken from “Panic” by the ’80s British pop band The Smiths. This isn’t the case.

According to singer Brendon Urie (who now stars in Kinky Boots on Broadway), the name comes from “Panic,” a song by the U.S. indie band Name Taken. The lyrics go “Panic at the disco/Sat back and took it slow/Are you nervous?/Are you shaking?” Rest assured, there’s no way an artist as well-versed as Urie doesn’t see the irony in the fact that he took his band name from a band called Name Taken.