Beat of the Week (2-19-08)

It’s slightly heartbreaking that drama-geek heroes Panic! At The Disco have morphed into a carbon copy of those band-geek heroes Polyphonic Spree with their glorious new single “Nine in the Afternoon.” I long for the good old days when boys could be girls: wear pasty white mascara, black-eye liner and a corset, and prance around a music video fashioned like some Victorian nightmare-cum-Carnivale masquerade. This is, if not a sin, then certainly a tragedy.
The problem, of course, now is that I actually want to listen to Panic! At The Disco. Well, sort of. “Nine in the Afternoon” begins with a cymbal crash followed by pulsating, banging piano chords on a steady down beat. Sound familiar? That’s because in 2004, Polyphonic Spree released the same song, “Hold Me Now” … only different. And by different I mean better.
But, yeah, that’s the thing: This new Panic! song resembles that truly terrific Polyphonic song so closely that it’s basically the same. So I listen to it just the same as I eat non-fat ice cream. Only when I’m really hungry and I can’t find the real deal.