AMG Review of Fever You Can't Sweat Out

Johnny Loftus
All Music Guide

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out revealed the state of pop-punk/emo in 2005: it was hip to be self-aware. "Dear studio audience," Panic! at the Disco vocalist Brendon Urie quavers in "The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press Coverage." "I've an announcement to make/It seems the artists these days are not who you think." He goes on to shout out, "Applause! applause!" His lyrics also say he's the narrator, but that's for debate, because later on Fever Urie hoots about meeting the press and his band being a "wet dream for the webzines," so who was actually worrying about stardom, the narrator or Panic! at the Disco? With Fever it was clear that the MySpace revolution had come full circle -- no longer just a convenient promotional tool, the site had become something to sing about.