The Smiths’ “Panic” Lyrics Meaning
The story behind The Smiths’ “Panic” is that its writing was spurred by what is commonly known as the Chernobyl disaster, i.e. that harrowing nuclear accident which occurred in the Soviet Union in 1986. Said event not only resulted in a notable loss of human life but also stands, to this day, as the costliest man-made disaster in human history.
But it wasn’t that incident itself which caused Morrissey and Marr to write “Panic”. Rather it was how right after breaking said news on BBC, a prominent English DJ by the name of Steve Wright followed the story up by playing Wham!’s “I’m Your Man” (1985), i.e. a frivolous pop song.
So as generally understood and stated in the chorus, the vocalist is lashing out against the mainstream music scene for not speaking to the pertinent issues of the day. And it can be said that The Smiths did live up to that ideological standard, because even though they were pop phenoms, their music tended to have a more serious undertone than your usual radio fare.
“Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music that they constantly play
It says nothing to me about my life
Hang the blessed DJ
Because the music they constantly play”
When was “Panic” Released?
This track is a non-album single with an official release date of 21st July 1986. Since its release, “Panic” has appeared on several compilation albums by The Smiths. For instance, in 1987 it was included on their compilation album named “The World Won’t Listen”.
Rough Trade Records, an independent English record company, was behind the issue of this single.
Credits
Johnny Marr and Morrissey, the group’s founding members, are credited as songwriters for this track. English record producer John Porter oversaw the production of this single.
Notable Highlights
“Panic” achieved chart success in the UK, where it reached a peak position of #11. Aside from its UK success, the song failed to chart on various prominent singles charts across the world.
In December 2011 US rock group Kitten released their rendition of “Panic”.
“Panic” has been heard in a number of media productions. For example, it was used in Edgar Wright’s 2004 comedy horror film, “Shaun of the Dead”. It also featured in the 1986 horror film titled “Demons 2”.
To be honest, I used to assume the the title of this song was “Hang the DJ”. So during one of my first attempts to find it on YouTube, I actually searched “Hang the DJ by The Smiths”.
Despite Marr saying that this song was inspired by the BBC trivializing the Chernobyl Disaster by playing an “irrelevant” pop song moments after announcing the tragedy, the lyrics seem to go beyond that. To me, the lyrics seem to be more or less criticizing the British music industry. In the eyes of the narrator, the industry creates and promotes meaningless songs. This is why he says “the music that they constantly play says nothing to me about my life”. This music would be pop songs that don’t shed light on the real issues facing ordinary people.