Panic
Vicar In A Tutu

UK 7" [Rough Trade RT193]
Australia 7" [CBS RTANZ017]
Germany 7" [Teldec/Zensor 6.14684]
Holland 7" [Megadisc MD5285]

Panic
Vicar In A Tutu
The Draize Train

UK 12" [Rough Trade RTT193]
UK CD5 [Rough Trade RTT193CD]
Australia CD5 [Festival D1076]
Brazil 12" [WEA 670.0001]
Brazil CMS [WEA 767.0001]
Canada 12" [Sire 92 05440]
Holland 12" [Megadisc MD125285]
Spain 12" [Nuevos Medios 41-208M]
USA 12" [Sire 9 20544-0]

Panic
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
The Queen Is Dead/Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty

Germany 12" [Teldec/Zensor 6.20648 (in black or blue vinyl)]
Germany 12" [Teldec/Zensor 16.20503 (in blue vinyl)]

Additional information:
Early copies of the UK 7" and 12" came with a set of different stickers saying "The Smiths", "Panic" and "Hang The DJ". The number of 12"s with stickers is estimated to be 5000. View 12" stickers in left bar. The stickers with the 7" single were similar, but round.

An EP of tracks from this single and "Bigmouth Strikes Again" was released in Greece. This is listed on the "Bigmouth Strikes Again" page.

"Panic" came out in Germany later than anywhere else, as the German label originally preferred promoting the recent "The Queen Is Dead" album with the release of an album track ("Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others"). Because the 12" extra track "The Draize Train" had already been featured on "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others", when "Panic" finally came out in Germany, it was backed over the two formats by three songs from the most recent album ("Vicar In A Tutu", "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and "The Queen Is Dead").

Artwork information:
Richard Bradford star of "Man In A Suitcase", 1967.
This is one of only two singles to only have the word "Smiths" on the front. The other is "Bigmouth Strikes Again".

Etchings on vinyl:
UK 7" and 12":
I DREAMT ABOUT STEW LAST NIGHT / none
Germany 12":
'HANG THEM HIGH MONIKA' / HANG THEM HIGH MONIKA

The UK etching is a pun on "I dreamt about you last night", a lyric from the song "Reel Around The Fountain".

Additional release date information:
UK 7" and 12": 21 July 1986
USA/Canada: mid-September 1986
UK and Australia cd-singles: end of 1988

Chart peak information:
UK: 11
Holland: 19
USA: never charted

Promotion:
UK: Light yellow label versions of the 12" were dispatched to media or retail, occasionally with a 12"x24" poster of the song's lyrics inside and/or a press release. Stock copies of the 7" with a plugger sticker and/or a press sheet were also sent to media.

Australia: The stock edition of this 7" was sent to media or retail in a generic record company promo sleeve. It is actually a mystery that there is a promo version of this single, but apparently not a commercial one (although it is listed in the discography above, for the time being).

Brazil: Stock copies of the Brazil 12" were made into promos by having a promo warning stamped in gold on the back. A 4-track various artists promo EP (WEA #47) featuring the title track was also distributed for promotion. It was slipped in a black sleeve with yellow text. Another various artists promo EP featured a 2:53 live version of "Panic" "from the Live Compilation LP In Concert", but this probably didn't promote this single.

Canada: Gold-stamped copies of this 12" single were circulated for promotion.

Germany: A promo VHS featuring the Derek Jarman videos for "The Queen Is Dead" and "Panic" (2 versions of the latter) were distributed to the relevant media in Germany for promotion of this single as well as the "The Queen Is Dead" album. "Panic" was included on a 1987 label promo sampler titled "Another Christmas Gift From Line" (LICD 9.00500G), but this very likely served to promote Line's "Sheila Take A Bow" cd-single (which featured "Panic" as an extra track). Line were not yet licensed to release Rough Trade material in 1986, and had nothing to do with the release of the "Panic" single.

Spain: Copies of the 12" single stamped on the record's label and on the inner sleeve and paired with a 2-page press release seem to have served promotional purposes. It is not known if the stamp is a promo warning or some media library identification.

USA: A very low number of gold-stamped copies of this 12" single were distributed for promotion because Sire held back on the release of this single until just a few weeks before the "Ask" single came out. A one-track promo VHS video was also distributed to the relevant media. Besides being included on the record label's various artists video compilation, the "Panic" video was also included on the December 1986 issue of the Rockamerica promo video series, the December 1986 volume of the Telegenics promo video series and an early 1987 volume of the Video Pool series.

Quotes

"I liked the film for 'Panic' that was made by Derek Jarman. It had a nice intensity about it."
- Morrissey, Creem, July 1987

Reviews

"This is the first Smiths single that uses a different tune and manages to avoid both ropey introspection and clever-clever adolescent poetry. Now it seems my goading has borne fruit."
- Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 26 June 1986