EDITORIAL: Putting Our Beef With Falling In Reverse To Rest

This week I had a realization that had never really crossed my mind in the five years I have been running UTG:

Instead of wasting our time writing another Falling In Reverse review that would be met with typical internet bashing from their legion of fans who will forever refuse to consider their favorite musician capable of legitimate wrongdoing, what if we just let it go? What if we stopped beating a dead horse that has been pummeled so viciously by seemingly every blog in existence (including VICE) and let FIR fans enjoy their blissful existence without either side uploading more hate into the world?

At first I thought it was crazy. Hell, as I’m writing this now I still do. You see, I have indeed heard Fashionably Late (4x and counting, in fact) and know I could write at length about my frustrations with it both musically and lyrically, but at this point what further good would it possibly do? Every time we have reviewed FIR on this website the band has received low scores, and every time that happens our traffic gets a bit of a bump from people either promoting the article because they genuinely enjoy it or (and far more often the case) because they’re FIR fans looking for a chance to defend their heroes. After this happens, Ronnie Radke enters the studio to write song after song about how haters can suck his dick while simultaneously thanking them because their outspoken hatred only furthers his notoriety, and in doing so somehow increases his wealth. So, are we helping ourselves by posting these negative reviews, or are we further perpetuating the persona Radke clings to so fervently in videos and songs, thus only making matters worse for everyone except Falling In Reverse and those who benefit from their success? To tell you the truth I’m still uncertain, but I do know the last thing I want is to help this guy sell more albums.

I started UTG to help promote the entertainment me and my friends thought was going unnoticed by the masses. Over the years the site has changed in many ways, and there have been times where we have probably spoken out of line, but at the end of the day our original goal remains our top priority. I realized this week that we and many sites like us have spent too much time fixated on someone I know most bloggers don’t even enjoy because we know he’ll bring in traffic, and in doing so we have lost focus of why we started doing this in the first place. I don’t want to write about someone the majority of our readers dislike just for the sake of further putting down that person or their efforts and neither does anyone else on this staff. So instead of posting another negative comment about Falling In Reverse, here are three bands with new albums that are creating great music that will impact your life in a positive way. We’re done playing this game.

I Can See Mountains


War Games


Driver Friendly


“Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker’s game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.”
– Neal Stephenson

James Shotwell
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9 Responses to “EDITORIAL: Putting Our Beef With Falling In Reverse To Rest”

  1. James says:

    Your just like pupfresh posting false rumours for traffic. LIke Ronnie firing his band and taking all the money, we all know that’s not true now with the ap interviews and pupfresh admitting they didn’t have a reliable source and apologizing, maybe you should stop before you get a defamation suit.

  2. Guest says:

    And all charges were dropped for “domestic abuse” when she didn’t even have any bruises or anything, nothing at all. And he apologized about hitting people with the mike stand, it was an accident you know he did it many times and nobody got hurt. He’s don’t many wrong and stupid things I wont deny that but you guys just bashing him because its cool or to get hits makes you worse then him. losers

  3. James says:

    And all charges were dropped for “domestic abuse” when she didn’t even have any bruises or anything, nothing at all. And he apologized about hitting people with the mike stand, it was an accident you know he did it many times and nobody got hurt. He’s done many wrong and stupid things I wont deny but we all have and I can say ive done some pretty horrible shit in my life too, but you guys just bashing him because its cool or to get hits makes you worse then him. losers

  4. Kellan says:

    did you even read the post you idiot?

  5. Guest says:

    No, dont tell him, let his idiocy remain public and an example of said idiocy at the end of this article.

  6. James says:

    I read the article, im jjust replying to past things they have said.

  7. Sublymonal04 . says:

    Sounds like you guys are mad your opinions aren’t being accepted. Write a review and stop fucking whining. If you’re not gonna review the album then don’t even mention the band at all. Fucking opinion pushing haters.

  8. StarlightAria13 says:

    I’m sorry that you feel that way. You are undermining a lot of different people’s opinions because Falling in Reverse actually has a wide, differing fan base. I think you’re unnecessarily pigeon-holing this band and its fan base simply because you do not like Radke or his music. You shouldn’t let that stop you from reporting on them because there are redeeming qualities-and you shouldn’t shame people or imply that people are vapid because they like them. That being said, I am a successful college senior with a background in literature and teaching, and I still like Falling in Reverse. I actually enjoy the lyrics because I think that some are meaningful and speak to me and others are just plain fun and silly. Thank you for letting me share my opinion here just as you have.