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COM122 Rhetorical Analysis - "Prequel" by Falling in Reverse

Falling in Reverse, a popular rock band from the 2000s has become one of the most discussed bands in the media due to their lead singer Ronnie Radke’s controversies, incredible vocal ranges, seamless multi-genre songs, and the band’s utterly stunning music videos. "Prequel", the opening of Falling in Reverse’s album Popular Monster, sets the mood for the following songs, showcasing Radke’s rage and fed-up attitude. Instead of trying to write a vague and generic song that any fan could relate to, Radke chose to write "Prequel" in the form of a warning message. A warning message to show the world how blind they’ve become, how they follow without thinking, how they listen to the voice of authority without question, and how dangerous the lack of individuality has become.

Ronnie Radke’s rage was born from his incident at Six Flags and his expulsion from his original band, Escape the Fate. During a concert at Six Flags, Radke threw a microphone stand into the crowd, just as he had done many times before, but that time the stand injured two fans (NBC 6, 2012). Radke’s anger over this incident wasn’t that the fans missed the stand, but that everyone hated him for it when the people who were injured in the incident publicly forgave Radke, and didn’t even blame him for it. In an interview with Rock Feed, Radke exclaims, “I’ll have people that weren't even born when I threw a mic stand into the crowd, mad at me. You weren't even born, bro!” (Radke, 2024). His other tipping point was how his criminal past is frequently brought up, specifically with his detainment for possession of brass knuckles and battery charges, leading to his first band kicking him out (Rolling Stone, 2012). Although Radke has stayed out of legal trouble for over eight years, he still has many other unpopular opinions and tendencies, such as fighting with his fans on Twitter or major social media meltdowns. His quick-to-rise anger and easily pushable buttons make his social media posts downright volatile, with no restraint for his fans, lashing out with phrases like “Can y’all stop being pissed at me so I can release this music video?” quite frequently (Radke, 2024). His anger at his fans and critics is rampant throughout “Prequel,” calling them out and speaking to them directly for large swatches of the song.

As a petty jab at Ronnie Radke’s community, the cover for Popular Monster is Radke’s mugshot from when he was incarcerated, showing a bit more of his childish behavior towards his supporters. The first song on the album, "Prequel", begins with a low, resonant upright bass, setting a dark and foreboding tone for Radke to kick off the lyrics in a low chant. He speaks first about how he’s trying to become a “better human,” but he can’t because everyone is tearing him down (Radke, 2024). Simultaneously, a priest is shown placing a crown of thorns on Radke’s head in the music video, which symbolizes the mockery of his idolization to parallel the Roman soldiers placing a crown of thorns on Jesus. Instead of fighting back against the people who don't want him to succeed, Radke shifts from trying to change himself, to instead admitting that he’s the kind of person they think he is, a “cynical, egotistical, unpredictable, hardenеd criminal” (Radke, 2024). By admitting his negative qualities, he ditches his public image to give the critics what they want to hear, and in turn, hands him all the leverage he needs to call them out for not admitting how fake they all are.

Radke then begins strengthening his ethos by embracing everything he’s done, everything he’s gone through, and admits that he’d never change any of it, as it all “made [him] the person [he is] today” (Radke, 2024). During Radke’s ‘speech’, he’s depicted delivering it to a battalion of soldiers in the square below the citadel’s tower and ends it with a fist thrown high into the air to reflect his pride in how far he’s made it. Radke mentions in his Rock Feed interview that he struggled to rebuild himself after his imprisonment, especially trying to write Falling in Reverse’s debut album, The Drug in Me Is You, from his cell, saying it was “sort of embarrassing, you know, there’s like a bunch of gangsters in there, and I’m all like … singing like an Emo or something” (Radke, 2024). Radke’s story isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but his hard work and sheer talent cannot and should not be written off because of a few moments in his past.

Radke then enters the second verse almost identically to how he began the first verse, but this time, he ponders the irony of his dreams of everyone admiring him. And with that thought of irony, he twists his words to attack his critics once again, but this time, more directly. He begins to call out to the listener using words like ‘you’ and ‘y’all’ to add a more personal touch to his words. While singing this, Radke finds himself being followed by hundreds of townsfolk, and they all begin to mimic his movements, comparable to how fans look up to their idols and want to be just like them. He then once again ramps up his vocals with the music, this time with even more intensity, emphasizing his warnings with every beat. He closes the verse with a threat of violence, emboldened by his history of “battery with substantial bodily harm,” one that encourages anyone trying to stand against him to “back the fuck up, get out of [his] face” (Las Vegas Weekly, 2008; Radke, 2024). Radke’s threats to the world are meant to show how fed up he is with how the world is treating him for his past, and that he’s not going to take any more of it.

Radke switches his strategy of pathos to a verse of logos, forming logical and thought-provoking situations to force the listener to think introspectively. Entering the third verse, Radke wastes no time jumping straight into it to maintain his momentum from the second verse but chooses to calm the music back down to allow his words of advice to strike the audience harder. He uses the verse as his rallying speech, to whip up his followers into a frenzy to help him on his crusade against his critics. Radke points out the hypocrisy in the current (as of 2024) generations, telling them that “[they're] a slave to labor and [they] praise the fascist / [They] kiss the hand that takes half in taxes” to lift the veil from their eyes and show them who they should be angry at (Radke, 2024). During this shot in the music video, the aforementioned townsfolk are all bowing down to a massive statue of Radke, all praising him for trying to break them free from slavery.

Radke then uses the anger the critics are holding against him and redirects it toward the real enemy in his eyes, the corrupt government. He then wraps up the third verse with a few somewhat unsettling lines, such as “prepare to die, prepare to burn” and “all our gods abandoned us,” not to scare the crowd away, but to inform them of the sacrifice that is required to stand against the majority and fight against the corruption and the system it created (Radke, 2024). Finally, he ends the verse with “Light the match / watch it burn” to signify their actions are only a catalyst, and that the downfall will surely follow (Radke, 2024).

With the symbolic lighting of the match to burn the world, Radke is thrown backward off the citadel tower by the priest and sent tumbling through the air onto a Latin cross in the center of a massive Colosseum, followed by nails to hold his hands and feet to the cross, completing the crucifixion. The crowds of townsfolk that had followed him are depicted booing Radke, reminiscent of how his fans turned on him after he threw a mic stand into the crowd. He then turns to look at the people gathered in the Colosseum, and shoots giant red lasers from his eyes, destroying the Colosseum, and then the heavens above.

In the final verse, Radke returns to his tactic of pathos, pulling from his emotional lines and angelic high notes. Radke’s tone shifts from rapping to incredibly emotional operatic vocals, along with an instrumental shift from occasional drums and low orchestra to massive double kicks, resounding backing vocals, heavy distortion guitars, and angelic supporting choirs. The lines “When everything falls apart,” “Why have you forsaken me?” and “Heavy is the crown, you see” are repeated throughout, with the first line appearing most frequently (Radke, 2024). The first line refers to how nothing can last forever, that even the greatest empires, the greatest kingdoms, and the greatest leaders all have an end. Radke uses this as a metaphor for how his life fell apart and how he can project that fall onto everyone else. In the second line, he asks the world why they have forsaken him, as they had once praised him. He uses this to show how quickly the world can turn on anyone, after just one action, and void every good thing they’ve done. Finally, in the third line, Radke claims his crown is heavy, as the responsibility of being a leader is weighing him down. The weight of being an idol, to please everyone, to be perfect is too much for anyone to maintain, and it will inevitably “fall apart,” just as it will for anyone (Radke, 2024).

During the final sequence, Radke is shown floating into the sky, with the white angels from above pulling him upwards while the dark angels from below try to pull him down, representing the pull of both ways of life, and both ways he could be remembered for years to come. Instead of choosing between the good and bad, Radke obliterates all of the angels around him in a monumental shockwave, letting him choose his own path, to pave his own way, and to write his own destiny. Following his obliteration of the angels, a colossus in his likeness begins to crumble, crushing the worshippers, and signifying the end of his time to be idolized, and to instead become who he wants to be.

Ronnie Radke’s tirade of a song effectively warns the audience of the dangers of blindly following authority, merging with the group mentality, and lacking individuality by using his vocal styles to invoke emotions of anger, sadness, triumph, and fear in the listener, drawing upon the audience’s pathos. Furthermore, the accompanying music video captures the pathos to a different level, allowing Radke to successfully convey his emotions and the emotions he wants his audience to feel while watching and listening to his song. "Prequel" works with the rest of the album to frame every emotion on the album into one song and then dive into each emotion in a later song, allowing a deeper and more fluid flow to the album.

Works Cited

Baltin, S. (2012, April 5). Falling in Reverse Frontman Goes from Jail to Warped Main Stage Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/falling-in-reverse-frontman-goes-from-jail-to-warped-main-stage-64753/

Chang, D. (2012, October 2). Rocker Arrested After Throwing Mic Stands Into Crowd NBC 6 South Florida. https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/national-international/singer-arrested-after-throwing-mic-stands-into-crowd/1908454/

Radke, R. (2024). "Prequel" [Recorded by Falling in Reverse]. On Popular Monster [Album]. Epitaph Records.

Rock Feed. (2024, May 7). Ronnie Radke Breaks Down His Most Talked-About Controversies [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PkVaalqL7M&ab_channel=RockFeed

Thompson, A. (2008, Feb 23). [Tragedy] Murder, suicide, music and drugs Las Vegas Weekly. https://lasvegasweekly.com/news/archive/2008/feb/23/tragedy-murder-suicide-music-and-drugs/