Music

10 videos from emo superstar Ronnie Radke

by Josiah Hughes

Though he’s undoubtedly the subject of countless teen bedrooms around the world and clearly has a big enough fanbase to support his constant hair primping and collection of ill-advised face tattoos, there are a lot of us who don’t know nearly as much as we should about larger-than-life emo goon Ronnie Radke.

I certainly know very little. Sure, I know he’s gone to jail for connection to a murder (!!!), cheated on his “adult glamour model” fiance while she was pregnant with his kid, sworn off drugs and alcohol, and played in a couple of bands somewhere in there too. Currently, he’s one of the biggest artists on Epitaph’s increasingly gross roster, though everyone is constantly fighting over who’s the better Escape the Fate frontman, Radke, or his replacement, Craig Edward Mabbitt. It’s like some Twilight shit but with even more guyliner, somehow.

Today, I will attempt to dig deeper into Radke’s musical canon, and I’m bringing you along with me. Here are 10 videos from Ronnie Radke, in the order they were released.

 
Escape the Fate “Not Good Enough for Truth and Cliche”

Comparatively, this doesn’t pack nearly as much of the otherworldly awfulness as the rest of Radke’s career. “Not Good Enough for Truth and Cliche” is a pleasant enough emo rock song — you won’t want to admit it to yourselves, but if you closed your eyes and pretended you were in an all ages hall in 2001, you could hear this band opening up for Moneen. Visually, it’s almost classy — or at least, as classy as a bunch of grown men with absurdly manicured haircuts and furry winter coats playing a song about Russian roulette could be. Of course, Radke ends up making out with a waitress. But not at the end, somewhere in the middle. Then they just keep making out for a long-ass time before the unnecessary screaming part and some chair flipping.

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Escape the Fate “Situations”

In the six years that this video has been up on YouTube, it’s been puttering along in popularity, now boasting a modest 39 million views. It’s hard not to see why, the goofy clip follows a fat kid as he gets on a bus full of emos. Ronnie Radke’s the bus driver, and has some greasy black hair that makes him look a lot like Julian Casablancas had he grown up in a Hot Topic stock room instead of a hip New York City borough. Radke and his buds cause trouble in their high school before hitting on the scantily clad teacher, who literally pole dances on a desk. Someone call these kids’ parents. Musically, it’s a hair-metal emo banger, complete with harmonized guitars, aggressive, vaguely sassy vocals and an anthemic chorus. Could be a lot worse, and I have a feeling it’s going to get worse.

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From Behind These Walls, “Listen Up”

Radke was having some interpersonal woes with his Escape the Fate bandmates, and had already decided he wanted to start up a new project, so he formed a band called From Behind These Walls. Recording of the project was halted by Radke’s arrest in connection to the death of 18-year-old Michael Cook, who was shot in a Las Vegas nightclub. Radke didn’t shoot him, but he was charged with battery in the altercation, and ended up going to jail. As a result, he was kicked out of Escape the Fate and shared the From Behind These Walls demo for “Listen Up.” The song’s pop-punk sound gives it a third-rate Blink-182 feel and, in the case of Radke’s songwriting career, that puts it at the top of the pile for best work. The song apparently had some fans bummed out, thinking Radke had gone soft. If only they knew what they were getting into.

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Falling in Reverse, “The Drug in Me is You”

“The Drug in Me is You,” the first major single from Falling in Reverse once Radke got out of prison, is, upon first look, undistinguishable from his time in Escape the Fate. There are dolled up models flaunting skimpy outfits in authoritarian roles (in the place of teachers, this video features cops), hair-metal posturing and riffs aplenty. “The Drug in Me is You” is certainly cockier and rockier than anything Radke had released up until this point, with an aggressive vocal delivery and a narrative that vaguely references his time in the slammer (though here, there’s a whole other kind of slamming going on if you feel me). Also, every single member of this band looks like David Desrosiers from Simple Plan.

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Falling in Reverse “I’m Not a Vampire”

Ronnie Radke loves him some high-concept music videos. The clip for “I’m Not a Vampire” helps Radke exorcize his demons of addiction with a ridiculous, goofy parody of a reality TV show about celebrity rehab. The shuffling emo track offers a perfect backdrop for our boy to deliver his lyrics straight into the camera while a group of cartoonish addicts and a guy in a bloody Jason Voorhees mask generally make a mockery of rehab. Then there’s an arpeggiated guitar solo that sounds like Van Halen after making love to a hair straightener. Still no dubstep or rapping, but this is a pretty damn embarrassing collection of sights and sounds.

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Ronnie Radke, “Fair-Weather Fans”

Right before Falling in Reverse released their second LP Fashionably Late earlier this year, Radke did what all face-tattooed white men who look like they own a few chains of Spencers Gifts should do and launched his solo rap career with the song “Fair-Weather Fans,” in which he addressed those who didn’t believe in him. After a piano intro that could easily kick off an Evanescence song, Radke starts spitting his overly emotive verses, promising that we’ll truly know him if we listen to the whole song. The beat comes in, boasting a sort of bastardized, uplifting “Where Is the Love” feel, and what do we learn? He’s not a monster, he’s a man. A man who can’t resist belting out the emo parts on the chorus of his rap song. He shouts out Eminem, brags about his Cadillac and how he can’t believe that, at the time of recording, he’s hanging out on an airplane. It’s all there in the unofficial lyric video.

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Ronnie Radke, “What Up Earth”

Ronnie’s next rap leak, “What Up Earth,” has him on some “real hip-hop” shit. Okay, not quite, but it’s much less pop rap and more just a straightforward rap song. At least, until the absolutely ridiculous robo-emo chorus with awkwardly literal lyrics about his father’s drug addiction. Then he yells some more about how successful he is, sort of sounding like a curse-word loving guidance counsellor.

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Falling in Reverse, “Alone”

Ronnie’s love of rap bravado is on full display in “Alone,” arguably one of the most absurd, overblown emo/rap/screamo videos ever made. Where to begin? There’s a helicopter, a shot of Ronnie ghostriding a convertible, a high-budget shot of the band in their Sunday best, a dancer showing off her butt crack and black-and-white shots of the frontman peaking out from under a pair of sunglasses. And that’s all in the first 30 seconds. The band’s hanging out in an airplane hangar, where they play hard at the choruses. Most of the time, however, the video’s all about Ronnie’s rap skills, where he brags about his accomplishments (duh) and makes Charlie Sheen references with awkwardly placed hashtag raps in 2013. Then he lets loose his guttural Cookie Monster growl, the guitars start increasing in intensity, and we get the uplifting chorus. Later, there’s some weird AutoTuned insanity that turns into an uncomfortable metalcore breakdown. This is pure, uncut Radke, an insane assault on the senses that’s a weird mishmash of emo ego and general cluelessness.

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Ronnie Radke, “I Wash Cars” (I See Stars diss)

Between videos from Fashionably Late, the world was blessed with a diss track Ronnie recorded towards Sumerian Records, Lorenzo “The Main Event” Antonucci and “electronicore” band I See Stars, none of which I have the mental or emotional reserves left to look into at this point. Still, those are some ridiculously goofy names to be attacking in a rap song, and Radke does a great job of tearing them a new one while sounding like a straight-up wiener. Making fun of the band name I See Stars with “I Wash Cars” is innocuous enough, but the lyrics are especially hilarious. It sounds like this electronicore band said he stole some money from them, and now Ronnie Radke is getting back at them by saying their band is awful. No shit, dude. All of these bands are awful. I’m starting to believe that every band ever is awful.

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Falling in Reverse, “Bad Girls Club”

Which leads us to this week’s remarkable disasterpiece, “Bad Girls Club.” The latest video from the band’s Fashionably Late sees them returning to their love of themes, this time watching them head over to Japan, where there are plenty of women vying for Ronnie’s attention. A synth comes in, and Ronnie, wearing some over-the-top bronzer that gives him a terrifying dystopian leader vibe, starts belting out his emo love song. To add a “random”/racist element, the band’s members are playing in front of green screens that display clips from Godzilla movies. You know, because they’re in Japan. Once the song comes in, it’s a synth-heavy pop-punk number that’s the closest they’ve ever come to a traditional pop hit. All the while, a small harem of women are fighting over Radke. It’s all pretty same-y, a melodic synth pop goof-off as traditional as they come. There isn’t even an unnecessarily aggressive “metal” part! Just a sad, regressive cheerleader chant.

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