We have:

LifeMeter->IsFailing()
    -- whether the player would fail if a failure check was made right now
  bFailedEarlier
    -- whether the player was failing at some point
  bFailed
    -- whether the player actually failed

bFailedEarlier is set even in FailOff, but other than that the two
are identical.  Most of the time, use bFailed; in FailOff, the player
should never fail, so bFailedEarlier should be meaningless.

stepmania/src/Background.cpp

@@ -926,7 +926,7 @@ bool BackgroundImpl::IsDangerAllVisible()
 
 	/* Don't show it if everyone is already failing: it's already too late and it's
 	 * annoying for it to show for the entire duration of a song. */
-	if( STATSMAN->m_CurStageStats.AllFailedEarlier() )
+	if( STATSMAN->m_CurStageStats.AllFailed() )
 		return false;
 
 	if( !GAMESTATE->AllAreInDangerOrWorse() )