diff --git a/stepmania/src/global.h b/stepmania/src/global.h
index e5837e5fb5..bcdca40859 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/global.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/global.h
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ void NORETURN sm_crash( const char *reason = "Internal error" );
  * we get a backtrace.  This should probably be used instead of throwing an
  * exception in most cases we expect never to happen (but not in cases that
  * we do expect, such as DSound init failure.) */
-#define FAIL_M(MESSAGE) do { const char *pStr = (MESSAGE); CHECKPOINT_M(pStr); sm_crash(pStr); } while(0)
+#define FAIL_M(MESSAGE) do { CHECKPOINT_M(MESSAGE); sm_crash(MESSAGE); } while(0)
 #define ASSERT_M(COND, MESSAGE) do { if(unlikely(!(COND))) { FAIL_M(MESSAGE); } } while(0)
 #if !defined(CO_EXIST_WITH_MFC)
 #define ASSERT(COND) ASSERT_M((COND), "Assertion '" #COND "' failed")