diff --git a/stepmania/src/CommonMetrics.cpp b/stepmania/src/CommonMetrics.cpp
index cddeb1b796..4e181c0427 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/CommonMetrics.cpp
+++ b/stepmania/src/CommonMetrics.cpp
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 
 CString PLAYER_COLOR_NAME( size_t p ) { return ssprintf("ColorP%d",int(p+1)); }
 
-ThemeMetric<CString>	INITIAL_SCREEN						("Common","InitialScreen");
+ThemeMetric<CString>	INITIAL_SCREEN						("Common","InitialScreen", true); // always reevaluate metric
 ThemeMetric<CString>	FIRST_ATTRACT_SCREEN				("Common","FirstAttractScreen");
 ThemeMetric<CString>	DEFAULT_MODIFIERS					("Common","DefaultModifiers" );
 ThemeMetric<CString>	DEFAULT_CPU_MODIFIERS				("Common","DefaultCpuModifiers" );
diff --git a/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h b/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
index 5ca6444e9c..8be25d9819 100644
--- a/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
+++ b/stepmania/src/ThemeMetric.h
@@ -24,15 +24,21 @@ private:
 	T			m_currentValue;
 	bool		m_bIsLoaded;
 
+	/* HACK: If true, reload the metric each time it's read.  This is like DynamicThemeMetric,
+	 * but works transparently for strings.  This is very slow, and should be removed once
+	 * metrics are refactored to fix DynamicThemeMetric. */
+	bool		m_bAlwaysReload;
+
 public:
 	/* Initializing with no group and name is allowed; if you do this, you must
 	 * call Load() to set them.  This is done to allow initializing cached metrics
 	 * in one place for classes that don't receive their m_sName in the constructor
 	 * (everything except screens). */
-	ThemeMetric( const CString& sGroup = "", const CString& sName = "" ):
+	ThemeMetric( const CString& sGroup = "", const CString& sName = "", bool bAlwaysReload = false ):
 		m_sGroup( sGroup ),
 		m_sName( sName ),
-		m_bIsLoaded( false )
+		m_bIsLoaded( false ),
+		m_bAlwaysReload( bAlwaysReload )
 	{
 		m_currentValue = T();
 		ThemeManager::Subscribe( this );
@@ -43,7 +49,8 @@ public:
 		m_sGroup( cpy.m_sGroup ),
 		m_sName( cpy.m_sName ),
 		m_currentValue( cpy.m_currentValue ),
-		m_bIsLoaded( cpy.m_bIsLoaded )
+		m_bIsLoaded( cpy.m_bIsLoaded ),
+		m_bAlwaysReload( cpy.m_bAlwaysReload )
 	{
 		ThemeManager::Subscribe( this );
 	}
@@ -80,6 +87,12 @@ public:
 		ASSERT( m_sName != "" );
 		ASSERT( m_bIsLoaded );
 
+		if( m_bAlwaysReload )
+		{
+			ThemeMetric<T> *p = const_cast<ThemeMetric<T> *>(this);
+			p->Read();
+		 }
+
 		return m_currentValue;
 	}