I recently was sent a link by our star Reviews Editor, Jennifer Monteagudo, that contained an open letter drafted by either Tegan or Sara (not sure which one) that raises an interesting (and really, plainly obvious) point about the lyrical content in the newest Tyler, the Creator album.

Everyone is talking about, reviewing and I guess buying the record (45k records in one week apparently gets you the #5 slot on Billboard). The writer is clearly upset with the idea that an album that has such a large amount of misogyny and homophobia in it is not only popular, but that no reviewer will decry it for fear of upsetting the status quo.

"While an artist who can barely get a sentence fragment out without using homophobic slurs is celebrated on the cover of every magazine, blog and newspaper, I’m disheartened that any self-respecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile," the writer says, fully and truly offended by what's going on. And they have a point of course; the album has a song titled "Bitch Suck Dick".

All of that part is true; Goblin has a lot of disturbing material and realistically anyone can be offended and it would be understandable. What's odd about the post is that while it's so easy to agree with the idea it's also so easy to pass this off as somewhat of an over-reaction to an issue that all of the smart people get.

It's really simple; no one who's intelligent will listen to that album and become inspired towards hateful physical or emotional acts upon women, gays, or lesbians. If anyone listens to the album and agrees and supports some of the lyrics (which, I should also point out, aren't insanely prevalent on the whole album), then they were ignorant long before the newest hip hop/hipster thing entered their lives. The post is so reactionary and "in the moment" that it is both perfect evidence why sometimes it's bad to have a platform 24/7 to release statements and also very annoying to me because I really didn't want to defend something that I enjoyed on such a shallow, surface level.

He's a dumb, 20-year-old kid. Most of the lyrics on that album are so over the top that only the true weird humans would look at it as a manual. I could go with the statement that "Eminem, Marilyn Manson, the Sex Pistols, 2 Live Crew, etc., etc., etc., did it before" but so many reviews already went there and I'm trying to cover some new ground. None of it matters, because the previously mentioned acts all had the same articles written about them and it comes and goes (both their careers and the issues with their music).

What makes the post worth the read is that sexism, homophobia and violence towards both groups ARE serious issues but Goblin isn't even a scratch on the surface of the problem as a catalyst. It's distracting from what really should be spoken about on the issue to write a post about an album that is No. 5 on the charts because it sold forty-five thousand records. What the post should have been was a short opinion that the lyrics are shit and it's stupid that so many people think it's genius.

Instead, I'm reading a lot of weird back and forth sentences ("If any of the bands whose records are held in similar esteem as Goblin had lyrics littered with rape fantasies and slurs, would they be labeled hate mongers? I realize I could ask that question of DOZENS of other artists, but is Tyler exempt because people are afraid of the backlash?") and "REALLY?!" moments ("It is not without great hesitation and hand wringing that I enter into the discourse about Tyler").

I'll leave it with this; I reviewed the album and gave it a high score on our ranking chart. It's new, it's interesting, and the entire group has a lot of potential, depending on how long their career lasts. What will probably happen is that the group will ditch the more messed up lyrics as soon as they get a bigger amount of stature (if they do) because: 1) people who have a bigger stature will complain and they'll cover it better and make a better point in their blogs or 2), the group will get older and realize that it's not a good look and isn't necessary. The issue with this post is that you agree on the basic point, but you back away from the writer when they look like they are putting themselves over to get noticed as "someone who is finally speaking out" ("I can only hope that someone reading this might be inspired to speak out. At the very least, I will know that my voice is on record"). I want everyone to remember that the album has been out for only one week as of this writing, it's only No. 30 on the iTunes charts, and no one who's intelligent really looks at the negative lyrics on the album as anything more that a young kid saying shocking shit to get a reaction. Really everyone profits here; Tyler has people writing articles and painting him as a menace which sells him more albums, Tegan and Sara raise awareness for both the issue and themselves and people like me write about them and get more readers. WE ALL WIN, and that is what you should take away from this.