He was a force, eating cockroaches in music videos, fantasizing about murder and suicide, delighting in hiding behind a veneer of edgelord homophobic, misogynist lyrics. His was a youthful, playful, nearly theoretical form of destruction. He reveled in blurring the line between character and artist and troll, between ego and id. Yet he was so sure-handed in his artistry, so unfettered, that he was precisely what I, and probably you, could have used as a kid: someone who does not care about anyone’s rules but seems such a genius that no one opposing him could ever be taken seriously. Your parents can ground you; they can’t do a thing to Tyler. Thus: He represented freedom. A grisly and dark one, for sure, but a freedom nonetheless. (more…)