Why It’s Important That Tool Unseated Taylor Swift On The Billboard Charts

Yesterday, it was announced that Tool’s first album in 13 years, Fear Inoculum, debuted at the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s Top 200. The album it unseated to reach this milestone: Taylor Swift’s Lover, released only a week before. When we posted that the kings of progressive metal had taken the lead over the queen of modern pop, many rock fans were excited — but many more responded with annoyance and cynicism. Some saw the rock world’s delight as schadenfreude against Swift, while the rest responded with the eternal above-it-all response: Who cares? Scoff all you want, but it’s undeniably important for rock music that Tool debuted at No. 1. That a band who sounds like Tool — who did nothing out of the ordinary to promote their album and took their time ...

unsplash-logoLilith Redmoon