Refusing Glee — really?

It seems not everyone is a fan of Glee, the Fox mega-hit that has been winning awards left and right, and causing controversy, too. The musical show does not include any original music. Every song sung is a cover of a hit by an actual artist. The Glee kids have sung songs by Journey, Cristina Aguilera, Rihanna, MC Hammer, and a very long list of others. Their first artist-themed episode came about when Madonna gave producers access to her entire catalog, and was followed by a not-as-good Britney Spears-themed show. With so many great songs originally done by so many well known bands and individual artists, and with the tremendous success the show is enjoying, it’s difficult to understand why anyone would turn Glee down. Yet a handful of artists has done just that.

Coldplay made news last year when they flat out refused to let Glee producers use even just one of their songs for the series pilot. Never mind that the year prior, they not only allowed Apple to use one of their songs in a commercial for iTunes, the band members actually appeared in the commercial themselves. Apparently, Chris Martin, the band’s frontman, didn’t want the band’s music featured on an unproven, unknown show. He later ate his words. Once Glee exploded out of the gate, Martin called the show’s creator and executive producer, Ryan Murphy, to apologize for his previous stinginess, and offer up the band’s entire catalog.

The other famous holdout whose Glee refusal generated a lot of buzz is Canadian rocker Bryan Adams. Murphy has said on more than one occasion, in several interviews, that Adams turned them down flat, and has even insinuated that it was a money issue, as in Adams wanting more than the show was willing to pay. To date, no Bryan Adams song has been featured on the hit show. But one news source reported Adams as saying that he never turned them down, and that he doesn’t even know what Glee is. With as much fanfare as the show has generated, that’s a little hard to believe. Sounds like maybe another apology might be coming Murphy’s way pretty soon.

The latest snub Glee has received is from Slash, former guitarist for Guns N’ Roses, current guitarist for Velvet Revolver. His reason isn’t because he isn’t familiar with Glee, though. It’s because he is—and he hates it. He likens the show to Grease, which he says is bad enough, but calls Grease a “work of art” compared to Glee. That’s at least an honest reason not motivated by money. Definitely not, because nearly every song featured on the show becomes an instant download hit on iTunes, generating a lot of income for the songs’ writers and performers.

Watching Glee, with its mix of contemporary and classic hits, is simultaneously a lesson for older viewers in what’s popular now, and for younger viewers in the music that paved the way for everything done today. Without Madonna, there would be no Britney or Cristina. If somehow you’ve missed the show up to now, you can watch Glee online and start at the beginning. Just don’t be surprised when it makes you want to not only listen to all that music you remember from high school, but download the Glee versions as well.

Clacked by Guest Clacker
on Feb 04, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT