The Muirsical Glee Club.
I'm not a fan of Glee, the successful musical comedy-drama high school series that debuted on FOX in the States in 2009.
However that's hardly a statement that will have the Glee producers bursting into tears (I'm not exactly part of the demographic that's their target audience), it won't make the evening news and it certainly won't surprise anyone who knows me, follows this site or happens to be of like mind.
However, I genuinelly do have the greatest of respect for the creators of the show who are clearly very smart people, know their target audience, have tapped into that audience and produced something that will have immediate impact on the teen market and the twenty-somethings.
For me, though, Glee is quite possibly the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) example of what I term 're-imagined entertainment.'
In this particular case it's taking classic pop, rock or show songs and reinterpreting them for a new audience.
Writer-producer Ryan Murphy (one of the creators) said as much himself when talking about the record companies who were only too happy to have the original material they own reused in this way.
Only too happy? I'm not surprised - it gives them the (marketing) opportunity to re-release the original version/s dependant on the commercial success or interest shown towards the Glee remakes ('Gleemakes', I've just decided), or even a Greatest Hits issue of the artist in question.
Indeed, this has already happened (see later).
It's not just the record labels or companies that are happy - a number of name artists, not featured in the debut season, have confirmed they will be delighted to have their material used in such a way.
K'aching #1.
The show does feature some good singers and interesting 'show tune' vocal arrangements, but the really clever part is making each episode's musical material available on iTunes, just after that episode has aired.
K'aching #2.
And before the second half of the debut season had aired, two 'Glee: The Music' soundtracks had been issued (a series of albums are planned, probably one or two for each season).
K'aching #3.
Glee will also attract a percentage of older viewers who, even if not fans of the scripting or characters, will know the songs, enjoy the music, and/ or appreciate the vocals/ arrangements.
Now, they could have created a show with all new music, but they know what sells, and there's money in them there re-imagined nostalgic hills - hence the number of tribute, cover, and reinvented bands making decent livings.
However it does seem there will be at least one episode featuring original material, but with the number or songwriters approaching Team Glee desperate to be heard on prime-time TV that's not a surprise.
The aforementioned tribute artists, cover bands and reinvented or classic rock acts are fairly big news in the current re-imagined musical climate, but in the short time since Glee made its impact we now have tributes and covers that are based on the Glee versions or arrangements...
Nick Pitera, who could almost be described as a professional YouTube singer and who has also been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show, recently delivered his take of the melodic rock anthem 'Don't Stop Believing' after it was featured on Glee.
He's about the gazillionth singer to have a go at it, to be fair, but his cover wasn't based on the 1981 original as written and performed by Journey, it was a tribute to the Glee version of the song.
As was Sam Tsui's cover of the song, complete with a 'five part' vocal video that outdid Pitera's promotional video - Tsui has since appeared on Oprah, and has a covers album available via iTunes.
Following the Pitera and Tsui Glee covers next up to the plate was retired Sumo wrestler Akebono (who now performs musical routines on TV) who promoted the series airing in Japan by performing his Glee sing-over version of the song.
It certainly gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'big in Japan'...
It's interesting to note however that Petra Haden (one of the musical siblings of Jazz great Charlie Haden) recorded an acappella version of 'DSB' and performed it live with her vocal group The Sell Outs.
The backing vocal arrangements are remarkably similar to the Glee version, except Miss Haden originally recorded her cover in 2007, two years before the Glee gals and boys...
But back to the Glee Club, and it's UK Division.
As I was putting the first Draft of this article together my wife Anne was watching the live final of 'Got To Dance' on SKY television, a new dance/ entertainment show featuring predominately teenage and younger children.
One of the finalists were a young dance troupe from Glasgow known as 'The Box'.
They didn't win, but they did win the hearts of the audience and judges with their dreamscape dance routine to 'Hallelujah' (Alexandra Burke's version, highly unsurprisingly), while their other performance was a more colourful routine... to 'Don't Stop Believing' (the original version, highly surprisingly).
However I'm under no allusions whatsoever - the song, in its original form, would never have been chosen or used if not for the impact of shows such as Glee and 'The X-Factor' in the U.K. - the 'Glee Factor', if you will.
In the States, the use of 'Don't Stop Believing' in 2007 as the outro on the last ever episode of 'The Sopranos' TV drama series kick started the resurgence of the song, but on this side of the pond it had very little to do with that show, or a rock band called Journey.
Once released, the Glee version of 'Don't Stop Believing' appeared at #5 in the U.K. singles chart with, remarkably, the Journey original just behind it.
Well, I say remarkably, but based on it's high volume of iTune downloads - due primarily to the curious checking out the original after hearing the Gleemake and X-Factor singer Joe McElderry covering it - it was inevitable.
Equally inevitable was 'Journey's Greatest Hits' being (re)released in the U.K. shortly thereafter, and it entered the album charts at #12.
However this album (massively successful in the States since its original 1988 release) did very little in the U.K. first time around, and even less when the 'remastered and expanded version' was released only one year before the 2010 re-release.
But that's the Glee effect in action people, as was made crystal clear when, shortly after the above chart placings were confirmed, the 'Karaoke Version' website (probably the leading U.K. site for karaoke/ backing track downloads) listed Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' as the second highest download.
Only second? What managed to keep it at bay in the Runner-Up spot, then?
The Glee version.
However the piece de resistance - on both sides of the pond - was still to come...
In May, at the 2010 Rainforest Foundation fundraiser at Carnegie Hall in New York, the highlight was a get together of all the featured artists performing... well, let's just say on first viewing/ hearing I thought I was witnessing a surreal 'Flash Forward' to the Glee 2050 Reunion party.
Turns out it was actually a Don't Stop Believing Karaoke-fest featuring Lady Gaga and Elton John, with contribution from Sting, Debbie Harry, Shirley Bassey, and even The Boss himself (et tu, Bruce?).
One of my buddies, on hearing this rendition, decided that there ought to be a moratorium on the song, a comment that was bettered only by another friend's retort: "I believe the Apocalypse is upon us."
Indeed. But not before we had time to quickly nip back across the Atlantic...
Around the same time that the Gaga girl was teetering on the brink of not just the Apocalypse but her platform soles, it was being announced in the U.K. that Spice Girl Emma Bunton would be hosting Channel Five's new talent show 'Don't Stop Believing'.
Better yet, the Summer show was also being billed as "X Factor meets Glee."
Double Whammy.
Is it too late to emigrate to New Zealand?
This may well "go on and on and on and on" until the end of the world is upon us, but with the two examples above it seems we have, officially, bottomed out.
Or peaked.
It's all a matter of what you BelieveIn...
Ross Muir
May 2010
I'm not a fan of Glee, the successful musical comedy-drama high school series that debuted on FOX in the States in 2009.
However that's hardly a statement that will have the Glee producers bursting into tears (I'm not exactly part of the demographic that's their target audience), it won't make the evening news and it certainly won't surprise anyone who knows me, follows this site or happens to be of like mind.
However, I genuinelly do have the greatest of respect for the creators of the show who are clearly very smart people, know their target audience, have tapped into that audience and produced something that will have immediate impact on the teen market and the twenty-somethings.
For me, though, Glee is quite possibly the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) example of what I term 're-imagined entertainment.'
In this particular case it's taking classic pop, rock or show songs and reinterpreting them for a new audience.
Writer-producer Ryan Murphy (one of the creators) said as much himself when talking about the record companies who were only too happy to have the original material they own reused in this way.
Only too happy? I'm not surprised - it gives them the (marketing) opportunity to re-release the original version/s dependant on the commercial success or interest shown towards the Glee remakes ('Gleemakes', I've just decided), or even a Greatest Hits issue of the artist in question.
Indeed, this has already happened (see later).
It's not just the record labels or companies that are happy - a number of name artists, not featured in the debut season, have confirmed they will be delighted to have their material used in such a way.
K'aching #1.
The show does feature some good singers and interesting 'show tune' vocal arrangements, but the really clever part is making each episode's musical material available on iTunes, just after that episode has aired.
K'aching #2.
And before the second half of the debut season had aired, two 'Glee: The Music' soundtracks had been issued (a series of albums are planned, probably one or two for each season).
K'aching #3.
Glee will also attract a percentage of older viewers who, even if not fans of the scripting or characters, will know the songs, enjoy the music, and/ or appreciate the vocals/ arrangements.
Now, they could have created a show with all new music, but they know what sells, and there's money in them there re-imagined nostalgic hills - hence the number of tribute, cover, and reinvented bands making decent livings.
However it does seem there will be at least one episode featuring original material, but with the number or songwriters approaching Team Glee desperate to be heard on prime-time TV that's not a surprise.
The aforementioned tribute artists, cover bands and reinvented or classic rock acts are fairly big news in the current re-imagined musical climate, but in the short time since Glee made its impact we now have tributes and covers that are based on the Glee versions or arrangements...
Nick Pitera, who could almost be described as a professional YouTube singer and who has also been featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show, recently delivered his take of the melodic rock anthem 'Don't Stop Believing' after it was featured on Glee.
He's about the gazillionth singer to have a go at it, to be fair, but his cover wasn't based on the 1981 original as written and performed by Journey, it was a tribute to the Glee version of the song.
As was Sam Tsui's cover of the song, complete with a 'five part' vocal video that outdid Pitera's promotional video - Tsui has since appeared on Oprah, and has a covers album available via iTunes.
Following the Pitera and Tsui Glee covers next up to the plate was retired Sumo wrestler Akebono (who now performs musical routines on TV) who promoted the series airing in Japan by performing his Glee sing-over version of the song.
It certainly gave a whole new meaning to the phrase 'big in Japan'...
It's interesting to note however that Petra Haden (one of the musical siblings of Jazz great Charlie Haden) recorded an acappella version of 'DSB' and performed it live with her vocal group The Sell Outs.
The backing vocal arrangements are remarkably similar to the Glee version, except Miss Haden originally recorded her cover in 2007, two years before the Glee gals and boys...
But back to the Glee Club, and it's UK Division.
As I was putting the first Draft of this article together my wife Anne was watching the live final of 'Got To Dance' on SKY television, a new dance/ entertainment show featuring predominately teenage and younger children.
One of the finalists were a young dance troupe from Glasgow known as 'The Box'.
They didn't win, but they did win the hearts of the audience and judges with their dreamscape dance routine to 'Hallelujah' (Alexandra Burke's version, highly unsurprisingly), while their other performance was a more colourful routine... to 'Don't Stop Believing' (the original version, highly surprisingly).
However I'm under no allusions whatsoever - the song, in its original form, would never have been chosen or used if not for the impact of shows such as Glee and 'The X-Factor' in the U.K. - the 'Glee Factor', if you will.
In the States, the use of 'Don't Stop Believing' in 2007 as the outro on the last ever episode of 'The Sopranos' TV drama series kick started the resurgence of the song, but on this side of the pond it had very little to do with that show, or a rock band called Journey.
Once released, the Glee version of 'Don't Stop Believing' appeared at #5 in the U.K. singles chart with, remarkably, the Journey original just behind it.
Well, I say remarkably, but based on it's high volume of iTune downloads - due primarily to the curious checking out the original after hearing the Gleemake and X-Factor singer Joe McElderry covering it - it was inevitable.
Equally inevitable was 'Journey's Greatest Hits' being (re)released in the U.K. shortly thereafter, and it entered the album charts at #12.
However this album (massively successful in the States since its original 1988 release) did very little in the U.K. first time around, and even less when the 'remastered and expanded version' was released only one year before the 2010 re-release.
But that's the Glee effect in action people, as was made crystal clear when, shortly after the above chart placings were confirmed, the 'Karaoke Version' website (probably the leading U.K. site for karaoke/ backing track downloads) listed Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing' as the second highest download.
Only second? What managed to keep it at bay in the Runner-Up spot, then?
The Glee version.
However the piece de resistance - on both sides of the pond - was still to come...
In May, at the 2010 Rainforest Foundation fundraiser at Carnegie Hall in New York, the highlight was a get together of all the featured artists performing... well, let's just say on first viewing/ hearing I thought I was witnessing a surreal 'Flash Forward' to the Glee 2050 Reunion party.
Turns out it was actually a Don't Stop Believing Karaoke-fest featuring Lady Gaga and Elton John, with contribution from Sting, Debbie Harry, Shirley Bassey, and even The Boss himself (et tu, Bruce?).
One of my buddies, on hearing this rendition, decided that there ought to be a moratorium on the song, a comment that was bettered only by another friend's retort: "I believe the Apocalypse is upon us."
Indeed. But not before we had time to quickly nip back across the Atlantic...
Around the same time that the Gaga girl was teetering on the brink of not just the Apocalypse but her platform soles, it was being announced in the U.K. that Spice Girl Emma Bunton would be hosting Channel Five's new talent show 'Don't Stop Believing'.
Better yet, the Summer show was also being billed as "X Factor meets Glee."
Double Whammy.
Is it too late to emigrate to New Zealand?
This may well "go on and on and on and on" until the end of the world is upon us, but with the two examples above it seems we have, officially, bottomed out.
Or peaked.
It's all a matter of what you BelieveIn...
Ross Muir
May 2010