About
Have you ever been listening to Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" and thought, "You know what would sound really freaking awesome? This song, performed in multi-part choreography by a high school glee club"? Well, friend, 2009 was your lucky year, then. Fox premiered Glee, its musical-comedy about a high school glee club full of underdogs and misfits with fabulous voices and their plucky Spanish teacher leader (played by musical theater actor Matthew Morrison). Then, the network quickly began an unconventional marketing campaign: they started releasing the cast's "Glee-ful" pop covers as singles -- and it worked. One after another, the slick, show choir versions of "Don't Stop Believin,'" Kanye West's "Gold Digger," Rihanna's "Take a Bow," Heart's "Alone" and Queen's "Somebody to Love" made their way onto the pop charts. While the camptastic aesthetic is certainly part of the appeal, most of the credit goes to the talented cast, which includes musical theater vet Lea Michele as an uber-ambitious social pariah/would-be star with killer pipes, Cory Monteith as the sweet but clueless popular jock/Journey fan and the inimitable Jane Lynch as a Machiavellian cheerleading coach.
- Rachel Devitt
