'Forced' to Like Pop Music

January 16, 2011 at 1:36 PM

Like millions of other young people, I like the television show Glee. It took me ages actually to get down to the watching the episode because frankly I though it´d just be a TV replay of High School Musical. But I gave it a try and ended up really liking it. Actually I liked it so much that me and my friends threw a Glee themed party on Halloween with very entertaining results.

There are many things I like about Glee but the thing I enjoy most is the music. I have never been a great fan of pop music but there are some pop songs I like and listen to. But I was reasonably apprehensive towards an entire television episode being dedicated to cheesy pop music. But I was proved wrong. Glee does involve a lot of pop music but there have also been some brilliant musical numbers, old time classics like Make em laugh, classic rock medley´s and some truly beautiful classics. Time and again I have been touched by the music in the episodes and I´ve even been introduced to some new numbers I´ve come to love like Rose´s Turn and Defying Gravity. Plus I love seeing some old pop tunes being put into a new "costume" and often they are better than the originals.

Music is so incredibly diverse. As a classical musician it´s very easy for me to dismiss all pop music as terrible and wrinkle my nose in disgust at rock numbers. But if I keep on avoiding music just because it belongs to a certain genre I´m certain to be missing out on a whole lot of truly brilliant music. Because some pop music is brilliant, well written and carries a message. That´s why I´m very happy there´s a television show like Glee that actually brings music to people, not just pop but also other genres as well. It forces classical nerds like me to listen to pop music and enjoy it and introduces brilliant non pop music numbers to people whom would normally faint if asked to listen to a non pop music piece.

So I will continue to watch Glee and like and to get to know some great pop music along the way and that´ll force me out of my classical nut.

From Michael Divino
Posted on January 17, 2011 at 3:57 AM

I agree completely!

From E. Smith
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 1:53 AM

I don't know-- the cast of Glee is very talented, but the music so over-produced that it gives a completely false impression of what live music-making and musicianship is. And let's not get started on the dancing.

The writing is bad and the plot is full of holes (I only watched about 2/3 of Season 1, so possibly there had been an improvement, but it has a long way to go.) The cast is comprised primarily of stage actors, and they come across as broadly cartoonish on small screen.

I stopped watching because the writing was so awful. Good TV writing does exist out there, but it was obviously not a priority to the producers of Glee.

I'd love to see a popular series that treated musicianship-- pop, broadway, art-music, or otherwise, with some degree of realism.

From Elaine Yong
Posted on January 18, 2011 at 11:28 AM

I've really enjoyed the Glee episodes. While I don't religiously follow it like many of my friends, I do watch them in my spare time from time to time. I'm not particularly fond of the drama that happens but do really like some of the covers of famous songs they have done in the past (that being said, some were truly horrible too...).

I don't think anyone is 'forced' to like or follow a trend. That's just my two cents.
I do however, think that a mix of everything is a good thing- just like everything else in life, from vegies, to sport, and to not spending 20 out of the 24 hours in front of your music stand.

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'Forced' to Like Pop Music

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