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In my early teens, my brother and I used to head down to the local flea market to pick up cheap knockoffs of popular rock music, performed by cover artists who were nowhere near as good as the original. But we didn’t know how badly the knockoffs stunk until a group of fellow classmates overheard our music and started making fun of us. I wanted to crawl under Daddy’s beat-up truck and die. So when the opening cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” blasted from my work computer, I nearly ducked under my desk in embarrassment, praying the young janitor hadn’t heard it out in the hall. Some artists you just don’t imitate, and Journey is one of them (unless, of course, you’re Arnel Pineda, and you sound just like Steve Perry).
From Fox’s popular TV musical comedy series Glee, the cast performs seventeen tracks that span four decades of rock music and show tunes. Despite the jarring and cringe-inducing opening of “Don’t Stop Believing,” the Glee cast did some really good covers of such popular songs as REO Speedwagon’s “Can’t Fight this Feeling,” Heart’s “Alone,” and Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.”
Cast member Rachel Berry (Lea Michele) did a fantastic cover of Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances.” Jordan Sparks’s “No Air,” performed by Will’s Group, was amazing, and I absolutely loved Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) and New Direction’s version of Young MC’s “Bust a Move”—I simply cannot keep my body still when this song plays; I end up dancing all over the house.
Uh-oh, it’s playing now; my foot’s tapping; hold on…I’ll return in about four minutes… Okay, I’m back. Wait…I just hit replay…
Sometimes a cover of a song turns out to be just as good if not better than the original, but Artie Abrams’s (Kevin McHale) rendition of Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” was probably best left unsung—another musician no one should try and imitate.
Despite a few less than stellar performances, Glee: The Music, Volume 1 is an enjoyable and fun stroll through some of rock’s best music, and most of the performers have real talent. Though I’ve never watched Glee, this musical journey made me want to see these talented young actors perform live on stage. Until then, I’ll just pop this CD into my player, but I’ll be sure and skip over the songs that make me cringe.
