Top 10 Things Only Glee Fans Understand
#10: Everybody Loves Blaine
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When Darren Criss was cast as rival glee club member Blaine Anderson, he was immediately a massive hit with “Glee” fans. His first song performed on the series, a cover of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” hit number 8 on the Billboard charts at its peak popularity and sold 214,000 singles in the first week. Some theories even claim Blaine’s popularity directly affected the size of his role in the series, with him being rewritten as Kurt’s love interest and eventually moved over to the New Directions and the main cast. For “Glee” fans, it’s not hard to see why his part was expanded. Darren Criss is a fantastically talented performer, and it makes complete sense that he’s so universally loved.
#9: Freaking Out Over This “Super” Crossover “The Flash” (2014-)
In 2017, most “Glee” fans already knew about the CW’s superhero shows “The Flash” and “Supergirl”, starring former “Glee” stars Grant Gustin and Melissa Benoist, respectively. Aware of their unique fanbase, the showrunners decided to use a crossover episode between the two shows as a special musical episode. As if this wasn’t enough, it also featured a guest appearance from Darren Criss, who played the villainous “Music Meister.” After two years without a new episode of “Glee”, this was truly an exciting moment for anyone who missed the ridiculous performances from their favorite musical television series.
#8: Brad the Piano Player
Definitely one of the strangest characters on “Glee” was Brad, the ever-present but usually silent piano player for the many performances in the New Directions choir room. Brad was played by Brad Ellis, who was originally brought on as a musical director and vocal coach for the cast, but also provided on-screen accompaniment for the musical numbers. He became a mysterious source of intrigue for “Glee” fans, who were delighted by his occasional silent sassy reactions to various events in scenes. Even more exciting was his first line in season four, a hilarious rant to Sue about how much he hates the glee club. For diehard “Glee” fans, Brad definitely makes the list of best “Glee” characters.
#7: The Importance of “Don’t Stop Believin’”
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Since the first episode of “Glee” in 2009, “Don’t Stop Believin’” has become much more than just another Journey anthem to the many fans of the series. The song was performed by the cast of “Glee” six times on the show, with, surprise, the solo going to Rachel every single time. The recurring song was hated by Jenna Ushkowitz, Heather Morris, and Kevin McHale, who played Tina, Britney, and Artie respectively. Others, like Lea Michele, loved the cover and consider it one of their favorites. For fans, opinions are similarly split, but whether you love it or hate it, it’s undeniable that it’s one of the most iconic covers from “Glee” and instantly comes to mind whenever anyone mentions the series.
#6: Being Obsessed with Glee TikTok
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If you’re a “Glee” fan and you’re not on TikTok yet, that needs to change immediately. Tons of Gleeks are already on the platform creating hilarious content that pokes fun at the show in the way only “Glee” fans can. Fans post videos of their favorite quotes and moments from the series, talk about plot holes and theories, and of course make tons of jokes about ridiculous characters like Rachel and Mr. Schuester. It goes to show that fan enthusiasm for “Glee” is still alive and well in many ways. For viewers, all the new entertaining content makes it feel like it’s 2010 and at the peak of Glee’s popularity all over again.
#5: Always Mentioning When a Song was Covered on Glee
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Over six seasons, the cast of “Glee” performed 754 songs in total, with most of those being covers of existing material. “Glee” introduced its fans to so many artists and songs they had never heard of before in all different genres. For many fans, an entirely new category of music has emerged: songs that were covered on “Glee.” Anytime the original recording of one of these songs plays, a dedicated “Glee” fan will tell you it was on the show, and can likely even tell you who sang it and why. These fans probably had the Glee Cast as their number one artist on Spotify Wrapped, and might even prefer the “Glee” cover to the original song in some cases.
#4: Wanting Your Favorite Character to have More Solos
All the characters of “Glee” have little things that draw us to them, but everyone has a character that they love more than any other. This could be because of their personality, talents, or any number of reasons. Chances are, though, unless your favorite character was Rachel, you thought your fave was totally robbed and deserved way more solos than they got. While most of the characters had at least a few moments to shine in solo performances, there are definitely still fans who will argue that there should have been more Quinn or Artie numbers, for example. For now, we’ll just have to settle for listening to “Papa Don’t Preach” again and mourning the solos that could have been.
#3: All the Complicated Relationships
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Throughout the entirety of “Glee”, the members of the glee club and their fellow students dated and broke up with each other so frequently it would take a “Glee” expert to keep track of their tangled relationship web. Sam Evans alone dated Brittany, Quinn, Mercedes, Santana, and Rachel, and can be connected to almost every other character in the series through these links. This might sound like a total headache to most people, but to “Glee” fans keeping track of who was with who is 100 percent part of the fun. These fans could easily connect Mr. Schue to Jesse St. James just through this relationship web, which is pretty impressive.
#2: How Cringy Will Schuester Is
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While it was pretty evident Mr. Schue was an unusual teacher while “Glee” was still ongoing, since the series has ended it has become all too clear that he was totally creepy the entire time. To name a few reasons: he blackmailed Finn so he’d join the glee club, encouraged his students to twerk in front of him, and made high school students put on a production of the very provocative Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s all too easy to come up with many more examples, and big “Glee” fans can happily name dozens more to anyone who will listen. While certainly unintentional, Mr. Schue has definitely become one of the most universally hated characters from the series. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Thinking NYADA Was a Real University, and Totally Wanting to Go There Wanting to Experience Getting “Slushied” Knowing the Original Cast is the Best, and Newer Members Always Come Second
#1: Having a Love-Hate Relationship with the Show
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It’s painfully obvious that “Glee” is far from a perfect television series. The show had plenty of cringy, questionable, and downright problematic moments in the six years it was on television. Nevertheless, there’s still clearly a strong fanbase who see the series like a younger sibling: no one can say anything negative about “Glee” but them. Truthfully, those outside of the fanbase might not realize that “Glee” fans have spent tons of time critically analyzing and debating the show like the masterpiece it is. They will honestly tell you all the problems they have with the series, but nothing would ever be enough to make them lose their love for the show in all its campy glory.
