It's hard to believe that after only a few short years Glee will be broadcasting its 500th musical number in its next episode, Girls (and Boys) On Film. Of course, there is bound to be a lot fan discussion concerning what the number will be? Who will lead? Where it will take place? After taking these variables into consideration myself, I've come to wonder which songs/performances I would pick from the series, thus far, if I had to explain the story to someone who had never watched the show. It is a given that Glee has a spectrum of fans and different people look for their own preferences in the musical performances. Some people want everything to be Top-40, some want 80s soft-rock and others are the theatre fanatics. Nevertheless, I believe, a variety of genre keeps the show fresh and appealing. So, in honour of Glees upcoming milestone, Ive decided to push the boat out and list my fifty most defining musical performances from the series so far.
50. Dont Stop Believin
(Pilot, Season One) In short, this song meant hope in the Glee-verse. Hope for Will. Hope for the glee club. Hope for Rachel and Finn. Journey's
Don't Stop Believin' was the New Directions first group performance number and has come to be Glee's signature song. It has great sentimental value and nostalgia for its fans and was the Song of the Season for the first season. Not only that, the DSB performance laid down the very foundations of the show, establishing the series' tone, which its fans have come to love and cherish and, to be honest, are missing more and more of recently. It is Glee's most iconic song and has come to personify the shows message. Its also just a display of raw talent. No bells. No whistles. No high production gloss. Its simply just talented kids singing and joking around on stage.
49. Alone
(The Rhodes Not Taken, Season One) Will seems fed up with the glee club before hes even started it and goes looking for his old high school crush, April, who was the star of the glee club when he was a student at McKinley. This is probably one of the first performances to feature the full range of Matt Morrisons talent, and the amazing Kristin Chenoweth only augments this. He tried to help April by enrolling her into McKinley again (yeah, whatever) so she could take Rachels place (shed stormed out again) but found April more of a liability than a help as she ended up getting the students into trouble for different misdemeanours. Whilst the April character is largely comically throughout the episode, Chenoweth and Morrison exhibit great potential together during this number at the local bowling alley.