Top Ten ‘Glee’ Performances – Season 2
#10 – ‘Never Going Back Again’ – Artie
Welcome to my second annual ‘Glee’ countdown, in which I list my ten favorite performances from the most recent season of the hit TV show.
I once read a description of ‘Glee’ as the best worst show on TV, and I kind of see what was meant by that. It is wildly uneven, sometimes downright bad, the characterizations are all over the place, the plotlines are inconsistent… and yet, it features some truly sublime moments. And it has been brave in tackling such sensitive topics as sexuality and religion without being too safe or too preachy.
For all of ‘Glee’s flaws, I’d never dream of missing an episode, and these ten performances (five this week, five next) are a big reason why.
Kicking things off is a performance by Artie during an episode titles ‘Rumours,’ in which the cast performed songs from the classic Fleetwood Mac album.
The show featured quite a few memorable performances (including ‘Dreams’ by Mr. Schuester and April Rhodes, and ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ by Finn and Quinn) but the guitar orchestra in this clip put it over the edge for me.
Made me see where I’ve been
Been down one time
Been down two times
I’m never going back again
You don’t know what it means to win
Come down and see me again
Been down one time
Been down two times
I’m never going back again
Meet Me In Montauk 
Well, this should draw Kerrie (and Amy) out into the comment board:)
I agree with all you have said above about Glee. The show may be the ultimate guilty pleasure. I do love, though, how it is exposing a new generation to classic artists and songs like the one featured today.
Oh yes! this is going to be a fun two weeks! I agree, the guitars made this really work.
Guitars in this song – check. Puck walking while playing guitar – check PLUS 🙂
I had written a very long comment about the quality of Glee, compared to, say, Friday Night Lights (as it was in an article Peg had shared earlier today), but, alas, the comment disappeared into cyberspace.
The upshot? A show such as Friday Night Lights almost has to appeal to a much smaller audience in order to be able to sustain its quality. I usually reject this argument with most other art forms, but I find that it’s actually typically true for television.
Regardless, I’m looking forward to the countdown, and I have a guess about your #1 song of the season (as Maddie and I turned to each other and immediately declared it such the moment it started!)
I’m glad to see this song featured; this was one of my favorite episodes of the year. I’m curious – do you simply pick your top ten favorites? Or do you try to balance the songs performed by the show’s divas with those performed by some of its supporting players?
I compile my list of about 20 candidates and single out the ones I know will be in the top five or so, regardless of who sings them. For the rest of the top ten, I try to represent as much of the cast as I can, but only if I truly consider them all of those performances pretty much equal.
Score one for Dana – I’m here to comment!! Sorry I was delayed, but with mom in town I haven’t been online so much for the past couple of days… Don’t despair, though, you’ve got my attention now! 🙂
Yes, this was a beautiful song and a lovely Glee moment. I won’t comment much on the show in general because while I can’t wholly disagree with Clay’s critique, I choose to allow myself to be swept up in Glee’s magic week after week – imperfections and inconsistencies aside. 😉 There is simply no other show like this on television and I dare say there will never be another. But I digress…
Kevin McHale has a wonderful voice and I love it when they give him something a little different like this. He does a great job with Michael Jackson stuff, but this was a special treat; plus, the guitar orchestra really won me over. Great way to start off the countdown and I look forward to what the next two weeks hold.