Gleek = Geek or Geek = Gleek?

The Gleek, defined by Urban Dictionary as someone who is obsessed with the show Glee, is the growth social identity of 2010. Fox’s teen musical cum high school drama has enjoyed infectious popularity since its US debut a year ago and has even bagged a Golden Globe for Best TV Show – Musical or Comedy. Given that the term Gleek is seemingly applicable to 90% of females aged 15-30 the first part of our title is clearly redundant. Though their love of Glee may be obsessive, obsessive love does not a geek make. Otherwise our club would have to open it’s metaphorical doors to teeny boppers and sociopaths.

A more interestingly line of inquiry is whether geeks should be Gleeks. The Acceptable Geek Club firmly believes that Glee should be watched without prejudice. Though the trials and tribulations of a high school music society are hardly traditional geek fare, Glee deserves your attention as both a social phenomenon and, put simply, a quality program. Glee’s position as a cultural juggernaught needs no defence here - a quick skim of it’s charts success will suffice. However, we anticipate our second claim may meet with some resistance.

Besides it’s writing pedigree (two the show’s creators previously worked on Nip/Tuck), Glee should appeal to most Acceptable Geeks for one reason – covers. The most acceptable form of geekery is music geekery. Intricate knowledge of obscure album tracks has been cool since long before Nick Hornby publicised it and is unlikely to go out of fashion as long as music maintains it prominence in popular culture. For geeks, music is perhaps the one thing it is wholly acceptable to have a savant like knowledge of and enthuse about wildly. The same cannot be said of film and television, which can always cloak the sceptre of Trekkerism.

As Radio 1’s Live Lounge suggests, the most acceptable form of music geekery is knowledge of covers. Covers are an Acceptable Geek’s dream. Endlessly debatable, easily accessible and thrilling to be introduced to, a geek with a good record collection (or nowadays knowledge of Youtube) will never be short of a cover to dazzle with. Glee is the king of covers. Whilst a parade of shoe-gazing indie bands perfunctorily pluck their way through the latest R&B chart topper with an increasing lack of originality, Glee is treading the road less travelled. Be it AC/DC or U2, Kanye or Queen William McKinley High School’s finest have covered every kind of popular music imaginable. Unlike other covers shows like BBC’s Over The Rainbow, Glee is more than just a musical theatre mash up – the styles are as diverse as the content.

Glee’s covers seem set to dominate the charts till at least the Olympics. Though some are undoubtedly awful many surpass the originals (notably All American Rejects Gives You Hell). Performed by a superbly talented cast led by break-out star Matthew Morrison (Will Schuester) even the most hard-nosed indie snob will find it hard not to love something here. Surprisingly, Glee also manages to deal with issues of disability and homosexuality in a wholly un-PC yet affecting manner which puts other shows to shame.

Love it or hate it, Glee is the most influential show of 2010. Any geek with pretensions to musical taste cannot hope to ignore it. Should he, he may not find himself acceptable any more.