# Had you heard of glee before Glee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341 "2010-06-07T21:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/1 "2010-06-07T21:04:31Z")
Just wondering if anyone had heard of show choirs before the show Glee? No-one I know (except one gay lad) had ever heard of it before. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/2 "2010-06-07T21:06:35Z")
I’ve heard of “glee clubs”, thought they went the way of the sock hop or something. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/3 "2010-06-07T21:08:17Z")
Only through _You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown_, and I didn’t get the same picture that _Glee_ presents. I sort of thought that they were related to cheerleaders. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/4 "2010-06-07T21:10:52Z")
At my high school it was called “show choir”, but a few people would call it “glee club”, especially the after-school activities. Don’t most schools have something like that? Mine had less than 300 students in the rural Midwest, but we could still support it. (I was in jazz band instead of show choir, so I was a slightly different sort of nerd.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/5 "2010-06-07T21:12:30Z")
I went to two different colleges as an undergrad, and they both had show choirs. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Carol\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/6 "2010-06-07T21:15:38Z")
Yep. I was in one. I dare say all of my area high schools had them. ---
**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/7 "2010-06-07T21:20:33Z")
In middle school (grades 6-8) we had glee club. But it then became “chorus” in high school. ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/8 "2010-06-07T21:23:27Z")
“I was in AV club and glee club and even the chess team.” - Weird Al Yancovic, _White and Nerdy_ So, yes. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/9 "2010-06-07T21:39:45Z")
I don’t think I ever attended a school where it was called “glee club” but I knew the term. It was always “chorus” at my schools. ---
**Author:** ![Laudenum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Laudenum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laudenum)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/10 "2010-06-07T21:44:39Z")
> [@JSexton](#): > > “I was in AV club and glee club and even the chess team.” > > - Weird Al Yancovic, _White and Nerdy_ > > So, yes. The video made me think that it was some weird type of medieval recreation thing. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/11 "2010-06-07T21:45:58Z")
Glee clubs yes, show choirs, no. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/12 "2010-06-07T21:56:38Z")
“Chorus” is something different than “show choir” or “glee club”, at least where I went to high school. Chorus is a mass choir with students of all skill levels. It’s practice time was almost completely during school hours. Show choir is restricted to the best singers. You had to audition to get into it. It had regular practices after school for the extra time. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/13 "2010-06-07T21:57:58Z")
Saved by the Bell had an episode once which included a glee club. So ends my exposure to such things. I loved that show. I’m not ashamed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/14 "2010-06-07T22:08:00Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > The video made me think that it was some weird type of medieval recreation thing. That was the visual to go with another line in the same verse, “Spend every weekend at the renaissance faire”. I was in choir in high school, but we didn’t call it Glee. The hard core singers were in the Vocal Ensemble. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/15 "2010-06-07T22:30:48Z")
The only time I had heard of glee club prior to the show is when Joe Nameth was on the Brady Bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/16 "2010-06-07T22:39:51Z")
I’d heard ‘glee clubs’ mentioned in American films, where it was clear from the context that they were choirs of some sort. I’d never come across the term anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/17 "2010-06-07T23:05:48Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![2ply](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/b2d939/32.png) [@2ply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ply)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/18 "2010-06-07T23:09:11Z")
The first time I heard of it was the _Saved by the Bell_ episode “Glee Club.” My school did not have it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/19 "2010-06-07T23:14:23Z")
My understanding was that a Glee club was a non school sponsored choir that met on campus, like any other club. It wasn’t a class, but more like being in FFA or something. I also know that calling an official school choir a glee club is often insulting. I remember when my high school choir got put in the club section, rather than with the other extracurricular (like band and sports). There was a big stink with everyone saying “We are not a glee club.” That said, I’m thinking about trying to start a glee club at my local community college. Having an actual class didn’t work because too many people were taking it for easy credit. I’m hoping to get my life fixed enough that I can at least do that. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341/20 "2010-06-07T23:18:50Z")
I’ve seen them in old yearbooks, next to the page for the Hi-Y club. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/had-you-heard-of-glee-before-glee/542341.md?page=2)