YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=s9C7e4KkiPo
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Duration:04:59
Uploaded:2013-01-28
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Hello. My name is Hank Green. This video is for people who are under 20, roughly. So in 1992-- You can watch if you're not under 20.

But in 1992, when I was 12 and you were not yet born, a song came out on the radio about butts -- about big butts, specifically -- called "Baby Got Back". And it was just a silly, funny song -- a little bit dirty -- about a guy who likes big butts and cannot lie. And, it became a huge deal and it was a number one single and it was everywhere and so everybody who was my age knows what to call when you want to kick those nasty thoughts. You call 1-900-MIXALOT. You might not even know what a 1-900 number is, 'cause they don't really exist anymore, but you can Google it if you wanna find out.

"Baby Got Back" was everywhere. It's a silly funny song, but it was too much. It was everywhere, too much, and if you're in a karaoke bar and someone plays "Baby Got Back" to sing it is just a little bit embarrassing at this point because it's been too much. But then something happened, something interesting. We had this cultural phenomenon set in our brain of "Baby Got Back" and it was over, way over, over over, and something interesting happened.

An artist, Jonathan Coulton, created, from this rap song which has no melody (it's a rap song), created a melody for it, and harmonies, and he created a backing track that was based upon banjos, and he turned it into a folky love song. Now, it's the same words as "Baby Got Back" but that's sort of the genius. The inspiration behind this is that you can take this silly rap song and turn it into a beautiful love song to all butts, or at least big butts. So, Jonathan Coulton created something so inspired and witty and intelligent that I loved it and it was all I listened to for weeks.

Now, I am angry that this well-crafted piece of inspiration -- not only was it just a great idea but it's really well done -- was lifted by FOX and the television show Glee to be a part of their television show where they sing cover songs, but it's the exact same melody, the exact same tempo, the exact same words; indeed, he says "Johnny C's in trouble" instead of "Mixalot's in trouble", which is the original, because his names is Jonathan Coulton, and they say "Johnny C's in trouble. I mean, that's just lazy, right?

Now, whether or not this is legal I don't care, but I do know that it's wrong. I think that we can all recognize that it's wrong. I think that the people at FOX know that it's wrong. I think that they're embarrassed. I don't know why they thought that they could get away with it, but they clearly can't, and it is really really upsetting that now this inspired, well-crafted piece of art that Jonathan Coulton created is being used without credit on a television show, and being sold without credit -- without even attribution -- on iTunes, people who like Glee.

And this is very... it just makes me very angry. I know I don't look angry, and that's because people, when they get old, when they get angry, they just sort of get sad instead of getting angry, and so yeah, now I'm just sad. That's what Glee did to me.

Now they think, I guess, maybe, that this will just flow over and no-one will care, maybe because Jonathan Coulton's audience is older than Glee's audience, and that it's not gonna affect Glee at all, but I can't accept that. That's not the day and age that we live in now. This is the Internet, people, and on the Internet we make things right when they're wrong whether or not they're legal or illegal.

So Jonathan Coulton has made his cover of Glee's cover, which is to say, the exact same song, available on iTunes "in the style of Glee". You can download it. The proceeds from that song will go to charity. We can prove that Jonathan Coulton's cover, it being exactly the same as Glee's cover but original, is better and will do better on iTunes, as a kind of protest against Glee.

Also we can stop watching Glee, because really it wasn't any good after the second season anyway.

And that is all I have to say about that. Thank you, all of the people of the world, including those who may not have had the full backstory of what "Baby Got Back" and its cover means to those of us who were born before 1992. Goodbye.