YouTube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R8K00xCToBA
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View count:140,259
Likes:3,460
Comments:480
Duration:04:29
Uploaded:2013-01-28
Last sync:2024-03-22 00:45
Buy Coulton's Cover! https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/baby-got-back-in-style-glee/id596893770

Glee stole from JoCo, that doesn't mean Glee fans are evil, it means Glee Fans are the only people capable of making the show change and admit they did something wrong!

Write to your favorite actors and writers. Share your thoughts, and download Jonathan Coulton's cover of Glee's cover of Jonathan Coulton's cover of Baby Got Back (that is to say, JoCo's original cover) to show your support. All proceeds go to charity. https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/baby-got-back-in-style-glee/id596893770

Yes, I know I've uploaded this video in a different way, but I thought it might be interesting to some people to see the difference between a "sit-down and make a video on you iPhone video" and a "Sit down and record a video really fast but still have edits int it" video. Just, y'know, insight into the creative process and all that...

Hello. My name is Hank Green, and this video is for people under the age of twenty. Also for everybody else. But specifically for people under the age of twenty, because when I was twelve years old in 1992, before you were born... A song came out on the radio. It was a silly song about butts, about big butts, specifically. And apparently, there was some really significant pent-up demand for more appreciation for big butts, because the song went like, WOW, to number one, and then stayed there, and became everywhere, to the point where everyone in America who was my age, knows what number to call to kick them nasty thoughts. Of course 1-900-MIXALOT being the answer. You, you, if you're under twenty, you probably know this song, but you may not have the same, sort of cultural saturation that I do. You might not even know what a 1-900 number is, and you can look that one up on the Googles if you want. 

But because of that cultural saturation, the amount that I had been exposed to Baby Got Back, and become quite sick of it, especially hearing it in Karaoke bars-

When Jonathan Coulton came out with his version of Baby Got Back, converting it from a funny, intense, pretty intense rap song about big butts to a sweet, folky banjo-y love song about big butts, a love song to all big butts in the world... It was amazing. It was inspired. It was intelligent, and witty, and, so well done. Not only was it a great idea, but it was extremely well-executed. To the point where it's all I listened to for weeks.

So when Glee, and Fox takes this marvelous creation that is the conversion of a rap song into a folk song, the creation of the melody, creating new words, creating new phrases, making it a completely different creation- Now I'm not saying Mix-a-Lot didn't do anything to participate in this, he did and deserves credit, but the Coulton cover is something completely different, you gotta recognize. And you take that, and do exactly the same thing-

Amazingly enough, they were so lazy that they didn't even change the tempo... Ew. 

When you do that, and you don't ask permission, and you don't give attribution, that's not right. I don't care whether it's legal or not, but it is definitely not moral. It is wrong. That is stealing someone's work and I [stutters] it really makes me angry, like, super angry that anyone would even conceive of doing this, let alone think that they could get away with it. Now the reason, maybe, why they think they'll get away with it is because Jonathan Coulton fans are like me. They're thirty-something nerdy guys, and we don't watch Glee... that often. At least not since the second season.

We don't watch Glee, and so many they thought we wouldn't notice, or maybe they thought... those people don't watch anyway, so I don't care if we piss them off... But that's not how the world works anymore, is it? It's the Internet people! When somebody does something wrong we punish them. We talk about it, and we make it a big deal. And it's become a big deal. Which, it should be. So they're selling this song now on iTunes, it's a direct ripoff of Jonathan Coulton, and of course, they have never even acknowledged the existence of Jonathan Coulton. 

And so there are things you can do. You can stop watching Glee, cause you know it started to suck in the second season anyway. And also, you can buy Jonathan Coulton's cover, of the Glee cover, of his cover, of Sir Mix-a-Lot's song Baby Got Back. It is... Baby Got Back in the Style of Glee, by Jonathan Coulton. Which is now on its way up the iTunes charts. It is available, and it is the best way you can possibly spend a dollar today. All proceeds, from the sale of the song, will go to charity. Because Jonathan Coulton, is awesome. Like that. 

Thank you, teenagers, for watching this, putting up with my old face. I think you're great. And I don't hate you if you like Glee. It's no big deal. But when somebody does something wrong, even when you like them, you gotta let 'em know. That's how, that's how friendships work. And that's how relationships between content creators and their audiences should work. So let's... give 'em... what for. Et cetera. Goodbye.