7 Revelations From Ryan Murphy’s ‘Hollywood Reporter’ Interview

Robbie Daw | January 26, 2011 9:48 am

Though we included Kings Of Leon vs. Pigeons when we rounded up our list of Pop Music’s 13 Biggest Fails In 2010 last month, we clearly left another drama involving the Followills out: Kings Of Leon vs. Glee. In a new interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Murphy, co-creator of Fox’s award-winning musical-dramedy, vented his anger (complete with choice four-letter words) over the band refusing to let their songs be used on the show. But he also dropped several other eyebrow-raising revelations, including what he thinks about Guns N Roses guitarist Slash (another Glee holdout) and how much Eminem wanted for usage of “Lose Yourself.” 7 SLIGHTLY-NSFG (Not Safe For Gleeks) REVELATIONS FROM RYAN MURPHY’S HOLLYWOOD REPORTER INTERVIEW

* Ryan Murphy on Eminem: “We went after Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself,’ and it was jaw-droppingly expensive. Around $200,000. We couldn’t do it because the episode would’ve been so over budget.” (The Reporter notes the price tag for a hit song is in the vicinity of $25,000.)

* On Kings Of Leon’s refusal to let the show use “Use Somebody”: “Fuck you, Kings of Leon. They’re self-centered assholes, and they missed the big picture. They missed that a 7-year-old kid can see someone close to their age singing a Kings of Leon song, which will maybe make them want to join a glee club or pick up a musical instrument. It’s like, OK, hate on arts education. You can make fun of Glee all you want, but at its heart, what we really do is turn kids on to music.”

* KOL’s Calbel Followill in response: “This whole Glee thing is a shock to us. It’s gotten out of hand. At the time of the request, we hadn’t even seen the show. It came at the end of that record cycle, and we were over promoting [‘Use Somebody’]. This was never meant as a slap in the face to Glee or to music education or to fans of the show. We’re not sure where the anger is coming from.”

* KOL’s Nathan Followill in response (via Twitter): “Dear Ryan Murphy, let it go. See a therapist, get a manicure, buy a new bra. Zip your lip and focus on educating 7yr olds how to say fuck.”

* Ryan Murphy on Slash, who previously said Glee is worse than Grease: “Usually I find that people who make those comments, their careers are over; they’re uneducated and quite stupid.”

* On meeting Simon Cowell: “I went to his house, and the meeting was simply: How did you come up with this, and why didn’t I think of it?”

* On the upcoming Super Bowl episode (airing February 6): “We’ve taken a lot of criticism for doing tributes to Madonna, Britney Spears and Rocky Horror Picture Show … and everyone thought we were gonna try and out-top ourselves. But no matter how big you get, you’re not gonna please everybody, so the consensus was, let’s not do a big episode of Glee, let’s do a really good episode of Glee. We’re editing now, and it feels similar to the pilot: a lot of heart. It’s important in that it deals with the gay bullying theme, and it’s about music bringing disparate people together. It’s quite a beautiful little fable.”

In addition, the article goes on to note state that two Glee soundtracks are due out this spring, one in March and one in May. Further to that, following last year’s small four-city string of gigs, the cast will head out on tour this summer.

Says Chris Colfer, “My reaction was less enthusiastic than most of the kids because I never had any aspiration to be part of the music world. It’s also very exhausting, and last time I tore through a ligament in my right leg. But getting that immediate feedback from the fans is an adrenaline high that you can’t really describe.”

What say you, Gleeks? Does any of the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding Fox’s sing-out-loud hit series surprise you?