The best moment on TV this week was during Glee, the comedy-music series about a bunch of high-school misfits in a glee club (one of whom is played by Victoria's Cory Monteith).

Each week the show features some superb musical numbers by the young ensemble. This week, a glee club from a nearby deaf school joined the regular cast and did John Lennon's Imagine.

The deaf kids signed the iconic song while one of their group struggled hard to sing -- or more accurately "talk" -- the lead vocal. The kids from the regular glee club joined the deaf kids. It was a magical, heart-wrenching song. And a tear-inducing television moment.

I love the show for the music. It's mostly boomer music. Show songs. Non-offensive, Sweet Caroline-type songs with the odd Avril Lavigne or Beyoncé thrown in for good measure (this week's episode ended with Cyndi Lauper's True Colors. Who could not love that song?).

The thing about Glee is that it appeals to a broad cross-section of viewers. It's hip and funny, but has a folksy, friendly feel about it, even if some of the plot lines stretch credulity. (Monteith's character thinks he made a cheerleader pregnant without sleeping with her. OK, so he's a high-school quarterback, but -- well -- duh?)

Shows such as American Idol have made show tunes hip again and Glee follows that retro formula. But there's some great contemporary music out there today, too.

But, and here I'm going to impersonate someone who might be my grandfather, what the heck happened to female singers? I tuned into a TV music station the other day and watched a procession of quasi-porn videos.

To be a successful singer nowadays you apparently have to be skanky. Real skanky.

Lady Ga-Ga, dressed in a skimpy outfit and thrusting her pelvis provocatively, made Britney Spears look like a nun. Fergie, in a Black Eyed Peas video, lay on the ground with her butt half-bared and her lips sensuously pouting every word.

Hip-hop videos these days seem to require a wobbling booty. I used to think those old ZZ Top videos, with bikini-clad blondes draped around the bearded ones, were somewhat gratuitous, but nowadays if there's no overt sexuality, there's no video.

I spoke to a couple of pretty hip young moms in our newsroom about the videos -- neither of them are in any way prudish. Both have pre-teenage daughters and both said they're appalled and scared by the trend.

Quoth one, "Young kids are watching and listening to this stuff, and it's all dripping with skin and sex, and the message we're sending out to kids is that to be a success as a singer you've got to do it with sexuality. A nice voice isn't enough."

The big exception is Taylor Swift. She's 19, talented, gorgeous and hugely successful without having to resort to sleazy or sexy. I watched her Fifteen video from the über-selling Fearless and she looks -- well -- like someone you'd like your teenage son to bring home to dinner. And then marry. She even wears dresses.

And she writes cool songs. Fifteen talks about what it's like to be that age. "This is life before you know who you're gonna be," is one of the lines.

It's always dangerous to rail against popular culture. Elvis, when he started swivelling his hips, was too hot to be shown on TV at first. From this distance he looks quaint.

Not all music sex is bad. Some sex is great. When Marilyn Monroe sang she did it with an orgasmic squeak and a low-cut dress that thrilled ordinary mortals as well as presidents. Rod Stewart is still asking if people think he's sexy, even if he is well into his 60s. Madonna dripped sex onstage.

But when sexuality overwhelms the music, when you have to be a sex goddess to make it to the top, there's something out of kilter. I'm left with this bizarre image of Anne Murray singing Snowbird. It's 2009 and the only way she can make it mega-time is to wear a corset, nylons and keep thrusting her booty at the camera.

For Joni Mitchell to have made it big today, or to get any mainstream attention, she'd have to sing Big Yellow Taxi nude, in a parking lot, chased by men in white jackets.

But then, of course, there's Susan Boyle to ruin the premise. The Scottish singer caused a sensation this year thanks to her extraordinary voice and ordinary, geeky demeanour. Her first album, released this week, is the biggest selling album in pre-sales on Amazon.

Go figure. Maybe there's some hope left. Just don't let her wear a corset.

Ian Haysom is news director of Global News in Vancouver. He divides his week between Central Saanich and Vancouver.