High School Musical debuts

The "musical" bit of High School Musical – among Disney's most successful film franchises ever – was deceptive: there was music in the film, but it was secondary to the boy-meets-girl plot. Using music as a device to support a format wasn't dissimilar to the Pop Idol model, but with High School Musical and, later, Glee there was no pretence that the music was anything more than a vehicle to keep the plot chugging along. But where would Journey's Don't Stop Believin' be without it? • This article was amended on 15 June 2011. Phrasing has been restored to reinstate the reference to Glee that had been cut in editing.