Karaoke

Easy by the Commodores
Lets Get It On by Marvin Gaye
Twist and Shout by The Beatles
and Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears

I rarely stray from those and they tend to garner plenty of approval. Plus they're just damn fun songs to sing.

I either do kitsch metal or showtunes. Broad songs work for me best.

"Mr. Cellophane" and "Rainbow In The Dark" are my standards. Heh.

I tend to lean more to 70's/80's arena rock (Styx/REO) and maybe some of the more singer/songwriterey stuff from then as well (Neil Diamond/James Taylor) but there are a few songs I've been kind of infamous for doing...

"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" by The Darkness
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
"The Seeker" or "Pinball Wizard" by The Who
"Fernando" by Abba

Kinda pathetic, I know, but karaoke is kind of my "thing," I guess.

I do a mean "Mack the Knife."

Not to brag, but I am so good at karaoke that I get invited to random karaoke parties as a "ringer". I credit my years as a struggling rock musician. Some of my 'go to's' --

The Trooper -- Iron Maiden
America -- Neil Diamond
Hungry Like the Wolf -- Duran Duran
White Wedding -- Billy Idol

And my favorite, bring down the house number --

The Beautiful Ones -- Prince

This is amazing. I'd fall off my chair if someone did "The Beautiful Ones" while I was present.

As for me, you'll get one song and one song only: "Bust A Move".

I sang this to a bar full of soldiers in Savannah and was almost Code Red-ed.

Recent crowd-pleasers (I think):

"Bridge Over Troubled Water" (Vegas Elvis version)
"Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap
"Thunderball" by Tom Jones
"Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town" by Kenny Rogers
"Before The Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender
"The Wild Side Of Life" by Hank Thompson

I can also do a dead-on Fred Schneider during "Love Shack."

My go-tos:

"Family Tradition" by Hank Williams Jr.
"Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" by Neil Diamond
"Mother" by Danzig

Mustang Sally is the go-to for me. My groomsmen forced me to sing it with the band at my wedding (The Jaztronauts, a fabulous band from Minneapolis). I credit watching The Commitments *way* too many times in the early 90's.

Other faves include Squeeze (preferably "Black Coffee in Bed", but "Tempted" is great too) and Slade's "Run, Runaway". It's been too long, though.

Quick question for you karaoke enthusiasts out there: Would you rather watch a performer who is good and knows he is good (i.e. One Smug Bastard) or someone who, while not being the best singer in the world, is totally into the song they're singing? I ask this because people will tell you I fall into the former category, but I'd like to think I'm a bit more self-deprecating than that.

I hate seeing really talented singers at karaoke. They ruin it for the rest of us.

I dunno - I kinda disagree. I had a friend come in town to visit who's a professional opera singer in Chicago. She belted out Etta James' "At Last" at a local hole-in-the-wall and brought the whole place to their feet.

My personal go-to is "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" by David Alan Coe, just because I really dig the audience participation aspect. Well, that and the fact that when I'm drunk, my southern accent becomes so thick that I really can't sing anything else.

I'm pretty much on board with Phil - a "ringer" just ain't fair; somebody who is less than perfect but is working for it is much better to watch.


And addressing the original question, I KILL with "A Boy Named Sue" and have also had good nights with "Borderline."

Actually, now that I think of it, I disagree with Phil - someone who is REALLY good is a joy to watch.


When it comes down to it, it's a case-by-case basis. If you go to the same place a few weeks in a row, you can see if the really good people are just wanking (constantly doing the same songs) or just want to see what happens (singing different stuff every week). If it's the former, yeah, it's enjoyable but overall boring in an aesthetic sence; if it's the lattter, ti's a ton more fun.

If I want to impress I Elvis stuff because bizzarly I can sort of sing like him. However under normal circumstances can I sing in any way.

My favorates to sing badly though (and are more fun)

Living on a Prayer (and if you know anything about me that is a given)
Final Countdown
Bo Rap.

Like Sebastian I actually think of myself as a decent singer, but I usually neglect to push myself and go for early Bowie, which pretty easily in my range.

Next time I've promised myself I'm going to go all out with:
Hysteria by Muse
Nuthin' but a G-Thang, and I'll do both Dre and Snoop's parts
and Never Gonna Get It by En Vogue. I can do it, goddamit.

My go to's:

Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding
Total Eclipse of the Heart - Bonnie Tyler
Mr. Roboto - Styx
Summer Wind - Frank Sinatra

Karaoke is an a fun outing for friends and me, but I usually try to be careful. Whenever I go it's with a certain group of friends and we're all performers. Going for a narcissistic wank-fest isn't fun. Getting up and doing a few numbers is great, but if I wanted major performing attention, a karaoke bar isn't the place for it. It's as much fun to go an watch as it is to perform.

ETA: I have been known to cut a little too loose and break out the Salt-n-Pepa . . .

I was kinda kidding; it's always awesome to be standing three feet from someone really talented with the pipes, letting it rip, but "ain't fair" is kinda what I meant. Good luck following that shit.

I made my bones in Karaoke by singing GNR songs... It got so that I didn't even have to ask for them. I'd show up at the place, and the DJ would just put them on. Then, I started singing professionally and developing vocal technique and couldn't fuck up my voice like that anymore... Axl Rose is actually a terrible singer. And what he does fucked up his throat... In turn, it will fuck up yours unless you're Brian Johnson.

But I still use Patience as a "closer." Because I can pull off the "low" Axl voice just fine and only have to belt out the "I go walkin' the streets at night..." verse. So, it's cool.

.........

Buy me a beer and I'll treat you to enjoyable renditions of Wicked Game, With Or Without You, Enjoy The Silence, A Little Respect or anything by Billy Joel. Unfortunately, the Karaoke bars here are pretty low on Morrissey/Smiths stuff. I do a pretty mean Moz impersonation. But I can only do it around here when my band covers How Soon Is Now?

I guess the second one. As far as I'm concerned, Karaoke should be first and foremost about a fun night out with friends, where you get to entertain each other by doing what you normally do in the shower that isn't jacking off. Sure, I love it when my friend Cris (who has a beautiful voice) belts out something by Mecano, because it's a treat to watch her sing... But it's arguably even more fun to watch my tone-deaf buddy Ram perform Dancing With Myself. Or Tim (who absolutely can not sing to save his life) try his hand at a Phil Collins song - especially with that robotic, cockney monotone of his.

I get bored of people who take it too seriously.

Bon Jovi - Blaze of Glory
R Kelly - Snake
50 Cent - Candy Shop
Ramones - Rock N Roll High School
Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle - Whole New World (wit a fee-mayle in tow, of course)
Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

Btw I suck at singing really hard but I do work a crowd! My most victorious moment ever was get a group of Japanese schoolgirls (seriously!!) to squeal while doing Snake.

Karaoke is like bungee-jumping to me as it's one of those things I feel like I should do at least once just for the life experience, but the idea of it terrifies me to no end. I have crippling stage fright, and it would seriously take several sedatives, a couple hundred dollars and the promise of a Kelly Brook blowjob to get me to sing in front of a crowd.

One of the CHUD quotes that makes me chuckle on a daily basis is when someone hereabouts pointed out that Axl's phrasing is EXACTLY like Ethel Merman's.


Found it: Thank you, Ryan!

Nah... Just get yourself good and drunk and you won't give a shit. Trust me. It was actually Karaoke that helped me deal with my stage fright. It might do the same for you.

....

Speaking of blowjobs, one night at a bar in Astoria there was this woman who kept pestering me the whole night to sing More Than A Feeling. It got really annoying. At one point, she said: Come on! I know you can do it! Sing Boston for me... I'LL SUCK YOUR DICK!

...If she hadn't looked like Robin Williams, I might have taken her up on the offer.

My friends and I have had many great nights with Karoke Revolution/Singstar on PS2, and Rock Band 2 (mic only). I've yet to actually go out and do it without my precious video game pitch meter, though.

There's a few I might be able to manage, like Losing My Religion. My singing is getting better, but don't know if I'll be able to nail the whole melody on feel. We'll see, one of these days.

Great singers are fun to watch and terrible singers are fun to watch. It's everyone else that's a drag.

The worst: Frat boys doing grunge or rap.

The worst is someone picking a song and realizing, during the course of singing that song, that they don't even know the song that well. At least own your shit.

We go to a place that does "Bandeoke" and you really have to know the song well to sign it. The band is live and there's no screen with lyrics to follow, and I'm bad with lyrics.

The other night I got peered pressured to do a song and did la Bamba, which is one of the few songs I do know the lyrics very well. Was a lot of fun, mixed in with some dancing on stage and the guy playing the guitar was just amazing!

 

I started in front of a sympathetic crowd at a friend's birthday party. It really took the edge off and then it didn't seem like much of a stretch to get up in front of strangers.

 

Bumping this thread with my list:

 

Billy Joel - My Life

ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide or Cheap Sunglasses

The Doors - Break on Through

 

I'm trying to get some more modern stuff in there so feel free to offer suggestions. My range is tenor, more comfortable going for the low notes than the high ones.