Karaoke Staples

**youhas** · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 3015 Location: Santa Clara, CA

OK: so this being a music-oriented community, I sort of cavalierly assume that at least some folks here are into karaoke. And if you are into karaoke, I sort of assume that you have your karaoke staples: a roster of at least a couple three songs in hand that you know you can nail, and you have the lyrics stone cold committed to memory, and could otherwise destroy if absolutely necessary. So I ask you, ScoreHero: what are your karaoke staples? I'll happily share mine:

"One Week" by Barenaked Ladies. I don't know if I have serious diction-at-speed acumen, or I just go to karaoke joints where folks are easily impressed, or what, but seriously: I consistently get a heartfelt "OMG WTF" round of applause whenever I sing this song. It's the "gonna make a break and take a fake / I like a stinkin' achin' shake / I like vanilla 'cause it's the finest of the flavors" line that does it: if you can nail that part with clarity, folks will just lose their shit. (I'm not sure anyone's ever heard me perform the following "have to sign a waiver" line, so robust is the prior line's applause response.) I've had folks come up to me after the song for random fist-bumps and "you got skillz, son!" purposes. It's an experience right between "flattering!" and "unnerving!", I swear.

"All Mixed Up" by 311. This is sort of a muted version of the diction-at-speed concept - a warm-up song, if you will. Strictly speaking, it's a two-part song; my local joint treats it as a "nope, you are one dude who gets to sing both parts, good luck" experience, which works for me. It's not nearly as challenging as "One Week", but so long as you're using different registers for both of the 311 singers' parts, it makes for a fairly entertaining three minutes' worth of stage presence up there.

"Boys N The Hood" by Dynamite Hack. Dynamite Hack are great: if you're not paying attention, from a distance, they more or less look and feel exactly like Weezer. And this is an awesome song to pick at karaoke: so many people assume that when "Boys N The Hood" pops up, this comically white boy is going to be banging it out... but then they get an acoustic(!) cover of the song instead. It's just fun on so very many levels.

But enough about me. What songs do you flock to when you're wrangling the mic at your local karaoke joint?
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**krisdaschwab912** · Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 6567 Location: UW-Eau Claire

I fucking love this thread already.

I'm A Believer (Smashmouth version)
I Wanna Rock
Hard Rock Hallelujah

There's more, and I have plenty of examples of each one, but I'm going to have to add those later.
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**Vampyromaniac** · Joined: 08 Feb 2008 Posts: 1216

I usually just do Busta Rhyme's verse from Look At Me Now, since I can't sing but can rap kinda fast (mysteriously). I honestly hate the song but it's one of the few like it that people recognize.

It never occurred to me to learn One Week, but that's probably a good idea.
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**youhas** · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 3015 Location: Santa Clara, CA

**Josseppe95** · Joined: 09 Jun 2008 Posts: 1045 Location: Philadelphia

If there's no Straight Outta Compton it's just not real karaoke to me.
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**Yewb** · Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 3020 Location: Plymouth, UK

My staple is Losing My Religion - everyone knows it at least to some extent, the lyrics are easy enough to remember (although everyone gets the first "I set it up" wrong - it's not "I haven't said enough") and the whole song is about four notes.

However, I still look forward to the day when I'm at a karaoke event where Megadeth's "Train of Consequences" is on the cards - there's so much energy in that song, and it's really fun to sing. Hasn't happened yet, though!

Other favourites include, as Youhas said, "One Week" - which I can also sing pretty well, though I've never done so in public - Radiohead's "Creep" and Three Doors Down's "Kryptonite", all of which suit my register and are personal favourite songs of mine.
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expertwin wrote:

ShadoWolf wrote:

expertwin wrote:

I just want to, you know, get my name out there. BTW, it updates every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Was just the first two, decided to do Saturdays as well.

Serious advice now: No-one likes indecision in their work, so find what you like that you're even remotely good at, and stick with it. Don't flit from one thing to another, because that just smacks of a large lack of determination and drive. And people don't like you for that, and won't remember you for it. I mean, I get that you have a plucky spirit and a willingness to try new things, but there's a limit, man.

I might knock it down to just Thursday and Friday.

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**dramacomic** · Posted: Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:30 am Post subject:

One Week is pretty great, but for a lyrical performance that will really knock their socks off, nothing beats It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine). People freak the fuck out after realizing I can sing it without the lyrics being printed in front of me somewhere. Same goes for The Bad Touch. Also, despite my hatred for it when having to deal with it on vocals in GHVH, Semi-Charmed Life is full of lyrics that only a few people seem to know outside of the choruses. Mind you, these aren't songs that I've actually DONE on karaoke, but I always lump those songs in my head with One Week since they were fun to learn and I still remember them. The Elements Song by Tom Lehrer also works well for similar reasons, but I doubt very much that one would be on any Karaoke machine.

(I'll happily be proven wrong on that one, though). Gosh, I haven't gone to Karaoke since Hey Ya was the world's most popular song. That's going on ten years, now. Yikes.
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**krisdaschwab912** · Joined: 24 Jan 2007 Posts: 6567 Location: UW-Eau Claire

Alright, so my best story is probably for I Wanna Rock. A few weeks ago, I was on a ferry from Tallinn, Estonia to Helsinki, Finland on my way to Tuska Open Air. It was a three hour ride, and I was bored out of my fucking mind. But then, I found karaoke. The song choices by the people were entirely consisting of cheesy Finnish pop songs (and a Finnish cover of Funky Town...lolwut), but there were some pretty kickass choices in the English section, including Alive by Pearl Jam (which I sang first), and I Wanna Rock. I don't know what the fuck happened, because these people started cheering and clapping, and some of them were actually banging their heads. I was like O_o and people were telling me how awesome it was. I had never done that song before, but you can believe I'll be doing it again in the future. I was about to sing Run To The Hills (I know, I couldn't believe it either), but then some jagoff keytarist took over and I had to go back to being bored. :P

For those who know Hard Rock Hallelujah, it was Finland's Eurovision-winning song from 2006. When I was in Finland earlier this year, I was doing karaoke, mostly just messing around (I did a duet with some Russian girl on Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, and a terrible, terrible rendition of Barbie Girl in which I death growled all the male parts). But then a friend of mine asked me to do Hard Rock Hallelujah. It's on Rock Band, so I had a pretty good feel for it already, but everything kind of clicked when I was singing this, and my friend was quite impressed.
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**skinnywhitecomic** · Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 2008 Location: Atlanta, GA

I have three rules whenever I do karaoke. 1) It has to be a song I know back and front, so I'm not relying on the lyrics. That way, I can actually "perform" the song. 2) It should be in my vocal range (No Darkness for me). 3) Although optional, it should be a song that most of your crowd would enjoy. You're gonna do better doing Manson in front of a bunch of headbangers than women in their 50s.

That all said, I tailor my songs to the situation. Standard karaoke means either "U Can't Touch This" or "Wanted Dead or Alive." If I'm with a bunch of friends that have rented out a karaoke room, I can go a bit harder since they know what I can do. This usually involves "Round & Round," "Enter Sandman," "Talk Dirty to Me," and "Sweet Child O' Mine" (even though that breaks rule #2. I can still rock like Axl).

There is a bar in Atlanta that has an event every week called Metalsome. It's live band karaoke, where you become the front man, and they know over two hundred songs. I go balls to the wall here, and go with the hard shit. "Creeping Death," "Beautiful People," "Ace of Spades," and "Walk."
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**Silly** · Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 10:32 am Post subject:

Two I always go with since I know them and everyone has them are Rock DJ and Ballroom Blitz. On occasion some karaoke joints have much better songs which are more my sort of thing - at a friend's wedding party I followed a rendition of Dirt Off Your Shoulder with The Real Slim Shady to rapturous applause and a free drink. If there's any metal on the list which rarely happens I'll make a beeline for that.
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**youhas** · Joined: 21 Jul 2006 Posts: 3015 Location: Santa Clara, CA