Karaoke Forums

I need to settle a bit of a debate. In your experience, do karaoke crowds generally prefer listening to someone butchering very popular songs, or really nailing very obscure songs that almost no one has ever heard of? Would like to know what your thoughts might be on this.

I'd say this depends on the crowd - if it is someone who is part of the regular crowd, or part of the clique, they can sing whatever they want, in whatever style they want, butcher it as badly as possible, and the crowd will still applaud them. An unfamiliar singer can come in and blow away the crowd with a great rendition of a familiar song and can be totally ignored - which in my mind is worse than booing!  BTW, where do you sing in SB? I lived there for 12 years but hadn't started doing karaoke at the time (i've been in the biz for 11 years now here)...I could only find one place that actually does it there...Some bar on State Street somewhere.

Karen

kristi it also has a lot to do with what time of night you are attempting to sing something obscure. If that obscure song happens to be  a ballad or classical when the crowd wants to party, then chances are the kj is not gonna let you sing it.

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Personally, I prefer the obscure. A great singer can sing me anything. But in most bar situations it seems people really want to hear the popular mainstream or classic songs. BUT. I'm not sure they enjoy hearing them butchered.

I'm quite sure I didn't help you out much with this debate.  LOL

I think it is better to do a good job of a song, as opposed to doing a popular song. Sure sometimes it goes over poorly with drunks but I like nothing more than "discovering" a song because someone does a good job of it in Karaoke.

Now butchering an obscure song, that tends to get the ignore treatment from most people, unfortunately. But we never know if a song works until we try.

In my experience, the popular song - butchered or not - will always win over the obscure song sung good.  It would have to be sung GREAT to be really appreciated.  We had a guy sing Music Of The Night (Phantom Of The Opera) the other night & absolutely NAILED IT, beautiful voice, but people were looking at him like what the....his next song he put in Sweet Child Of Mine & the crowd responded very much.

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Atonal singing and disonance really grate at me.. So butchering anything bothers me.. Obscure doesn't mean less desireable IMHO,  I just want it to be harmonious.

Regardless of whether it's Karaoke, singing, it's STILL music, and to me tastefully matters in ALL instances.  Which is a problem I have when around certain types of music and age groups singing Karaoke..

I'd love to see some stats someplace that show percentages of individuals with perfect, are developed pitch that can't stand Karaoke bars

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I think the reward of having even one person thank for you remembering a lesser known song and doing it well far outweighs the entertainment value of messing up a better known number.

hmmm interesting how grapeseed who supposedly joined on 10th oct has amassed so many points...nice to see admin are on the job  :hug:

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I believe crowds will always choose  a song sung "decent" versus one off pitch and out of synch.   I think songs that are not HEARD that frequently and sung good are the best crowd pleasures.  I mean even if you nail PICTURES the crowd can get tired of it just as much as a horrible rendition of FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES.

But nail a song that isn't obscure (ie OPERA / SHOWTUNES) some classic rock or heavy metal --BLAST from the PAST - etc.   and the crowds LOVE IT !

I would say the badly sung popular song would be better recieved.  You don't really have to listen to a song you already know.  It just floats by and if it sounds pretty close to what you remember the your brain says it was done well.  If you haven't heard it before your brain has no point of reference, you would acturally have to listen (which no one at a karaoke show is doing) and then make a judgement.  People are unlikely to make that effort.  The exception to this is the novelty song with highly suggestive lyrics.  I like those.

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Obscure songs generally suck.. The singer is the only one that knows the song, (If he/she does) so how can anyone judge the quality..

As for me, I sing popular songs quite badly.. Just like a lot of others..  :wave:

My vote is for the popular song by a not so great singer. A bad singer can get huge applause for doing a song that is fun. People want up beat music. They want to laugh, dance and party.

From my experience if someone sings a song the crowd can't relate to they simply ignore them. Unfortunately a great singer can get no applause just because they picked the wrong song for the time of night. Early in the evening a well sung slow song or obscure song is more apt to be noticed and appreciated than waiting until later.

Have you ever had this experience? The song starts and the singer hasn't even sung yet and the crowd goes "Ugh". They want a song they can sing-a-long to, dance to, or laugh at.

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You all are talking about 2 different things.... obscure means a pretty much "unknown" song, right? (either that or my english teacher failed miserably...)

Everyone is dwelling on "obscure" meaning "slow/classical/opera/boring/whatever".

It wouldn't interest me in the least to hear a showtune or classical piece done perfectly in a karaoke bar. I would most likely think "hmmm... that person sure can sing", but I'd be glad when the song ended and BillyBob could get up to sing "Mustang Sally" slightly offkey so that I could get back up and dance;)

I do lots of "obscure", cause not too many people are familiar with most of the hard core bluegrass stuff. But they're not "slow/classical/opera/boring/whatever" and even though unknown to the crowd I generally get a good reception. I think as long as it's an upbeat kinda song, obscure can be okay. (not that I "nail them", but uh... nobody knows them anyhow, so.....)  :D


We have a group of girls that like to do the power ballads, and while they are "popular" songs, and these girls are all great singers, that gets old too.

Though, of the two, it matters to what extreme the person is "butchering" it. To hear a popular song done terribly is no fun either, just makes you want to hear someone else get back up and do it better.

Gosh, I have attitude issues, don't I?  LMAO
Hell, I don't even know if I addressed the question r not. So, I'm gonna hope I made sense somewhat and go back to browsing forums in my benadryl/sudafed/guifanesin drug induced way of browsing.  :drunk:

.

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I'm going to assume that "Little Plastic Castles" by Ani DeFranco qualifies as an obscure song. It is one I do occasionally and I get the strangest looks when I sing it because no one has a CLUE who sings it or when they had a hit with it.  It's an interesting song technically and the lyrics border on "made ya laugh." As a host, I strive to find those obscure songs and learn them well so that the popular, easier to learn songs, are left to the singers who come in.

On the other hand, I have a tendency to buy music before it even becomes popular - I consider it part of my KJ job to learn those songs, too, and sing them so when they DO become popular on the radio or on MTV or whatever, that people will have a clue how to sing them. I've had lots of people say they're so glad I sang that so they had a chance to learn it. As soon as someone else takes over the song, I drop it off my list.

I LOVE obscure stuff and I think if it is done correctly, is not offensive, has a great beat, interesting lyrics, and you pull it off with style, people do enjoy it...and I think it sets one apart as a KJ who is adventurous and who goes far off the usual track. Leave the more popular stuff to singers who maybe don't have the time or the inclination to spend the time that it takes to learn new/obscure stuff.

K

I would rather hear somebody do a good job on a song less traveled.  It keeps it interesting that way.  The popular song will always be back before you know it!

I worked with a guy who used to say, he'd rather hear a fat boy fart, than a pretty girl sing......  :shock: ...oh sh!t....I think I used to say that........never mind.....

Obscure to me is anything out of the normal.  Most people will tend to do familiar songs to a point.  An broadway song in a rock or country club is pretty obscure - known or not.  Your bluegrass songs would be considered obscure in probably many places - maybe not, the only bluegrass that gets done here is Soggy Bottom Boys but it does get a big response - but it's also a known song.  No the slow/ballad/opera/classical/broadway/etc wouldn't necessarily be obscure per se, unless they were not very well known songs, then yes they would be.
I gave my Phantom Of The Opera example out because I would have to say that probably 95-98% of our crowds have never seen nor heard anything from that play/musical/movie so it would be considered obscure.  It doesn't even mean popular groups/bands/singers music is known, it depends on what people are used to.

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You know, the strangest thing happened last week which prompted me to post this question in the first place- I did an obscure piece, and the place went crazy. I did a popular piece (Black Velvet), which was butchered (though not intentionally), and you could hear crickets after the song. The next song, I went back to an obscure song, and the crowd went wild again. Go figure!

And, this wasn't the only time this has happened.