Karaoke Forums

Any song can be sung in my bar. I always cringe when "when I get high" get's sung.
There is a nasty reference to p**** in it.
I do have a rule that there is no swearing over the mic unless it is in a song. Nothing worse than some drunk person screaming the F word over the mic. Good thing I have a volumn button.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Ditto--because bad words or no, it's an annoying song IMHO!

BTW, the first time I took my son to an all-ages karaoke event, there was a 5-year-old girl there singing "Redneck Woman"!  She had a nice little voice and stage presence, but I didn't think the song was appropriate for her.  Besides being soooo overplayed and sung by entirely too many people at karaoke IMHO--my mom would have clobbered my butt if I'd been saying "hell yeah" when I was 5 (or 25, for that matter!  LOL ).  

Besides, can you picture a 5-year-old standing outside with a baby on her hip? (A baby DOLL, perhaps?   )

At the same venue, a young guy (probably about 17 or so) sang a song from "South Park" that had the word "balls" featured prominently.  THIS is all-ages karaoke?????

I might add that all of this made no impression on my son--he was getting tired and restless and wanting to leave anyway.  So after a while, we did.  :)

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I love being a mom!

Now there is nothing durty about "Cocolate Salty Balls", unless of course your mind is in the gutter.  It is a song about a baked confection.  No bad words in it at all.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

OK, you know what I mean--it's a "double entendre".

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I love being a mom!

We use OUR judgement .... for instance, when we are doing a school karaoke event or a private party/wedding (where participants may be under eighteen) ... we don't allow the songs that have offensive lyrics.  We print a flyer and/or a poster (or tell the party host/hostess during the booking of the event) and we very clearly define our policy....

If YOUR parents or SOMEONE else's parents might not like the swearing/offensive language in a song ... IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.  If we are told.... "Oh, ny mom won't care" ..... we simply smile... and tell them... sorry.  We rarely get any lip from anyone.

Also ... Each singer MUST bring their OWN slip to the "shotgun" (thats me) ... and I either accept it or reject it.  End of discussion in those types of venues/events.  

Our nightclub show is somewhat different.  We play rooms that are either 18+ or 21+ to enter.  If the song has swearing in the lyrics ... we "suggest" that the singer try to find a more "appropriate" word .... however, if they swear and the word is ON THE SCREEN .... we allow it.  We have a set of "karaoke rules" ... in our catalogs ... that clearly state that swearing into the microphone (when it is not a word on the screen) will immmediately end the singer's performance.... and we STICK to it.  If someone yells or swears into the microphone ... it is turned off .... and we simply let them know they are done.  It's happened a few times ... and the DJ mutes the microphone and I simply walk to the singer ... politely take the microphone from their hand and place it back in the holder.  IF they question me ... I nicely tell them to read the rules in the front of the catalog..... and then if they still have any questions, they can come back to the desk to talk to me.  Rarely if ever, have they returned to the desk.  Interestingly, they HAVE returned to the show, though... several times, in fact.  

I must say ... with the exception of the occasional Eminem song, Offspring song, or Clarence Thomas song (<----usually gets the crowd howling if done by a good entertainer) ... We don't really have a lot of singers that choose "controversial" songs.  

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[shadow=tomato]If you want your significant other to pay attention to EVERY word you say::
  TALK IN YOUR SLEEP   [/shadow]  

I'm on Montreal Quebec Canada and I actually make dirty versions of songs for my customers. Titles like " With Legs Wide Open" Champagne Drunkin' Lover" Stuck In The Middle Of Who?" "Poontang Sally" dirty vesions of "Summer Nights" Aand "Your The One That I Want" ect. about 40 songs. Let me tell you it's a break fron hearing the original versions all the time. And my customers Love it! They actually send me lyrics they rewrite by email and want me to make Thier Verion. So I grab an instrumental version of a song and make a new Graphic file with the new lyrics and funny pics. No one has ever got offended at the bars I work at (some for 7 to 10 years now) But I will keep those songs out of mu books for hotels and other venues that call for it. so it's a matter of knowing your customers and useing common sense.

If the venue bans dirty songs, I won't play them. Usually I'm playing in a bar and after 11:00 PM I will let any song be played. I will make an announcement about being ADULTS and LATE NIGHT IN A BAR atmosphere. Other than that: Let's Party!!

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Live Fast, Run Hard and Enjoy Life, you're only here for a short time. Respect you're neighbor and Hope they respect you, if they don't, they're not worth your time. Keep a song in your heart and a smile on your face. Peace and Love to you all!

We go to a lounge that's part of a large restaurant.  Since we and several others are regulars and we spend quite a bit on each visit, the KJ is very careful.  He's smart enough to realize that if he wants his regular customers to continue to frequent the establishment that he either warns us of an up and coming track that we might not like or he'll simply not allow it.  He carefully screens his books to keep the NC17 stuff out.  On those ocassions where an singer supplies their own disc, he monitors the track and we simply try to be understanding.  

It really does come down to what you (as a KJ) and the venue wish to build as a regular crowd.  We know of KJ's that allow lewd songs, we simply don't go to their shows.   They still have their regular crowd and it's merely a matter of preference.

What can I play?
The KJ needs to have this conversation with the bar owner...If the owner has no problems with lyrical content - the sky is the limit. I like to have things be a little rowdy so after 11:00pm, anything goes! At our bar, if you want mellow, do it early. Here is a off-the-top-of-my-head list of raucous songs sung in our bar over the last year...

99 Problems - Jay-Z
Beastie Boys - No Sleep till Brooklyn
Ace of Spades - Motorhead
Letter To My P$nis - Rodney Carrington
Blvd of Broken Dreams - Green Day (actually, lots of Green Day)
Blister In The Sun - Violent Femmes
2 Live Crew - Me So Horny
Prince - Erotic City
Meredith Brooks - (@$%&#!)
The Humpty Dance - Digital Underground
Johnny Cash - Boy Named Sue
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
I'll Never Smoke Weed With Willie Again -Toby Keith
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Dead Kennedys - Too Drunk to Fu@k
Cowboy - Kid Rock
Forever - Kid Rock
Good Girls Don't - The Knack
LL Cool J - I'm Bad
Primus - Wynonna Has A Big Brown Beaver

We make sure that EVERYONE knows that late at night - anything goes!
It's important to understand what the owner expects from you. If he wants a fun, upbeat show, you better give it to him, conversely, if he just wants the regulars to entertain themselves quietly, keep those ballads and country around.

Bottom line - make sure you and the bar owner are on the same page...

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Tony



He who dies with the most up to date toys...WINS!

I'll echo multiple comments on this.  It depends on venue, time of night and the crowd.  All factors that affect this.

Clearly if its a "family" place. Keep it clean and patrons should know better.  I'll keep it "clean" if I notice.  And a KJ can only know so much depending on their music background-- Myself and my friend have surprised a few KJ's and patrons alike. (comments like- I don't think anybody has ever done that song - we usually do hard rock, classic rock stuff).

If its a bar 18+, 21+, I say pretty much anything should be expected and of course the venue has the right to limit "offensive" content.

The challenge is the the in-between stuff.  I've been a couple of places where they allow "kids" in up until the place closes (bar/restaurant).  I've brought my late-teen kids to those places so we can enjoy karaoke together.  And if myself or someone else sings a song with "offensive" language, they'll sometimes announce explicit lyrics before somebody sings (I dont' sing stuff like that before like 11 or so anyway-- 2nd or 3rd song).  If its that late and you have your kids in the bar, that's what you're going to get.  Pre-teens shouldn't be in that place at late night anyway.  

There are radio edits and other changes to songs that can be strange.  The Who, "Who Are You" for example confused the heck out of me when I did it 1st time in a place, they substituted the f word with H*ll.  

There is also a Disturbed song (the sickness) that is REALLY dark on the album version and shows up in karaoke.  I don't sing the really bad part cause its a rap and really disturbing.

I figure if there's a cuss word in the song and its not gratuitious (green day, who are you, stained) and its right place/time, why not.  Clearly stuff like some rap just annoys me cause the cuss words are just there to be there for shock.

And then of course there are acceptable songs that get perverted by a crowd - Mony, Mony (billy idol), Deliliah - Englebert humperdink (?).  What d'ya do then?

There's way too much grey area to be cut and dry and inevitably, somebody "may" get upset.  They'll get over it.