Karaoke Forums

Another subject that's been covered before... but I've recently changed my opinion.

I've decided to begin censoring what gets played at my shows...

For a start, I've declared them to be "Bieber free" shows... simply because I feel the kid is a disgrace and disappointment to folks living in this part of Canada who supported him early on.

Then, I'll dump Kanye West and Chris Brown for obvious reasons.. and might as well toss in "The Rodeo Song" and "Goodbye Earl" too.

Hmmm... this could be fun.... I'm feelin' the POWER! Mwahhhhh-ha-ha....

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Earl
(BS, PHD & Certified CurmuDJeon)

[font=Times New Roman]"Growing Old may be mandatory... but growing UP is still optional."[/font]

Personally I believe to remove an artist jut because you don't like them or what they do is wrong ...again IMO
I mean how would you feel if they replaced you because of your age...weight..or wearing cowboy hat...again not fair
There are artist I don't like but it ain't my place to remove artists out of my book just because I dont like them

Only time I would remove songs is if the VENUE SPECIFICALLY DIRECTED ME TO REMOVE such (Like Lonnie has to comply with at the T-Bird as I recall). Otherwise everything is fair game and available for the singers. There are several in Portland who are that way specifically at the direction of the management....no foul mouth songs...no gangster-rap(which is different than hip-hop or R & B).

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

We have a very strict No Nickleback policy and have discussed removing songs. It's part of making your show YOUR show, and adhereing to your own standards, whatever they may be.

i have a midnight policy for adult themed songs and foul language.

most older people are gone by then, so anything is fair game at 12 am.

but I draw the line at censoring any song, it's the people that keep me there. and if they are happy, I get to keep my job. people are good at censoring themselves for their own personal reason's. so if they don't want to sing a certain artist music then that's fine, but my next singer may not have the same opinion.

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It's all good!

We don't allow anyone under 21 to stay in the bar past 11:00, so I keep it clean until 11:00, then it's adult swim, and nothing's off limits.

I've had grown adults complain about foul language in the karaoke and filler music before, and quite frankly, if they are offended, they are in the wrong bar.

Hate to stereotype, but the average person who is offended by "foul language" at my shows seems to actually just not like hip hop/rap music (typically middle-aged white ladies). They sing along when there's foul language in a classic rock song, and most of them also curse up a storm while they are talking to their friends. They are only offended by certain styles of music, which leads me to believe they dislike the genre more than the actual words. And FYI, I DO NOT play the hardcore rap stuff, so we're not talking about the "B***" this, "N****" that stuff, just typical top 40 stuff that has some errant curse words in the album versions.

Just my experience. You can never please everyone!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

No censorship at any of my shows. Even though we do 3 nights at a place that is kid friendly until 10pm, it has never been an issue. The singers police themselves.

I even print the bad words in my books.



Have you heard old people speak? Where do you think the younger people learn to speak the way they do? The old people created all the colorful language we all speak.

-Chris

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-Chris

I live in a retirement community, lot's of old prude's.....

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It's all good!

It can be dangerous territory.

I too cannot stand Justin Beiber, and to be honest am not surprised he has turned out how he did. However, if I was a karaoke host, I would not let my pungent personal feelings get in the way of people wanting to sing his songs, painful as it would be! He most certainly is an embarrassment to society, but we cannot deny his popularity and the fact a huge number of people enjoy his songs.

I would only censor songs/artists in extreme circumstances. Example.. not a single piece of work by Garry Glitter shall ever enter my possession. Ever. I trust I don't need to explain why. BUT... if I was a long standing KJ with a large Glitter inventory before all of what happened came to light, would I automatically censor it now? Not sure is the answer to that one. I wouldn't want to be overly dictatorial, so would be inclined to leave the songs in place and let the people govern themselves. However, I would junk the songs without hesitation if I was ever "given a reason" to do so. But to be fair, in all the time I have attended karaoke gigs, never have I heard any of his songs either in karaoke or filler music.

Last time this subject was raised on this Forum, many KJs on here said that they would removing "Pumped up kicks" from their song inventories. This was in response to a story in which some complete [unprintable] tool decided it would be funny to sing the song very soon after the Sandy Hook tragedy and at the end dedicate his performance to the gunman responsible for the massacre. I was, and still am, strongly opposed to the censorship as I believe it was the piece of plankton in question that is the problem, not the song.

I started by saying censoring karaoke songs is potentially dangerous territory to get on - why? Because it can easily get out of hand. Where do we draw the line? Let's take a look at some other songs...
Suzanne Vega : Luka. An extremely well written and thought-provoking song, as well as being a very catchy tune. But ultimately it is a song about child abuse. Has anyone deleted this from their library? Did news stories regarding high profile child abusers (such as Gary Glitter, and more recently Jimmy Savile) prompt you to do so?
Tom Jones : Delilah. Arguably one of the most popular karaoke songs, at least in my part of the world. I believe Brucefan put this point across the last time we debated this topic. The subject of the song is a jealous lover who, when he discovers his woman is cheating on him, violently murders her.
Kenny Rogers : Ruby don't take your love to town. Another popular karaoke choice. Contains the line "If I could move I'd get my gun and put her in the ground".
The Beatles: Run for your life. "Let this be a sermon I mean everything I said. / Baby I'm determined and I'd rather see you dead. / You'd better run for your life if you can, little girl. / Hide your head in the sand, little girl. / Catch you with another man / That's the end, little girl". Heavy stuff indeed.
Jim Croce : You don't mess around with Jim and Bad bad Leroy Brown. Both these songs are in a very similar vein, culminating in rather gruesome violence against the subject of the song. "He were cut in 'bout a hundred places / And he were shot in a couple more".


I could go on but I think I've made my point. Most karaoke manufacturers that produce tracks with profane/explicit lyrics also put out a clean version. Given the choice I would opt for the latter. Why have potentially offensive lyrics on screen just for the hell of it? You'll still have the song and anyway, if a singer wants to sing the explicit version, then a few asterisks here and then is not going to stop them. Cee-Lo Green : Forget you is a prime example. I can empathise to a degree with hosts choosing to leave hip-hop out of their books entirely, simply because so much of the lyrical content of these songs is very crude (even the "clean" versions) it would be very difficult to police or locate and retain the clean songs.

I'll end by saying what I said before: I have no doubt that you KJs will make a choice regarding your song list that is best for you, your gigs and your singers. Happy singing!

Gemini, you seem to forget that not all of us work in an adult bar environment. No comparison to a family restaurant/club. I kj at the latter; mom & pop having a nice dinner with their kids, I can’t allow a singer sing any R rated songs such as Prince’s Pu**y Control or 2live crew’s Me So Ho*ny while little 10 year old Brad ask “dad, what’s pu**y control mean?

But if I’m kj’ing in a bar & the venue owner sez yes, then all songs are fair game & if some customers are offended by it they can take it up to him. If it’s a NO, same as Lon, not gonna play it. I am not about to bite the hand that feeds my family.

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

Not having the songs that have foul language in them surprisingly hasn't hurt the show. It isn't my rule, but the bars - so I oblige.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Has anyone done any kind of genre-specific KJing? I'm curious as to how this could pan out. Bands have faced the challenge of "playing to your crowd" since the beginning of live music, and I'm wondering how that would work for KJs. It would obviously be an organizational nightmare, depending on you book printings, etc., but could you market yourself as, say, a Country KJ? Or Hip-Hop KJ?

I have separate books by artist and title for "County", "Oldies", "Show Tunes", "Pop", "Head Banger/Rap" (which I never give to anyone in my venues), "Foreign Language", "Holidays" (Christmas, Hanukah, St Pats, Halloween, etc). For the most part I only put out the country, oldies and pop. I have also removed all songs over 5 minutes from the books (within reason because there are some I will accept on slow nights). I would say it is one of the best things I have ever done because a singer can quickly hone in on only what he they like to sing without having to look through thousands of songs they have never heard of.

I am currently finishing up my books for an upcoming show. Because it takes so much time to do this, I haven't done an update for almost 2 years. I will have to add that I don't think it would have made much of a difference any way because my crowds love oldies (up to about 1990).

I should say, if the bar say's no then I don't play it. they are the ones paying me. but if they don't care then it's my choice and I say 12am for that music.

also I know my singers, if the mood is right "no old prudes hanging out" then I'll let them start them earlier.

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It's all good!

I'll allow songs that aren't in the book (censored) to be sung if I know the singer will actually censor themselves - and it also depends on the song in question. Something like You Oughta Know - Alanis Morisette - sure, Aenima - Tool - never. We have a pretty respectful following that do abide by the rules, and if someone on stage says something they shouldn't, the crowd actually says something before I get a chance to - kind of a game for them now.

I would never ban anything simply because I didn't like them.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Just because I don't like a song/artist, doesnt mean everyone does.

I treat my job like a bartender. Do you think they should refuse to serve Jagermeister because it tastes like crap? Or ban all Stoli because of the Russian stance on gays? Of course not. If someone orders a sh!tty drink, you give them a sh!tty drink.

Same with Karaoke. It doesnt reflect on ME, it reflects on THEM.

But, too many poorly chosen songs, in a row, every night, can and will affect the bottom line. If using a little smarts on the part of the KJ can prevent that from happening, then I think we owe it to the venue to intervene when needed

Usually a good kj can get people to switch it up a little if it's like ballad hell or something alike, not always though.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I have seen specific listings for punk rock karaoke, or hip hop karaoke, but only around larger cities.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast