Karaoke Forums

I have always been one of those people who don't get into memorizing ball players names and the positions they play, but love sports. A person who loves movies, but doesn't remember actors names and the different roles they have acted in. The same goes for music I can't remember every singer or band and what songs they've done. Sure I know obvious ones like Elvis does "Teddy Bear".

When hosting karaoke I am often asked who sings what. I rarely know and refer them to a book or one of the patrons for the answer. Of course I will try to get the answer for them the best I can, so they can sing the song they are looking for. I figure as long as they know the name of the song or the artist we'll be able to find it in the book. But if they start singing lines from the song looking for me to figure it out I can almost guarrentee I'll be asking other patrons for the answer.

Does this make me less of a KJ because I don't study up on music history?

Keep in mind I do not DJ - never have.

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Less of a KJ?  Well, yes and no.  If you try to run a show as I do then, yes.  You are a hopeless failure because that's the way I run things.  But, you're not me.  You run your show differently so why worry about it.  So long as you are doing your best no one should ask more of you and self doubt serves no purpose in a host.  I suggest that you have fun and don't worry about it any more.

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Okay, who took my pants?

No one person runs their show the same very true -
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I guess you are right because I don't believe my ability to run a good show has anything to do with my ability to recall music information. I may not be the dictionary to music history, but I am confident in my hosting skills.
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Like any profession you can always learn more and I would never profess to be the all knowing Bigdog of karaoke.
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I will rephrase my question to: Does this happen to you and does it make you feel like you should know? Because I truly don't believe I am less of a KJ if I can't recall every song.

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

  My answer to your question is the answer to all similar questions.   It's not important whether you KNOW all the answers, only that you know WHERE TO FIND the answers.

   NO ONE know all of the information regarding the hundreds of thousands of karaoke songs available.  Most of what I know comes from years of exposure in the business. Completely accidental- no studying. You will always run into " I don't know the title, or who did it, or the words, but let me hum it for you,,," or some such. Occupational hazard. Try asking for more info if required for a song.  If the question is just for fun, just use the book.  Don't worry, be happy....  :dancin:

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Yes it happens to me all the time.  Alot of time I know the answer, music geek that way, but when I get asked who this song was done by & I don't know, I pick up the jewel case, turn it over & look at the artist & tell them - or will ask someone else & get the answer & relay it back to the asker.  Yes I do believe to certain extent you should be able to answer questions relating to the field you are in - music, whether you need to ask others or find it yourself IMO, but it isn't going to make or break you as a kj not memorizing every music fact.

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

I think much of this answer depends on the type crowd you are entertaining Babs.  In the crowded and few YOUNG places up here where neither many of the males or females (about 21-27 average) care or know anything about musician backgrounds, history etc.  All you'd need to do is get one up on stage, and get another one on deck quickly,  hand the microphone, and protect YOUR equipment.... As long as you keep up with the fast pace of a young rowdy crowd, they'd be as content as you can expect from such a crowd...

HOWEVER,  If you are entertaining at an older bar where a lot of music has "nostalgic" memory, and on a Sunday night those that come to sing are veteran R&B singers, and Disc Jockeys in their 50's, 60's etc.. Who come to sing Classics such as the Stylistics, O' Jays, Temptations, Freddie Jackson, Spinners, etc... NOT knowing your music history will leave you alone at the side engineering the sound, BUT knowing your music almost is a MUST, because you must remember,  when a 60 year old (or a younger person for that matter) gets up to sing a song, it often has TREMENDOUS memories associated with it for this person, and those with them... A trip thru memory lane of sorts, and knowing, acknowledging and having some history on the Artist, band etc.... Will really enable you to stand out in the eyes of these participants...

You become one of "them" when you know their music..

When I was playing lounge piano, A LOT I played, I actually loathed..  I could never show this (and it got hard not too, because faking enthusiasm when you aren't in the mood, but playing an instrument is VERY tough to conceal that which you aren't "into", at least for me it was).. STILL,  I made certain I knew about the songs composers, and something about their life, because people in a slow venue, for some reason when you play a song from the composer (given some alcohol) often think you are a fan of the composer, and they start talking about somebody who saw, knew, was with, etc...

You must know something about the music when you DJ, or KJ older folks on a slower night IMHO.....  Because it's the difference between being "in with the crowd", or the engineer off in a private booth running behind the scenes..

Entertainers providing music, should like and know music IMHO... Not necessarily like much of it,  but know about it...  It's our area..

When I first came here,  I was reminded of HOW VERY LITTLE I knew of blues history, Delta area blues, etc...   It was humbling,  but I studied up.... Especially since I'm an R&B musician specializing in classic rock... I have to have some knowledge of those before my time... Otherwise many consider me a poseur... Just the way things work....

When you run a ball-team,  know about ball and the players

Same with music... You are forgiven for NOT knowing quite a bit, You can even have some info wrong, but still,  show an interest in the artists and their music, every-so-often get into something showing you entertain in music because you like music,  not JUST to make a few extra bucks... You need not know THAT much,  but know something about the songs your crowd likes... They sing songs because THEY like those songs.. OFten the artists too.. so start studying  :shock:

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

I suspect you have ALL the answers sir  :whistle:

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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."

don't worry Babs Girl Kj's are all sexy. Besides the drunk karaoke singer won't remember what they asked from week to week !!!  

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ROBDOG *WOOF WOOF*

Wow, I think it's greatly overrated.  I've always been the one that people would ask who sings what, and it feels good when you have the answer, but for a Karaoke show it's way down the list.

Do I feel bad when someone asks and I don't have the answer.  Nope.  Frustrated, absolutely!, because I just can't remember like I used to.  But I don't feel poorly about my abilities as a kj/host because I can't remember what's the 3rd track on "The Dark Side of the Moon"

Extra knowledge about the history/background of the music that a KJ is playing is always an advantage, esp those that are often played.

Are such knowledge necessary?... Absolutely.
Are such knowledge absolutely necessary?..... Absolutely not.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Call - one of the on line retailer - K.com or some other and ask for a FREE catalog- In there you should have  MOST karaoke songs by SONG and by ARTIST.

Use this as your "cheat sheet"

The singers that this would matter with are usually the expert on a certain artist. Ask them and massage their ego a bit.

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It's not always singers that are asking, I get people that are just sitting - not singers - asking about certain songs or artists.  Sometimes it's because they may want to try it themselves or more commonly they would like to request someone to sing it & want to be able to give them more info on it.

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

Im the worst Was mostly 'out of country' during the 60's and for years thr first time I heard a new song was at karaoke. For a few years I was buying THM cd's and didnt have a clue who some of the artists were

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I've been asked that a lot of times too. If I don't know or am not sure I plug the song title or artist into the search engine of CompuHost or WMP for verification.

Nobody can possibly be expected to know every song and artist out there.

I just heard some Mary J. Blige the other day that I got to get, its a real crowd pleaser...foot stompin'. Had to wait in the car for the song to end to get the name of the artist, it almost made me late for work.  

Live and learn.

                                                                       bigjim56

Like to make yourself look better than others, eh?

No, you're just as good of a KJs as any of them...especially if you getcha a laptop on the side that contains a database of every song ever recorded and who did it, in addition to your own karaoke databse.

If you did this, you could answer any question like that.
That's what I'd do cause I don't like to bother myself with remembering a bunch of stuff

Over the course of the past 15+ years I wouldn't do well in DJ'ing or being the individual playing the music for the teen and early 20's crowds.  There's too much of it (I have to honestly say) that I just DON'T have any interest in familiarizing myself with.  I hate to say this,  and I won't say it's lesser of music than the classic rock and ballad I grew up with in the 60's and 70's.  I suppose I'll just settle with the fact that I've become an old fart and a square who doesn't like Emenem, fiffeee cent, Jewel, bIsKEt, KORN, and you name it.  I suppose I never evolved to todays "Hard Rock" or whatever that stuff is called.  If a person asked me what A particular song was, and I somehow knew the album, side, and name of the song Courtney Hole sang it on..  I'd be quite ashamed of myself... But hey... NOT that there's anything wrong with this music !   It's just me...  I'm a friggin square, a stick in the mud old fart that likes classic rock, R&B, and a lot of songs that emerge between the fray, but it seems that the songs I like, are the BORING horrible stuff that many of the younger kids today aren't interested in..  I would be a terrible KJ, DJ in a young rowdy bar where I have to hear kid after kid sing

" I'm sorry mawmaw, I dint mean to make you cry but tonight I'm cleanin out my clawzit"

and EVERY friggin girl and her stuffy nosed friend wants to sing  (VERY out of tune ne less)



and they get really emotional and loud at the correct parts, but unfortuneatly what this does is accentuate their inability to match pitch, time signature, catch their breath, and it's REALLY an abominable display that makes me question just WHO Karaoke singing is "fun" for, because it's during these times a high percentage of a huge area of people are cringing as if finger-nails have just scraped a chalkboard.
COMPLETELY out of pitch

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

Interesting attack on a respected member of the forums before you have proved yourself

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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."

Vicki's correct Rockrz,  You took an interesting analogy (left by Exweed) entirely out've context.  Perhaps you just didn't read the who post he left.  Seems clear to me his message is quite succinct.

"There's more than one way to run a good show".

What constitutes a "successful show" is indeed subjective, since success is contingent on many factors such as participants of your show. He brings up another very good point when he states "just enjoy what you do", since there is an element of contagion in "enjoyment",  it rubs off.  People want to enjoy themselves hence the host should be enjoying themselves too.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

When I first read his reply I thought he was saying I was a failure. Then I read it again and realised that wasn't his intent. The word failure is a strong word that can be misinterpretted.

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]