Karaoke Forums

You pretty much have to gauge the crowd, but I must say I do find it annoying, no matter how good the singer is, to hear "a lot" of anything that is way off the beaten track. A large group (10-12) of Chinese students show up to a regular haunt of mine once in a while and sing all chinese songs from their own disks, all night. A couple songs is kind of cool, but it gets old really fast - same goes for opera I would think.

I have a list of regulars, i have the songs they like to sing in my book....when they come in the door....their ticket goes in....IF someone has sang a song on their ticket, i go over and quietly tell them and ask....DO you still want to do this?....Most of the time it's no....thats cool....i'll pick another.


If someone hands me a ticket and i know someone else ALREADY has that song in, i tell them and give them the choice....and if they say yes...I ask them....do you want to do it next or later? They usually choose later...Problem solved.

I've only had 1 person in 6 years give me a hard time. I told them, all these songs are for EVERYONE, and if you want to get picky....THEY are MY songs....that ended that. He still comes in and has a good time Not had a problem since.

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Here's my take on singing "someone else's" Song

I personally think that you shouldn't sing a song that's allready been sung. It's rude, first of all. and boring as hell! I once went to this little bar that I'd never been to, and "You Were Meant For Me" by Jewel was sung four times!!!! OMG! The song is annoying enough when i hear the ORIGINAL version!

There. There's my rant! !

Heh heh, yes that is irritating when that happens - seems to happen with songs that are currently popular and songs that are karaoke "standards"

But....that's what Karaoke is about for the patrons, to me anyway. To sing WHATEVER song they want. I have heard some songs lots of times in a night...but hey....that's why i do it. I don't think it's rude. That would be like telling people at the bar....you can't order THAT drink...someone else already did. Guess it depends on a persons perspective. Melly's opinion only...

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Yeah, Its a rule in my place. The only time we've broken it was when as a joke my buddy Michael sang "Honey I'm Home" by Shania Twain, and a gal came up and practically demanded to do it, as she wanted him and the others to know it's a GAL's song. As it was all in fun, I allowed it that one time.

I've been to shows where a song is only sang once per night - period. And those that let them be repeated time after time after time after... well you get the idea.

The only once per night guy had a limited selection and was pretty picky about the songs that were sung. As a result people didn't come to the show and chances are his show would have been canceled if he hadn't had to move for family reasons.

The other extreme lets people sing the same song over and over. They'll let 5 guys in a row sing the same George Strait song. This is incredibly annoying - especially if you're not a big country music fan. They don't run a very fair rotation either so I don't go there any more (I also moved, but I stopped going long before I moved).

Personally, when I'm hosting I try to reach a happy medium. If I get two seperate requests for the same song I space them at least an hour apart, and prefer to shoot closer to 2 hours apart. When the second slip comes in I warm the person that it will be a while because it's already been turned in and they can turn in another slip to sing in the meantime. I've never had a complaint and the one time I did a 'battle of the song' between two people it was a fiasco. I will NEVER do that one again.

If I get a third person turning in the same song I tell them it's been turned in more than once already and it will be at least 4 hours before they'll sing it. I've never had anyone wait that long to sing a specific song. If they were willing to wait I'd let them sing it, but as I said, I've never had anyone willing to wait 4 hours or so to sing a song. I usually make a recommendation for a similar song or artist which they usually take me up on.

BTW, given that my shows are 6 hours long in theory you 'could' hear a song 4 times - but it would be the first (or close to it), and every two hours, and then as the last or almost last song of the night. It's less airplay than Van Halen's Jump got (I still hate that song because it was overplayed so much) or many other 'top' hits today on the radio.

I will cater to my guests/singers but I keep it reasonable. I don't want to hear any song a dozen times a night no matter how good everyone is at singing it.

Sacrilege!!!! (sorry *huge* Van Halen fan here )

Actually, I like their other stuff, even the rest of the 1984 album. Just that one song.....

I was just being (trying to be?) funny

I still love the video! You can see that they're all drunk as skunks! David Lee Roth said on mtv they spent more on beer than they did on renting the video equipment!

It's hysterical!

Amen on that final comment Blonde...loved it....and how about the yahoos that say have you got........? My answer is: I am old and I have over 9,000 songs and there is no way I can remember every song I have....But we have these books here..........

I went to karaoke in Vegas several times. I was amazed at how different it is there...It's pretty casual here in Orlando, but in Vegas you cannot speak to the KJ, only their assistant....tho I must say there have been times that might have been a great thing...

What an interesting lil thread...I am sure we all have some great stories to share...

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When I was young, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,  then I became an adult  and  realized  that if you allow your heart to open up, God would show you the best in many friends...

ooooooooops...Blonde's comment was at the bottom of page 1....Sry all didn't realize this thread was so long....

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When I was young, I used to believe in the concept of one best friend,  then I became an adult  and  realized  that if you allow your heart to open up, God would show you the best in many friends...

How about the everpopular...

"I Love Rock and Roll"...
Same with the Righteous Brothers...
"Love Shack"
"I Will Survive"

Those are the ones that I was stuck playing over and over again as a KJ. When peeps brought up CDG's, it was alot of Britney and Christina...UGH! Not that I wouldn't mind being with either one...WOO-HOO! ...

I just loved when peeps brought up all the different music.

I Got Friends in Low Places, The Dance by Garth Brooks
Crazy - Patsy Cline
Paradise By THe Dashboard Light
Wind Beneath My Wings - Bete Midler
Where Do Broken Hearts Go - Whitney

The list goes on...

Now it's "Picture". Every show I do, and I only allow one per show. Singers will often feel they are being "shown up". I go to other shows, and it's usuallt twice a night. I actually used to like to sing it......

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I'm going off the rails......

that's exactly why I dislike repeating songs... if someone else sang it that night, you lost out! I have over 14,000 songs to sing from... and ony sixty or so will get done in a night. Do the math... you can find something else dammit!~ !