Karaoke Forums

It blows my mind that some establishment would allows cussing while singing but people who are not singing out there cussing like race horses and that's ok..I think I have been in one establishement where I did see a sign posted NO CUSSING.
Bars and club are adult playgrounds NOT churches. Now I do understand that some songs do over do it by droping the F Bomb every third word..and it does get old....I know its their establishment but when people trying to control what people say..I feel that just not right
Ok let me state Im not a BIG cusser..everyone in a while Ill let it slip but I do believe in peoples right to express themselves how they want.

I cuss like a sailor. I think cussing should be allowed EVERYWHERE!! They are just words that have gotten a bad wrap. There is no reason why those words have been deemed vulgar and should not be said.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I say words that others would consider curse words but I consider words. I will even drop the F bomb over the mic now and then in the right mood and setting.

The key is to know your owners, your venues, and your audience before doing anything.

That said...... poo poo, ca ca, doo doo, feces, poop, doodie, crap ......they all mean exactly the same thing.

Why "poo poo" is acceptable but sh!t is not mystifies me.......

-Chris

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-Chris

If you want the snobby linguistic answer, I can give it.

Still, it seems to me like it's up to the owners of a facility to decide what is and isn't tolerated inside its walls. Me, I'm like Smoothedge in the regard that I don't hold a real stigma against profanity, and I don't think less of folks who use it--regardless of what people will say regarding degrading moral standards, the use of profanity is not limited to the uneducated or the lower socioeconomic class.

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

No sh!t??? Where can one go to see and hear these cussing race horses?

There is a time and place for everything but not every place is the place for anything. There are plenty of karaoke venues that are more restaurant than bar and the audiences in these places can be more family oriented than your typical bar. I am no prude by any stretch of the imagination but I tend to err on the side of caution when I go to a karaoke venue. If I went to a bar and every other singer was singing songs with profanity in them; I might give "First of May" a shot at that particular location. I wouldn't sing that song at the local Italian Restaurant on karaoke night. It just isn't important enough to me to sing songs that are bound to make someone uncomfortable. I'd rather sing something that everyone will listen to without thinking that I'm crude and insensitive to the fact that some people are there with their wives and, or daughters.

I was at the Tiki Bar at a Golf Resort in Florida where someone thought it would be funny to sing "Small Dick Man". At least a half dozen older patrons got up and left and informed the hotel where the Tiki Bar was located that they would never stay at that resort again. The girl who sang the song was banned from the bar and the KJ was fired for letting her sing the song. It wasn't the time or place for that type of song. The KJ who had that show lost a 4 night a week gig for thinking it would be okay to let someone cross the line.

Bottom line is every venue that has karaoke does it in the hopes of making money. If profanity on the microphone is going to have the opposite effect, they are going to put a stop to it. If you want to provide an X-Rated Karaoke show; maybe you should advertise it as such and see how successful you will be? I think that most people don't go to karaoke to sing songs of the adult variety. I, for one, would probably go to an adult karaoke show every now and again but I think the novelty would wear off quickly for me.

It depends on what kind of clientele the venue wants to attract. On the one hand, an older crowd doesn't feel comfortable with those words because they used to have real meaning long ago and it still brings up those emotions. F was a hateful and degrading thing to say to someone. So they don't want to hear it.

On the other in working with younger people I found that those words meant nothing to them and they used them just as words and not to shock.

When you mix crowds some places go for making an atmosphere where people behave in a respectful manner so they prefer not to have words that would offend the older clientele. They want a broader segment of the audience to feel "safe." I think Lonman can attest to how his crowd changed when his bar went in that direction--not necessarily older but better behaved and maybe more mixed.

I just had the same thing happen--not from policing language but from policing other behavior. The larger tills that the puke and scream crowd seemed to generate didn't compensate for the cracked toilets, fights, police calls and general destruction. So karaoke just got a bit nerdier but the crowd also got larger, knock on wood.

I also think that there is a big difference between adult funny and adult graphic. The older crowd probably doesn't see the difference on many ocassions but most peop[le see a big Difference between "Me So Horny" or "Closer" and a song parody like "Double D Cups" or even "Piece of (@$%&#!) Car". Some are simply trying to be funny and others are simply trying to be as close to pornography as they can be.

Like I said. The right time and the right place.

The management at my venues allow cursing during a song, however, we had a table of 16 visitors from New Zealand last week leave after the F-bomb was overused in the song "Creep".

They are trying to attract a more "respectable and well- behaved crowd" than the young punk- azz 21-30 year olds that destroy the toilets,(as LL pointed out), annoyingly hitting on the female servers constantly, sometimes grabbing them before being thrown out, and the obvious "shock factor" they are trying to illicit by cursing too DAMN much.

This is to coincide with the new gluten-free and upscale (right) healthy late night menu and new carpets just installed....

Having a meeting this week with owners to determine new rules. They want to ban the F-word and N- word, but Sh!t, B!tch, Hell, Ho, and Azz is okay...

gonna be fun editing songs out of book...not!

There will always be some people who go to karaoke for the sole purpose of offending other people. It's kind of like Karaoke graffiti. They find out that there is a place where a bunch of G-rated people are having a good time and they have to try to ruin it by tagging it with what they think is cool. I saw a kid in his early twenties last week sing "You Belong To Me". That kid had class and style and knows what karaoke is supposed to be like.

i forgot to add that the New Zealand guests were of mormon faith...

I guess I feel this way..I believe people have the right to sing what they want..if some people don't like it..."there is the door"...this is a bar NOT a church

And the bar OWNER has the right to determine what should and should NOT be sung in HIS BAR.

When you buy a bar, you'll be able to have whatever kind of karaoke show that you prefer. Until that time, you will have to follow someone else's rules.

You obviously like a show that allows anyone to sing any song at all because you enjoy hearing what other people would call dirty songs. You have a hard time coming to the realization that you, and people like you, are in the minority when it comes to karaoke bars. Most people that go to karaoke bars are looking for a pleasant evening out without being offended by anyone. I enjoy the humor of Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy and Andrew Dice Clay and Have paid to see them all in the past. When I go to karaoke, I don't go there to hear X-rated material. A bar is a place for adults to hang out and have a good time but not all adults need to use adult language to have a good time and not all adults enjoy hearing adult language when they are out with their family.

If you don't like working in a bnar that puts restrictions on your show; you too, know where the door is. Don't cry like a little girl about it. Find a venue that wants the type of show that you want to provide. Advertise it as such and see how many people you attract. If the place is mobbed every night that you are there; you have found your niche. If the place is dead every night that you are there; supply and demand has spoken.

Something tells me that you don't really want to do a show where everyone is singing songs of an adult nature because then there is no one there to offend. People like you enjoy disrupting an otherwise G-Rated evening with your juvenile antics.

Again, it really depends on the bar.

The one karaoke bar I sing at is primarily frequented by old men and women. It's not a bar I'd sing "Closer," "F*** Her Gently," or "Creep"* in. The bar I go to on Wednesdays, I absolutely would. It fits the environment.

As this is a... well, a pretty white town, though, sometimes those "respectable" older fellers and ladies will have no problem dropping an n-word or two in casual conversation without fear of getting called on it, so I will be the jerk that will insist on doing some hip hop to make them uncomfortable and/or angry.




* There actually isn't a bar I'd sing "Creep" in again. That high note... shiiiii........ I sound like a mule that is both dying and going through puberty at the same time when I try it.

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

There is a HUGE difference between what people are saying in a private conversation and what someone is saying or singing over the bar's PA System. If someone at the table next to me is cursing up a blue streak, or dropping the "N" word; I have a few options at my disposal to avoid hearing it if it is bothering me enough to do something about it. If someone is spewing out foul lamguage for the entirety of a 4 minute long song every time it is their turn to sing; I have a few less options to avoid hearing it. I've NEVER had the urge to sing CREEP, anywhere. I guess I'm just not as cool or as F'n Special as you are.

I worked on a dairy farm in college one semester, and they used the "S" word in the course of their work like it was the word "and" or "the". I even heard the farmers using the word in discussion of their vocation in the vestibule of our church! I have always considered word choices to be a bit of an art, and to deprive anyone of that goes against our basic rights as Americans, yea, even humans...

I HAVE heard many people cussing at LOSING race horses.......

If I hear you drop something overly racist in earshot of me in your "private" conversation, you're getting away pretty lucky if I only sing a song designed specifically to offend you. It's the one thing I won't tolerate, and I can be a pretty big jerk when it comes to it, whether you're a teenage kid or somebody's grandfather.

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

Context is everything. (@$%&#!) can be funny and (@$%&#!) can be vulgar. Someone accidentally stepping in Dog (@$%&#!) always gets a laugh. Someone picking up that dog (@$%&#!) and throwing it in someone's face; not so much. Somebody might get shot.

My parents were in a cocktail lounge one night and a "gentleman" there was using rather salty language. My step-dad walked over nicely and informed this man that he was going to get his (@$%&#!) kicked if he uttered one more F-Bomb. The "gentleman" somehow managed to avoid using that language for the remainder of the time that my parents were there. Amazing how some people can control their behavior with the proper motivation. That older generation knew how to behave in mixed company. Many people today just don't seem to care about anyone else but themselves.

Cussing is not allowed on stage at our place per the owners. I either respect it or look for work elsewhere. Well i'm not going to walk away from a 7 night a week gig just because I don't agree with their rule they have set up for their establishment. I have edited the books so none of those songs even tempt people, and yes we did used to allow everything, but it drew in a more unruly crowd, that would only sing those songs to the point an f-bomb pops up on screen - then they would SCREAM that word. These were also the same people that would come in in groups, buy a pitcher or two of beer between them & would have at least 1 fight of some sort a week.
The owner got tired of it & said no more. She immediately had me stopp allowing those songs with language - we lost the unruly crowd and eventually gained a better singing, spending & overall better behaved crowd in their place. A fight anymore is rare.
If someone really wants to sing those songs, I direct them to the crappioke down the street - but for some odd reason, they always seem to return to our show!

What is wrong with Creep btw? I take it you are talking Radiohead? This one gets done all the time, the 2 versions I have do not have the f-bomb in them.

Sad thing about todays music, is the creativity is no longer there. Innuendos are far more creative writing without actually literally saying the curse words. Just sad!

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