Karaoke Forums

Well I finally got enuff gutts last night to sing "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails.....I was hoping folks wouldnt get offended when the lines "I wanna (@$%&#!) you like an animal" comes up....It caused a reaction!!!  For a brief second the entire bar was looking at me!! But they all applauded !!  

I sometimes want to to other songs with touchy lyrics and I feel these days people get easily offended.

I have thought about doing the following songs too

My way by the Sex Pistols

And Anarchy In the UK in by the Sex Pistols


Some folks dont take to touchy lyrics these days and one of the karaoke bars I go to there are older adults who like to do more of the old standards...I feel it would ruin everything.  The Karaoke bar I was at last night though was a gay bar and it went pretty smooth  Tim

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The place I work doesn't allow ANY profanity over the mic.  It used to be the only ones that would "abuse" it, were the rowdy college crowd or younger crowds & there were fights quite often from these same people.  The club asked that we pull ALL the songs that contained any profanity or questionable content.  After a couple years of arguing with them that we'd lose customers, I reworked my books & didn't list those types of songs.  Funny thing is we did in fact LOSE that crowd & actually GAINED a better class of singer - not the typical drunk "scream into the mic" type, but SINGERS, so I quit arguing after that!  If someone wants to do those songs, I will give them a map to a place that does allow them & they can go there.
If you go into a club that HAS the songs listed, I think it should be fair game for anyone!

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

Every thing in the books are open game, but if I feel it would be offensive to the crowd I would recommend the singer do it later in the night when the crowd has shifted to crowd who would appreciate it more.

Certainly makes singing Puddle of Mudd's "She hates me" a bit trickier.  :yes:

If the lyrics have profanity, I can guarantee that just about everybody in our group will leave and never return.  Not that I'm that intolerant, but I know how my wife and her friends feel about the subject and there is no way that I'd subject them to something that they find so offensive.  And don't give be any CR*P about this being a new generation, it's all about CLASS.  Good question, does class still exist? I'm beginning to wonder.  

  Jackson

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Singing just for you

most of karaoke shows I know are done in bars. And you're going to hear the F bomb, the S word and lots of others from time to time.

Since we're all 21 and over in there, my advice is to grow a thick skin.

Now if they're chanting and doin' hate gangsta rap, yeah, I can understand being squeamish.

To be honest, if someone gets up and leaves cause they hear the F word once or twice, they're probably not the customers I would want.  That's not givin' the last poster any crap, but we as a society need to be MUCH more tolerant to LOTS of things... you're gonna have the big ol' melting pot rear it's ugly head, and you're gonna NOT like something... ANYTHING. My advice to myself and others that hit that magic moment is to grow up and keep an open mind. Differences do not make adversity, but even WITH adversity, I can appreciate people I wouldn't normally hang out with, and celebrate that they have as much right to hang out and have fun as I do.

There are SEVERAL songs that I can think of that the profanity in them don't sound the same when you hear it "censored"...

"Get A Job" - if you LISTEN to the words, the meaning behind the lyrics is very, VERY clear. It's a SLAM on those that would treat the downtrodden poorly, and instead, asking the listener to "look in the mirror" first.

"You Oughta Know" - hey, that BLEEP word when it comes out is a shocker, and it's meant to punch through the intensity of the meaning of the psycho b**ch that won't let it go! !

"Never Again" - one of my PERSONAL favorites. A song about spousal and child abuse, and the anger of the msg shows clearly.

In fact, since some do a self-censoring bit, why not do that in their own lives... but not just with music. Do it with books, with movies, with friends and family.

on this subject.  One of my good friends sings "At a Medium Pace" by Adam Sandler all of the time!  As soon as he gets to the part about the shampoo bottle, he pretty much has everyone's undivided attention.  Truthfully, I haven't had any bad reactions, mostly a lot of laughter, disbelief or shaking their heads.

Don't think I'd let him sing this song or South Park's "Chocolate Salty Balls" at a 50th Wedding Anniversary.

I usually ask singers to wait on these songs until later on in the night and make a fair judgement on whether or not the crowd is mature enough to handle it.

My two nickels worth...

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---wallyd

It all depends on the venue.  I used to sing at a place in Fairbanks that had a no profanity rule before 10pm because they were tied to a restaurant and they often had younger people (with parents) in the restaurant before 10pm.  After the restaurant cleared out they let the 'dirty' songs come out.

I've found that 99% of the bars that I've been to, if they list it they will let you sing it.  I've sung some questionable songs myself - including the rodeo song and ode to my car - but it was in a venue that didn't get overly 'upset' about the language.  Keep in mind my singing a questionable song is the exception and not the rule.  If you can only sing these songs try to find some more material!

I can tell you this - if the crowd is older or if there are children present I will NOT sing any questionable songs.  There is a time and place for songs like this and I try to be sypathetic to the listeners potential 'issues' with the music.

It really does depend on the venue and the crowd.  I play one place where the regulars are a fun bunch who likes the raunchy stuff.  So, it is not rare to hear stuff like the pussycat song, the dirty polka, enormous (@$%&#!), how's your whole, etc.  We even have a standard warning there that says:

"WARNING!  The following song contains explicit lyrics.  If you have a problem with that, please insert your index fingers in your ears and go LA LA LA for the next three and a half minutes!"

However there are other places that those songs would not be accepted at all, and if someone turns one in I gently urge them to try something else instead.

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

In my old bar, I used to put an asterisk beside songs with offensive lyrics and noted in the books and the rules at the front of the book that songs with offensive lyrics could only be sung after midnight. That was jsut because I had a good number of older folks that came in to sing, and they were not going to be around much past midnight anyway.

At the bar where I currently work, the owner could care less about offensive lyrics. I have the personal policy there that I don't allow offensive songs before 11 p.m., and if there are kids around near 11 p.m. I make an announcement that the booty jams start at 11 on the dot with the complete album lyrics, so they have the chance to leave if they are going to be offended.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

"Closer" was the only song I've ever shut down and took out of my books!

Then you obviously don't have Aenima by Tool!

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

I have absolutely no opinion on this topic.  I'm sorry to have bothered you with this post.  I'm just wondering if the word "touchy" was substituted for some other word in the original post, courtesy of our automatic profanity processor for this forum.

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I only date Karaoke singers.

If it's family oriented the XL songs arent allowed, but some kjs warn the crowd, and maybe the song isn't touchy at all unless I did Eye of the Tiger during the Siegfried incident, Bodies on 9/11, and Rock you like a Hurricane this past month.  Some people get the cringe while others do the "Aw, that's wrong"

There are plenty of 'NICE' songs out there to sing..... I tend to find it's the 'youngsters after a few beers think it might be 'fun' to sing songs containing 'colourful' language.  I ignore it, but I can see how some people could be offended.  

Luv Di xxx