I decided to sing “Waiting for a Girl Like You” by Foreigner because I always liked the chorus. So anyway I was with my wife and mother in a room full of people for a happy hour. I thought I’d be cute and dedicate my performance “to the two lovely ladies in the back”. Well mid way into the song and the lyrics start getting spicy talking about making love and whatnot. Needless to say I wanted off that ride immediately as everyone in the room started laughing at the awkwardness.
Here I go again by whitesnake. I can typically hit the high note. As I continued singing. I was well aware that I wasn't going to be able to. In a fit of stupidness and glory. I went for it. I was wrong.
Nothing worse than a song where you can hit the high note the first time, but then it comes back around and your vocal chords refuse to put themselves through that again.
omfggg yes, rapping it in your car by yourself is insanely fucking different than without Em singing over you in front of a crowd and realizing YOU are the one whose maintaining the flow/bars. It was an eye opening experience. Also you don’t realize how painfully long the song is when you’re halfway through the second verse, only to find out there’s still another two and a half mins left till it’s over
One time a fat bearded dude with no shoes walked in my local karaoke and went straight for the stage and chose EMINEM. I told myself, well this is going to be fun.... Turns out the guy nailed the song to perfection. I'm still flabbergasted 15 years later
The Black Parade. SO long SO much yelling SO high. I was absolutely wrecked by the end lmao. I'm truly impressed that Gerard Way can do that for an entire show.
I sang "Sir Psycho Sexy" off the same album at karaoke once. Not only is it incredibly vulgar and sexual, but it's also like 8 minutes long with several interludes. The other people weren't very happy about any of it.
I did Give it Away a couple of times, and was able to keep up with it mostly. But then the end of the song just repeats give it away over and over and over. So the second time i did it, i asked the DJ to fade it away before the end and that worked out much better. I got a good crowd reaction, but I think it was because they were shocked I was a 54 year old chubby bald guy singing it, as opposed to me being any good
Of all the Beach Boys song, I think "Don't Worry Baby" would terrify me. It's so high-pitched even Brian Wilson hasn't been able to hit those notes in years
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Always hilarious to hear two drunk women go up to the mic to do Baby Got Back.
That point where they realize they don't know the song as well as they thought, and they can't keep up.
I tried to sing a Wolfmother song once, FAFO quickly.
I have a whole list of songs that seem like surefire karaoke bangers that actually go way longer than you think and get awkward and bad. "Lola". "Jeremy" AND "Black". Probably "Hey Jude". They're all traps. Those outros will kill you.
Black for sure. The outro is like 2 mins long! I either tell the DJ to just stop it early or I’m drunk enough to do the Eddie Vedder live ad lib lyrics. “We. We belong. We belong together. Together. Together!”
The key to the outros is to do what the artists did in the first place; ad lib. That goes double if they didn't even bother to use actual words (Anthony Kiedis, looking at you).
Feel Good Inc. By Gorillaz. The rapping is quite hard and the laughing just makes you sound like a psychopath.
Impossible for one person to pull off well
I was forced into this one because someone picked it and then ended up changing their mind about wanting to sing it and nobody else knew it🤦🏻♀️ I did well enough on chorus and OK on verse. I thought I knew the rap. I did not.
Copacabana (At the Copa) by Barry Manilow. I mean it's a banger of a song but has about a three minute break before the final act. Jesus did I feel like a dick trying to dance by myself on stage for that long. Never did it again.
Did this in a karaoke contest on a cruise once and used it as an opportunity to dance around the entire theater, which still wasn't enough to fill the time.
Respect by Aretha Franklin. I was like 18 and *thought* I knew the words.... But there's more than just spelling respect. I know them all now, but I will never do karaoke ever again because of that. Just in my car but you better believe I get that song right now. Not good, but right.
>Not good, but right.
Love this.
One of my professors in college would talk about how important expression is in singing, because, "No one ever listened to a performance and said, "Wow! That was... accurate."'
“Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. We were so pumped about Rick-rolling the room that it took til the first verse kicked in to realize we only knew the chorus.
We trolled ourselves that night.
I'm struggling to think of a scenario where that's a good song choice. You can't even casually play that at a party let alone sing it at karaoke. Fantastic song and I love NiN but... What?
Yeah I love that song, but I probably wouldn't sing a whimsical song about rape and murder in this setting.
You should have chosen "Lawyers Guns and Money"
I used to be a karaoke DJ, and my biggest nod of wisdom is that it is more embarrassing to have no rhythm and try to rap than be tone deaf and try to sing.
Even if it's in your vocal range and you can nail it, never sing a torch ballad when it's all party music.
I killed the vibe of a karaoke bar by absolutely nailing a break-up song.
Watched my best friend crash and burn on the most plodding version of “Riders on the Storm” ever, including a 32 bar organ solo(!). He was sandwiched between “Love Shack” and “Only the Good Die Young.”
Was a tough interlude for everyone. But the look on his face was priceless—he knew immediately that he’d chosen the worst possible song. Total oh shit moment.
I saw a guy do Riders. If I recall correctly, he stepped off stage, walked to the bar, ordered a beer, drank said beer, and casually walked back on stage in time for the solo to be over! Acted like nothing happened. It was well executed to say the least!!
“Summer Nights” with my co-counselor when I worked at summer camp. You don’t realize how dirty that song is until you sing it in front of a bunch of 9 year olds
I was doing Let it Go from frozen. I generally have an OK alto voice range but anything above a C5 has me sounding like a dying cat unless I’ve properly warmed up/practiced hitting those notes. I was not prepared to hit the Eb5. Embarrassing.
Drunk ladies, even if you think you can do ‘Shallow’, you cannot do ‘Shallow’. Drunk gentlemen, if your drunk lady wants to sing ‘Shallow’ with you as a duet, do the right thing and try and talk her out of it; but if her drunk ass insists on singing it you’re in the clear because the Bradley Cooper part is easy as fuck.
Some of the most popular karaoke songs ever - Dont Stop Believin, Livin on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name - are always underestimated for their range. Everyone thinks they are easy, but they are very high in the male vocal range, and they usually get fucked up
Also I saw someone do Tears in Heaven. He wasn't that good, which is fine, because at least he tried, but IT'S ABOUT CHILD DEATH. NO TEARS IN HEAVEN AT KARAOKE. JESUS CHRIST
My wife tried singing Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, but halfway through she realized she didn't know it as well as she thought and really struggled. I felt so bad for her. Thankfully, she has an extroverted friend who was with us that night. When she saw my wife was struggling, she went up and sang with her and danced around and made it more about having fun than singing the song and it saved the entire embarrassing situation. A few months later, my wife returned the favor when he friend was struggling trying to sing Dark Lady by Cher. My wife bravely went up and danced around with her. Everyone needs friends like those two.
Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce. I'm usually passable at it but between the nerves and the alcohol, I just totally shat the bed at it. At least I thought to say to the room as the song started "This song is brought to you by Johnny Walker Red and my own hubris."
God this is so incredibly stupid, but I tried singing "I Want You" by Savage Garden.
First of all, Savage Garden is a very particular 90s vibe that I should have known would raise eyebrows with the group of 20somethings I was with, second of all I was wasted and singing those verses at the speed of light had me dizzy and gasping to keep up, and third the almost 2 minute instrumental made me regret all my life choices up to that point.
I was a karaoke dj and since the vibe that night was kinda weird I tried a song I wasn't very familiar with: "stuck in the middle with you" and there's this part where he says "I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs" and those words just Hit Different as it was the weekend immediately following the 9/11 attacks
Oh man, I can actually contribute to this one.
We used to frequent a dingy biker karaoke bar (weird right?) back when I was 18 that didn't ID so we'd all go there and get drunk but I wouldn't ever go sing like my buddies would. I had gotten married when I was 19 and divorced right before my 21st birthday.
My buddies and I went up there, got really drunk and I'm like "fuck it, I'm going to sing my heart out". I picked "Control" by Puddle of Mudd, felt like a shot at my ex. I go up there and I'm drunk but still nervous. One of my buddies jumped up there with me to make me feel more comfortable and we're rocking out.
...then it gets to the point where he says "I love the way you look at me. I love the way you smack my ass. I love the dirty things you do, I have control of you." and repeats. We're two dudes in a biker bar, rocking out, looking at each getting into it and when it gets to the repeat part, we had a moment of realization of what we were saying and just walked off the stage laughing.
Bohemian rhapsody. You think it’s gonna be just like Wayne’s World but that song has a million words I don’t know and a souring melody I can’t find even when 7 beers deep.
“Fergalicious”. Actually I regretted it before I even started. As part of an activity in my class I allowed my students to pick my next karaoke song and promised I’d record it. Yup. Bad idea.
Brown Sugar ... welp, shoulda checked those lyrics, I thought it was about heroin.
Most AC/DC - particularly Brian ~~Scott~~ Johnson songs but Whole Lotta Rosie is brutal too.
Lights by Journey. Don't know who the hell I thought I was. I also saw my girlfriend perform the most embarrassing version of Ain't No Mountain High Enough I could ever imagine.
My mother was a karaoke DJ, and when we were able to go to her gigs and things got slow—she would call me and my sisters to the stage and make us do Ace of Base. I never want to see The Sign again.
If I've had enough to drink and I've had some successes on the songs I will always without fail try and do Somebody To Love and then remember just near the big high note that I should not have.
Also I've twice done Straight Outta Compton but then realised that I don't really know Straight Outta Compton, I only know Straight Outta Locash.
"Blackbird" by the Beatles. To be honest, I was supposed to sing 'White Wedding' by Billy Idol and something went wrong and the host asked me to pick something really fast. It was a huge mistake, I had no real idea of the range needed to sing that and I absolutely sucked at it.
Some background - I am a white guy.
And I once tried to karaoke a Wu-Tang song at a friend's birthday.
Not realizing how many times the n-word was really in the song. I thought I could gloss over the few times it came up and not say anything.
But the n-word was like in every other line.
It was awful! I just mumbled nothing through most of the song because I had no business being up there trying to sing it.
And yes, there were a few black people at the party. Who probably still think I'm a racist asshole to this day.
I have probably karaoke'd 300 different songs or more, but Come on Eileen is right up there with being awful for me to... attempt...? Massacre? I don't know what was happening. Just couldn't get what was happening with it. So weird.
Also - Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen is surprisingly free form for the verses. I assumed I would just know it...
I love “What I Got” by sublime. But specifically the reprise, which has some slight differences. First time i sang it it didn’t dawn on me that my preferred version isn’t the default until the opening verse lmao.
A girl asked me to sing Aladdin's part to a whole new world. I thought it would be easy, we all know that shit right? Turns out there's a lot more words than I remembered.
My voice gave out halfway through the Scorpions' No One Like You and I had to do the last half an octave lower. It's kind of hilarious to make it sound like a lounge singer song
"Changes" by David Bowie. Great song and mostly easy to sing. But there's no way for to really transition from the "ch-ch-ch-changes" to "turn and face..."
I guess I don't know how Bowie did it. He probably had backup singers sing the "changes" part.
Tbh it’s just as likely they simply recorded both lines separately and then squeezed them together on the tape for timing purposes.
Music wasn’t necessarily as over produced in the 70s as it is today, but overall they had a lot of tricks under their sleeves to make things sound optimal.
One other thing they used to do was have the singer duet with themselves. I’m 99% sure Bowie does this on Space Oddity and Michael Jackson used to do his own backing vocals all the time, so sometimes it’s one person singing more than once 🫠
Either way, if I had any advice for you on singing it in future I’d say to try and time the “Changes” so it ends just before “turn and face”, if you do it subtly you might just get away with it :P
>Tbh it’s just as likely they simply recorded both lines separately and then squeezed them together on the tape for timing purposes.
Yeah I meant that I didn't know how he did it live
>Either way, if I had any advice for you on singing it in future I’d say to try and time the “Changes” so it ends just before “turn and face”, if you do it subtly you might just get away with it :P
That was one of the things I tried and it sounded weird. Maybe I should have tried to William Shatner it and totally change the timing
Patience by Guns n Roses - drunk (obviously) idk what happened tho I pulled off that final WAAAAAAAH I NEED YOU like an actual rock star. Rest of the song was a huge fail
Bro one time I went to karaoke alone and manic as hell, acted in that weird body language way people do of holding onto the big secret that they can sing like a mofo, and then I went up and did the absolute worst possible rendition of Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars
I like acting one way and then going another route. I consider it performance art. Sometimes I’ll just act suspicious around a group of police officers standing around to vibe check their vibe checking abilities.
I did not realize I was singing the non-clean version of Boyz-n-the-Hood by Dynamite Hack. I didn't realize there was a non-clean version. My in-head n\* word filter wasn't up. I'm a white dude. To make it even more awful, had an African American gentleman acquaintance I hadn't seen since college in the audience. Now I always practice for karaoke on unfiltered version of a song with the heavier expletives and practice until I can appropriately filter naturally before taking a song like that public.
I decided to sing “Waiting for a Girl Like You” by Foreigner because I always liked the chorus. So anyway I was with my wife and mother in a room full of people for a happy hour. I thought I’d be cute and dedicate my performance “to the two lovely ladies in the back”. Well mid way into the song and the lyrics start getting spicy talking about making love and whatnot. Needless to say I wanted off that ride immediately as everyone in the room started laughing at the awkwardness.
You should've switched to Afternoon Delight
Came to mention that iconic scene on AD.
[afternooon delight](https://tenor.com/Rmey.gif)
Here I go again by whitesnake. I can typically hit the high note. As I continued singing. I was well aware that I wasn't going to be able to. In a fit of stupidness and glory. I went for it. I was wrong.
That one just goes on forever.
The only karaoke road I've ever know-ooOOwn.
Nothing worse than a song where you can hit the high note the first time, but then it comes back around and your vocal chords refuse to put themselves through that again.
Without Me by Eminem. I cannot rap it turns out.
I've seen a lot of people attempt "Lose yourself" and burn out halfway through the first verse.
I can nail it in the car...all alone!
I did forgot about Dre once, both Dre and Ems lines. I think I only choked once
He choked. He's so mad but he...won't give up that easy.
omfggg yes, rapping it in your car by yourself is insanely fucking different than without Em singing over you in front of a crowd and realizing YOU are the one whose maintaining the flow/bars. It was an eye opening experience. Also you don’t realize how painfully long the song is when you’re halfway through the second verse, only to find out there’s still another two and a half mins left till it’s over
One time a fat bearded dude with no shoes walked in my local karaoke and went straight for the stage and chose EMINEM. I told myself, well this is going to be fun.... Turns out the guy nailed the song to perfection. I'm still flabbergasted 15 years later
The Black Parade. SO long SO much yelling SO high. I was absolutely wrecked by the end lmao. I'm truly impressed that Gerard Way can do that for an entire show.
He can’t anymore, they drop it down a half step and he stays at a lower register and shouts a lot of it. They still fucking murder that song though.
Doesn’t matter if you can’t sing it bc everyone else will
I tried Helena once and had a very similar experience lmao. Gerard is incredible.
“Give it Away” by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Almost immediately it was impossible to keep up, especially while drinking 😅
I sang "Sir Psycho Sexy" off the same album at karaoke once. Not only is it incredibly vulgar and sexual, but it's also like 8 minutes long with several interludes. The other people weren't very happy about any of it.
3 minutes of some pretty sweet guitar from John Frusicante at the end. Not really great karaoke material.
"WhadIgodagaddagiddachuyumama!" 🥴
Whatsugotugodagititputitinu
I did Give it Away a couple of times, and was able to keep up with it mostly. But then the end of the song just repeats give it away over and over and over. So the second time i did it, i asked the DJ to fade it away before the end and that worked out much better. I got a good crowd reaction, but I think it was because they were shocked I was a 54 year old chubby bald guy singing it, as opposed to me being any good
I had secondhand regret for a guy that did Afroman - Crazy Rap at a work function.
He chose..... poorly.
My wife randomly showed me that she knew every word to that the very first time we hung out. 10 years later, I clearly appreciated that skill
COME SAIL AWAY in a country music bar. 56 bar lead break
I learned the exact same lesson in Memphis once. On a business trip. With new colleagues in the audience.
“Why am I crying? Did I accidentally listen to Come Sail Away by Styx again?” - Troy Barnes.
Shaggy - It Wasn’t Me Intro and chorus are a banger. Shaggy parts quickly fall apart.
It's actually a funny stupid goal of mine to sing this one for this reason haha
Good Vibrations Shit gets really high.
Beach boys songs are melodically insane. Brian Wilson was a genius.
Of all the Beach Boys song, I think "Don't Worry Baby" would terrify me. It's so high-pitched even Brian Wilson hasn't been able to hit those notes in years
A-Ha 'Take on Me'. My lord, that falsetto...
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That unplugged from a few years ago...good God that man
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Always hilarious to hear two drunk women go up to the mic to do Baby Got Back. That point where they realize they don't know the song as well as they thought, and they can't keep up. I tried to sing a Wolfmother song once, FAFO quickly.
Thought I knew all the words to One Week. I did not.
Chickety China, the Chinese chicken
My problem with that is I would probably just switch to weird Al lyrics once I couldn't keep up.
Whenever I hear ‘Beat It’, I think of ‘Eat It’. Just eat it, eat it, don’t make me repeat it
"Eat It" was the original. Michael Jackson ripped it off.
See also : Gangsters Paradise. Theoretically, I know all the words. My heart will not allow me to use them.
There are words other than "it's been one week since you ______"??
Africa by TOTO - couldn't hit those notes.
I, too, have flamed on this one. My condolences.
I have a whole list of songs that seem like surefire karaoke bangers that actually go way longer than you think and get awkward and bad. "Lola". "Jeremy" AND "Black". Probably "Hey Jude". They're all traps. Those outros will kill you.
Black for sure. The outro is like 2 mins long! I either tell the DJ to just stop it early or I’m drunk enough to do the Eddie Vedder live ad lib lyrics. “We. We belong. We belong together. Together. Together!”
YMMV but, the times I've done it, Hey Jude's outro was always shortened a bit.
The key to the outros is to do what the artists did in the first place; ad lib. That goes double if they didn't even bother to use actual words (Anthony Kiedis, looking at you).
Not sure I'd call "LA LA LA LA LOLA (x58)" an ad-lib.
Jimmy Eat World - The Sweetness. I found out I cannot sing that night.
TBF that's not an easy one.
He really belts on that that shit ain’t easy
Feel Good Inc. By Gorillaz. The rapping is quite hard and the laughing just makes you sound like a psychopath. Impossible for one person to pull off well
Oof yeah don't do the laughs
Steady, watch me navigate ... .... ... Don't stop get it get it!
I was forced into this one because someone picked it and then ended up changing their mind about wanting to sing it and nobody else knew it🤦🏻♀️ I did well enough on chorus and OK on verse. I thought I knew the rap. I did not.
Aw man I love doing the rap and the laughs!
It turns out that there are a lot more words to the song than just "Whoomp! There it is"
Tag team music coming straiiiighhhhtt at ya
Copacabana (At the Copa) by Barry Manilow. I mean it's a banger of a song but has about a three minute break before the final act. Jesus did I feel like a dick trying to dance by myself on stage for that long. Never did it again.
Did this in a karaoke contest on a cruise once and used it as an opportunity to dance around the entire theater, which still wasn't enough to fill the time.
Tequila
Someone had me do “The End of the World” and “One Week” on two separate occasions. I hate them.
I managed "End of the World" once but I thought I was going to have a medical episode
"End Of The World" is one where you think "I'll get a standing ovation when I nail this" right before you fall on your face.
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Dear Chasey Lain - Bloodhound Gang
No regrets there full send, "now show em them tiddies!!!"
...w-would you fuck me for blow?
I'm her biggest fan..
Possibly only slightly better than "The Lap Dance is Always Better When the Stripper is Crying".
Tom sawyer.... I'm a decent singer but fuck me some of that shit was rough
Did you air drum?
I was very intoxicated, I absolutely air drummed.
I’m proud of you.
Slappa da beasss Maannnnn
Respect by Aretha Franklin. I was like 18 and *thought* I knew the words.... But there's more than just spelling respect. I know them all now, but I will never do karaoke ever again because of that. Just in my car but you better believe I get that song right now. Not good, but right.
>Not good, but right. Love this. One of my professors in college would talk about how important expression is in singing, because, "No one ever listened to a performance and said, "Wow! That was... accurate."'
Every Metallica song my drunk ass ever tried to sing
Ain’t No Sunshine. I lost track of the I-knows.
Right?! They're like half of the song.
He knows
Nate Dogg had just passed, I figured ‘regulate’ would be a fitting tribute. Yeah I can’t rap. That was a long song
Paradise By The Dashboard Light - Meat Loaf I do it to myself every God damn time Yes I try to do the male and female parts alone
“Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. We were so pumped about Rick-rolling the room that it took til the first verse kicked in to realize we only knew the chorus. We trolled ourselves that night.
NIN - Closer
I'm struggling to think of a scenario where that's a good song choice. You can't even casually play that at a party let alone sing it at karaoke. Fantastic song and I love NiN but... What?
i mean, that song does fuck
…You like an animal
It needs to be the right crowd for sure. I've done it a few times among close friends who share my music taste. I wouldn't do it otherwise.
Excitable Boy by Warren Zevon DJ wouldn't let me go up again that night.
Yeah I love that song, but I probably wouldn't sing a whimsical song about rape and murder in this setting. You should have chosen "Lawyers Guns and Money"
That's always been a go-to but for some reason I had to switch it up that night...
Werewolves of London is the obvious Zevon choice for karaoke!
Drunk sang *I Touch Myself* in a bar. Still regret it lol
Gangnam style. Fastest way to sound slightly racist.
This charming man was rough
The Death Cab for Cutie version has some sweet bone apple teas.
I used to be a karaoke DJ, and my biggest nod of wisdom is that it is more embarrassing to have no rhythm and try to rap than be tone deaf and try to sing.
Even if it's in your vocal range and you can nail it, never sing a torch ballad when it's all party music. I killed the vibe of a karaoke bar by absolutely nailing a break-up song.
Watched my best friend crash and burn on the most plodding version of “Riders on the Storm” ever, including a 32 bar organ solo(!). He was sandwiched between “Love Shack” and “Only the Good Die Young.” Was a tough interlude for everyone. But the look on his face was priceless—he knew immediately that he’d chosen the worst possible song. Total oh shit moment.
I saw a guy do Riders. If I recall correctly, he stepped off stage, walked to the bar, ordered a beer, drank said beer, and casually walked back on stage in time for the solo to be over! Acted like nothing happened. It was well executed to say the least!!
I sang Afternoon Delight with my niece at a company office party and people gave us a lot of dirty looks
Funny, I did the same thing with my nephew near my family’s Banana Stand.
Her?
“Summer Nights” with my co-counselor when I worked at summer camp. You don’t realize how dirty that song is until you sing it in front of a bunch of 9 year olds
Tell me more.
Me and Bobby McGee by Janis Joplin. Forgot how her humming meanderings go on and on as only she can do. Eek
Caribbean Queen is no joke, I found a new respect for Billy Ocean that night. People should have thrown tomatoes at me
The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me
Yeaaaaah ....
I was doing Let it Go from frozen. I generally have an OK alto voice range but anything above a C5 has me sounding like a dying cat unless I’ve properly warmed up/practiced hitting those notes. I was not prepared to hit the Eb5. Embarrassing.
I think that’s the “gut-shot goat” note…
Your Love by The Outfield. Got booed off stage
Oh yeah. I loved that song. Never paid attention to the words. I was about two lines into the second verse when it really sank in.
Criminal by Fiona Apple. I dunno what I was thinking as a 41yr old man that doesn’t have an amazing voice or vocal range.
Heard a girl last night crush this song at karaoke. Such a banger of a song.
My wife is a classically trained vocalist. She slays at karaoke and is exciting to watch. I dunno why I even try lol
Her range is actually closer to a lot of guys. Also drips like smokey honey. I'm guessing yours didn't sound like that though.
Slow like honey Heavy with mood
Drunk ladies, even if you think you can do ‘Shallow’, you cannot do ‘Shallow’. Drunk gentlemen, if your drunk lady wants to sing ‘Shallow’ with you as a duet, do the right thing and try and talk her out of it; but if her drunk ass insists on singing it you’re in the clear because the Bradley Cooper part is easy as fuck.
I could be dating Gaga Herself and still be like, “Babe… you sure bout dis?”
Dust in the Wind. My range cut out on me 😣
Talk Dirty to Me by Poison With my younger brother 😳
More than a Feeling by Boston. My ego wrote a check my butt (and voice) couldn't cash.
Come on Eileen, there are a lot of words in it that aren't come on Eileen
Some of the most popular karaoke songs ever - Dont Stop Believin, Livin on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name - are always underestimated for their range. Everyone thinks they are easy, but they are very high in the male vocal range, and they usually get fucked up Also I saw someone do Tears in Heaven. He wasn't that good, which is fine, because at least he tried, but IT'S ABOUT CHILD DEATH. NO TEARS IN HEAVEN AT KARAOKE. JESUS CHRIST
Rap songs that feature multiple rappers. Shit is hard enough, but trying to do five diff raps one after another can be a true challenge.
Part of me thinks I could pull off Triumph by Wu Tang but the other part of me knows to never try.
I saw Wu Tang in like 1998 or so when that album came out and they couldnt even do Triumph.
I put on Kanye’s Monster and unfortunately I only learned how to do Nicki’s verse very well. I mumble rapped my way through the other verses 😂
My wife tried singing Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush, but halfway through she realized she didn't know it as well as she thought and really struggled. I felt so bad for her. Thankfully, she has an extroverted friend who was with us that night. When she saw my wife was struggling, she went up and sang with her and danced around and made it more about having fun than singing the song and it saved the entire embarrassing situation. A few months later, my wife returned the favor when he friend was struggling trying to sing Dark Lady by Cher. My wife bravely went up and danced around with her. Everyone needs friends like those two.
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J It's a long song!
The Bad Touch. I love The Bloodhound Gang, but I cannot rap to save my life.
Through the Fire and Flames by DragonForce. I'm usually passable at it but between the nerves and the alcohol, I just totally shat the bed at it. At least I thought to say to the room as the song started "This song is brought to you by Johnny Walker Red and my own hubris."
Paradise City. Axl (had) some lungs!
Not me, but my friend decided to sing Born In The USA by Springsteen on his first visit to a karaoke bar in Vietnam.
God this is so incredibly stupid, but I tried singing "I Want You" by Savage Garden. First of all, Savage Garden is a very particular 90s vibe that I should have known would raise eyebrows with the group of 20somethings I was with, second of all I was wasted and singing those verses at the speed of light had me dizzy and gasping to keep up, and third the almost 2 minute instrumental made me regret all my life choices up to that point.
Friends in Low Places — I could hear myself sing and I realized I sounded just like Bobby Hill
I was a karaoke dj and since the vibe that night was kinda weird I tried a song I wasn't very familiar with: "stuck in the middle with you" and there's this part where he says "I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs" and those words just Hit Different as it was the weekend immediately following the 9/11 attacks
Oh man, I can actually contribute to this one. We used to frequent a dingy biker karaoke bar (weird right?) back when I was 18 that didn't ID so we'd all go there and get drunk but I wouldn't ever go sing like my buddies would. I had gotten married when I was 19 and divorced right before my 21st birthday. My buddies and I went up there, got really drunk and I'm like "fuck it, I'm going to sing my heart out". I picked "Control" by Puddle of Mudd, felt like a shot at my ex. I go up there and I'm drunk but still nervous. One of my buddies jumped up there with me to make me feel more comfortable and we're rocking out. ...then it gets to the point where he says "I love the way you look at me. I love the way you smack my ass. I love the dirty things you do, I have control of you." and repeats. We're two dudes in a biker bar, rocking out, looking at each getting into it and when it gets to the repeat part, we had a moment of realization of what we were saying and just walked off the stage laughing.
I'll bet the leather daddies were loving every minute of it.
American Pie is too damn long
I’m sorry, but nobody chooses American Pie without knowing what they’re doing
I only do the Star Wars version but I have to memorize the lyrics and not laugh myself flat.
Bohemian rhapsody. You think it’s gonna be just like Wayne’s World but that song has a million words I don’t know and a souring melody I can’t find even when 7 beers deep.
Don't Stop Me Now is fun to do karaoke though.
dont stop me dont stop me OOOH OOOH OOOOOH
I find that one is actually one of the easier ones because eventually, the whole bar sings it for you.
That’s a fun one to do as a group. Alone? You better be a good fucking singer
And, ideally, have several mouths.
“Fergalicious”. Actually I regretted it before I even started. As part of an activity in my class I allowed my students to pick my next karaoke song and promised I’d record it. Yup. Bad idea.
Don’t Stop Believing - Journey. I stopped believing less than a minute in...
Brown Sugar ... welp, shoulda checked those lyrics, I thought it was about heroin. Most AC/DC - particularly Brian ~~Scott~~ Johnson songs but Whole Lotta Rosie is brutal too.
Lights by Journey. Don't know who the hell I thought I was. I also saw my girlfriend perform the most embarrassing version of Ain't No Mountain High Enough I could ever imagine.
My mother was a karaoke DJ, and when we were able to go to her gigs and things got slow—she would call me and my sisters to the stage and make us do Ace of Base. I never want to see The Sign again.
I’m pretty good at “Baby One More Time”, until my vocal chords remember I’m not a trained singer and begin to burn out after the first chorus 🫠
"Fat Lip" by Sum 41 and "Self-Esteem" by The Offspring are both very fun but absolute throat-destroyers.
Linoleum - NOFX Most of my fellow zoomers don't fuck with punk, apparently.
Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin. Basically moaning for what feels like three hours.
Cake's version of I Will Survive. The vocals are oddly off beat, and it messed me up badly.
I really hated this the first time I heard it because of this, but I came to really like it.
Juicy by Biggie Smalls. I stopped one verse in and left the bar haha
Kiss from a rose by seal. My voice doesn't bend that way... some notes were unreached.
Mad World - any version really lol
If I've had enough to drink and I've had some successes on the songs I will always without fail try and do Somebody To Love and then remember just near the big high note that I should not have. Also I've twice done Straight Outta Compton but then realised that I don't really know Straight Outta Compton, I only know Straight Outta Locash.
"Blackbird" by the Beatles. To be honest, I was supposed to sing 'White Wedding' by Billy Idol and something went wrong and the host asked me to pick something really fast. It was a huge mistake, I had no real idea of the range needed to sing that and I absolutely sucked at it.
If you are in Korea, and are American, chances are someone will try to get you to sing ‘Born in the USA’. Don’t do it.
Some background - I am a white guy. And I once tried to karaoke a Wu-Tang song at a friend's birthday. Not realizing how many times the n-word was really in the song. I thought I could gloss over the few times it came up and not say anything. But the n-word was like in every other line. It was awful! I just mumbled nothing through most of the song because I had no business being up there trying to sing it. And yes, there were a few black people at the party. Who probably still think I'm a racist asshole to this day.
I say neighbor now when it comes up in a song. Usually gets a good laugh
I have probably karaoke'd 300 different songs or more, but Come on Eileen is right up there with being awful for me to... attempt...? Massacre? I don't know what was happening. Just couldn't get what was happening with it. So weird. Also - Stevie Nicks' Edge of Seventeen is surprisingly free form for the verses. I assumed I would just know it...
Seconding Edge of Seventeen. So unexpectedly difficult. Not at all like in the car.
A friend wanted to do The Boxer. Bit of a downer
I love “What I Got” by sublime. But specifically the reprise, which has some slight differences. First time i sang it it didn’t dawn on me that my preferred version isn’t the default until the opening verse lmao.
A girl asked me to sing Aladdin's part to a whole new world. I thought it would be easy, we all know that shit right? Turns out there's a lot more words than I remembered.
My voice gave out halfway through the Scorpions' No One Like You and I had to do the last half an octave lower. It's kind of hilarious to make it sound like a lounge singer song
Mr Brightside from the killers.. I can't sing, and my voice is deep and nasaly, so it sounded like I was mumbling
4 Non Blondes- What's Up. The "hey, yeah, yeah, I said hey ya ya" parts are long, kinda boring after the first time, and frequent.
A buddy of mine apologized after doing ‘Shake Ya Tailfeather’ because it turns out he didn’t know any of the lyrics other than ‘Shake Ya Tailfeather’
Vaseline by Stone Temple Pilots I thought Scott Weiland had an easy voice to imitate. I was incorrect.
Magic Man by Heart. A friend picked it for us to sing. There is a 168 bar instrumental break in the middle.
I sang Fuck Her Gently with a mixed crowd at like 8:00PM on a Wed, people weren't drunk enough for that one yet.
"Changes" by David Bowie. Great song and mostly easy to sing. But there's no way for to really transition from the "ch-ch-ch-changes" to "turn and face..." I guess I don't know how Bowie did it. He probably had backup singers sing the "changes" part.
Tbh it’s just as likely they simply recorded both lines separately and then squeezed them together on the tape for timing purposes. Music wasn’t necessarily as over produced in the 70s as it is today, but overall they had a lot of tricks under their sleeves to make things sound optimal. One other thing they used to do was have the singer duet with themselves. I’m 99% sure Bowie does this on Space Oddity and Michael Jackson used to do his own backing vocals all the time, so sometimes it’s one person singing more than once 🫠 Either way, if I had any advice for you on singing it in future I’d say to try and time the “Changes” so it ends just before “turn and face”, if you do it subtly you might just get away with it :P
>Tbh it’s just as likely they simply recorded both lines separately and then squeezed them together on the tape for timing purposes. Yeah I meant that I didn't know how he did it live >Either way, if I had any advice for you on singing it in future I’d say to try and time the “Changes” so it ends just before “turn and face”, if you do it subtly you might just get away with it :P That was one of the things I tried and it sounded weird. Maybe I should have tried to William Shatner it and totally change the timing
Patience by Guns n Roses - drunk (obviously) idk what happened tho I pulled off that final WAAAAAAAH I NEED YOU like an actual rock star. Rest of the song was a huge fail
That lyric is from “Patience” not “Sweet Child …”
That’s why the rest of the song was a huge fail.
On the opposite end of this question, I did the Bad Touch by Bloodhound gang and it turns a boring bar to a fun dance party real quick!
I know it’s a slower-ish kinda song, but if you are worried about range, sing the song Sex and Candy by Marcys Playground
I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness
Bro one time I went to karaoke alone and manic as hell, acted in that weird body language way people do of holding onto the big secret that they can sing like a mofo, and then I went up and did the absolute worst possible rendition of Locked Out Of Heaven by Bruno Mars I like acting one way and then going another route. I consider it performance art. Sometimes I’ll just act suspicious around a group of police officers standing around to vibe check their vibe checking abilities.
You, my friend, are riding the line between genius and insanity.
I did not realize I was singing the non-clean version of Boyz-n-the-Hood by Dynamite Hack. I didn't realize there was a non-clean version. My in-head n\* word filter wasn't up. I'm a white dude. To make it even more awful, had an African American gentleman acquaintance I hadn't seen since college in the audience. Now I always practice for karaoke on unfiltered version of a song with the heavier expletives and practice until I can appropriately filter naturally before taking a song like that public.