Tone Deaf? No Problem!

When some people see "Karaoke Night" outside of an establishment they groan, I, on the other hand, get secretly excited. What is not to love about people having fun tearing apart classics while making fools of themselves? I thoroughly enjoy observing, cat calling and clapping along, and even more so, I am that girl that likes to get up on stage and belt out some off key version of some 90's hit.

I blame my new found love of this Asian social activity on my time in North Carolina. Honestly, there wasn't much to do there so we joined the crowd and dove head first right into the embarrassing but oh, so fun Karaoke scene. I've quickly learned that there are a few different types of people/songs that you will always see during your night... some good, some bad and some ugly...

70's/80's Rock: The cherished ones that people know. Jon Bon is always a hit and every wants some sugar poured on them!
Silly, Fun, Pop:  Stuff that people have forgotten about but still recognize. One Spice Girls pops up on the screen you can see people smile, Hanson on the other hand, makes everyone cringe. I love doing George Michael's "Faith".
Duets: Work it out together! "Love Shack", "Summer Nights"
Journey: You can bet money that you will hear "Don't Stop Believing" at one point in the night, but it never fails on getting crowd participation.
Crowd Pleasers: The right song will get even the anti-karaoke patrons tapping their foot and singing along (at least in their head). Even though they are usually overdone, they still work. "Sweet Caroline" "Margaritaville".
Oldies but Goodies: Elvis, Sinatra...
Country: Choose wisely because depending on where you are in the country you may get some dirty looks. Personally, I love it but still choose something that is more mainstream and known.  "I've got Friends in Low Places" is a safe choice.
Girl Power: The stuff made popular in the 80's always works. Pat Benetar, Cyndi Lauper, Joan Jett...
Gender Benders: When a man does a chick song and visa versa... but make it funny!!! "Like a Virgin" or " F--- Her Gently".
Left Field Wonders: "Devil Went Down To Georgia" gets people out of their seat and doing some sort of jig.
Rap: If you can't rap, don't try it! If you can, do something we will recognize. "Baby Got Back" and "Ice, Ice Baby" are the go tos.
The Really Good Singer: Great if you have a good voice, the rest of us probably don't so don't get all showoff-y on us. We are there to have fun and would love for you to do so too.
Depressing Songs: If you're drowning your sorrows at the bar, do us all a favor, don't pick up the microphone and tell us all how broken your heart is. We are here to have fun, not see you cry into your beer. Sorry.
The Never Ending Songs: There should definitely be a time limit. No more "Freebird" and "Hotel California" !!!
Overdone: Sometimes go hand in hand with songs that are crowd pleasers. Hey, people do them a lot because they work. So be the best at it, add some charisma and make your performance of the song the best we've seen!
Overly Sexual Songs: Just plain awkward. I listened to a woman timidly sing about her pussy cat. No thank you.
Songs with minimal (or repetitive) lyrics: What is the point? Yawn.

Now get out there and try it, have fun and make some new karaoke buds!