Karaoke: My Take.

This is karaoke.

I was having an interesting discussion recently with a DJ friend of mine. He was declaring his distaste for people who sing karaoke that, well, can’t sing. His opinion was that if you can’t carry a tune please don’t get up there and make a fool of yourself. From a DJ’s standpoint I can kind of see his point, that it’s a singing contest of sorts and folks are showcasing their talents. I, however, have always viewed karaoke in a totally different light. To me, if you’re going to have a singing contest just call it that. Karaoke, on the other hand, should be for people out having a good time, not for people trying to impress us with their golden intonations. In fact, my favorite karaoke bars are the ones where people are half drunk and can’t sing a lick. One summer at The Outer Banks I had a couple hundred southerners singing “Hang On Sloopy” with me, complete with the O-H-I-O and everything. To me, that’s karaoke, not some guy who travels from bar to bar carrying his own props or dresses like Elvis.

Isn’t that sort of pathetic, or am I out of line on this one?