I’m busy refereeing a paper today, so I don’t have time for a real post, but I’d like to thank all of you for your karaoke suggestions. I have to say, though, that as much as I like Night Moves, Bob Seeger is just a bridge too far for me. Ditto Bob Dylan, at least as far as karaoke goes. I’m also canning Sweet Caroline in favor of Brandi, possibly.
I thought of a few others that no one mentioned — Must’ve Got Lost, Celebration, and Do For Love.
Bear in mind that I live in Real America, so this isn’t like one of those places on U Street where Megan McArdle and Matt Yglesias do Arcade Fire duets — if it wasn’t in the top 40, it won’t be on the play list. Has there then been anything good in the top 40 the last 20 years? The only things I’m aware of are Macy Gray, Justin Timberlake, that one Strokes song, and maybe Sublime. I can’t do any of those very well (I may try Last Night or Senorita or What I Got sometime though) — is there anything else? I haven’t been keeping much track.
Since I’m rambling here, I thought I’d bring up related topic: guilty pleasure songs, because they often make good karaoke songs. What are your favorite guilty pleasure songs? They’ve got to be bad, no Walking On Sunshine or Prince or pre-Lion King Elton John. Mine are Hey Jealousy and It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over
Trainrunner
I’ll start by pooping in the punchbowl: The idea of a “guilty pleasure” is absurd and kinda sad.
Either you like something, or you don’t. If it’s a “guilty” pleasure, it just means you think you need to apologize for it, to let the tastemakers know that you really do like Mozart/Shakespeare/Whatever, but just for now you’re going to revel in something “low.”
Pauline Kael is pretty good on this subject.
Mark B
As long as you mentioned Elton, I’ll suggest ‘All the young girls love Alice’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0hI85SPkNA
If you don’t want to go that obscure–Saturday Night’s All Right (for Fighting) is a good choice.
Just Some Fuckhead
Anything by Air Supply.
kdaug
Leonard Cohen’s “Democracy”, if you’ve got the timbre
Politically Lost
Guilty pleasure: Brown eyed girl.
Yutsano
I hate to say it but…John Mayer. Fortunately he’s pretty easy to sing range-wise. Whether you respect yourself in the morning is a different story.
gogol's wife
Anything sung by Shirley Temple between 1934 and 1940.
WereBear
My all time champ:
MacArthur Park
The more you emote, the better it is.
MikeJ
The Letter by The Box Tops. 1) Catchy as hell 2) You can just growl the lyrics 3) It’s Alex 4) It’s only 1:57, so you’re done quick. Don’t make my mistake and do Sympathy for the Devil.
Barb (formerly Gex)
While karaoke is not my thing, I hear that Neil Diamond is very popular in that format.
Doug Harlan J
@Just Some Fuckhead:
On a related note, I am thinking of that Not In Love song by Air.
Mark B
Oh, you said NO early EJ. My bad! Honestly I don’t see how you could go wrong with those two. Pbbbttt!!!
sublime33
Crazy Horses by the Osmonds
Take a Chance on Me by ABBA
RSA
Good thing you asked about the past 20 and not 10 years, because otherwise I’d have nothing. Here are some popular songs from the ’90s that I liked (they may also count as guilty pleasures) and that I think would be okay for karaoke: REM, Losing My Religion; Counting Crows, Mr. Jones; Sheryl Crow, All I Wanna Do; and Hootie & the Blowfish, Only Wanna Be With You.
Doug Harlan J
@RSA:
I forgot about Hootie! I could do that song, it’s awful, but I like it.
The Dangerman
I’m thinking Rick Astley; the ultimate Rick Roll.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Doug Harlan J: Drawing a blank there.. made me think of I’m Not In Love by 10cc.
And for some reason, that made me think of Michael Johnson. He might have something you can karaoke.. like Bluer Than Blue.
Wesindc
Most anything by Katey Perry (or whatever the hell her name is). Something about her songs get stuck in my mind.
Doug Harlan J
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I mean 10cc, I get mixed up because it was in Virgin Suicides.
fhtagn
Given that I can’t sing worth a damn, any song is a guilty pleasure for me. I enjoy my singing immensely, but I recognize that the spousal unit, neighbors and passersby suffer greatly.
Anyway, for guilty pleasures it’s hard to beat the Andrew Lloyd-Webber back catalog. Also, whistling the Imperial theme from Star Wars as I prepare to sally forth to the supermarket in my urban hell-hole.
Jake
Last Caress by the Misfits is short and sweet.
Dulcie
If you’re wanting to do current songs, there’s no better choice than a song either written or sung by Bruno Mars. Billionaire, The Lazy Song, The Fcku Song – they’re all made for karaoke. Plus they’re fun songs for the audience too
Also, Maroon 5’s This Love is an excellent choice.
PeakVT
I’m certainly not going to do karaoke to it (or any song, for that matter) but Hand in My Pocket popped in a shuffle last week, and I was digging it.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Did anyone mention Ride Captain Ride or Sweet City Woman? Fairly easy to sing, iirc, in that you don’t need much vocal range (okay, there’s that falsetto bit in SCW, but you can do that poorly and no one will care).
Doug Harlan J
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Ride Captain Ride is a good call.
WereBear
Hot Rod Lincoln
I just like to sing it.
fhtagn
If it has to be a Top 40 song, sort of last 20 years ish,and a guilty pleasure, and kind of fun to yowl at the top of one’s lungs, I’ll nominate Alice Cooper’s Poison.
Doug Harlan J
@fhtagn:
It doesn’t have to be last 20 years, I was just wondering if there any good candidates.
xjmueller
Sorry – can’t help with the last 20, but Jackson Brown/Eagles could work for you – Take it Easy, Hotel California. They don’t take much range and are melodic. They were top 20 hits, once upon a time. Should I stay or should I go – Clash? None of them could sing worth a shit, but made it through that. Don’t know if they’re popular with karaoke, though. Y’know, for a guy with a song title for every post , you shouldn’t be struggling like this.
Aaron S. Veenstra
“Baby One More Time” in a growly bass.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@WereBear:
Oh, man, the Jimmy Webb songbook is ripe for the picking. Galveston, Wichita Lineman, Up, Up and Away, Highwayman….
RedKitten
My guilty pleasure to sing along to in the car? Anything by Chicago.
If it’s Karaoke (and I’d have to be seriously drunk to get up in front of a crowd and sing), I tend to pick “Alive” by Pearl Jam, with my second choice being “Better Be Home Soon” by Crowded House. Most female-sung songs are too high for my very, very limited range.
fhtagn
@Doug Harlan J:
Well, I’ll stick with Poison then. Thoroughly enjoyable melodramatic nonsense, and even my croaking voice can just about handle it.
Omnes Omnibus
Guilty pleasure… Anything off of “Bat out of Hell.” Or does that fit into the Prince/Elton John category?
@Trainrunner: But isn’t that the point of the question? He asking people to name something they like despite the influence of the tastemakers.
Valdivia
Sorry if this has already been said above– Mercy by Duffy, top 40 and awesome. But hard to sing.
ETA: Love me guilty pleasures. For singing: anything Eurovision, but I am assuming since you live in Red America you won’t have access to that. I’ll own up to ‘Love is Like Oxygen’ by Sweet.
Jim C
Last time I was anywhere near a karaoke bar/night, a group of women got up and performed “Bust A Move” by Young MC. I’ve always considered it a safe bet – even if they were poor rappers.
On two separate occasions, [unconnected] friends have performed “Nobody” by Sylvia, but that’s old enough now that it’s likely considered obscure.
urizon
Spiral Staircase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9OcPzjpXnk&feature=player_detailpage
darkmatter
@Just Some Fuckhead: or Bread.
Steve M.
Don’t ask me — the one time I sang karaoke I made an idiot of myself singing this.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Doug Harlan J: I’ve got a little over 20,000 songs on my jukebox if you wanna look through them.
scottinnj
Well if you go back 30 years will add some of the well known Duran Duran songs (Girls on Film, Rio, Reflex would be great with Karaoke). I’ll also throw out Baby Got Back as a fun one after few drinks.
Amir_Khalid
Maybe some cheesy Bon Jovi: You Give Love A Bad Name, It’s My Life; or some equally cheesy Britney: Oops I Did It Again, Toxic.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Easy to sing, impossible to to the dance, though:
James Brown I’ll Go Crazy
fhtagn
@Amir_Khalid:
I’d pay money to see DougJ singing Like A Virgin or La Isla Bonita, if we are going the cheesy route. Surely John Cole can arrange the requisite technomalarkey….
khead
You are disqualifying too much here.
I wanted to go with “the entire 80’s video catalog” as my answer.
Cat Lady
I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys. Every time I hear it in the supermarket I want to sing it like those 2 Chinese kids.
Johannes
Guilty Pleasure? “High Anxiety”, Super-Sinatra-d. I’m bad, it’s bad, it’s all good. In the shower, that is.
Just Some Fuckhead
@darkmatter:
I can’t say Bread because that’s Mrs. Fuckhead’s favorite band. I have to listen to it every day.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@darkmatter:
Guitar Man FTW!
gwangung
Some offbeat stuff
CW: All My Friends Say by Luke Bryan
Not so off beat:
A lot of Ray Charles: Hit the Road Jack
PeakVT
@WereBear: Never heard that before, thanks. Nice little lick in it.
Sharl
Eh, doesn’t sound like you have the right kind of venue for a 2-fer, starting with Datarock’s Computer Camp Love (wearing nerd glasses and buttoned short sleeve with properly loaded pocket protector), then ripping off the shirt to reveal a wife-beater, putting a cigarette over your ear in the old style, and jumping right into SCOT’s White Trash.* Having female accompaniment would help (especially the latter).
*Images in this video are both hilarious and horrible to behold – sometimes both simultaneously (hilarihorrible?).
fhtagn
Just because the vid makes me laugh uncontrollably…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f_HsjpSVaI
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Oooo! Oooooo!
Captain Sensible/The Damned
Jet Boy Jet Girl
Seems like the kind of thing that would be right up your alley, Doug.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m Awesome by Spose.
Just Some Fuckhead
Anything by Bloodhound Gang.
Cat Lady
Also, anything by the Carpenters, but I especially like Superstar.
Kilkee
James Taylor has some promise.
With a crowd: Build Me Up Buttercup.
Johnny Cash.
superking
Soul man by Sam and dave. Not from the last 20 years, but guaranteed to be on your list.
sloan
Haircut 100: Love Plus One
Baltimora: Tarzan Boy
Starship: We Built This City
Guilty as charged.
Plus anything by Oingo Boingo, because they are awesome.
Doug Harlan J
@superking:
That’s a good call.
Valdivia
Also. Too.
Breakfast in America & Logical Song by Supertramp
Anything by America.
Josie
Guilty pleasure? Anything by Roy Orbison.
Doug Harlan J
@Josie:
Wha wha? That guy was a genius.
Josie
@Doug Harlan J: Oh yeah. And what a set of pipes on him.
phantomist
A horse with no name
Who doesn’t want to sing:
‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain’
S. cerevisiae
What I like about you by The Romantics, Love Stinks by the J. Geils Band depending on the mood you are in about your S.O.
Black Betty by Ram Jam is a blast to sing.
Menzies
@Trainrunner:
This. There is no such thing as a “guilty pleasure.” That’s born of the idea that liking the right things makes you more “cultured,” fused to the idea that being “cultured” must be a good thing.
I’m kind of a radical subjectivist on this. If you happen to like “Stealing Christmas Lights” by Shat, I’ve got no right to tell you otherwise, and vice versa.
Amir_Khalid
Amazing. We’re about 60 comments in, and no one has recommended Joe Dolce’s 1980s novelty classic Shaddap You Face .
Just Some Fuckhead
Anything by Owl City.
Omnes Omnibus
One Tin Soldier by Coven. Beat that, bitchez.
demz taters
Lesser-known Monkees songs like this or this.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Amir_Khalid:
Novelty classics?
The Novas The Crusher
S. cerevisiae
@WereBear: That’s a song you have to do before too many drinks or you will fuck up the timing.
Carrie
Ugh, you’re killing me. I used to love you.
Just Some Fuckhead
Raise Your Glass by Pink.
Mark B
Any Carpenters song, possibly Superstar. They have lots of great songs but anyone who isn’t a good singer is likely to completely butcher them. Which is part of the karaoke fun.
hitchhiker
@Josie:
Yes! Especially Pretty Woman, though Dock of the Bay is also good.
I like Peaceful Easy Feeling, too . . .
I think you can get away with You Ain’t Goin Nowhere, but only if you sing it in D. Fine little tune, words make no sense. Perfect.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Omnes Omnibus:
There’s nothing guilty about that song. It’s one of the best songs ever written.
Menzies
@Just Some Fuckhead:
And one that some people should listen to more, these days.
patroclus
Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers.
Libby
I’ve already forgotten if Bruce Springstein is out of your vocal range but I could see you singing Pink Cadillac. Also Bryan Adams stuff is easy to sing. Run to You, Cuts like a Knife, and did he do that song, I forget the title, but the hook was something like I Can Dream About You.
Also thinking I Wear My Sunglasses at Night. Forget who did that.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
I have no guilty pleasures. My creed is that if I like it, it is by definition good.
But I get why people find The Moody Blues ridiculous.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Omnes Omnibus:
From Free to Be…You and Me
Rosie Grier It’s Alright To Cry
Don’t fuck with eagles until you learn to fly.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Menzies:
Exactly. It’s fucking prophetic.
Mac G
I live in DC & do not know if some place exists on U Street area but the comment made me chuckle out loud. There is a Karoke bar in Adams Morgan neighborhood called Peyote Cafe so I can see them rocking out there.
demz taters
@Libby: “Sunglasses at Night” was Corey Hart.
JenJen
Best laugh I’ve had on this here blog in ages. :-)
I like to sing live-band karaoke, and last time I went out, one guy did a killer version of “London Calling,” and another dude (yes, dude) did a gorgeous cover, complete with falsetto, of “Heart of Glass.” People take that karaoke shit serious here in Cincinnati.
Libby
I’d also mention I had friends who heavy into karaoke. One guy used Mack the Knife as his trademark song. Also, too, my one and only karaoke success, after which I retired, was Herman’s Hermits, Something Good.
Valdivia
@phantomist:
yes, exactly America, yay!
Just Some Fuckhead
Just to kinda flesh out DougJ’s “guilty pleasure” song, it’s a song you really like but you aren’t necessarily going to be blaring it out the car windows, singing along with it. More of a keep it inside the house thing.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Right on, man. Billy Jack was framed! Viva la Freedom School!
rob!
“Closing Time” by Semisonic
“You’ve Got The Love” by Florence + The Machines
“Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley
Libby
@demz taters: Ah, don’t really know who Corey Hart is, but I remember hearing the song on the radio in the car a lot, so it had to be top 40.
Valdivia
@Libby:
a hotty called Corey Hart.
@demz taters: you beat me!
Mark S.
I guess my guilty pleasures would be ABBA and Kesha.
Mark B
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I kind of liked Rosie Greer in The Thing with Two Heads.
Josie
@hitchhiker: “It’s Over” is probably my favorite because it’s so dramatic and shows his vocal range, but no way would I ever try to sing it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMc263klrMQ
Just Some Fuckhead
Many Billy Joel.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Mark B:
Who didn’t?
Valdivia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
yep. which is why I said Eurovision. No way I am owning to that anywhere outside my room and/or a karaoke bar in Europe.
Libby
One last one I recall from my car radio days that I could sing along to, so anyone can. Ain’t Missing You at All – John Waite.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
I pointed this out Yutsano a while back and he dug it.
Why would anyone feel guilty about liking this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuP5cdrby0Y
Just Some Fuckhead
Brand New Key by Melanie.
sacman701
The best song to sing karaoke is Wooly Bully. Doesn’t take any range or ability to hold notes. I can’t sing, but I can do a decent Wooly Bully. Uno! Dos! One two tres cuatro!
Yutsano
@Valdivia: To be fair though, not all Eurovision is kitschy technopop junk. And there is no fucking justice in that competition. She took second.
handy
Tom Waits. There. We’re done.
ROSSINDETROIT
Moonlight Mile by the Stones. Guilty because it’s such schmaltz. Pleasure because it just works.
Libby
@Valdivia: Ok, with both you and @demz taters singing his praises, I had to google to see who he was. He *is* very cute.
PIGL
why would “Hey Jealousy” be a guilty pleasure? I mean, I prefer Lost Horizons, but….
Joel
Hey Ya!
Mark S.
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Ha! I like that song. That’s what Doug should sing.
Just Some Fuckhead
Billy Gilman, when he was 12.
Menzies
@Libby:
If I had the voice for it I would absolutely do “Mack the Knife.” In Louis Armstrong’s voice.
handy
I literally got winded once doing American Pie. I swear that song doesn’t have enough breaks and it is deceptively long.
Matt Mangels
“Valerie” by Steve Winwood
Joel
@Menzies: I’d do it in German and throw in the soc1alist verses as well.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’ve Never Been To Me by Charlene
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Just Some Fuckhead:
My first wife named after this song. I still like it anyway.
ETA: Uh, the singer that is. Not the song. The real Melanie is a total nut, btw.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: We will have to agree to disagree.
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): “In the Year 2525” by Zager and Evans. Step off, Jack.
Valdivia
@Libby:
I am not even ashamed to have remembered that and to know he was a cutie precisely because my memory of him was that he was hawt. :)
@Yutsano:
Here I confess that because I grew up listening to this stuff (Eurovision is huge source of music in Lat Am, or was when I grew up there) I actually totally dig the technopop or sugary pop stuff. But they do have some really great songs and I follow the competition every year. Last summer I spent the whole time rocking it out to the 2010 winner Satelitte by Lena. Which for some reason Americans never got to enjoy! I think you have to be earworm-immune to not like that song. :)
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Mark S.:
And he could follow it with this.
I still think that for the full on Doug-J-WILL-make-you-uncomfortable vibe, it’s Jet Boy Jet Girl.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m nonplussed by your wrongheadedness.
Sly
Bands like Travis and people like Richard Thompson continually prove that there is no such thing as a bad song. It’s all in the performance.
ROSSINDETROIT
These days I just listen to strange shit like Iron and Wine, Glasser, Barbara Morgenstern, The Jicks and mediocre ’70s records from garage sales. I’ve lost my music mojo after 40 years, or maybe music culture’s moving too fast for me to keep up.
Anyway, Aqualung, the song, not the singer, would be a shocker for the crowd.
licensed to kill time
I could totally see DougJ singin’ Cher.
Bang Bang
Gypsies Tramps and Thieves
Half Breed
I’d pay money to see that ;)
eta: she’s got the range, man!
Kyle
@scottinnj:
Ditto. Baby Got Back is always good for a laugh. Or Ice Ice Baby. Hungry Like the Wolf is a good 80s choice.
Mark S.
@Just Some Fuckhead:
All right, you went too far on that one.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: That is it. A full parade of horribleness. Although “At Seventeen” by Janis Ian has its own discrete lack of charm.
Libby
I’m really spending too much time on this, so my last three suggestions after digging into the mememory bank for songs that always go over big. Mustang Sally, Every Breath you Take, and Time after Time.
Doug Harlan J
@Just Some Fuckhead:
You may have just won this thread.
Matt Mangels
Also, “I Have Nothing” by Whitney Houston
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Light. Weight.
Here’s the BIG cheese:
Gilbert O’Sullivan Alone Again (Naturally)
Roger Whittaker The Last Farewell
For you are…Beautiful…And I have loved you dearly…More dearly than the spoken word can tell
sloan
Just Some Fuckhead:
LOL. I just roll up the car windows.
Squeeze: Pulling Mussels From the Shell
Boys Don’t Cry: I Wanna Be A Cowboy
Falco: Vienna Calling
Valdivia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
how could you? now I have that stuck in my head. I am going to have to go to unhearit.com to wash that out.
BTW did you know that according to Wikipedia the song is about having children instead of having abortions? I actually had some idea it was about having fun with yourself. Hmmm. Note to self–check comprehension systems.
Omnes Omnibus
If you are looking for something good that might not be too hard to sing, consider “Money Changes Everything” by The Brains. Cyndi Lauper covered it (reasonably well) so it might be available.
Emma
Omnes Omnibus: You win. Ouch.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Mark S.: Really? I listen to it when I need a good cry.
Libby
@Menzies: My old pal Ralph had the perfect voice for it. He was a karaoke star.
Doug Harlan J
@sloan:
I’ll do Black Coffee In Bed if I do Squeeze. It’s got that blue-eyed soul thing all up in there. I may not be able to pull it off.
Mark S.
Allllllll byyyyyyyyy mmyyyyyyy-selllllllffffff
dontwannabe Allllllll byyyyyyyyy mmyyyyyyy-selllllllffffff
Now that’s a good karaoke song!
Phil Perspective
Has anyone offered this choice:
http://youtu.be/qRrISZAF7lo
Or you could always double down and do this:
http://youtu.be/p-4EZyPIsSY
You could get some weird looks doing that one.
Libby
@Valdivia: I’m not ashamed of any music I like, but I do keep the windows rolled up when I sing along because I sing like a crow.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
If it’s allowed, I’ve got one for Cole’s karaoke night:
Al Stewart Year of the Cat
Just Some Fuckhead
@Doug Harlan J: You know who could pull off any song? Johnny Cash. His cover of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is simply heartbreaking.
harlana
slightly OT but what is the song you are supposed to conjure up to wipe out an incredibly annoying song stuck in your head for days? i think John mentioned it on here once.
Omnes Omnibus
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Dude, it’s over. JSF dropped the big one.
Just Some Fuckhead
If Ever You’re In My Arms Again by Peabo Bryson.
Phil Perspective
I almost forgot one. I don’t know how I could forget this:
http://youtu.be/kU2SRNU955c
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Doug Harlan J:
Squeeze- and blue-eyed soul- tangent:
Ace How Long
Mark B
On the topic of guilty pleasures, but unkarokeable (it’s in Swedish, for god’s sake) is this one: Boten Anna.
Valdivia
@harlana:
another earwormy thing to get it out. Anything.
I am still trying to undo the damage by JSF with the freaking Charlene song.
@Libby:
since I don’t have a car, the sidewalk is my only option, and well. I don’t want to be that person! ;)
Emma
And I forgot to betray myself: It’s You by Westlife.
Phil Perspective
Speaking of Joey and the boys, I never knew, until two minutes ago, that they covered this:
Have You Ever Seen The Rain? – The Ramones
Just Some Fuckhead
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
This is a phenomenal song. There is something wrong with you people.
MikeJ
@Emma: Nothing by Boyzone?
Valdivia
Because a thread like this would not be complete with some cool science courtesy of RadioLab. Earworms.
sloan
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): That’s funny, I was just listening to Al Stewart last night. He still tours! And he put out a new album recently with some timeless stuff that sounds like it could have been written 30 years ago. This is from 2008. It’s funny how many one hit wonders never stop making music and put out stuff just as good, if not better than the song that originally made them famous.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Omnes Omnibus:
No, I’m protesting that one on multiple grounds:
1). NO ONE heard it when it was released.
2). It only got noticed years later because it was so awful.
3). I never once heard it before in my life- and I was 16/17 in ’82.
I mean, Jebus, if it’s open to THAT then it should be open to John Ashcroft’s Let the Eagle Soar, or any deep cut from a fourth rate, self-released gospel album.
Just Some Fuckhead
Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Did I say it wasn’t a good song? Lyrically, it’s really cheesy, but I love it because of Whittaker’s softer-than-velvet delivery. That’s kinda the definition of a guilty pleasure.
Omnes Omnibus
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): I am only about a year older than you and I remember hearing it on the radio.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter by Herman’s Hermits
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@sloan:
I have memories of staying home sick in sixth grade and listening to that.
I think Andy Dick was listening to it, too. If you ever heard him sing on NewsRadio, he did that warbly Glenn Yarbrough thing for most of a song, then ended with a breathy Al Stewart thing.
Cat Lady
King of the Road. You can get your finger snappin’ groovy groove on, also too.
BD of MN
as a karaoke singer (and host) with a limited vocal range, I can’t give away all my secrets, but “Sister Golden Hair” by America is easy to sing, everybody knows it, and it’s rarely done…
(and I regularly sing “Superstar” by the Carpenters, you just have to sing it like Thurston Moore)
Libby
Not recommending the song, but I just remembered when I was bartending at the VFW, we did karaoke every Sat night and they always, always, ended the night with Proud to be an American. And everybody held up their flaming cigarette lighters. Always surprised the place never exploded with all the alcohol fumes in the room.
Just Some Fuckhead
Key Largo by Bertie Higgins.
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: Lee Motherfucking Greenwood. You know the song…
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Hmmm…Maybe that’s because some asshole in Phoenix hadn’t yet fully programmed the entire nation’s radio stations at that point. The odds are that unless you were here in West Michigan, or in Denver or Austin, you haven’t heard of Gary Myrick and the Figures, who were big in those markets in ’81/’82.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Omnes Omnibus: I hate the song. So it’s not a guilty pleasure.
Valdivia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
ok, you did it. you’re dead to me. :)
here’s looking at you kid. ugh.
what’s next? Kokomo by the Beach Boys?
Just Some Fuckhead
Tragedy by the BeeGees.
JenJen
Doug Harlan J: Heard a pretty good cover of Shawn Mullins’ “Light You Up” few nights ago. It’s a little soulful, very sexy, the chicks dig it, and there’s that kind-of white-boy rap in the verses that makes you sound like Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords.
Just Some Fuckhead
Anything by Wham.
MikeJ
@Mark B:
Best singalong night ever: hotel bar in Stockholm the week of Eurovision. Every person in the bar could sing well (except me, of course), and they all tried to one up each other.
Just Some Fuckhead
You put the boom boom into my heart,
You send my soul sky high when your lovin’ starts.
Jitterbug into my brain,
Goes bang bang bang till my feet do the same.
Just Some Fuckhead
There’s yer new earworm.
Gordon, The Big Express Engine
Big Balls by AC/DC.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Trainrunner:
i hear what you are saying, but if ” i like my women a little on the trashy side” by confederate railroad isn’t a guilty pleasure, liberal guilt style, i don’t know what is.
tesslibrarian
For something recent, maybe “American Idiot.” I don’t consider it a guilty pleasure, though.
Now, “More Than a Feeling?” There’s a guilty pleasure. And likely on the karaoke machine. As would be “Four” by Blues Traveler, “You May Be Right” by Billy Joel, and “Message in a Bottle” by the Police.
ETA: Duran Duran, “Is There Something I Should Know.”
Valdivia
@Just Some Fuckhead:
Freedom, Freedom
You gotta give for what you take
or You gotta have Faith
Thanks. Your job is done.
Mark B
Well, hell, this Howard Keel take on I’ve never been to me isn’t half bad. Anyone planning to do this song karaoke needs to watch this treatment first.
Valdivia
@Mark B:
ahhhhhhhhhh
/runs out to play wham at full volume on stereo.
MikeJ
Has anybody told Hillary Clinton to make no public pronouncements about the Kentucky Derby this year, lest they have to put down the woman jockey?
Just Some Fuckhead
Let’s Hear It For The Boy by Deniece Williams.
Libby
Okay so I lied. I do have one guilty pleasure. The original karaoke. Bouncing Ball version of Little Brown Jug. Once they played this stuff for kids at 7:00am. Every day.
piratedan
well when you say guilty pleasures, I immediately thought about songs that my parents liked, old people music, after all, what kid likes to admit that they liked stuff that their parents listened to….
so for me…its country music, and its usually old C&W
I have Faron Young – Unmitigated Gall
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcQXcwm94Fc&feature=fvwrel
and Marty Robbins – El Paso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgI5DMVegIk
Just Some Fuckhead
Two of Hearts by Stacey Q.
Mark B
OK, now I have to bust out Mental Revenge. It’s not a guilty pleasure, because the song is fucking awesome. Mel Tillis wrote it, and I like the Waylon performance best, although several artists have covered it.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Just Some Fuckhead:
maniac by michael sembello, or, my if i have to do karaoke stand by…
tiny bubbles, don ho.
Just Some Fuckhead
Ben by Michael Jackson
cleek
it would be logically impossible for me to like a bad song.
and “Hey Jealousy” is not a bad song.
JGabriel
I’ve done karaoke exactly once, but got a standing ovation in a big and crowded bar, even though the only key I can sing in is off. The thing is, I can rap pretty decently for a white guy, and Eminem’s Stan was on the karaoke list.
Probably doesn’t apply to DougJ, since he says has a decent singing voice, but for all you non-singers: rap is the way to go.
I also do a mean-ass Rapper’s Delight (Full 14:29 Version), which definitely pushes this post into the on-topic “guilty pleasure” territory.
Finally, I know that DougJ and a couple others mentioned 10cc’s I’m Not In Love, but, weirdly enough, it was the first song I thought of when Doug mentioned “guilty pleasures”. I guess it’s not as obscure as I thought for a 36 year old song.
.
phantomist
Justin Verlander just pitched his second no-hitter. (Detroit Tigers)
Omnes Omnibus
@phantomist: I am not familiar with that one. Could you hum a few bars?
JenJen
@Just Some Fuckhead: Snort!! OK, you finally got me.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JenJen: I can go all day. :)
Malron aka eclecticbrotha
How about “All-Star” by Smashmouth?
Omnes Omnibus
@Just Some Fuckhead: “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes.
opal
Not much for karaoke, but I wish I had a dollar for every time I sang this in the shower.
Yutsano
@JGabriel: I went into a karaoke bar in Corvallis Oregon with some friends (some new, some old) and put my namr down on the list for this little ditty and the groans started right away. They expected a hardcore crash and burn. I killed it. When I started singing EVERYONE in the bar stopped talking. That was kinda fun.
Omnes Omnibus
“You Light Up My Life” by Debbie Boone. Although I must say, I saw John Cameron Mitchell do a killer a cappella version of it in German following the last performance of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” at the Jane Street Theater in NYC.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Karaoke: Creedence Clearwater Revival. I’m partial to “Who’ll Stop the Rain”, which is more or less in my range and has good political lyrics, too.
Guilty Pleasures: Mine is anything by Kelly Clarkson. And Avril Lavigne. And Pink.
hamletta
Not-so-guilty pleasures: Faure’s Requiem.
Which my church choir has been asked to sing with two other choirs for a Nashville remembrance of 9/11.
It’ll be at the Catholic Cathedral.
Brother Marty might flip in his grave, but maybe not. He loved good music, and Faure’s Requiem is about as good as it gets. I feel honored to sing such beautiful music for the dead.
tom p
Guilty pleasures? Anything by Hank williams… “Lovesick Blues”, or ….I have couple of others but they are buried so deep…. “1 scotch -1 bourbon -1 beer” comes to mind, also… “Last night, I broke the seal on a decanter…. that looks like Elvis….”
Any song about being drunk, you can not f’ up.
Violet
Saturday Night by the Bay City Rollers. S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y Night!
eemom
[sniff] lotta memories on this thread….
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: Speaking of memories, what’s the count on the demon thread?
maus
My faves-
Black Crowes – Hard to Handle
Echo and the Bunnymen – Killing Moon
Chris Isaak or HIM – Wicked Game
Love and Rockets – So Alive
and if you’ve got an ultra-Japanese spot
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – Midnight Radio
Suffern ace
I will sing Harper Valley PTA.
Omnes Omnibus
@maus: Any Hedwig would be good for karaoke, but I doubt DougJ is going to find it in his neck of the woods.
Violet
Another guilty pleasure song of mine: Christina Aguilera, Genie in a Bottle.
eemom
@Omnes Omnibus:
stalled at 733 since 1:21 pm. : (
G’wan, go back there and resume your heroic efforts with toko-loko. Think Pygmalion….
maus
@212: Hence my qualifier. I just moved to our Chinatown, so one of the balances to being woken up on the weekends by the bang of a snare drum was a little karaoke nook that has Midnight Radio. It’s also got ANCIENT computers, all the American bands are under the “foreign singers” category, a porn-disco lighting rig, and half the videos seem to be on a rickety Laserdisc drive. It’s perfectly silly.
Steeplejack
Every karaoke joint has “It’s Not Unusual” by Tom Jones. I think it’s a legal requirement.
And I am reminded of the great karaoke scene in Lost in Translation. Bill Murray doing Bryan Ferry. Brr!
zuzu (not that one, the other one)
@Just Some Fuckhead: I’ve done that one. It’s really hard to sing.
Singing it forced me to pay attention to the lyrics, too, and it’s like singing the Concerned Women of America anthem.
FlipYrWhig
The one time I karaoked I killed (OK, an easy room of un-serious people) with “You Oughta Know.” It’s the “You!” “You!” “You!” that does it.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
It’s not in the last 20 years, but anything by Creedence is pretty easy to sing. I did OK on my first ever karaoke attempt a couple of months ago with “Who’ll Stop the Rain”. Nice leftwing lyrics, too.
Omnes Omnibus
@eemom: I am done for a while. If she absorbed any of it and holds on to it for any length of time, I shall be surprised.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Roxy Music.
/pedant
Steeplejack
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
You rang? (h/t TBogg)
Emma
MikeJ: Ugh. There are depths to which I will not sink, sir!
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yes, douchenik, I know that Roxy Music did the song, but I also know that Bryan Ferry was the lead singer and that Bill Murray was sort of doing him, not the whole band.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I appended a “/pedant” to it. People often confuse late RM with solo Ferry. it is an easy mistake.
Steeplejack
@piratedan:
God, I still know all the lyrics to “El Paso.” Not to mention “Big Iron” and “Ballad of the Alamo.”
Steeplejack
@Just Some Fuckhead:
“I Can’t Wait,” Nu Shooz.
Always think of those songs together, for some reason.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I once saved my Brigade headquarters from embarrassment in front of a British unit by knowing the words to the “Battle of New Orleans.”
Off Colfax
Karaoke in the middle of Real America?
Ain’t nothing more American than ZZ Top.
burnspbesq
My favorite guilty pleasure power ballad would also be great for karaoke if you can get to f-sharp above middle C comfortably: “I Can’t Fight This Feeling” by REO Speedwagon.
Two other great karaoke songs in about the same range are “Baby Hold On” by Eddy Money and “You Are the Woman” by Firefall.
Steeplejack
@JGabriel:
10cc also did the great pseudo-reggae “Dreadlock Holiday.”
gbear
Learn “Chain Of Fools’ by Aretha Franklin. If I still drank I’d probably try that one myself.
Mike
“Margaritaville”.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
“Well, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles . . .”
Jeez, now I’m channeling “North to Alaska.”
Libby
@burnspbesq: If you’re going to do Eddie Money, you have to do Really Got a Hold on Me. That’s his classic hit.
Libby
@Suffern ace: If I could sing, I would do Ode to Billy Joe.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I always liked that one.
opal
@Omnes Omnibus:
One of the best Sunday morning albums of all time.
burnspbesq
@Libby:
You must be a little younger than me. The classic Eddie Money track is the very first track from the very first record, “Two Tickets to Paradise.”
Tom Johnson
Tainted Love. I loop it when I’m exercising. Over and over and over again, a song that drove me nuts when it played — over and over again — in the bar where I worked in college. Now it’s just the right rhythm, and the unchanging quality of it is a virtue, not a liability.
The other one is Nena’s “99 Luftballoons.” Fuck, I can’t even begin to justify that.
Omnes Omnibus
@opal: I have always been partial to “Everything but the Girl.” Example.
Libby
@burnspbesq: Oh, how could I forget that one? I stand corrected.
Yutsano
@Tom Johnson: Ya don’t gotta. But anyone who tries to play it in anything but the original German needs to be run out of the joint on a rail.
jake the snake
Guilty pleasure.
Rock Steady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D99n9f3vU4&feature=player_detailpage
Fat Bottomed Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D99n9f3vU4&feature=player_detailpage
Crank it up!!
jake the snake
Guilty pleasure.
Rock Steady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D99n9f3vU4&feature=player_detailpage
Fat Bottomed Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D99n9f3vU4&feature=player_detailpage
Crank it up!!
Stillwater
Guilty pleasure?
The Knack. Bay City Rollers. The Who.
Heh.
burnspbesq
Getting psyched up for June 5 at the Wiltern:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qam4IDTgyXM
quaint irene
For whistfulness…
“I’ll Be Seeing You.”
Been covered from Billie Holiday to Frank Sinatra. I first heard it sung by Judy Collins.
Tom Johnson
@Yutsano: There’s an English version? WTF!
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Is this the Buffalo Springfield reunion I have been hearing about?
I love them. Have all three original albums (purchased in every format imaginable through the years), many songs of which get regular rotation on the Droid playlist.
EIGRP
Maybe some Stevie Ray Vaughn – Pride and Joy for example.
I would second the Maroon 5 recommendations too – Misery or This Love
Where in Rochester can you sing Sublime?
Eric
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
Then you have to like Swing Out Sister. “Twilight World.”
jake the snake
Gospel?
Bobby Bare, bitchez.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsWg0bt9kp4&feature=player_detailpage
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Johnson: Yes. It is an unspeakable abomination.
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
It is. They are doing six shows on the west coast in early June, leading up to headlining Bonaroo. Two up north, two at the Wiltern, and two at the Santa Barbara County Bowl.
There are no words to describe how psyched I am. AND I am seeing Bruce Cockburn (with Jenny Scheinman!!!) the week before!
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: The producer who decided to dumb that song down for American consumption deserves to be dragged through the streets and shot. if s/he hasn’t been already.
@burnspbesq: Hey I dropped you a message the other day, but I didn’t get back to see if you had responded.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: I can see why you would say that, but Swing Out Sister has never really appealed to me. I like the spare, underproduced sound of that EBTG album. Actually, I like a lot of Ben Watt’s work. He did a couple of very good remixes of Beth Orton songs on Central Reservation
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: The video is worse too. No link because I don’t hate you.
BerkeleyMom
@Kilkee: Build me up Buttercup is a great karaoke song.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
That’s a nice medley that Furay does in that video.
The drummer, Dewey Martin, and the original bassist, Bruce Palmer, are both dead. Is Jim Messina going to participate? Or is it just going to be Stills, Young and Furay?
burnspbesq
@Yutsano:
Must have missed it.
Will be in your neighborhood in mid-July and again in early August, dropping the kid off and picking him up from his summer program at Cornish.
opal
@Steeplejack:
Oh great. Another ear worm.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus:
Maybe I should try harder. I usually get hatred for my profession alone.
@burnspbesq: Excellent. Keep a weekend night open. I have a lesbyterian lawyer who would like to do some contact building with you.
piratedan
@Steeplejack: well I don’t wanna play topper, but I can still do Running Gun, Utah Carol and The Strawberry Roan too…..
burnspbesq
@Steeplejack:
Stills, Young, and Furay. No indication that Messina will be involved, although it wouldn’t surprise me if he did a cameo at the Santa Barbara shows. The rhythm section at the Bridge School concert last fall was Rick Rosas on bass and Joe Vitale on drums, and I think they are also doing the reunion tour.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Dude, remember what I do for living. I can’t afford to hate people like you.
burnspbesq
Earworm? Did somebody say earworm?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc3Sa4n0rS8
Getting old sucks. I can remember when I could do this song in this key. Now I can barely do it in A.
Svensker
@hamletta:
Sang that with a choir a few years ago and the soprano soloist had the most exquisitely angelic, pure voice. Her mother had just died a few days before and when she sang the Pie Jesu the sorrow and poignancy were unearthly. Not a dry eye in the house. I’ll never forget it.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Well FWIW the vast majority of the time when I have to talk to attorneys or CPAs I enjoy those calls. Of course if they try dicking me around I call them on it and they (usually) alter their behavior. But for the most part once I’m in the case I know what they want, they have a good idea what I want, and we come to an understanding pretty quickly.
Protip though (and I know this isn’t your field but I’m just sharing here): do NOT ask me for a 90 day hold right out of the gate. You ain’t gonna get it.
Steeplejack
@opal:
Yeah, that’s a great one, too, but I thought “Twilight World” was a little closer to Everything but the Girl.
This will cleanse your palate: the Style Council, “My Ever Changing Moods.”
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Steeplejack:
Actually….Here’s a B-side from a gospel single that’s pretty fucking significant. Know why?
BTW, no fair peeking at the YT comments.
Omnes Omnibus
@Yutsano: Years ago, I did some criminal work and it was always easiest to deal with real criminals (drug dealers can be very good clients). They came in (or you met with them at the jail), asked you for your professional opinion and went forward. they often knew the rules of evidence quite well and knew they were busted. in such cases, they just wanted the best deal they could get. Usually, they paid on time with little argument. Some guy who got in a bar fight for the first time ever was always going to be the worst client. Complaining, not accepting it when you tell them that they are going to need to plead to something or they are going to prison and, yes, they will have a criminal record. They would then bitch about the bill and slow pay.
Shorter me: It is good to do business with professionals.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Steeplejack:
More favorite: Long Hot Summer
BTW, the guy who wrote Down in the Tube Station at Midnight could release a triple album of bad Tuvan throat singing and I wouldn’t bitch about it.
Valdivia
I can’t believe we’re still at it and no one has brought up my ultimate 80s dancing guilty-pleasure (JSF didn’t hit all of them!) Safety Dance by Men Without Hats
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: This, again, I like.
Steeplejack
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Isn’t it believed to be one of the most sampled songs ever? The drum break?
(And, no, I didn’t peek.)
By the way, I loved the A-side back in the day–“Color Him Father.”
ETA: It wasn’t really “gospel”–it was straight-ahead soul.
Omnes Omnibus
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): How can you mention it without linking it?
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
And that song always reminds me of this one: O.C. Smith, “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp.”
Actually, this is a good song for Mother’s Day. I’m synchronistic, I am.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Steeplejack:
Good call. That 6 seconds of drumming is known as the Amen Break. This 18-minute vid tells the story well.
@Omnes Omnibus:
What? You expect me to do all the legwork? Exercise, you old bastard!
Doug Harlan J
@EIGRP:
They have Santeria at Monty’s Korner where I ply my wares.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus:
I love the top comment on YouTube:
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Who among us can disagree with that sentiment?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Steeplejack:
Heehee.
I noticed that when I linked it at C&L a short time ago.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Doug Harlan J:
Hey, does your karaoke bar have an autotune? Do this.
Steeplejack
@Omnes Omnibus, @Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Words to live by.
Steeplejack
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
I can see DougJ bustin’ that at the department Christmas party.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Steeplejack:
I am renewing my call for Doug to do Jet Boy Jet Girl, dammit!
I triple-dog dare you, Doug!
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Yeah, that’s right, a slight breech of etiquette- straight to the triple-dog dare!
Just Some Fuckhead
Down At Papa Joes by the Dixiebelles
burnspbesq
Surprised that no one mentioned this as either a guilty pleasure or a great karaoke song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nrGWwHalCU
4jkb4ia
@Joel:
Wins the thread.
4jkb4ia
@burnspbesq:
Like OMG, I have mercifully not remembered that song in a hundred years.
291: “Hey Ya!” is the definitive answer to whether there has been anything good in the last 20 years.
4jkb4ia
I’m thinking. “On The Floor” would be a candidate for a guilty pleasure, but Jon Caramanica is right: the production saved it. Jon Caramanica can usually be described by Mark Twain: “He keeps near the tune, but it is not the tune.”
4jkb4ia
More thinking–
Everything from Rocky Horror after “Time Warp”, which is simply a stone classic. I have killed with “Time Warp” in karaoke in the past.
We’re a wild and an untamed thing, we’re a bee with a deadly sting, etc. Not a bad Balloon Juice theme song….
klinnt
Script’s Break even is a hit song, or if you go for a bit old one, try one from “journey”
presquevu
Recent faves for me:
Big Hunk o’ Love (Elvis)
Fool to Cry (Stones)
Real Good Time (Pink w/William Orbit)
Just Dropped In (Kenny Rogers &)
Moonage Daydream (Bowie)
Wayfaring Stranger (Eva Cassidy)
Wear Your Love Like Heaven (Donovan)
Fish Heads (Barnes & Barnes)
Until the End of the World (U2)
Should I Stay or Should I Go (Clash)
Crystal Blue Persuasion (Tommy James &)
Dizz Knee Land (Dada)
Tha D to tha A to the NDY
I know I’m late to the party and I know you said middle america, but the only song I will do every time I manage to find it (which isn’t often, even in NYC) is Ain’t No Fun by Snoop Dogg. If they don’t shut the karaoke down, a mildly overweight white guy butchering Nate Dogg’s
“And if you can’t
FUCK that day ba-baaaay
Just lay back
And open yo mouth”
is truly a sight to behold.
john b
read this post way late. but just wanted to point out that arcade fire got a best album grammy and was the best-selling album in the nation when it debuted. In fact Arcade Fire has had far more exposure than the strokes ever did.
Leo Strauss
If it’s not too late to join in?
Heard those kidz today still like The White Stripes. Seven Nation Army (2008) still getting heavy play. The vocals there quirky.
They, however, cover Dusty Springfield’s “I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself”. Video directed by Sofia Coppola starring Kate Moss, so it pretty much can reach a large audience demo.
White Stripes You Tube
The 1990s and 2011 kidz still like the LA rockabilly punk band Social Distortion – as does Bruce Springsteen, who invites the singer on stage to play their songs – so you know they’re Boomer audience accessible, too.
Ball and Chain
Have seen this turn into a sing along. That might help.
Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers Guns and Money” might work well, too. Or the Stones’ ‘Happy” – no one expects to understand KR anyway. Perhaps go for the camp and summon your inner Jack Sparrow for fun.
Music collection here not particularly embarrassing but like sedimentary layers, it does weed out people. Must be at least 130 bpm with pulsating bass and autotuned vocals (think anything by the Black Eyed Peas) or can lose youngsters quickly and vice versa. No one seems to dig Stravinsky anymore. Or Aaron Copland, even when mangled by ELP.
Women 18-22 in particular these days – trust me, have bought the t-shirts and CDs per request.
Leo Strauss
er last non-sequitor re t-shirts was supposed to go with 2011 kidz liking SD. Mea culpa.