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You are here: Home / Music / Karaoke and guilty pleasures

Karaoke and guilty pleasures

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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

Reader Interactions

300Comments

  1. 1.

    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.

  6. 6.

    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.

  9. 9.

    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.

  10. 10.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    While karaoke is not my thing, I hear that Neil Diamond is very popular in that format.

  12. 12.

    Mark B

    Oh, you said NO early EJ. My bad! Honestly I don’t see how you could go wrong with those two. Pbbbttt!!!

  14. 14.

    RSA

    Has there then been anything good in the top 40 the last 20 years?

    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.

  17. 17.

    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.

  18. 18.

    Wesindc

    Most anything by Katey Perry (or whatever the hell her name is). Something about her songs get stuck in my mind.

  20. 20.

    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.

  22. 22.

    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.

  23. 23.

    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.

  27. 27.

    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.

  28. 28.

    Doug Harlan J

    @fhtagn:

    It doesn’t have to be last 20 years, I was just wondering if there any good candidates.

  29. 29.

    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.

  32. 32.

    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.

  33. 33.

    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.

  34. 34.

    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.

  35. 35.

    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.

  36. 36.

    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.

  41. 41.

    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.

  42. 42.

    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.

  44. 44.

    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….

  45. 45.

    khead

    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.

    You are disqualifying too much here.

    I wanted to go with “the entire 80’s video catalog” as my answer.

  46. 46.

    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.

  47. 47.

    Johannes

    Guilty Pleasure? “High Anxiety”, Super-Sinatra-d. I’m bad, it’s bad, it’s all good. In the shower, that is.

  48. 48.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @darkmatter:

    or Bread.

    I can’t say Bread because that’s Mrs. Fuckhead’s favorite band. I have to listen to it every day.

  50. 50.

    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

  52. 52.

    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?).

  58. 58.

    Kilkee

    James Taylor has some promise.

    With a crowd: Build Me Up Buttercup.

    Johnny Cash.

  59. 59.

    superking

    Soul man by Sam and dave. Not from the last 20 years, but guaranteed to be on your list.

  62. 62.

    Valdivia

    Also. Too.
    Breakfast in America & Logical Song by Supertramp
    Anything by America.

  66. 66.

    phantomist

    A horse with no name

    Who doesn’t want to sing:
    ‘Cause there ain’t no one for to give you no pain’

  67. 67.

    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.

  68. 68.

    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.

  77. 77.

    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.

  78. 78.

    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.

  79. 79.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    One Tin Soldier by Coven. Beat that, bitchez.

    There’s nothing guilty about that song. It’s one of the best songs ever written.

  82. 82.

    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.

  83. 83.

    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.

  85. 85.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    @Menzies:

    And one that some people should listen to more, these days.

    Exactly. It’s fucking prophetic.

  86. 86.

    Mac G

    U Street where Megan McArdle and Matt Yglesias do Arcade Fire duets

    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.

  88. 88.

    JenJen

    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

    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.

  89. 89.

    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.

  91. 91.

    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.

  93. 93.

    rob!

    “Closing Time” by Semisonic
    “You’ve Got The Love” by Florence + The Machines
    “Silver Lining” by Rilo Kiley

  102. 102.

    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.

  105. 105.

    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!

  108. 108.

    ROSSINDETROIT

    Moonlight Mile by the Stones. Guilty because it’s such schmaltz. Pleasure because it just works.

  110. 110.

    PIGL

    why would “Hey Jealousy” be a guilty pleasure? I mean, I prefer Lost Horizons, but….

  115. 115.

    handy

    I literally got winded once doing American Pie. I swear that song doesn’t have enough breaks and it is deceptively long.

  119. 119.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Brand New Key by Melanie

    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.

  121. 121.

    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. :)

  124. 124.

    Sly

    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

    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.

  125. 125.

    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.

  126. 126.

    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!

  127. 127.

    Kyle

    @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.

    Ditto. Baby Got Back is always good for a laugh. Or Ice Ice Baby. Hungry Like the Wolf is a good 80s choice.

  130. 130.

    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.

  135. 135.

    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.

  136. 136.

    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.

  140. 140.

    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.

  141. 141.

    Mark S.

    Allllllll byyyyyyyyy mmyyyyyyy-selllllllffffff
    dontwannabe Allllllll byyyyyyyyy mmyyyyyyy-selllllllffffff

    Now that’s a good karaoke song!

  145. 145.

    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.

  146. 146.

    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.

  152. 152.

    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! ;)

  158. 158.

    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.

  159. 159.

    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.

  163. 163.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter by Herman’s Hermits

  165. 165.

    Cat Lady

    King of the Road. You can get your finger snappin’ groovy groove on, also too.

  166. 166.

    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)

  167. 167.

    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.

  174. 174.

    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.

  176. 176.

    MikeJ

    @Mark B:

    but unkarokeable (it’s in Swedish, for god’s sake)

    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.

  177. 177.

    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.

  181. 181.

    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.”

  185. 185.

    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?

  190. 190.

    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.

  193. 193.

    cleek

    What are your favorite guilty pleasure songs? They’ve got to be bad,

    it would be logically impossible for me to like a bad song.

    and “Hey Jealousy” is not a bad song.

  194. 194.

    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.

    .

  202. 202.

    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.

  203. 203.

    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.

  204. 204.

    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.

  205. 205.

    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.

  206. 206.

    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.

  210. 210.

    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

  212. 212.

    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.

  214. 214.

    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….

  215. 215.

    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.

  216. 216.

    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!

  217. 217.

    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.

  218. 218.

    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.

  219. 219.

    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.

  220. 220.

    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.

  224. 224.

    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.

  226. 226.

    Steeplejack

    @piratedan:

    God, I still know all the lyrics to “El Paso.” Not to mention “Big Iron” and “Ballad of the Alamo.”

  228. 228.

    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.”

  229. 229.

    Off Colfax

    Karaoke in the middle of Real America?

    Ain’t nothing more American than ZZ Top.

  230. 230.

    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.

  232. 232.

    gbear

    Learn “Chain Of Fools’ by Aretha Franklin. If I still drank I’d probably try that one myself.

  234. 234.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    “Well, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles . . .”

    Jeez, now I’m channeling “North to Alaska.”

  239. 239.

    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.”

  240. 240.

    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.

  243. 243.

    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.

  248. 248.

    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.

  250. 250.

    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.

  251. 251.

    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

  255. 255.

    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!

  256. 256.

    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.

  257. 257.

    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

  260. 260.

    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?

  261. 261.

    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.

  263. 263.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    No link because I don’t hate you.

    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.

  265. 265.

    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.

  268. 268.

    Svensker

    @hamletta:

    Not-so-guilty pleasures: Faure’s Requiem.

    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.

  269. 269.

    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.

  272. 272.

    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.

  274. 274.

    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

  292. 292.

    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.

  293. 293.

    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.”

  294. 294.

    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….

  296. 296.

    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)

  297. 297.

    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.

  298. 298.

    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.

  299. 299.

    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.

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