karaoke crowd pleasers

what are the karaoke songs that are the most entertaining for you to _watch_ someone doing? the real crowd pleasers that bring the house down...?

"don't stop me now" "don't stop believing" , "wanted dead or alive" and "november rain" are all good ones

Isn't this something of an oxymoron?

maybe I should do "enter snowman" for the holidays...

Anton and I once did a killer "Bad Boy For Love" by Rose Tattoo, but most of you wouldn't know them.

We also did Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'".

I would like to do those again sometime.

In Seattle, I saw Tawnya's fella totally murder "Baby Got Back" (in the good way). That was impressive.

After the first SG Ball in Canberra, I saw boombambi in full skirt-and-suspenders regalia throw his arms around two local boys in jeans and together they yelled out the chorus to "Khe Sanh", the legendary raucous foot-stomper by Cold Chisel. Again, most of you wouldn't know them, but Aussies doing Cold Chisel at karaoke is far too common and typically appalling. This, however, was awesome.

Mother.



I love karaoke and I'm actually about to leave to sing in a few minutes.

Tonight, I'll probably be singing Bad Company, from Bad Company.

Rainy Day Women #12 and 35 is always a good one.

If the guy can hit high notes and sing well, Roxanne by The Police or These Eyes by The Guess Who are sure to impress a room.

The best reactions I've ever gotten were for Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and Unchained Melody. Strangely, I tried singing them both a second, more sober time, and I sorta sucked.

This always seems to do well.

GAH~! I just typed out a huge list of songs but the fucking post wouldn't post. Grrrr...

OK. There are three rules to karaoke success. I'm an expert on this and you should listen to me. I've taught many people the karaoke secrets and they've all gone on to fame and fortune.

1) Pick and upbeat song,
2) That people have heard and can sing along to, and
3) That you can own. And when I say "own", I don't mean sing perfectly. I mean that you can go up and have a great time singing and put on a fun, ass-shaking performance. If you can do that, it won't matter if you can't sing a lick. Trust me. (NOTE: I know that papawheelie CAN sing quite well, this is more for the other folks out there.)

Now, in no particular order, these are songs that are universally good to choose in virtually any situation.

-Dancing With Myself
-Don't Stop Me Now (really, virtually any Queen will do, especially this or Bohemian Rhapsody)
-Ice Ice Baby (seriously, I've absolutely murdered rooms doing this. If you can pull off rap at ALL, you're golden.)
-Twist and Shout (my personal closer)
-Living on a Prayer/Bad Medicine/You Give Love a Bad Name/Wanted Dead or Alive
-My Sharona
-Punk Rock Girl (I always, always, always do this song if it is available)
-Don't Stop Believing
-Sister Christian
-Feel Like Making Love
-Piano Man (rare exception to the "upbeat" rule)
-Friends in Low Places (I know, I know. Trust me.)
-Summer Loving/You're the One that I Want
-Here I Go Again
-Heart of Rock and Roll
-Blitzkrieg Bop/I Wanna Be Sedated/Sheena Is a Punk Rocker
-Tainted Love (whatever, it works)
-Just What I Needed (yeah, yeah... so bleed me.)
-Since You've Been Gone (oh fuck yes.)
-Jump Around
-Bust A Move
-Freaks of the Industry (Seriously. SERIOUSLY!)

I could go on if I had the Mint's songbook in front of me. Regardless, follow my three simple rules and the crowd will fucking love you. And unless you've been classically fucking trained, avoid the temptation to sing ballads. They're boring and you will fuck them up.

I should write a book on this shit.

This is video gold!

I believe a duet is in our future, baby.

When they announced the reunion, I was like "meh". But you singing "Immigrant Song" is a performance I wouldn't want to miss!

Songs I like because they combine crowd pleasing with street cred:
Blister in the Sun
Lust for Life
Born to Run
La Bamba

I've seen people die on Dancing With Myself! There are a few long instrumentals that people forget about.

Same with Shout by Tears for Fears and Radar Love. Never pick a 5 minute plus song or one with long instrumentals unless you're prepared to dance your ass off... or look like an idiot.

All of these are great.

Dude, you can't just stand up there and sing. You gotta shake it or it ain't gonna fly! Instrumentals are just Karaoke Kode for Krowd Participation, yo!

"Don't You Want Me?" by Human League is one of those great sing-a-long type songs which I think would go over well with the karaoke crowd.

Great duet song too.

Recommendation: If you're the guy, do the female part and vice-versa.

I am an arteeest, not a performer. I get drunk and sing Avril Lavigne's Sk8r Boi in front of strangers because I want to express my own inner longing to be a petite blonde Canadian girl, not to entertain anyone else.

Actually, I only started singing recently, so I don't think I've yet honed my performance skills. Considering I would have had a heart attack if you put me in front of a mic a few years ago, I think singing alone is an accomplishment.

My go-to songs:

The Dead Milkmen - Punk Rock Girl
Cheap Trick - I Want You to Want Me
The Foundations - Build Me Up Buttercup
Weezer - Say It Ain't So