Karaoke Forums

I know, disappointing karaoke singers come with the job

But sometimes you get disappointed by something you didn't see coming. Spill it

I got 2:

Yes I'm a karaoke snob forever for this:

1) group of 4 attractive college girls, early 20s, black like me, wanted to sing michael jackson's thriller and I think it was close to or on Halloween and none of them knew the song. They picked it. Didn't know the beat, lyrics. They didn't know the chorus. How do you not know the chorus to Thriller? Thriller! I can let it slide if you don't know the lyrics, but the chorus to thriller? And you're black? I just wasn't ready to witness that. Maybe 2 of 4 don't know it but all 4 girls were clueless? All 4 stared at the screen the entire song. The frown on my face was epic. They didn't know the beat, didn't know any of it. And they were all sober. I'll never get over that. None of them ever uttered the word thriller on the mic. Had no idea when to say it.

2) same venue. I played Marvin Gaye's song Sexual Healing in between singers. Young black college aged dude comes up and says "who is that you're playing?" I said marvin. He said what's the song called I like it as marvin is singing the words "sexual healing". I say sexual healing. He hands me a slip of paper and says can you write the name of the artist and the song for me? I oblige. He smiles broadly. I just wasn't ready to witness that myself. Looking back everyone gotta start somewhere. Nobody knows everything and I'm not gonna try to analyze any situation. Things happen. I'm just saying I was disappointed because I just wasn't prepared to witness those particular scenes exactly as they went down. Never in my life would I think I'd see 4 people in their 20s not know at least 10% of the song Thriller. I'd give a pass on all the other MJ songs. But Thriller? Black kids? I can live with it now. But this thread is about being disappointed by karaoke singers when the 'unexpected' occurs...

I get disappointed or let down anytime someone sings and isn't having fun (good or bad).

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Yeah, I'm with Lon. If my disappointment meter is based on whether or not singers remember lyrics or know the beat I'd be slittin' my wrist up there. If they are having fun and the audience is fired up I am happy

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Sound Choice and Chartbuster Certified

Piling on. I am not Simon Cowell. Yeah, Yeah..... I do my fair share of critiques, but disappointment isn't something I feel. I am not signing anyone to a label nor am I interested in becoming someones manager. I just want to have a good time with other people that are having a good time.

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-Chris

And there it is. Those girls are ten years younger than "Thriller." Let that sink in, and then weep.

Not karaoke related: a friend of mine works in a high school, and about ten years ago, the Alien Ant Farm cover of "Smooth Criminal" came on. His students, discussing it, said "Oh yeah! I think I heard the Michael Jackson version once."

My only disappointment is when the singer takes way too long to get up, either because they aren't paying attention or "well, I need a drink, and I gotta do this..." Around here, hosts are pretty laid back, so they just... wait, sometimes.

I'm usually more pleasantly surprised, like when a woman in her 50s or 60s kills something like Lady Gaga.

Really, the only singer who ever disappoints me is me.

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Michael Jackson spans all age groups around here even though this is cowboy country. But not too many can actually sing the songs. But he is still a popular artist even at the Kid Shows.

I'd agree with only being disappointed with those who just stand there staring at the screen and don't even make an attempt. Otherwise sometimes the ones who realized they just stepped in it rally have put on the best show. It's the, "Oops, I only know the chorus" syndrome.

But I guess the double disappointment is when they say that it is the wrong song and even when you verify the artist and title they say it wasn't what they were expecting. And they want to pick something else. And the same thing happens.

I'm disappointed with singers who:

won't clap when someone else sings unless they came from their table.
won't patiently await their turn to sing (even though I know it's going to happen)
who won't spend any money to help keep the show going.
who treat my equipment with disrespect
who rudely walk up and join other singers

I don't expect much when a group comes up - it usually means they're afraid to do it by themselves because they are new to karaoke or they know they suck. But hey, they're spending their money getting intoxicated enough to try and that's not a disappointementl from the bar viewpoint.

So far, IMO, all of those gripes mentioned don't sound like you would be disappointed at the person/s (for things like messing with your equipment, or not applauding for other singers, or just wasting yours (and the Audience's) time by just standing up on the stage and just staring at the screen without singing a single word). It sounds more like you would be annoyed at them.

One thing that has disappointed me over the years, is when people have asked me where I'm doing a show, and when I gave them the information, they said they would definitely be there... and then then never showed (although, that could also be considered an annoyance too). .

Often I smile...and clap...and cheer...and say "You did great!".

While inside I'm going....

I get disappointed by people singing the same songs over and over. I get that people like what they like, but there are people who have sung the same 3 or 4 songs hundreds of times, and that, to me, is disappointing. Some people can really bring it, and repeatedly do, but you can only get excited about a great performance of the same song so many times. I admittedly have a very short musical attention span. NoShameKaraoke does not disappoint because he ALWAYS brings something new.

My favorite is when singers say they sing with a band and u think they are going to be really good and they are not.

I actually have the warm and fuzzies now.

That should be my motto. "It's not always good, but it's always something new."

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Co-host of The Greatest Song Ever Sung (Poorly), a karaoke-themed podcast

Even better is when this person approaches you at the end of the night, with a full rotation and other new singers waiting to come up, claiming..... "Dude! let me go up next, I am in a band and I can bring the house down!! You won't regret it! Your Audience will love me!" All the while struggling to stand up and form words that can be understood.

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-Chris

Product 19, I think the second song I ever attempted in karaoke was the Spinners Rubberband Man. I thought I knew the song, but the last minute or two of it I was completely clueless, much like the singers you wintnessed.

Okay, I challenge someone out there reading this to sing the Rubberband Man at the next show they go to, and then report the results here!

that's a damn good song

but i'd give anyone a pass on 'rubberband man'. it's an older song than 'thriller' and not a song that i feel that everyone knows. hell, i just added it to my ipod a few years ago after hearing someone do it in karaoke (and was reminded of it). besides you were just one person singing a song. in my case, it was 4 girls who came up to sing a song that i supposed everyone could at least sing the chorus to...

i'd give a pass to anyone for not knowing the full lyrics to "thriller". who can remember exact lyrics, anyway? but i expected (especially if someone picked the song,) one of the 4 girls that night at least know when to say the word "thriller." that's it. that all i wanted. . just say the word "thriller" at the right time in the song and i'd be happy.

but i didn't even get that from those 4 girls. they totally didn't know the song at all.

never crossed my mind that i'd witness that. imagine: 4 girls, in their early 20s, all black, looking like a slick r&b group about to harmonize the hell out of "thriller" and none of the 4 knew the song at all. not one word. how does that happen? none of them knew the song? not even 1 word? of thriller? THRILLER? and they picked the song. and it was halloween. and it was the year MJ died when radio played his music every chance it could get. disappointed i think is the right emotion in this case. .

but now, looking back (that particular 'disappointment' happened back in 2009) "thriller" is now 30 years old so i guess it's about right that young folks of this day & age wouldn't know the song...i guess...

you'd think with youtube and google (for lyrics) these young computer-savvy kids would've tried to know the song before they sang it, but, eh, whatever....

anyway, i was back at that same venue this week, deejaying and those young folks there still only know their modern music. they roasted me royally. i was blasted by several of them for playing anything that didn't just come out in October. if i played a song that came out in january 2014, they were rolling their eyes at me and yawning. amazing. but it's a good learning experience for me. now i'm understanding those girls in 2009 that didn't know thriller. same venue.

one more thing to add, then i'll drop it--

another part of my 'disappointment' about this whole thing was, (if i remember right), it was halloween 2009 and i opened the karaoke show by playing all the cliche halloween songs, i could think of, but i DIDN'T play Thriller........yet. i was saving that song as i always do to play during the 10pm hour. i started the karaoke at 9 ran through a bunch of cliche songs and by 10 i still hadn't played Thriller yet.

so then the quartet comes up at 10 and asks to sing "thriller". i had a couple of requests to play it, it being halloween, so the quartet comes up to sing it and i'm thinking ok maybe i don't have to play it, (i wasn't expecting anyone to sing it) but i thought, ah well, the girls look like they can belt it out, this will be the thriller for the night, i don't have to play the song, though i was saving it. (also, once they put the song in to sing, i really couldn't play thriller knowing it was someone's song to sing so i bumped them up in line since i delayed playing thriller i'm thinking let's get thriller outta the way, folks been waiting long enough on halloween to hear it...)

joke was on me. they didn't know the song. at all. so, that's how it all went down...

looked it up, halloween 2009 was a sunday...i'm at that venue mid-week. so it was near halloween. i remember delaying thriller, so that was probably one of the reasons because it wasn't halloween it was leading up to halloween. i remember it being around halloween, but it wasn't halloween, but we were celebrating halloween and folks were probably told to dress up but i remember it wasn't halloween...ah you get the point....

A friend of mine used to sometimes ask me to sing later in the rotation if a diva like that with a worship me attitude approached her. She was a hell of a broadway singer , her husband could replicate Ray Charles,and I have a freakshow range, so she'd put the diva up after her guy killed Song For You or Georgia,say it was "pretty good, keep working on that", get me to belt out a 4+ octave Heart/Mariah/Aerosmith/Aretha type tune(depending on what the diva was singing) with whistle register , announce that my rendition was "not bad", then ask for silence because everyone was in for a real treat, we have a true artiste in the house tonight who told her they will amaze us all...and then after the diva,she's belt out some Streisand for good measure .The faces some divas would pull were priceless...She was evil


People who walk into a place and act like they are better than others/deserve special treatment for any reason disappoint me. Also, when a regular at a show will purposely sing something another regular singer is great at/got a good reaction singing just to try to show them up.

Just think how disappointed you would have been if they had sung "Tequila" instead, and didn't say the word "Tequila."