So, karaoke is fun. But listening to bad music is excruciating. I have a gigantic suggestion:

Go to an Open Mike Night or a Jam Night with real musicians. They will let you sing, and/or they will let you sit in on an instrument, even if you are not good, for at least one tune.

But you will not have to sit through a whole evening of off-key torture. And if you have any talent at all, you will hear how it really is supposed to be done, and you can come back next week and get some real experience. Even if you are terrible and hopeless, you will have a better time.

Heh, that reminds me of a Bob Mould concert I went to years back, some point in the mid-90s, where he lost his voice fairly early in the show due as he was ill with something or other. Rather than pack it in, he would announce each song he was going to play in turn and solicit a volunteer singer from the crowd. Some of them were actually quite good. It was pretty charming. So yeah, I could see that being pretty fun.

Also on that tip, I don't know how prevalent it is, but a friend of mine in Chicago is in a karaoke backing band. Guitar, bass, drums, no lead singer, they just have a bunch of songs they know together, and can be rented out for occasions and what have you, and will play all the music for whoever wants to sing.

Ah, good ol' karaoke, another sign of the decadence and decline of modern culture. Heck, why bother to spend those BORING hours training and practicing to hone a talent? Musicianship is way overrated when "enthusiasm" is good enough. What a pathetic narcissistic species we are. Speaking as a semi-pro(i.e., I still have a day job) musician who takes some pride in his work, you understand, and who would expect to be pilloried by my peers if I was infantile enough to think that enthusiasm alone constituted an acceptable performance.

Like a Rolling Stone at Dimples in Burbank with coworkers. Went over great because I knew it cold, and earnestly cared about it's meaning. I even got compliments! From department heads!

And to those who knock karaoke, remember that nobody goes to a karaoke place to hear music. They go to sing. Singing used to be a part of everyday life. People sang and people danced, regularly. Well the dancing continues, (yay) but unless to go to church you are unlikely to ever sing with people. And believe me, it's fundamental. Even if you suck, you gotta do it.

So hooray for karaoke, the place where no one cares what anyone sounds like because nobody is there to listen to music. We're there to put ourselves out on a huge emotional limb- reveal ourselves as fools- and know that we're in a room where that's probably going to go over fine.

Even a great singer is a fool when they sing karaoke and they know it and no one cares. Beautiful.

So when I want to go to see live music (frequently) I go see some established or rising talented musicians, and when I want to go sing karaoke (less frequently) I do that. The pros stimulate my mind a lot more. But I make more friends at karaoke.

Glad to see you mentioned the live music aspect. I play in a band that hosts "Live Band Karaoke." Sometimes in a nightclub setting but more often for corporate functions. Participants can access lyrics to all songs we play through our website, print 'em off and bring to the show. If singers blow it, we either take over for the lagging vocalist, shift keys (on the fly) speed up, slow down; whatever it takes to keep the song from crashing and burning. It is truly a good time and a natural twist on the original karaoke flavor.

...because far too many young people here sing badly off-key and just aren't aware of it. I think it's because there aren't too many music classes in schools these days.

Hearing people singing off-key is like food with far too much salt in it - no matter how good the rest of it is, you cannot take pleasure in it.

That said, some of the live band karaoke is good. There used to be one of the Lower East Side of Manhattan where most of the singers were clearly performers in their own right.

While stationed in Japan in the late seventies, I experienced karaoke. I did not participate because the only musical talent I have is the ability to play the stereo. I thought karaoke was a cute Japanese bar thing and never thought it catch on in the states. But, as history has shown, I was wrong. I don't care for Karaoke bars so I don't frequent them.

But what bugs me are people who have parites where karaoke is the sole form of entertainment. I really don't care to be egged on to sing when I know I can't even carry a tune in a wheelbarrow, and then hypocritically told that I sing good.

Because of this, I have stayed away from a close co-workers home parties. He sings well and so do some of his friends, but he obnoxiously insists that everyone sings. While his intentions are good, his hospitality is hostile in regards to karaoke.

If you are going to have karoke in your home parties, please don't force people to do something they are uncomfortable doing. Learn that "no" means "no"!

Why can't there be a place for both karaoke and more traditional music performance? Watching a great live performance and participating in amateur karaoke are entirely different things, and that's okay. Some people want to dedicate a lot of their life to performance, other people just like having fun every once in a while. I also disagree completely with your dismissal of karaoke based on lack of skill or desire to develop it. The article talks about how many karaoke performers are actually good singers and how a lot of people put in a lot of effort to learn the songs so they can do the karaoke better. It seems like a good singer is a good singer whether or not they're playing gigs for cash or just going out once a month with friends.

And for the record, what seems a lot more narcissistic than doing karaoke is being a semi-professional musician who insults people they perceive to be worth less than they are. Have a little respect.