Karaoke Forums

As a new KJ starting out, I know the song that I hear every night/week here in NC.

I was wondering if they are the same for the other KJ's on this forum.

I have even barred one song (Killing Me Softly/Fugees) from ever being sung again at one account because the bar staff is so sick of hearing it every Saturday night and I would usually have at least 5 different people racing to get their request for it in first.

So my question is this, What songs do you hear more than any other? Is there one you wish that you could banish from performance for all time? Is there one that no matter how many times you hear it, you still love hearing it?

DJ Shannon NC

"Devil Went Down to Georgia" has replaced "He Stopped Loving Her Today" as our most sung. It is still probably "These Boots" for the ladies.

Sometimes it is not the song but the fact that the person singing it makes it a bit dreary. But it is their song so sometimes you have to come up with tactics like interspersing yourself with something zippier or breaking up certain groups with others. I didn't used to agree with doing that until we enountered a trio of crowd clearers and had to adapt. You don't want to lose your audience but you don't want to hurt feelings either so it is a balancing act.

Our tactic with "Devil" is to make a skit out of it with a devil mask and a fiddle.

There are other songs that I have heard done every week for years and really don't mind--in fact if done well I actually look forward to them. "Smooth" and "Brown Eyed Girl" come to mind.

Won't banish anything no matter how tedious it gets. Some of the overplayed - at least count on once per night.

Du Hast - Rammstein is a constant
Bodies - Drowning Pool
Walk - Pantera
Humpty Dance - Digital Underground
Whiskey In The Jar - Metallica
Rooster - Alice In Chains

There are several others but these stand out right off. One thing we do is once a song is played, it is not available for the rest of the show.

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

Rooster would be a hard one to have every night. Even our Megadeath guy (he also does Man in the Box by Alice) tried it last week and declared it to be too long and slow and he didn't want to do it again.

I typically tell people that someone else is already signed up to sing a song if I get duplicate requests. That usually gets across that they should pick another song... if that doesn't work, I make a mini competition out of it. As far as banning songs though, I typically wouldn't do it, but in the case of the one account I made an exception because it was pretty much the entire staff that were tired of it. I can usually just tune things out... I do know of a bar that has banned Mustang Sally from any night, be it Jukebox, Bands, DJ's or KJ's.

That is exactly why I do not allow repeats. If someone refuses to pick another song & insists they sing a song again, they don't sing. Crowds typically do not want to here repeats of songs and I can't stand the singer that claims it's 'their' song or they can do it better & wants to show the other up. That's not what it's about.

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

I'm guessing they're not done well? Du Hast in German or English?

In German - no it's not that they aren't done well, they are done fine, just overplayed!

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

Now THAT would make you feel like you're in the movie; "Groundhog Day."

I do get very tired of hearing the same songs... even a week apart... by the same singer..... sung the same way..... (shoot me now!)

I only wish I could have ANY of those songs sang at my show, Lon. My most overdone are "You never called me by my name" or "Love Shack". I will allow repeats but discourage it and put 3 hours between them.

Mojo

Does the bar staff also refuse to make certain drinks when they get sick of making them over & over?

Give the customers what they want! You aren't there to entertain the bar staff.

My "every week" songs? What I call the "Karaoke Top 10".

Brown Eyed Girl
Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Don't Stop Believing
Scenes from an Italian Restaraunt
etc

We all know the songs I speak of!

It depends on the market to be sure. Country dominates my rural area. Probably the most overdone songs in our little neck of the woods are:

Mountain Music -- Alabama
Stay -- Sugarland (how I have come to hate that one)
In Color -- Jamey Johnson

Add in your classics like Folsom Prison Blues and Love Shack as well, but I know those aren't going to change.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I have a question how do you get singers to expand their repertoire??

It is like a crutch for some and they will only do their songs and have difficulty adding songs. The same 3 songs week after week after week after week is killing me. Even when the song is done well (if I’m lucky ) it’s like nails on a chalk board.

Schmooze baby, schmooze!

My favorite tactic is to follow up a compliment with, "You know, your voice would really fit doing a song by Famous Artist. You should give it some thought!"

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Dave's not here.

Moonrider is correct. Suggest songs for them in a way that says you would love to hear THEM sing them. "We need your help--people want to dance and you would be great at Smooth."

When we first started out we would have slow nights and after the people had run out of their 3 usual songs we would start kama kaziing them or getting them up for group songs. Sometimes they would end up with one that stuck. Of course then it backfired to them asking for more and more song suggestions........but that shows enthusiasm.

The other thing is, if you sing here and there, do some new songs yourself just to let people know you have them. Some people feel they have to sing the types of songs everyone else is singing to please the crowd so it helps to show them it is ok to branch out.

As a matter of fact, Du Hast, Humpty, Whiskey & Rooster were all done last night within an hour.

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

I think if I hear "International Harvester" one more time (done HORRIBLY), I think I might throw up. It seems to be the "Mustang Sally" of this area. Actually Mustang Sally is done pretty well, so I don't mind it as much. Another is "With Arms Wide Open", AGAIN . On the other side topic, SONGBOOKS is the answer to how you get people to sing NEW songs. I don't know about anyone else, but whenever I go out to sing, I can NEVER think of what I want to sing. I must be able to sing (at least) 100 songs, but when I get there, BLANK. So, what happens? Well, I guess I'll sing one of my "old stand-by's". If the kj has a book, at least I will have something to jog my memory. I guess you could call it "Singer's Block", I can think of all of them, UNTIL I need them.

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke

We use "theme nights" by stating that the rules for the evening are for a certain time period or genre and that they can sing whatever they like, but the gauntlet has been tossed in their general direction.

Like:

Bubblegum 60's

Cheesey 70's

Hair Bands of the 80's

"Death songs" of the 60's

Classic 70's Rock

Disco Night

Any song with the word "don't" in it...

Any song with the name of a city in somewhere in the song....

And the best thing to do is to have the host start it off with a song they're only somewhat familiar with to show these singers that perfection isn't required or expected.... especially since we try to get the audience to sing along.

Breakdown Here - Julie Roberts was the most sung but has been replaced by Skinny Dippin - Whitney Duncan (Really nice song.)

Here’s a list of songs that get requested often by multiple singers.

Wake up Older - Julie Roberts
Do I - Luke Bryan
The Ride - David Allan Coe
The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia - Vicki Lawrence
Picture - Sheryl Crow/ Kid Rock (I don’t think this one will ever go away.)
Stay – Sugarland (I’m so glad this one is fading.)

We have actually thought about incorporating a "Picture" penalty. Anyone who requests 'Picture' must buy us a drink/shot, and not get upset when we go out to smoke while they sing!

I'm so sick of that damn song.