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The last fight in my place was started by a guy whose only song he sung that night was "Release Me". This time I think he's 86ed for good. He's been trouble in the past. But the only songs he sings are quiet ballads.

We get a few shoving matches occasionally but it's not often. Maybe once a month. And I agree... when they happen they don't seem to have any correlation with singers who sing expletive-laced songs.

I take it back. I did have one fight, and strangely enough, it was just last week. It was a very uncomfortable situation between a guy and his girlfriend after the show as over, which came to blows, believe it or not. But they were singing stuff like Creed and 3 Doors Down, so I don't think the music had any correlation.

Lonnie, were the fights in question about the music, or was it just the people singing those potty-mouth songs that were involved? Were they thuggish types? I admittedly rarely get thugs in my venues, so maybe that's why fights don't happen. Lots of "tough guys" and "meatheads" that you expect might be trouble come through the doors, but so far (knock on wood) I haven't had any issues. I've been at one place for two years and another for a year.

It bears mentioning that I'm not encouraging people to sing songs with profanity, but I'm not going to discourage it either. Personally, and this is just my opinion, it doesn't reflect poorly on me or the venue when people sing those songs and they backfire with the crowd, it reflects on the singer themselves. Usually, the bulk of the crowd laughs their @sses off at stuff like "At a Medium Pace" and Tenacious D, so again, it hasn't been an issue. Yet. If it ever does become one, I'll address it, but I don't see it happening.

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hi-voxentertainment

I thought it _WAS_ "blocking"! I'm almost positive that the Five Man Electrical Band's version, at least, goes "blocking out the scenery", and I thought that's how Tesla's version went, too. (When I was a kid back in the '70s, I used to think it was "talking 'bout the scenery" and got into the habit of singing it that way, even after I knew the real words!)

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I love being a mom!

The 5 Man version IS blocking. Tesla decided it needed to be f**ing.

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No it wasn't necessarily over the music, but the trouble makers that would start crap were singing those songs. Again at that point management was fed up & just didn't want anymore swearing songs - well and hard core rock at that time (again I got this one overturned). Anything goes as long as there is no profanity in it.
These guys weren't even so much 'thugs', just college & early 20's military. They would typically drink pitchers of beer all night, rarely tip (nothing to do with anything I know) & at some point in the night - almost nightly, there would be some sort of altercation beit just verbal bantering to all out brawls. It wasn't the same group everytime either so 86'ing would have been tough.
Anyway, point is we got rid of the swear songs & the problem seemed to fix itself. These kids quit coming in, the fights diminished to almost nothing (1 or 2 per year on avg.) & we got a better singing crowd that actually spent more money & tipped better.
Do I agree with their decision - yes & no. I don't believe in censorship, however I do MUCH enjoy the crowds that come in now, then way back when.

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I agree with just about everything that Lon says. I do a couple of shows at BYOB
bars and because they do not serve hard liquor it can be considered a family bar
which children are allowed in. I've seen them as young as 2 in there and I will not
allow any songs with that type of language just because of that.

On the other hand I happened to visit another club last Friday and there was this gal
there that inserted the F word at just about every chance she got and the song
didn't even have it in it and the KJ let her get away with it and not just saying it
but screaming it at the top of her lungs (which were quite large). I felt my wife
cringe every time she said it and thought the KJ would finally say somthing but he
didn't.

Oh well it's his show and if the club owners allow it and the other singers can
tolerate it then I'll just bring the ear plugs next time.

L.W.

I totally agree!

I can be a real hellraiser at times, but I watch my language around my daughter and other impressionable minds.

I general, I do not believe in censorship in any public performance unless the audience dictates it (a lot of children, in a church, etc). If I'm singing You Oughta Know in front of my In-laws, I probably will censor myself...but I don't expect everyone else to do it, and they aren't prudes by any means. When I go to a BAR for karaoke, I don't expect to hear the cleanest language from any of the patrons, so I would be extremely upset if the host or bar practiced karaoke censorship in any form. Now at some other venues, I would not be upset. To those of you in favor of censorship, I would like to make something clear...there has been vulgarity (or perceived vulgarity) in some form in music for DECADES. Most of the music perceived as vulgar is still played on some station today. What is vulgar to you, may not be vulgar to everyone. In addition, if someone enjoys singing some songs that are vulgar, that doesn't always mean they're seeking attention (everyone at karaoke is there for attention), a vulgar person, unintelligent, or drunk. Maybe they just like the song! There are "naughty" or vulgar songs I've been known to at least try, simply because I thought it would be a fun song that the crowd would enjoy.

And what is acceptable to you may not be acceptable to everyone. If you think everything has to degenerate to the lowest common denominator, fine. Hang out at places that agree with you.

There is a big difference between vulgarity, perceived vulgarity and innuendo. I know a lot of music from my era got questioned or closely scrutinized for lurid or unwholesome content. That was then, and the out and out bad language used for shock value only (You Ought To Know is not one of them because it fits in with the story in the song) now is what KJs and venues are concerned about. BTW, only 13 posts since 2006?

Not that it's really anyone's concern, but I think when I first signed up, I had a question. Then, I fell off the board because I didn't have time to keep up with it. I visit forum sites only when I have time, as I usually have things to do than spend all day visiting forums. Just because I don't post a lot, doesn't mean I don't have a valid view point. Maybe I just don't have anything to weigh in on when I'm here.

Post count don't mean anything. If you have something to say you are more than welcome to say it when you feel! There is no requirement to post daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly.

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Thank you Lonman!

Im my experience, you cant really control much a drunk will do during a song. They are just as likely to cuss during over the rainbow as a hiphop song. Why fight it if we're all adults in a bar setting? Besides I have several who like to do stuff like Adam Sandler, Tenacious D, and the Bloodhound Gang. As long as they just sing it and dont disrupt anything.

Because we are adults with rules?

When you get to people over 50, they often don't like swearing and sometimes will leave because of it. I am sure that isn't the crowd for most here, and that is fine. You have your rules at your place.

But let others have their rules at their place.


I took just about all Adam Sandler and Tenacious D files off my computer. Thanks for alerting me to Bloodhound Gang.

Keep "Bad Touch". It's the Bloodhound Gang track done the most anyway, and safe for all but the most sensitive ears.



If you are policing your show for explicit language beware of anyone wanting to sing "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and and putting a baseball cap on backwards as a prop just before starting!

I agree. A slightly more mature crowd would not enjoy that. Sorry, I should've prefaced it with my place is typically a college crowd.

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Mostly any GUY that happens to put this song in.

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We have a pretty young crowd avg low 20-mid 30. The bar itself has a no cuss rule on stage (even when they had bands) & it does get enforced. Our crowds have become adapated & if someone slips, the crowd will make noise about it before I get a chance. You can train your singers - drunk or not, it's a matter of if you want or need to.

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My show has a young crowd. So far I havn't imposed a no profanity rule. It hasn't been much of a problem. If I were in a setting with children or it was clearly offending the crowd I would put a stop to it. I have one regular that likes to sing "Hero", he changes the words to make it unbeliveably raunchy to the point that it makes me cringe. When I scan the crowd nobody looks overtly offended, and he always gets a racous response at the end. I should probably put a stop to his hero rendetion, but so far I have not. Another KJ that attends my show tells me I'm too nice. I've only been at this for 8 months and I have built a good crowd by being nice. But maybe a little "tough love" in certain situations might be called for.