Greatest Karaoke Night of Your Life?

May 6, 2011 11:02 PM

I'm making a piece on and of karaoke with an experimental theatre company. What are your top 5 karaoke tunes - spectators, performers, and KJ's?

Google yields a great indistinguishable mash-up of 20 Most Common and 2,000,000 Worst, but I am not qualifying "top" with favoritism/hatred, frequency/obscurity, or quirky stories of specific performances, necessarily.

posted by JaiMahodara to media & arts (5 answers total)

For my money, nothing will ever beat the 80-year old man in leather pants I saw sing Shaggy's It Wasn't Me while two young barstars grinded him on either side.
posted by mannequito at 12:56 AM on May 7, 2011

Midnight Train to Georgia, because every time I hear it announced I'm sure the person is going to butcher it, and I've been pleasantly surprised that they randomly have the pipes to pull it off.

Case in point: at a seedy bar in Florida in a town I think was just outside Orlano, I saw this petite mid-40s woman with glasses and a mousy haircut get pushed onstage by her friends, and I shuddered to think they would force her to sing such an anthem-like song, and she busted out one of the best renditions I've ever heard. Did Gladys Night proud.
posted by CharlieSue at 5:23 AM on May 7, 2011

Bohemian Rhapsody.
posted by leastlikelycowgirl at 7:48 AM on May 7, 2011

Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
Kanye - Gold Digger

The guy dressed as Mr T last Halloween at Live Band Karaoke who actually KILLED Enter Sandman.

Frank, the regular where we go for karaoke and his... interesting rendition of Proud Mary. We love Frank, but his rhythm is quite eccentric and avant garde. You always know you'll get a show when Frank gets called.
posted by bibliogrrl at 11:31 AM on May 7, 2011

I'm sorry, internet - those were all legitimately solid, useful, and unique answers.

In my research over the last few weeks, I've determined that MJ always kills (tends to be more self-selecting than other challenging artists), and that all Somewhere Out There from Fivel Goes West asks of you is a little sincerity. It's a can't lose.
posted by JaiMahodara at 5:07 PM on June 12, 2011