Something That Pleases Me: Karaoke

It's Friday night. You're in a low-key bar, just trying to unwind after a long week at work. All of the patrons are nice enough, but you're not really being friendly to one another; everyone seems content with keeping to themselves. A few hours later, you're all singing the same songs, cheering at the end of each tune, and high-fiving and congratulating yourselves on your respective performances. What changed?

Somebody cranked up the karaoke machine, that's what changed.

Anybody who's ever been part of a karaoke performance, whether on stage or in the crowd, knows that it's a pretty surreal experience. People are actually interested in amateur singers, who don't really sing the songs that well. It's weird. Yet, it's perfect at the same time. There's something to be said for throwing inhibitions to the wind and just belting out a few lines from your favorite song, and others joining you in the exercise.

My take on karaoke was reaffirmed to me this past weekend. Skip's birthday was Friday night, and my brother's was Saturday, so we decided to bless the public with some epic performances. Skip and I have been plotting a flawless rendition of Jay-Z's "99 Problems" for months now. Upon entering the bar, I signed us up for that very tune. All we had to do then was wait, as our names were relatively low on the list. Time passed, and I would walk into the karaoke room from time to time to check the progress of the list. As I was in there, I noticed that a lot of people were favoring ballads and hard rock songs. I have no problem with this, but I was a little curious to see how our rap act would go over. A couple hours later, it was time to find out.

When the big screen that shows the lyrics to the song told everyone that "99 Problems" was our song of choice, there were some cheers in the crowd. However, it wasn't until we grabbed the mics and started rapping that business picked up. By saying, "I got the rap patrol on the gat patrol/foes that wanna make sure my casket's closed", we might as well have said "everyone stand up right now and make a bunch of noise." The place went nuts. By the time the chorus hit, Skip and I didn't even need to say anything because we had 50 people singing backup. Did we know these people? Well, save for the six or so friends that were with us, no. They just found a tune that made them feel good, enjoyed the fact that two unassuming white boys were up there ripping a Jay-Z song, and decided that they were going to have a good time with it.

At the end of the song, when we said, "you crazy for this one Rick", most people were standing and nodding their heads to the beat, having just finished reciting the chorus in unison. The applause afterwards was loud, not just for us, but because everybody was so thrilled that they'd just genuinely enjoyed the heck out of singing that song. Everyone knew the words, everyone knew the beat, and everyone enjoyed showing that to everyone else. Basically, for four minutes, we were all best friends, rocking out to the same music.

All because of karaoke.

~~ Lank