By Peter Lawrence Kane
I’m a huge, huge karaoke fan. Not the kind of karaoke where somebody rents a room with five friends and they all scream Bon Jovi together into a single mic; I mean the kind where people freaking bring it. But the problem is that you usually encounter the same songs everywhere you go. I think I’ve sung “Young Americans” so many times I’m running out of cities to dazzle.
So, the news that Austin’s Karaoke Underground (people love them on Yelp) is bringing hundreds of hard-to-find songs to Rickshaw Stop on Sunday, April 12 is most welcome. Check the list out, because it’s pretty punk-heavy, with more deep cuts than radio hits. If you knew there was only one Blondie song, would your first guess be “X-Offender?”
You know this is going to be badass, since nothing kills a party like a bunch of weepy ballads. And the songs are short, so everybody gets a turn. Plus, we’ve all been in the position of, “Oh crap, I forgot this song had a bridge and I can’t remember how it goes,” but nothing is worse than realizing there’s a mellow 16-bar instrumental section and you’ve got to jiggle that heiny to keep from looking like a total dork up there.
Fugazi, Pixies, Sleater-Kinney, X, Nick Cave — it’s all coming. I don’t think many karaoke nights have Bikini Kill, let alone 11 Bikini Kill songs. And as Mission Mission noticed, the ultimate hipster catnip happens to be represented. I’m not going to troll Neutral Milk Hotel’s ten billion fans by saying “Song Against Sex” is better than “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea,” because you can do both! Lastly, I have never, ever found “What Do I Get?” by the Buzzcocks on a karaoke list before.
It is my white whale. I will sing that song. And I will set the night on fire.
[via Mission Mission; photo courtesy of Andrew Yee/Flickr]
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