I don't want to be stuck with 20th century classics, it feels boring
Honestly any song that the crowd can/wants to sing along to is perfect - Mr. Brightside by The Killers, Take me Home Country Roads by John Denver, Hey Ya by OutKast are some good examples. Granted, you've got classics like Don't Stop Believin' by Journey, but I feel like that's so overplayed, that I'd stay away from that.
or alternatively, the smallest church in Sussex if you're british
First you find a sad banger, then you sing the place to SHIT.
Magnificent Seven by the Clash, Daly City Train by Rancid, Minnie the Moocher, Poke Salad Annie by Tony Joe White, Rock and Roll by The Velvet Underground, Add It Up the Violent Femmes (this one seems to have grown in popularity recently)
Those are all songs I like to sing that are a little unconventional
I generally disagree with the crowd here that punk and metal songs generally make for good karaoke. Unless you have a group of people that also know the chorus, it's always always always too shouty imo.
Good songs for karaoke are either bangers, or pop songs that focus on a single singer with only abit of autotunage in the OR, but normally something within your range or that you can transpose into your range with maybe one or two runs outside of it. Either that or ones that everybody knows.
My personal go-tos are Bette Davis Eyes, Gloria, Hurts So Good, Country Roads, Hurt (Johnny Cash version), Lookin' Out My Back Door, Train in Vain, Somebody That I Used to Know, One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer (if nobody else is singing cause it's a long one)
It's bar karaoke, and the first time I did it I went with You Give Love a Bad Name and it did in fact shred my vocal chords lol
Oh, oh! I'm good at this one. Surfin' USA - the opening bars let everyone know what song it is, and it's easy to twist to. Gets 'em dancing. Man of Constant Sorrow - a crowd-pleaser and you get to let out your inner George Clooney. I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred. Sh-Boom - The Crew Cuts. Aquarius - The 5th Dimension, hair-tastic! Time Bomb - Rancid. Islands in the Stream - Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton, a great M/F duet. To All The Girls I've Loved Before - Willie Nelson & Julio Iglesias, a great M/M duet. Superstition - Stevie Wonder, funky as hell and gets 'em dancing. Somebody That I Used to Know - Gotye, everyone will join in on this one. And the best Karaoke song of all, best reserved for when everyone is nice and drunk: Journey - Don't Stop Believin'.
Remember, the measure of success in Karaoke isn't if you nail the song and everyone claps, it's how many people join in and sing it with you.
Oh, and Oasis - Wonderwall. Yeah they're shit but it's a great drunk-time karaoke song.
Sweet Transvestite has always been my main karaoke song because I can still sound relatively non shitty regardless of how drunk I am.
Performing that song is really more about how good you look in heels than anything else
You need a lot of talent or a lot of confidence to pull this one off, sadly I have neither.
I'm the asshole who goes in and shreds his vocal cords on one Tom Waits song and calls it a night.
It kills every time.
sing "Do I Wanna Know" by the Arctic Monkeys. It has a relatively small vocal range so you won't shred your cords singing it and super catchy lyrics, and a lot of people know it. Also it seems like a fun thing to sing with a few drinks in you.
It is a bit of a horny song though, ngl, so definitely don't target anyone in the room with it lol. sing it to the sky
