The Karaoke Kid

This marks the second week in a row where Wednesday’s column features something from 8th and Ocean which is indeed a disturbing trend. In my defense I did start thinking about this well before our favorite aspiring models went on a girl’s night out at the karaoke bar. That being said, I think its all sorts of wrong to for models to go to a karaoke bar and that they actually find one in South Beach is even more worrisome.

The idea of karaoke as an all consuming aspect of pop culture came to me when I was flipping through my digital cable and found that I have 18 channels of pay-per-karaoke. Karaoke was hardly a craze when I was growing up. I was well aware of what the word meant but for me it wasn’t until college that I really saw legs this “fad” had. I went to school in Madison, Wisconsin and in 1994 I believe we had no less then 12 karaoke themed bars. Now the hay day of the karaoke bar may have passed but there is still a karaoke night at almost any type of bar you can think of. In truth, karaoke is now a national pastime like apple pie and football. American Idol, Rockstar, and The Ashley Simpson Show would not exist today without karaoke. Most aspiring singers get their start from behind a Mr. Microphone these days instead of the choirs and speakeasies of years past.

I propose that karaoke might also tie back into one of my early columns and the return of our musical culture. Now karaoke might be the seamy underside of the culture but I believe for every bad reality show it spans, karaoke also reminds of why we sing…and dance…and dance on chairs while singing to Brittney Spears.