14 of the very worst karaoke crimes you can commit

We’re looking forward to reading the result of writer Rae Paoletta‘s research into the worst karaoke crimes, after she got a lot of fantastic responses to this request.

hi! I’m writing a story about Karaoke Crimes (e.g., no one should sing “total eclipse of the heart” because it’s too long, people who are too good at singing shouldn’t do karaoke, etc.)

People submitted their suggestions, and we picked off the ones that made sense.

Some of the crimes related to song choices.

1.

my go-to karaoke spot has a ban on don’t stop believin’, which pains me but i understand it. a couple months ago someone did november rain which should be illegal, along with any other song that’s more than 5 minutes long

— jane c. hu (@jane_c_hu) December 7, 2019

2.

No Beatles songs. They’re not the right vibe.

— ASHLΞY (@AshWoodWeaver) December 7, 2019

3.

No “Bohemian Rhapsody”

— Ronnie Cho (@RonnieCho) December 7, 2019

4.

stairway to heaven is really long and has a ridiculously long instrumental portion in the middle

— Peter Hess (@PeterNHess) December 7, 2019

5.

don’t pick the monster mash as a joke 😳

— Charles hughes (@chunkhughes) 7 December 2019

6.

“Summer Nights” from Grease. And doing that nasal-y “Niiiiiiiiights” at the end, please no

— Atsuko Okatsuka (@AtsukoComedy) 8 December 2019

But there were other problems.

7.

As someone who's worked in a bar where there was karaoke every Friday night, I have had ample time to observe that 98% of people sing flat after they've had a drink or two. Alcohol *definitely* impinges on people's ability to sing well.

— Kate Dowling (@Kate_DowlingNZ) December 7, 2019