Raftery attributes this to a supposedly Japanese penchant for hard work, but having been to countless drinking parties in Japan where usually staid co-workers endeared themselves to their colleagues through goofy behavior, I'm sure one of the reasons karaoke caught on there was its potential for forming bonds through shared embarrassment-not necessarily as big a selling point in the U.S. Karaoke, a combination of the Japanese words for "empty" and "orchestra," was conceived in 1971 when Daisuke Inoue, a mediocre drummer living in Kobe, invented a machine that produced five minutes of singalong time for less than a dollar.Īlthough karaoke spread all over Japan in the 1980s, its earliest American enthusiasts had a tougher time. Although karaoke got us singing again, it didn't happen overnight. Raftery connects karaoke to a tradition of communal song, before recorded music came along and made us all too self-conscious to open our mouths. Raftery even provides a useful starting point for karaoke newbies in the form of a list titled "Fifty Songs I'll Never Stop Singing at Karaoke." He is a far braver karaoke artist than I am, willing to take on songs such as Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" and TLC's "No Scrubs." I prefer the loud and fast: my list would be topped by the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black" and David Bowie's "Modern Love." The last-mentioned can be determined according to a complex formula that takes into account such qualities as mystery (Raftery prefers second-tier songs-stay away from "Let it Be" and "Satisfaction," he pleads), diversity (avoid repetitive choruses) and absurdity (go for quirky, hummable songs over soul-searching lyrics). The book is an elegy for his 20s, a fascinating look at the underbelly of the music business, a meditation on the nature of authenticity and a quest for the perfect karaoke song. Brian Raftery, the most obsessive karaoke fan you could imagine, perfectly captures this exhibitionist thrill in his entertaining history of the art titled Don't Stop Believin': How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life.
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