This Friday, we're excited to host our first (virtual and FREE) party in months! And it all centers around karaoke, something near and dear to the hearts of Radio Milwaukee staff members. So as we get ready for Sing That Thing, we thought we'd warm up our pipes by sharing with you some of our go-to karaoke songs.
"I Will Survive" - Gloria Gaynor Along with singing this absolute banger, you end up *acting* it, *feeling* it. I love getting a group of friends and screaming this song out. High Dive does karaoke every now and then, and I rallied up my friends and we were in the crowd singing *at* people, really embodying the queen herself, Ms. Gaynor. - Steph Baghai
"Paint it Black" - The Rolling Stones I've got a terrible voice and I can't hold a note for the life of me, which leaves me with one play when I'm doing karaoke: Go for volume. "Paint It Black" is one of the few classics that even I can't mess up. It's short, it's dynamic, it's shout-y, and you can work the crowd into clapping along with it. Always a hit. - Evan Rytlewski
"The Sign" - Ace of Bass My sisters (I have three of them) and I grew up on Ace of Base and "The Sign" was one of our favorite songs. Earlier this year, my youngest sister hosted karaoke night for her birthday at High Dive and we sang this song together (minus one sister because she lives far away)! - Maddy Riordan
"Johnny B. Goode" - Chuck Berry It's simple, upbeat, and I can sing it well. At Summerfest, they used to have recording booths where you could sing karaoke and they gave you a cassette tape of it afterward (sponsored by WKLH one summer). Anyway, I did Johnny B. Goode and it was very good so I've stuck to it since. - Doris Wessels
"Mother" by Danzig Started as a joke, but surprisingly a lot of karaoke lists have this one so I just kept doing it. Lots of opportunity for over-the-top vocal theatrics. - Amelinda Burich
"I Would Die 4 U" - Prince This song is the epitome of Prince's Purple Essence and the most fun to perform with choreography and all from the "Purple Rain" movie. A feel good tune for every woman and man! - B~Free
'You Never Even Called Me by My Name" - David Allen Coe Last year, for my birthday, I wanted to do karaoke, but I only wanted to do old, sad, country karaoke. I knew no one at a bar wanted to be put through that and that a standard karaoke machine would not have the David Allen Coe catalogue, and, honestly, rightfully so. So I bought a personal PA system from Sam's Club (using my mom's membership) and all my friends came to my place and we did all our old sad country songs in the comfort of my own home, including this song 8-10 times. - Justin Barney
"Song 2" - Blur Uh....it runs 1:59 and most of the words are "woo hoo." - Nate Imig
"Last Night" - The Strokes My favorite bar in New York City was a place called Winnie's that recently reopened. It's an old-school establishment where you have to pay a dollar per play of a karaoke song and they literally put in a manual DVD for your song with a video that's as unrelatable as possible (not ironically) but everyone in the place is encouraged to sing and interact along. I think this song choice at that time in New York got the whole room riled up, people dancing on chairs and downing flaming shots, it was a riot! - Ayisha Jaffer
"Buddy Holly" - Weezer It's a fun song, simple in melody and as a kid I watched the music video over and over again. I loved "Happy Days" back then so when I saw the video I was infatuated. Unfortunately, I get pretty off-key singing this one. - Olivia Richardson
"Take Me or Leave Me" - Idina Menzel & Traci Thoms (from the musical "Rent") I sang karaoke every Thursday at Miss Katie’s Diner for the better part of two years. There were several staples that were sung every week (“Landslide,” “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” “Life on Mars”) but this one is my absolute favorite. You can duet it with a friend and take on the performance jitters together. Or you can do both parts and have a singing argument with yourself. Either way is fun, but I usually opt for the latter. And for those (incorrect) people that don’t like musicals, take me or leave me, baby! - Sarah Mac Lahr