Alt-Rock Karaoke 2004

Posted Sep 8, 2004

Last year, I wrote an entry about karaoke songs on Usenet, focusing on the oddball subgenre of indie and alt-rock karaoke. Well, a year later, not much has changed... Here are some of the recent hipster hits found in alt.binaries.sounds.karaoke:

Modest_Mouse_-_Float_On_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
Yeah_Yeah_Yeahs_-_Maps_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
Franz_Ferdinand_-_Matinee_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
The_Streets_-_Dry_Your_Eyes_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
The_Streets_-_Fit_But_You_Know_It_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
Snow_Patrol_-_Spitting_Games_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
Jet_-_Cold_Hard_Bitch_[Karaoke_Version].mp3
Badly_Drawn_Boy_-_Disillusion_[Karaoke_Version].mp3

Which raises the question, is there a big overlap between karaoke fans and indie-rock fans? I can understand requesting Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" at a karaoke bar, but Franz Ferdinand?

23 Comments (Add Yours)

Sep 8, 2004
1:03 PM

thom wrote:

Rock! This is hot ;p hehehe "Excuse me, but I have my own disc..."

Sep 8, 2004
1:26 PM

alan taylor wrote:

Love it - grooving to 'Maps' right now. Would never ever try to actually sing the damn thing, but am having fun imagining it being butchered by others.

Sep 8, 2004
2:21 PM

mark wrote:

This will work well for all those homemade mash mix dj's.

Sep 8, 2004
2:33 PM

Justin wrote:

Last time I went to a karaoke place, our guides spent the evening performing the most offensive hip-hop tunes they could dig up. it's hilarious!

Sep 8, 2004
4:37 PM

hmmmm wrote:

Why are you so into posting this kind of shit? Waxy is really more like a direct download warez blog these days.

1. Find cool usenet warez
2. Find convenient cultural tie-in (copyright and the mpaa, olympic games etc.) to distract from that fact you're posting copyrighted material
=
3. New waxy entry!

Sep 8, 2004
5:43 PM

Andy Baio wrote:

You forgot Step 4: "Profit!"

But seriously, I've been interested in the grey areas of copyright for a long time. This really isn't a new thing... Go back through my archives, and you'll see that I was talking about Usenet and reposting media found in the newsgroups within a couple months of starting my weblog. The only thing that stopped me before was a lack of bandwidth, which isn't a problem anymore.

Besides, I've never posted anything even remotely close to warez! When I post audio or video, it's almost exclusively something that is difficult to find and/or commercial unavailable. (The Grey Album, Heat Vision and Jack, rare Disneyland audio, and so on.)

Sep 8, 2004
7:25 PM

john-mike wrote:

Are their a group for vocal only mp3s? I don't see one obviously listed.

Sep 8, 2004
8:36 PM

Andy Baio wrote:

Like a cappella music? No, I don't think so.

Sep 8, 2004
8:39 PM

David Jacobs wrote:

is there a big overlap between karaoke fans and indie-rock fans?

I would say yes, resoundingly.

Sep 9, 2004
2:38 PM

Robotkid wrote:

Thanks for the mp3s. I'm working on Karaoke Revolution for the Xbox, (fingers crossed we go gold tomorrow!) and it would be nice to sing some hipster hits for a change! :)

Sep 10, 2004
11:37 AM

DeAnn wrote:

Some of those songs seem like they'd be weird sung karaoke style.

Hey, I'm just saying...

Sep 12, 2004
10:42 PM

One Take Humphries wrote:

Fear the day Hey Ya makes it into karaoke roation. Fear.

Sep 14, 2004
11:02 PM

Andy Baio wrote:

Not surprisingly, "Hey Ya" is available in the same karaoke newsgroup, as well.

Sep 17, 2004
11:03 AM

Mike B wrote:

"Begs the question" is NOT the same as 'asks (or brings up) the question'. "Begs the question" is a specific logical error. Please be careful with choice of phrases if they are not well understood.

Sep 17, 2004
3:18 PM

Andy Baio wrote:

Thank you, grammar police! Your anal-retentive attention to detail, though unrequested and off-topic, has been duly noted. How about e-mailing me next time?

Sep 21, 2004
9:11 AM

Gehd wrote:

I've been to a few hipster karaoke bars and sometimes the hipsters need to take a break from playing the most ironic song they can find in the mix (Bon Jovi, MC Hammer) and sing songs they can honestly like.

Sep 21, 2004
5:21 PM

Shahid wrote:

Wow, nice karaoke tracks.

Sep 24, 2004
10:32 AM

Martin Bannon wrote:

I make my living running karaokes and singing in a rock covers band. I wanted to sing rock songs for years, butnever foud a band to join.
Because of this I started a Rock Karaoke night at my local Rock venue. A year and a half later,it is still going strong, and even expande to two different cities.
It's just a chance to sing some of your favourite songs, without being looked at weirdly by all the Celine Dion and Neil Diamond fans at other karaoke bars.

Oct 6, 2004
9:20 AM

matt wrote:

I want my thirty minutes back!

Seriously, I think that is just fascinating. Thanks!

Dec 2, 2004
10:09 AM

Nikole Jolie wrote:

Woah! Very impressive karaoke style...

Jan 1, 2005
5:43 AM

ian c wrote:

Please does some kind soul know where I can download free some Karaoke songs in cdg format or similar.
If so, please can you email ian at kasfig@aol.com
Yours with thanks
Ian

Apr 19, 2005
12:30 PM

DJ Do It wrote:

I host a weekly karaoke night in Athens, GA that is nothing but Indie Rock. I have over 1,000 songs from such bands as Weezer, Velvet Underground, Sonic Youth, Pavement, Le Tigre and many many more (for a more complete list of bands, visit my url). I'm heading out west this June; if you want me to visit your town give a holler. It's the best karaoke experience you'll ever have.

Aug 23, 2005
1:52 PM

Randy wrote:

I sooo want to go to a Karaoke where they have Franz Ferdinand.. I woulda prefer Darts of Pleasure or Michael, but Matinnee is good enough :p

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Alt-Rock Karaoke 2004

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