Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight from the Fox & Friends podcast
is Ed Kennard, who you may recall was my guest
all the way back on Episode 3, The Ultimate Songs
of 1993 playlist. Ed, welcome back, my friend.
Brian, it's so good to see and hear you quasi
-in -person over the internet again. Well, tonight
we are talking about a topic that I'm going to
guess is near and dear to you as your former
podcast. The greatest song ever sung poorly was
a dedication to the art of karaoke and thus a
topic that I'm safely assuming you're comfortable
crafting a mixtape for. I think I have the requisite
CV. to be a valued guest on this one. I might
be living in the punk rock world now, but karaoke
is and always will be my first love. Amen. So
let's talk karaoke PSAs and cliches. What were
you looking to bring to the table for this side
of the coin? Well, Brian, you tend to be overall
a little bit more positive than I am when it
comes to things sometimes. I can be harshly critical.
But with karaoke, I am not. I love every performance,
whether it's good or bad, whether it's a song
I like or a song I hate. Now, that said, to talk
about the cliches, the things you see at karaoke
all the time and things that, you know, might
not go over so well. I just kind of brought a
this is some advice on if you want your karaoke
night to go well. It's no condemnation of these
songs or these singers, but there are things
that. one should probably keep in their mind
before they're starting their karaoke journey
for the evening. And I think that's the same
approach I took because some of the songs that
made my cliches list are songs I absolutely genuinely
love. And I love seeing them performed. And it's
not a one size fits all approach here. Some of
these things work well in one room and not in
the other. So it's kind of just guidelines, if
you will, from somebody who's done karaoke many
and many a times. Now, on the other side of that
coin, Ed, we have home run songs. What was your
mindset there? Well, Brian, I was trying to think
because, I mean, karaoke is a regional thing.
Karaoke. And when I say regional, I mean, it
could be the actual. geographic region, like
a state or a territory. It can also be like based
on the age range of the people who are in that
bar. And so the way I figured it would make the
most sense is since I'm here with you and we
are both men of a certain age, I am treating
this like we are going to a bar that is highly
populated by late Gen X, early millennials. So
not like the 21 year old crowd, not the 70 year
old crowd. And songs that I think would go over
well that don't get done a lot, but are still
not like super obscure that no one knows what
they are. All right. That's pretty much the approach
I took as well. And then I also thought about
songs that invite the crowd. to join in because
karaoke, while it feels like you're up there,
quote unquote, performing, the audience is just
as much a part of the vibe as the person on stage.
So the songs I picked for that side of the spectrum
are the ones that really invite everybody to
sing along with you, no matter what genre of
music we're talking about. I think that's a really
good strategy. Well, let's get down to business.
Tonight, as I mentioned at the top of the show,
Ed and I will be curating the ultimate karaoke
101 PSAs, cliches, and home runs mixtape, and
we'll use the old cassette deck approach. Ed,
as my special guest, will begin side A with his
first song choice, and then I'll add a song that
I feel best follows up that choice. We'll then
flip -flop choosing songs until we've mapped
out 10 songs for side A. We'll then give our
mixtape a proverbial flip and we'll map outside,
be only this time I'll kick things off with Ed
choosing second. Our overall goal for the episode
is to craft the best karaoke 101 mixtape possible
with only 10 songs for each of our dual topics.
At the end of the show, you can take our conversation
to the next level by visiting the episode page
at myweeklymixtape .com to give our final mixtape
a listen via the embedded playlist. And if you
like what you're hearing on the show, you can
help me out by either telling a friend, leaving
the show a five -star review wherever you're
tuning in, or becoming a Patreon mixtaper at
patreon .com forward slash myweeklymixtape. There
you can enjoy ad -free episodes of the show,
become a future guest, and so much more. And
a few of the Patreon mixtapers chimed in with
the songs they would use to kick off our Karaoke
101 mixtape, and I want to give a few quick shout
-outs. Tom Hutchinson chimed in with tequila
for his karaoke cliche, saying he's seen it performed
more than any other song. And he also chimed
in with build me a buttercup for a karaoke home
run. Philip Bergman chimed in saying he used
to work at a bar restaurant that had karaoke
twice a week. So this will be cringe for him.
But La Bamba is still a jam despite being butchered
by so many drunks. He then proceeded to ask if
I was recording the episode with Ed. So, Ed,
your reputation precedes you, my friend. Seeker
chimed in saying he's not much of a karaoke singer,
but when he does, he's most comfortable with
Gold by Spondau Ballet. And he's not even sure
if it's cliche or not, but it's his personal
home run. And finally, Jen Fink chimed in with
Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, saying if you
can get someone that could really sing, it's
a home run. And I'll also say if you can get
somebody who's maybe not the best singer, you
could pivot from that and use Cake's version
and do it a little bit more monotone and kind
of bring the key down a little bit. So it's something
that anybody could really. Pull out a good one.
So I like that pick a lot. I might be revisiting
that one when we get to the home runs side of
the mixtape. But once again, if you want to chime
in for future My Weekly Mixtape episodes, please
become a member of the Mixtaper family at patreon
.com forward slash My Weekly Mixtape. So, Ed,
with that musical food for thought out in the
atmosphere, I'm officially pressing the record
button on our mixtape and handing the karaoke
mic over to you. Why don't you dive into the
first? PSA and cliche for side A, okay? Thanks,
Brian. I'm calling this one, If You Don't, Don't
Worry, Someone Else Will. And this song is ubiquitous
in karaoke bars. It is the closest thing on this
list to one that I would prefer personally not
to hear just because of how often I have heard
it. It's a duet. It's a little country, sort
of. And it is Picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl
Crow. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That is one that definitely
has become a mainstay for a guy and a girl to
go up and do it together. Because honestly, if
you think about it, how many of those type of
songs do you have from the late 90s on? Maybe
Evanescence, Bring Me to Life. Currently, the
runner up for this, and I know this is not going
to... Step on our toes later, so I don't mind
mentioning it. The new picture is Shallow by
Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I'm not sure if
you're aware of that. That's the new version
of that. But we are men of a certain age, and
I figured that one would resonate with you and
maybe inspire a choice. Yeah. So, hmm. Coming
out of picture by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow. Okay,
you went with, if you don't, don't worry, someone
else will. Okay. So for my first PSA and cliche.
I think I'm going to go with the yes, we know
category. And that would be Starland Vocal Band's
Afternoon Delight. Because yes, I've seen Anchorman
for my fellow movie fans out there and for my
TV fans out there. Yes, I've seen Arrested Development.
A lot of people have. So the ironic nature of
doing it just to try to out comedy. Some of the
greats that were in both that movie and that
TV show, I think sometimes falls flatter than
a couple of beers might indicate. Yeah. In all
fairness, I do love that as a song. Oh, of course.
Great tune. Yeah, it's a great tune. But no,
you're right. I mean, no one is singing it because
they're a very, very big fan of the Starlight
vocal band. Let's be honest. Following that,
that kind of that kind of leads into my next
choice. So that's that's good synchronicity.
My next category is. Oh, you changed the words.
And this one is also getting, I believe, a movie
or TV reference, although the source escapes
me right now. But that is Total Eclipse of the
Heart by Bonnie Tyler. Because I promise you,
it's not a radio edit. That word is just not
actually in the song, and you're putting it in
there. I think I know exactly where that started.
The Dan Band, when they did their cover. laced
with profanity anytime someone goes up there
they try to do that version again to kind of
imitate the comedy from the dan band's version
and my favorite thing about that song though
is it wasn't like even originally written for
her it was supposed to be in like a vampire musical
as a duet it was written by jim steinman right
yes yes and you get that like bad out of hell
meatlo vibe from it he was very theatrical it
feels like you're hearing a rock musical with
every one of his songs but it's done so seamlessly
and so effortlessly he's one of the great songwriters
okay so you change the words uh i'm gonna go
with the same thought process for my song choice
but add a little bit of a spin to it and this
is the read the room category now while total
eclipse of the heart people throw f -bombs and
it's perfectly fine if it's 11 p .m. on a Saturday
night and you want to drop a bunch of F -bombs
into a song, whether they have them or not, great.
Enjoy it. Have fun. However, if it's 1 o 'clock
in the afternoon at an outdoor event that has
families walking around, maybe picking up something
like Tenacious D's Effort Gently, Adam Sandler's
At a Medium Pace, or my pick, Gary Lee and Showdown's
The Rodeo Song, might not be the best decision.
So if there are kids and family still in the
establishment, just read the room and save it
till later. We don't need little Billy going
to kindergarten on Monday morning singing, well,
here comes Johnny. Yeah, we don't need that.
Just read the room and don't make it awkward
for the poor karaoke DJ that's got to skip over
your pick because he's reading the room and seeing
that that would not be the appropriate time to
do it. My only caveat with that, and I have seen
this, is if it's 11 p .m. and it's a bar and
there's a kid there, you know what? Do it because
those parents are very bad parents having their
child at a bar at 11 p .m. And that's not going
to be the worst thing that kid hears that day.
I was about to say, of course, 100%. I'm just
talking about like if there's a karaoke booth
at the town fair, that might not be the best
song choice. Not ideal, no. you know the room
and doing things with a song and things like
that i want to change it to actual um proficiency
for for this one if you wouldn't mind i'm calling
this how hard can hip -hop be now this is one
of my personal like karaoke peccadillos if you
will i started doing karaoke by doing hip -hop
actually it took me a long time to be able to
hit a note and it's questionable whether i do
or not now but there are people who think that
Rapping is just talking over a beat and you need
a much better developed sense of rhythm than
just talking over a beat to rap in general or
karaoke. And so my pick for that is the one that
I have seen people get tripped up on the most
because they're like, of course I know this song.
And they start doing it and they're like, oh,
wow, no, this is harder than I thought. And that
song is Baby Got Back by Sir Mix -N -Up. Ah,
yes. My personal advice for doing hip hop and
karaoke is do not do a hip hop song that you
need to look at a screen for. If you need to
look at a screen, you shouldn't do it. Crawl
before you walk. For this category, if I was
picking a song, the first one that comes to mind
is Eminem's Godzilla with Juice WRLD. Because
sure, people on TikTok have nailed it impressively,
like mind blowing. But if you're a six pack deep
and you've never gone up to a karaoke mic before.
It's probably a cold, hard reality that you're
not going to spit fire like Eminem. And I don't
know, maybe start with like an ice ice baby and
work your way up to the goat, because even the
rhythmic nature that you talked about with Sir
Mix -a -Lot, one of my favorite hip hop songs
to do when I go to karaoke is Naughty by Nature's
OPP. The reason I love doing that song is because
it involves the room as much as possible. You're
down with OPP. Yeah, you know me. There you go.
And that's what you bring to that atmosphere.
It took me years of listening and rapping along
with that song to know that I could walk up on
stage without Tretch's vocal track and be able
to deliver it. And that's what I love about that
song is the rhythmic delivery, the flow, if you
will, of how the words come out. If you know
a song really well, hip hop and karaoke can be
some of the greatest songs of the night. However,
you lose that rhythm. Oh, good God. Now, doing
karaoke with Brian Colburn is now higher on my
bucket list than it was before because I'm impressed
that you can do Tretch because that man will
double and triple on a beat and that will trip
people up. So I'm going to have to come out to
your state and we're going to have to go out
some night. Oh, dude, we're going to have to.
My old cover band used to do OPP as well. The
only time I ever tripped up on the song when
our. drummer was just feeling the room a little
too much and instead of it being it was more
like i couldn't keep up with the flow at that
pace and i totally lost the song that night but
other times at the correct speed i could nail
that one anyway at a medium pace there you go
touche well i'm gonna follow up how hard could
rap be with the Ever so popular, how hard could
metal be category? And for this one, I'll just
go with something because you can go with any
heavy song here. So just for lack of an argument,
a song that most people would be familiar with
when you talk about a metal song. Let's just
go with Metallica's Enter Sandman for this one.
This is the song that I've actually seen get
butchered more times than not. And it's not for
the fact that. People don't get the melody and
rhythm and vocal lines of the song. It's that
they think they need to get up there and cup
their hand over the microphone and scream as
loud as they can into the literal ball of the
mic to the point where it's distorting out of
the speakers and people in the karaoke bar are
covering their ears. If you can't scream musically,
don't scream the song, just sing it and people
will get into it and sing along with you. And
that'll bring that heft. But if you're just going
to go up there and yell and kind of miss the
melody of the song, as funny as it might seem,
Enter Sandman is five minutes long. The joke
wears thin very quickly. So that's like my PSA
for that one. And metal singing is actually like
its own talent. can i give a little shout out
to a bar in cincinnati that i love and adore
sure go to mixwell's in the north side of cincinnati
if you want to do like punk rock or heavy metal
to have a really appreciative crowd for that
my friend amber she's in a metal band the night
that i met her she actually did that like legitimate
metal growl at this place totally appropriate
for the place and also i was like I don't understand
how you physically make that noise. I'm not going
to be able to learn to make that noise. I'm not
going to try. But I was so impressed. And, like,
that's a place where stuff like that would go
over really well. But also, she's not just doing
a scream. Like, she's doing the actual metal
sing noise thing with her throat. Like, I don't
understand how it's humanly possible to do. But
she gets it. And, I mean, there's a reason that
she fronts a metal band called Vile Sanctum.
That's why. Because she can do that. I cannot
and I don't front any bands. And there's a reason
for that as well. And the other part of that
is, believe it or not, if you're yelling loudly
into the mic, you could conceivably blow this
karaoke DJ speakers, blow a cone. Sometimes if
he's got the level set too high, it could overload
the speakers. You know, if you're really going
to go for it, give the guy a heads up. Cause
he could bring the mic down. And even if you're
screaming, it's not going to like blow patrons
ears out because that might be what those patrons
take away from the night. And it might put a
bad reputation on that karaoke DJ at the same
time. Yeah. If you, if you want to do that, find
your metal friendly bar, don't do it at your
local Italian restaurant, family place that also
has karaoke on the weekends. Maybe just throwing
that out there. All right. Well, we're throwing
back to you now. Track seven on our PSAs and
cliches. And we're talking about just vocal stuff
now, right? So I'm calling this one. I mean,
it's great, but it's acapella. And the reason
I chose that is there's not a lot of songs that
this plays into. I can think of the song The
Scotsman for one, which I'm sure some listeners
are familiar with, but not enough people are
familiar with it for me to make that my choice.
So my choice for this is. Mercedes -Benz by Janis
Joplin. Ah, yes. Great song, but is it karaoke
if you are just singing and there's no accompaniment?
I mean, karaoke means empty orchestra in Japanese,
if you pronounce it correctly, which I do not.
But that's what it means. And there is no orchestra
playing to Mercedes -Benz. There's the foot stomp.
Is that? I don't think that's in the karaoke
track of it, but maybe it is. I might have to
listen to it without a bar full of people to
find out. I'd be curious because that's like
that faint stomp that you hear on that live recording.
That's the one thing that made it feel so real.
It's in the distance. It doesn't sound mic'd
up. It's just her tapping her foot, it sounds
like. And it adds such a heft to that performance.
But anyway. Not talking about the song. Yeah,
that's not something I've seen very often. So
I'd almost be curious because if you have the
chutzpah to go up there and pick a song and sing
it without musical accompaniment, chances are
you could probably nail it. My favorite is when
I get tripped up and I forget that a song starts
without anything. And I'm like, oh, it's just
me for this little bit. Oh, no. Oh, no. Because
I don't want to hear me. You probably don't want
to hear me. No one wants to hear me. I'm terrible.
I haven't seen you perform karaoke, but if your
podcasting prowess is any indication, I am sure
you're fantastic at it. You flatterer. But with
that, I am going to follow up acapella with a
category I'd like to call, how high are you?
And hear me out. I don't actually mean the green
high. I'm talking about the vocal range high.
Because let's be honest, when you take a song
like The Darkness. I believe in a thing called
love, which is my pick. If you can't hit the
vocal stratosphere, the way Justin Hawkins does
for the darkness, three to four drinks in, even
though you believe you can, chances are you can't.
And I think this also goes for songs like more
than a feeling by Boston. I'll never let you
go by steel heart or the BG staying alive. Like.
If you can't even falsetto in your car, it'll
probably end up being a cringe performance if
you try to pull it off. So think twice before
getting too high at the karaoke bar. But if you
can pull it off, you know, hats off to you. My
bass baritone will not stretch to that. I have
some friends who will do that song or Grace Kelly
by Mika and absolutely, you know, you always
want something you can't have. I'm never going
to hit that note. I'm stretching to hit tenor.
I have one song for the karaoke home run side
that might fall under this range be damned category.
It just happens to be one that I can hit, but
we'll get to that later. Coming out of the darkness,
I believe in a thing called love. How high are
you? What do you got next? So you're taking distance
and going up with high. I'm taking distance and
going out with length. And so this one is. That's
like a two for one, my guy. Karaoke should be
egalitarian. Karaoke should be so everybody has
a chance. When you do an eight minute plus song,
you're functionally taking a song out of the
night, out of the rotation. And for that reason,
American Pie by Don McLean at eight minutes and
36 seconds. That's the length of four punk rock
songs, if you think about it that way. But eight
minutes and 36 seconds of just you? Nah. Yeah,
I feel that. Now, I have one that falls under
this category, but I'd like to phrase it to you
as a question. Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
You're getting two singers up there. Does that
count as one song for each or do you give that
a pass? So I very rarely host karaoke. I host
karaoke in a pinch if somebody pays me enough
and I have nothing else going on. I do not like
hurting drunks, which is what hosting karaoke
turns into by 2 a .m. That said, I mean, like
in my ideal world, that would count as a song
for each singer and then sure, fair. But I will
say this. The absolute best karaoke performance
I've ever seen was that song. And it wasn't for
the best reasons. There was a guy at a bar in
central Pennsylvania who went to every woman
in the bar and asked to duet that song with him.
And everyone said no. And he's still committed
to doing it. But instead of singing both parts,
maybe altering his voice for the female vocal,
when it came to her vocal part, he just looked
down at his feet real sad. And then picked it
back up when it was Meatloaf again. And by the
end of that, he won that bar over because he
committed to the bit. Now, in all fairness, in
all fairness, this is going back to how hard
hip hop can be. I personally break this rule
once a month or at least by doing Rapper's Delight
by myself. But again, it goes back to I'm not
looking at the screen. I'm going to make this
a show. It has to be the right night. And I have
to feel like it's acceptable for me to take up
eight karaoke minutes. I try to make that as
rare as possible. But yeah, like overall, like
the goal is to not do songs that take up two
spots in the rotation. But I mean, I'm a hypocrite.
I do it every once in a while. All right. Well,
to close outside a my last category is hit you
with an irony fist. And that is tequila by the
champs. Yes. The song has one word for its entire
lyrics. I'm sure the first person that ever came
up with that idea to throw that into a karaoke
night probably tore the roof off the place with
laughter. Kind of like the first time somebody
yelled out, play Freebird at a cover band. Big,
big laughs. The sixth and 700th time, not so
much. One of my favorite jam bands, Mo, has a
song that's 48 minutes long. It's a studio cut.
It's called Meat. And over the course of 48 minutes,
it's a progressive instrumental wicked jam that
they do. But they say the word meat twice over
the entire length of the song. If you're going
to commit to the bit, go full on Andy Kaufman
and put in Moe's Meat for your karaoke jam and
see how that one goes over. But yeah, this falls
under the irony fist category. You would think
that after that one guy did that on America's
Got Talent that it would be played out. Yeah.
But I guess it still happens. And I think that
one inspired more people to do it. I think it
really made the joke mainstream. Like, I don't
even know how more mainstream you could get at
this point. Now, I will say this. If you go up
there and do the song while doing the Pee Wee
Herman dance from Pee Wee's Big Adventure, then
it's an A -plus performance. But if you just
stand there waiting, it's not as funny. Now,
back in the day before that was like super ubiquitous.
When I was in grad school, our one karaoke host,
it killed me the first time I saw it. I mean,
he did the bit a couple of times. I'm like, OK,
we get it now. But he when it was the top of
the rotation and he always sang to indicate the
top of the rotation, he's like, all right, so
I'm trying a new song. I've I've been practicing
for weeks. I think I finally have it. Let me
know how I did. I'm a little nervous, but but
like I'm ready to try. And then he did this song
and like we all. thought it was hilarious but
you know then he did the same joke a couple more
times like get it like we get it well there you
have it folks side a for our karaoke 101 mixtape
psas and cliches which kicked off with if you
don't don't worry someone else will picture by
kid rock and cheryl crow in the yes we know category
afternoon delight by the starlight vocal band
In the Oh, You Changed the Words category, Totally
Clips of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler. In the Read
the Room category, The Rodeo Song by Gary Lee
and Showdown. If you do go back and listen to
this playlist, remember, not safe for work. In
the How Hard Can Hip Hop Be category, Baby Got
Back by Sir Mix -a -Lot. In the How Hard Can
Metal Be category, Enter Sandman by Metallica.
In the I Mean It's Great. but it's acapella category,
Mercedes Benz by Janis Joplin. In the how high
are you category, I believe in a thing called
love by the darkness. In the that's like a two
for one category, American Pie by Don McLean.
And hit you with an irony fist category, tequila
by the champs. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear all the songs we've discussed in this
mix through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Now, Ed, before we flip things over and
get to side B, why don't you tell people a little
bit about Fox and Friends and what you guys have
got going on on the new show? Great. Thanks,
Brian. So obviously, some people might be more
familiar with me from the greatest song ever
sung poorly. Karaoke podcast, my best friend
and I did for a couple of years. But we kind
of put that on a semi -permanent hiatus because
he's a grown -up with a job and a wife now and
a kid on the way, whereas I'm somebody who still
just goes to bars and punk shows all the time
because I'm having my midlife crisis, and that's
what I do with it. A friend of mine who goes
professionally by the name of Black Guy Fox,
if you're familiar with that name, you might
have seen him open for Frank Turner at Lost Evenings
last year or seen him open for the Violent Femmes
or for Dave House. He asked me, he's like, hey,
I've been thinking about starting a podcast.
Do you want to do a podcast with me? And I literally
looked at him and I was like, are you asking
me because I know where the podcast buttons are?
And he goes, no, you're a really good friend,
but yeah, you know where the podcast buttons
are. So we talk to musicians and other creatives,
mostly in the punk rock sphere about creativity
and social justice and like causes they care
about and their songwriting process and invariably
their opinions on regional fast food. So, I mean,
it's been a fun ride. I mean, I've got another
chance to sit down with Frank Turner, Kaylee
Goldsworthy, Micah Schnabel and Vanessa Jean
Speckman, Cat Bite, like, all these artists that
I just absolutely adore and love, A Day Without
Love. I'm going to, like, I'll leave somebody
off by, like, saying it, Chuck Reagan. I mean,
like, the fact that, like, we get to talk to
these people is fun for me just as, like, a semi
-outsider who gets to just go along for the ride
with my friend, the musician. You know, I get
to tag along and... Again, I get to hit buttons,
so that's nice. But mostly it's a chance to pal
around with my buddy as his career is taking
off. It's nice to see him be able to promote
shows and tours and things like that through
the medium of podcasting and talking to other
great musicians and some lesser -known ones,
too. We're pretty indiscriminate with things
like that. If you're in that scene... You know,
we love talking to you. It's always a fun conversation
for us, which is really all he and I are looking
for. So again, the name is Black Guy Fox. That's
more important than the show itself. This music's
available everywhere. You should listen. I'm
a fan, but I'm biased. And if people want to
find the show, where can they do that? It's on
everything under Fox and Friends. The spelling
there is important. F -A -W -K -E -S. It's Black
Guy Fox, not Black Guy Fox like the animal, but
Black Guy Fox like the gunpowder treason and
plot. Fantastic. Well, now we're going to flip
things over and hit the record button on our
karaoke home runs side of the playlist. And I
am going to kick things off with this first pick.
Big surprise. I'm going to go with my favorite
artist of all time. And I'm going to go with
a song that I think is one of his most beloved
sing -alongs. Because when you think about Tom
Petty in karaoke, a lot of songs come to mind.
Mary Jane's Last Dance, Refugee, Here Comes My
Girl, Learning to Fly, American Girl. was probably
one of the more popular ones. But the one I'm
going to go with is the one that I think invites
the biggest percentage of the room to join in
on the sing along. And that is, I won't back
down because everybody is going to sing the,
Hey baby, like that part. Everyone's going to
do it at the top of their lungs. It really brings
the room together. It's a joyous song. Kind of
brings a togetherness to the room. And, you know,
sometimes you're at a karaoke night with your
arm around some stranger, you know, drinking
hand, singing along, having a good time. And
you guys become a quote unquote community for
that night. And this is one of those songs that
I always have used throughout the years to get
people to kind of join in the fun. If you call
it that. That's a great choice for that. Like
if we were talking about the cliche stuff, like
everybody does free falling or Mary Jane's last
dance. I won't back down though. That's a banger.
That's a good one. So I will I will let everybody
who listens to your podcast in on a secret. My
secret to karaoke success is to give someone
a dopamine rush, not by how well I sing, because
let's face it, I don't do that well. But I like
to give them a song they forgot they remembered.
Right. So you have that like recognition that,
oh, I know this. And a lot of the songs that
I've chosen for this side are going to be songs
that fit that category. might be forgetting or
might not remember that they know and so for
me uh the first one that when people are age
might forget that they know and like the song
is plowed by sponge oh nice and i mean i think
one of the things that hinders that song at karaoke
is that's not really the words that anyone thinks
of when it comes to that song if i say plowed
by sponge people might go i don't but they're
like in a world of human wreckage oh no i know
that song like yeah so that's i'm kicking it
off with sponge and plowed coming out of tom
petty musically that actually works i was expecting
this side to almost unfold like a karaoke night
where you'd go from just genre hopping like crazy
because this is the one kind of episode where
the musical flow of the mixtape really isn't
the message here because you're never going to
go to a karaoke room where someone's going to
sing a song and someone's going to be like i'll
follow that up with something in that genre no
they're going to do what works best for their
song pick i love when people pull out sponge
and i'll use that for both plowed as well as
molly which is 16 candles down the drain if people
don't remember that song rotting pinata was such
a great album man and so was wax ecstatic for
that point but Plowed my old cover band used
to do. And anytime that people just light up.
So, yeah, I love that pick. And I think coming
out of it, I'm going to stay with this kind of
quasi 90s kind of vibe we got going here. And
I'm going to bring in one that I have never personally
performed. But anytime I've seen it performed.
I knew that as soon as I heard the opening baseline
in this song, kick in with the drums, that there
was no way somebody was going to put this song
in and not be able to crush it. And that is a
lot of miles, black velvet. You hear that. And
then from that opening kind of vocal run, every
time I've heard it done, I've gotten goosebumps
because that song. Really demands a range. You
need to be soft and sultry and yet be able to
belt. If you're stuck in one side, you can't
pull off the song, which is why it isn't done
very often. But I guarantee you, if somebody
puts it in, they can hit both sides of it. And
every time I've seen this done, it's been knocked
out of the park. Unless it's me, because I have
done that song. You have done it. My other secret
is if you want to surprise people. Do a gender
bend, but like do it honestly. Like when I do
it, I don't try to sound like Alana Miles. I
invariably sound like Johnny Cash had a couple
too many drinks and try to sing a different song.
So I just like I just change it to my vocal range.
I don't I don't ask them to just pitch or anything
like that. I'm just like, no, I'm just gonna
sing along with this where I can, which is, you
know. in a lower register. I'm going to kind
of keep that going. Um, actually it's funny.
Our side B is turning out to be more cohesive
than I expected it to. But like, again, like
people doing songs a lot, we covered total eclipse
of the heart the first time I would proffer this
as an alternative to total eclipse of the heart.
That'll still hit that dopamine rush of people
knowing that they know the song and just kind
of like forgetting about it. I don't hear it
at karaoke very often. And that song is kiss
me deadly by Lita Ford. Nice. It's got that same,
like, power rock thing to it but it's not as
you know overdone as total eclipse of the heart
or some other songs like that and the shock factor
of hearing somebody like really nail that because
that that's a belty song that's a borderline
metal screamy song if you can do that like why
are you not doing that all the time like i'm
i'm envious you should you should do that song
one of my good friends from high school nicky
who sings with the band now we started bringing
in some more female oriented songs for her part
of the set list and at the end of the night i
got the band to practice at home because i just
said i got a feeling this will go over well and
everybody learned the parts and just live in
front of an entire audience at a winery the last
song of the night we broke into kiss me deadly
acoustically with the piano instead of the synthesizer
sounds Place lost their frigging mind because
it was just heavy enough that people were, quote
unquote, rocking at a winery. But it wasn't heavy
because of the acoustic guitars. So it almost
gave it this MTV unplugged vibe and it worked
so damn well. The place lost their shit. And
I could see this song going over huge in a karaoke
bar. Well. I'm going to stick musically with
this Lita Ford vibe because the one thing I know
is if you have a good karaoke DJ, he will try
to pair a couple of songs together if they fit
in a vibe, especially as you get towards the
end of the night. And if we were at the end of
the night and Kiss Me Deadly was played, and
let's say you're in a regional bar to me, which
is New Jersey, and there's a very good chance
at some point of the night, whether you want
to or not, you will hear one of the... New Jersey
state anthems, which is Bon Jovi's living on
a prayer. And there are some people from the
state of New Jersey that will be vomiting right
now that I even brought this song up. However,
the woes in any karaoke bar in the country go
over and you don't have to sing along with it
because the chorus basically from the bridge
on, we got to hold on to what everybody is singing
along with that song. And if it's an acoustic,
like mellower night for karaoke, throw a real
curve ball. And if they have it, do the prayer
94 slowed down acoustic version. If you really
want to throw people for a loop, we've done that
one with Colburn and company at the end of the
night. And it, it almost causes like the cell
phone lighters in the air. So. See, I need to
come out for one of those Colburn and company
gigs at some point. Yeah, dude, there are a lot
of fun. We have so much fun because believe it
or not, your approach to karaoke. Actually, Brian.
That was the number one song I had on my playlist
as choices for this side. So I am going to make
my next song Dishwalla's Counting Bars because
I've been doing karaoke once a week for well
over 15 years, and I can probably count on my
hands how many times I've heard this song at
karaoke. I don't think it's anyone's favorite
song, but so many people know it and have some
vague fondness for it. that it does hit that
dopamine button. They're like, oh, I know this
song. And like, if that is your favorite song,
I am sorry. I have just never encountered somebody
who said, no, Counting Blue Cars, Dishwalla,
that's my jam. I've never heard that, but it
works for karaoke. And I'll tell you, it works
in a live acoustic setting because when you start
with that song, a lot of people kind of look
around, like you see this like, hmm, I know that
riff. I know that riff. And even during the verse,
they're going. Why do I know this? How do I know
this? And as soon as they get to the tell me
all your thoughts on God, you see a bunch of
people kind of go like throw their arms up and
go, that's it. And that's what we're going for
with our whole set list. And I'm going to follow
that up with a song that we do at the end of
the night to get that same effect. After a three
hour gig, my voice is usually starting to get
shot and trying to hit songs in the stratosphere.
Becomes tougher and tougher. And I know that
there's one at the end of the night. That we
always do. And that one does involve some. Stratospheric
moments. So to give my voice a break. In the
middle of the second set. But keep people losing
their minds. I go with Violent Femmes Blister
in the Sun. That opening acoustic guitar riff.
Is punky. But it's a rock song. But it's got
an indie vibe. It's just so many. fun things
all mixed into one. And it's one of those songs
that for a person who's new to karaoke, you don't
have to really hit it all that well, because
that's kind of the beauty of it. It's meant to
be quirky and a little uncomfortable in the delivery.
So to me, this is a great starter song. You don't
even necessarily have to sing it. You can almost
talk it. When I'm walking, I strap my stuff like
that gets people smiling. It gets people singing
along, especially the let me go wild in the chorus
way to invite the room into the mix. And yeah,
I'm getting a little bit of my punk edge out,
but doing it in a way that. It actually hits
the dopamine button for two different generations
because the people that grew up with the Violent
Femmes in the 80s are not the same age as the
people that discovered the song when Claire Danes
danced around in My So -Called Life in the 90s
and the song became a hit from that show. So
it's that dopamine button for two different generations
as far as I'm concerned. Let me state first off
that I absolutely love the Violent Femmes. I
mean, they're folk punk icons. my podcast partner
opened for them in connecticut on their 40th
anniversary of that first album so got to hear
the entire first album back to back but there
was one night at karaoke where somebody told
me man you sound just like gordon gaino and i'm
like i don't know that that's complimentary but
thank you um i actually had as an alternative
on the side to blister in the sun kiss off because
it's so fun enough people know it but you don't
hear it a lot and i mean Like that great chant
in the middle, like it's so much fun to do a
karaoke, but it does get to that that one screamy
part, which makes it a little bit more difficult.
But yeah, no, I mean, that's a absolutely great
choice. And now I'm trying to decide which of
these songs would follow that best. And I'm going
to actually go with like what I will have. I
have always said the song is the most underrated
song of the grunge era and the grunge era always
tends to go over. Really well at karaoke, mainly
because a lot of us are a lot of people at karaoke
bars are in their late 30s to early 50s. So,
I mean, it hits that that sweet spot. And one
of the things to remember is like Brian and I
are both guys. Like typically you'd expect us
to pick a lot of guy songs. So I want to make
a concerted effort to have more female vocals.
So we're talking grunge. We're talking female
vocals. We're talking cannonball by the breeders.
Nice. What an underrated song. And that's another
one that starts off with that opening that's
so iconic. I love that song, and I'm happy I
got to include it on this list. I've done that
one before, too. I've played Cannonball on bass
with a band before, but I have never sang it.
That is such a great one. The song that I had
in that category was the Cranberry Zombie. Because
obviously the song was huge in the 90s. So you
still had the female population when I was going
to a lot of karaoke bars in the late 90s, early
2000s. That song got played a lot. But then with
Bad Wolf's cover, it got a resurgence. And we
were on stage one night on a night that our female
singer didn't show up because she had another
gig previously scheduled. So it was just a trio.
And that song got requested. And I'm pausing
and I'm tapping. my forehead and the keyboard
player's looking at me and he goes you know it's
a four chord charlie right i said yeah i know
the song and the drummer goes i could do it and
they looked at me and i i turned to the crowd
and said look we'll do it under one condition
every single one of you need to sing the chorus
because i can't hit the entire chorus and let
me tell you i did all the verses and when he
hit the chorus everyone sang so loud I just got
to back up off the mic and let them take it,
and it was one of those feel -good moments. The
Breeders, on the flip of that, is one of those
songs that people are up dancing the whole time.
So your final pick is Zombie by the Cranberries.
Well, yeah. After all of that spiel about the
Cranberries, I'm actually not going to go with
that. Cranberries get an honorable mention. Woo!
Sorry about that. For my last pick of the night,
I had a song kind of earmarked for this spot
because I did a sing along with Tom Petty's I
Won't Back Down. It's a song Colburn and Company
does. And so is my last pick of the night. And
again, this is a song that's seen a resurgence
in the last decade. So you get the 80s crowd
that gets the dopamine hit. You get the 2020s
crowd that get the dopamine hit. And everybody
sings along at the same time with the high notes,
which gives my life, makes it a little bit easier.
And that is Toto's Africa or Weezer's Africa,
depending on which version you go with. Having
to hit those high notes at the end of the night,
falsetto or not, after you've been singing for
three hours is not an easy feat. And there are
some nights where I do the Vince Neil and I point
the mic to the crowd because I know that if I
try to hit it, it's going to. ruin all the hard
work we put in for the last three hours. But
in karaoke, it's one of those ones that you could
falsetto it. You could sing it however you want.
You could go an octave lower and people are still
going to be going nuts. So my last pick of the
night is Toto's Africa. You know, I have, I'm
happy that you went with a song that some people
might even call like a karaoke cliche because
it is that good of a karaoke song. And you're
right. Like no matter what, you can't miss with
that. The only Toto song I've ever done in karaoke.
is uh rosanna but i have to tag somebody in to
do the higher parts because i can't do it but
i'll do the lower parts so i mean this is the
last song of the mixtape brian yeah this is a
big honor and this is a big responsibility and
again pressure i used to have a karaoke podcast
i literally have the word karaoke tattooed on
my knuckles at this point in my life man yes
so i have to like all eyes are on me for this
choice this is this is a lot of pressure um you
know i could go with a deep cut like I could
go with something that hits that dopamine pop.
I could, you know, there's so many songs I could
go with, but I'm just going to go with the best
karaoke song of all time. Possibly the best song
of all time. It's possible. I'm not sure. I don't
know how you would qualify that. I am not a musician.
I don't know. But I have never failed to see
this song get a good response, whether somebody
sang it well, whether they sang it poorly. Whether
they sang it in the original key or if they sang
it the way that I would. And that song, my friend,
is ABBA, Dancing Queen. Possibly the best pop
song of all time. I'll stand by that. That is
just, I see 21 -year -olds in my college town
sing that. I see 78 -year -olds in Florida sing
that. No matter what, it goes over well, whether
they sing it well or whether they sing it like
me, which is not so good. I mean, when you're
talking about one of the biggest bands ever in
the history of recorded music, I mean, for popularity,
album sales, all of it. What a great pick. And
it's something that, again, gets everybody in
the room singing along. And because of the movie,
again, jumping generations. So you're getting
multiple generations to sing along. So even those
outside of our demographic. have been exposed
to this song and are into this song. And again,
it invites that sing -along that's kind of been
woven in and out of our incredible karaoke home
runs, Side B, which kicked off with Tom Petty's
I Won't Back Down, Sponge Plowed, Alana Miles'
Black Velvet, Lita Ford's Kiss Me Deadly, Bon
Jovi's Livin' on a Prayer, Dish Wallace' Counting
Blue Cars, Violin Femme's Blister in the Sun,
The Breeders' Cannonball, Toto's Africa, and
ABBA's Dancing Queen. Head over to myweeklymixtape
.com to hear all the songs we discussed in this
mix through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Well, Ed, why don't you remind people once
again where they can find Fox & Friends and maybe
what you guys got coming up in the coming months
at the show. The show is called Fox and Friends
against F .A .W .K .E .S. as in Guy Fawkes, not
Fox the animal, although we've had some hilarious
misspellings of it over the years. The best thing
to do is just to follow Black Guy Fawkes on social
media because the show is a part of his creative
endeavor. So the podcast itself doesn't have
its own website. It's just it's all Black Guy
Fawkes. I'm just the my job is filling the middle
aged white guy. quota for the podcast and that's
what i do that's what i bring to the table i'm
a man in my 40s with no hair well you did that
job tonight very well and thank you so much for
joining me again on my weekly mixtape let's make
this not another 70 episodes before we get you
back on again i'm sure we can find a theme and
remember mixtapers you can find my weekly mixtape
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and until next time, enjoy the tunes.