Down on his luck, drummer Daisuke Inoue moved back home to live with his parents in Kobe, Japan. It was 1968, he was 28 and couldn’t make ends meet—things were bad. Unable to find work as a percussionist, he taught himself to play the keyboard and started playing in bars called “snacks” where it was common for customers to sing along with live music.
A customer approached him one day with a special request: He had a business meeting the next day in a neighboring village and knew that they would likely end up in a “snack” where he would be called upon to sing. Wanting to impress his colleagues, he requested that Daisuke make a recording of songs to suit his voice. He was so thrilled with the result that he came back the next day requesting more. It was the birth of a brilliant idea.
Daisuke Inoue's Juke 8, the first karaoke machine.
Daisuke envisioned something akin to a jukebox; together with a friend he developed what was essentially an amplifier, a microphone and a coin box that played backtracks with no vocals. Initially he placed his machine—the Juke 8—into ten bars and they were received with absolute indifference. Certain he just needed to give his idea a boost, he hired a cute girl to go into the bars and sing a few songs on his Juke 8—in no time his investment paid off. And that’s how a worldwide phenomenon was born.
In the early days, karaoke was expensive to install and you needed a book of lyrics to go along with the tracks. But the tech revolution meant that by the 1980s, the familiar format of lyrics displayed over a music video took over. DVDs eventually offered hundreds of karaoke tracks for pennies on the dollar. Then game consoles brought karaoke (and its instrumental spinoffs) into millions of living rooms around the world; they could even give you a score based on how accurate your tone and timing were. Today’s mobile apps make it possible to sing to pretty much anything—whenever and wherever you like. People even use karaoke apps to learn languages.
The popularity of karaoke across Asia is mind-boggling. In the smallest of towns you will find karaoke clubs, karaoke machines in restaurants, and a DVD player with a mic in most homes. You will even find fully-equipped karaoke taxis in many places. In Japan alone, the karaoke industry is estimated to be worth $10 billion. The Philippines is just as Karaoke-crazy. The first patented karaoke system was held by a Filipino in 1975. On a darker note, more than six killings have been attributed to arguments over singing Frank Sinatra's “My Way.”
And the success has gone global. In 2009, a NASCAR crowd set the world karaoke record with over 160,000 people singing Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places” before a race. But it's Italy’s Leonardo Polverelli who takes the karaoke marathon crown with 101 hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds on September 23, 2011—that’s over four days straight of singing!
Karaoke is more than just a video, some cheesy music and a microphone. Not only is it a fun Saturday night out, but it’s also a popular tsukiai (after-work socializing) activity in Japan—which is often required to promote interdepartmental communication. And, whether you are amazing or just plain awful doesn’t matter as long as you are having fun. It’s about seeing that quiet friend jump up to the mic and belt out that surprise killer rendition. It’s about having a good old-fashioned sing along to your favorite songs. And, maybe you’re not a professional, but you’ve got talent and you’d like to use it once in a while. Barcelona even has its share of karaoke bars—each with its own charm—but now there’s one with a new twist.
Karaoke Comeback
New ways to enjoy karaoke mean that it’s gaining a new generation of fans, with concepts like “kamikaze karaoke” or “karaoke roulette,” in which you have to sing whatever comes up or face a penalty. Often, to engage the crowd, bands will play a well-known song slowly so anyone who wants to can join in. But, what happens if you take it a little further? You get live-band karaoke!