Singing “My Way” at karaoke can get you killed in the Philippines. Most karaoke bars have gone so far as to ban the song.
I knew Filipinos are big on karaoke, but this is quite worrisome.
I will have to remember to just avoid karaoke bars if I visit…
A couple other extra interesting points:
Karaoke-related killings are not limited to the Philippines. In the past two years alone, a Malaysian man was fatally stabbed for hogging the microphone at a bar and a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Karaoke-related assaults have also occurred in the United States, including at a Seattle bar where a woman punched a man for singing Coldplay’s “Yellow” after criticizing his version.
I’d heard about the case in Malaysia, and I suppose I can see the case for the John Denver and Coldplay songs. But what happened to good old-fashioned jeering and sarcasm?
I’m fascinated by this one though:
A subset of karaoke bars with G.R.O.’s — short for guest relations officers, a euphemism for female prostitutes — often employ gay men, who are seen as neutral, to defuse the undercurrent of tension among the male patrons. Since the gay men are not considered rivals for the women’s attention — or rivals in singing, which karaoke machines score and rank — they can use humor to forestall macho face-offs among the patrons.
I can’t imagine this working in a western country. During Prop 8, the ‘neutral’ thing definitely didn’t come into play there. But I find it incredibly interesting that it works in the Philippines.
