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Karaoke originated in Japan over twenty years ago as not only a form of entertainment, but a form of therapy as well. Karaoke consists of taking the vocals from a song and playing the song with the words displayed on a television screen, which is then sung by a member of the audience with a microphone. The music and words are stored on special compact discs known as CD+G’s and many include graphics and pictures along with the words.

A few years ago it seemed that Karaoke was on its way out, a passing trend, but to the contrary, it has in fact grown more popular and widespread and now it seems as though Karaoke is here to stay.

How can the popularity of Karaoke be explained? Perhaps you remember, as a child, standing in front of the mirror with your mother’s hairbrush, turned upside down and used as a microphone, while you sang at the top of your lungs and pretended to be a rock star. You didn’t want to get up and sing in front of your whole school, you’d be ridiculed if you weren’t good at it and it would follow you through the rest of your school career! So, this rock-star desire remains latent, until suddenly, you’re in a room full of people, they’re all singing badly and you can do it so much better than they can! (So you think!)  You’re singing a song! People are clapping! You’re hooked! Finally, your dreams are realized and maybe you’re not famous, but for a minute you felt like it.