Listen in and learn all about the fascinating history of everybody's favorite pastime... karaoke!
AI Summary
# Stuff You Should Know: Karaoke
Josh and Chuck dive deep into the surprisingly fascinating world of karaoke, tracing its unexpected journey from a Japanese musician's brilliant invention to a global cultural phenomenon. The episode explores how a struggling drummer named Daisuke Inoue created the first karaoke machine in the 1950s as a way to make money without needing live musicians, then follows the technology's spread through Japan and eventually to America, where it faced skepticism before finally exploding in popularity thanks to LA's Dimples bar and New York's Singalong. Along the way, you'll discover the surprising backstory of how a handshake on a cruise ship helped introduce karaoke to the Western world, and why one inventor's decision not to patent his creation may have actually helped it succeed.
"American Idol comes on the scene. It was huge. I mean, I'm not sure what their ratings are like these days, but in those early years, it was like one of the biggest TV shows in the history of American television. — American Idol's first season revived interest in karaoke by showing regular people performing music on stage."
— Chuck
Children of the Corn
1984
R
1h 32m
★ 5.7
"producer of Children of the Corn, Earl Glick was? Yeah, that's sort of his most most noteworthy movie. — Mentioned as Earl Glick's most notable film production work before introducing karaoke to the West."
— Chuck
Duets
2000
R
1h 52m
★ 5.7
"unlike all of the scenes in the 2000 film Duets. One of the worst ever. — Discussed as a notoriously bad karaoke-themed movie directed by Bruce Paltrow, contrasted negatively with Lost in Translation."
— Josh
Lost in Translation
2003
R
1h 42m
★ 7.4
"cool indie America got back into karaoke thanks to Lost in Translation. Yeah. You know, the very famous scene in the Sofia Coppola film — The film's karaoke scene with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in a K-Box helped revive karaoke's cultural popularity."
— Josh
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