A large quantity of my friends are musicians; they either work equipment or sing or play instruments — for a living. To them, karaoke is a complete joke and they can’t see any reason as to why anyone would waste their time on it when there is real music to be created and there is real expression to be had. It’s no wonder, then, when I describe to them the fun nights I have out at karaoke, that it is completely lost on them. To put it bluntly, I’m often ridiculed.

To me, karaoke is more about self-expression and less about emulation. Yes, you are singing another person’s songs and yes, sometimes you may find yourself drunk out of your mind, singing “Material Girl” by Madonna, but those times are few and far-between (hopefully). My kind of music is hard rock and alternative rock; I prefer the music of groups like Nirvana, Disturbed, Green Day and Metallica, just to name a few. When I grab the microphone and sing, I’m paying homage to the bands that got me through the tough times in my life, and the bands that were there through the good times. It’s therapeutic.

When I’m performing (and yes, I call it performing), I like to put my own spin on things. I change lyrics, change the vocal melody; things that make the song engaging so that it’s not the same thing you would hear on the radio. This doesn’t happen for every song, but for a good majority of them it does. The reason is that different parts of different songs speak to different people in different ways. It’s a great way to really become intimate with a song and it has helped several times in understanding a song’s importance to me in a much clearer fashion.

If you haven’t done karaoke and you enjoy singing (be it in the shower, the car, or wherever), you owe it to yourself to find a good karaoke bar and hit it up. Don’t be shy. This isn’t American Idol; it’s drunken fun.

Truth be told, there are a lot of similar tracks between GHWT and Rock Band 2. I received Rock Band 2 for Christmas, and after I had been playing it at my home, I went over a friend’s house. Coincidentally, my friend has GHWT, and we decided to play. I found myself recognizing many of the songs and riffs, simply because I had played them earlier on Rock Band 2. I mean, I guess the overlap is understanding. There are a good 100 songs on both games, and both companies want to include the best-of-the-best to create the maximum interest in their respective games. There is a count of 16 songs that are identical. Maybe that’s why all the discussion revolves around the gear, because the track listing shares so many similarities.

The overall consensus is that Rock Band 2 has a better selection of songs than GHWT. It’s not really that Rock Band 2 picked “better” songs (we all know that will differ for everyone), but the variety is simply much greater. With Rock Band 2 you can import songs from the original Rock Band or download hundred more off other sources. Unfortunately for GHWT, all of the previous Guitar Hero games aren’t compatible for GHWT because they don’t include the vocals and drums that were added to the mix in GHWT. Ultimately, it boils down to personal preference, and for GHWT to be better for you is a lucky shot. Sure, it has two Hendrix tracks, which gets a lot of applause, but there were quite a few artists who had two or three of their songs on the game… What happens to the people that hate that artist? Tough luck?

All things considered, Rock Band 2 has the win for the “best” tracks. (The rest of it is entirely another story.)