“Cult of Personality”
by Living Colour
from the album Vivid
1988
Buy the album on Amazon

When I started regularly hitting up karaoke, I was having a hard time figuring out what songs to sing.  As previously mentioned, my tastes tend to run 80s/90s alternative and there just wasn’t much to choose from that seemed karaokey.  So I ended up stuck with 80s ballads or pop songs.

One night after some failed attempts at winging new songs, I was dejectedly flipping through the Karaoke Champ book and I stumbled across the Ls.  And then I saw it, right in the middle of the second page…

“Cult of Personality” is by no means a traditional karaoke song.  And it’s not gonna appeal to most people in the crowd, but damn is it fun to sing.  Corey Glover has a crazy range but he blessedly keeps it somewhere in the middle during this song.  It’s got a call and response and you can can go nuts playing air guitar or thrashing around during Vernon Reid’s blistering solo.  I mean goddamn, even in the karaoke band’s cover version it’s hot.

ProTip: If you ever get the chance to see these guys live, go.  Some of the most fun shows I’ve ever been to have been LC shows.  Here’s a taste from their Vivid 25th Anniversary Tour:

I was at this show.  It was the shit.