部分香港人鄙視卡拉OK（包括音樂人和文化人），他們強烈指責卡拉OK「殺死音樂」。這罪名好大，非同小可。他們鄙視唱卡拉OK者，視唱K者 “Cheap”、無文化、核突…。他們認為只有香港人（和華人）才這麼熱衷唱K，這當然是錯的，日本人、韓國人都非常愛唱，而其實西人也非常愛唱K。

卡拉OK在九十年代傳入美國，初反應一般，後受歡迎度漸升，到廿一世紀卡拉OK已成美國主流文化。很多夜店都備卡拉OK設備作招徠，連鎖餐廳更多裝設卡拉OK。互聯網普及後，On-line卡拉OK在美國更甚為普遍。蘋果App Store 就有超過七百個關於唱K的apps 發售。

英國人就更熱愛唱K。十年前英國卡拉OK連鎖店Lucky Voice 推出，今天已成一大王國，擁有數十間卡拉OK店，當中大部分是特許經營。名人如保羅麥卡尼、哈利王子、桂莉芙柏德露等經常去唱K！

此外Lucky Voice近年大力開拓網上卡拉OK消費，提供了網上月費卡拉OK服務，交了月費約五英鎊就可在家中無限量任唱，真是「唱K大放題」，發展迅速。那麼英國人最鍾意唱的「K歌」是甚麼？ Lucky Voice為大家提供了英國人長期Top 10「飲歌」如下：

1 Don’t Stop Believin’ —— Journey

2 Living’ on a Prayer —— Bon Jovi

3 Call Me Maybe —— Carly Rae Jepsen

4 Bohemian Rhapsody —— Queen

5 Mr Brightside —— The Killers

6 Valerie —— Mark Ronson feat Amy Winehouse

7 Wonderwall —— Oasis

8 Total Eclipse of the Heart —— Bonnie Tyler

9 Sex on Fire —— Kings of Leon

10 Don’t Stop Me Now – Queen

你識唱幾多首呢？

那些是英國人最常唱的「飲歌」呢？歌唱節目如《美國一叮》、《The X Factor》等令美國市民更熱衷歌唱，

而電子遊戲也推動了卡拉OK的熱度，電子遊戲如Guitar Hero 及SingStar等會令打機者對唱歌多了興趣，這令年青一輩多了去唱K。

In contrast, karaoke itself is more popular than ever. Karaoke venues have exploded across the landscape – it’s now rare to find any nightspot with significant traffic that doesn’t offer at least one night of karaoke entertainment each week. Franchisees of major restaurant/bar chains such as Appleby’s, Chili’s, and Buffalo Wild Wings have adopted karaoke as major parts of their customer acquisition and retention strategies. Online retailers of karaoke hardware continue to thrive, led by Ace Karaoke and Karaoke Warehouse in the US.

The huge appeal and ratings of television shows featuring singing, such as American Idol, X-Factor, The Voice, and Glee have helped popularize the concept of amateur singing performance among demographics that would never consider patronizing a karaoke bar. As of this writing, there are 609 apps available on the Apple App Store related to or supplying karaoke music, some of them endorsed and branded by major recording stars such as Lady Gaga and T-Pain and historically generating downloads and revenue in the multiple millions.

Considering the advances of Karaoke since it was created in the early 1970's, it can only be assumed that the technology behind it will continue to improve in years to come.

所以，為何這麼蔑視唱卡拉OK的香港人呢？（英國人、歐洲人和一些美國人）

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星島日報, 2015

[ #音樂 ]