Karaoke (pronounced kear-ee-OH-kee) is a popular form of entertainment in which amateur singers sing along with prerecorded pop-music (see entry under 1940s—Music in volume 3) songs stripped of their vocal tracks. The word "karaoke" is a combination of two Japanese words: kara, meaning empty, and oke, meaning orchestra. Recorded music on a cassette tape or a compact disc (CD; see entry under 1980s—Music in volume 5) provides the instrumental track of a band or an orchestra, with the singer's voice stripped out, to be filled by anyone brave enough to hold the microphone at a party or a karaoke bar.

Invented by Kisaburo Takagi of the Nikkodo Company, karaoke originated in a bar in Kobe, Japan, in 1972. By 1976, the first home karaoke machines were marketed to the Japanese public. Performing karaoke-style fit perfectly with the popular Asian custom of singing at public events. Even before karaoke, it was...