Entertainment

Singing in the pain

Karaoke — always a favorite activity around New Year’s — is a way to live out rock ’n’ roll dreams while keeping a day job. It’s also used to beat already overplayed pop hits into further submission with drunken manglings. And here’s a tip: Even if you think your song choice is going to tear down the house, it’s probably been played so much the bartenders may consider putting you on a midnight train, going anywhere.

The Post interviewed a dozen city karaoke venues and live karaoke bands about their most played songs. Here’s hoping you’ll consult this list before choosing “Gangnam Style.”

1. Journey – “Don’t Stop Believin’ ”

Was there any doubt? Every venue listed this as one of their most played. But could its long reign of terror finally be coming to an end? Bars report a drop after it was on “Glee.”

“We get a few of those still, but more like weekly instead of multiple times a night,” says Mike Uy of Baby Grand Karaoke in SoHo.

2. Psy – “Gangnam Style”

5Bar Karaoke near Herald Square was flooded with requests this summer, but it hadn’t made it on to the venue’s English-language machines yet. So the staff plugged in the Korean machines which, of course, have Korean subtitles.

“They can’t even read it because it’s in Korean,” says employee Kyung Lee. “They would play it anyway.”

In September, the bar added it to the English machines, with the Korean words spelled out phonetically.

3. Bon Jovi – “Livin’ on a Prayer”

Kelly Cooper of the live band Rockstar Karaoke was working at a downtown venue last week, where a crowd of 300 was getting restless. When she announced the next Bon Jovi karaoke singer, a patron walked up, grabbed the mike and pushed her off the stage. “I’m so used to it now it doesn’t bother me,” she says.

4. Carly Rae Jepsen – “Call Me Maybe”

Let’s face it: This is probably destined to be the “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” of karaoke bars in 2043.

If two people pick “Call Me Maybe” or another song back to back, the staff at Radio Star near Herald Square will try to intervene.

“Actually, a lot of people don’t care,” bartender Subi Ogawa says, “because they believe they can sing better than the other person.”

5. Bonnie Tyler – “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

While you’re singing, “Forever’s gonna start tonight,” the Baby Grand staff already feels like they’ve been hearing this song forever.

“We try to tell patrons that these songs are meant to be closers and shouldn’t be played until the end of the night,” Uy says. “Some of our bartenders forbid them completely before midnight.”

6. Sublime – All songs

During the weekly Kings of Karaoke show at Bar Matchless in Greenpoint, the bartender specifically requested ska punk band Sublime not be played.

Someone picked it anyway, which is when the irate bartender started hurling ice at the singer and karaoke operator Jason Gersch, who was left with a welt on his head.

“[People] don’t think about how repetitive it is,” he says.

7. Janis Joplin – “Me and Bobby McGee”

The band Crash Course Karaoke has played this the most out of its 500 song list. But they embrace it.

“Songs that are chosen most often are actually strong numbers the singers enjoy performing with our live band,” says guitarist Alan Bigelow.

8. Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Hiroshi Sugita, manager of Karaoke Duet35 in Herald Square, says she’s heard that song five to 10 times a day for the past decade. The problem is, it’s an extremely long number.

“I’m sure any karaoke DJ has heard that song so many times they want to rip their hair out,” Gersch says. “It’s just a very selfish karaoke song.”

9. Adele – “Rolling in the Deep”

Even new songs can hit a saturation point quickly. Crash Course Karaoke reports playing the 2-year-old pop hit 21 out of the 46 shows where the song has been offered.

10. Guns N’ Roses – “Sweet Child o’ Mine”

A classic-rock anthem popular at the weekly live-band karaoke at Arlene’s Grocery on the Lower East Side, the song is also much older than this year’s NYU grads.

“There’s an unwritten rule that no matter who comes up onstage — barring outright belligerent or self-absorbed, entitled people — we believe everyone deserves a round of applause and acknowledgment,” says Mark Marone of Arlene’s.