Show Notes
When you think about it, the Karaoke machine is a simple invention. Basically two existing inventions, the tape deck and the microphone, were stuck together, add some lyrics on a screen and BOOM, you have Karaoke.
Anyone could have thought of it. And indeed Karaoke machines were independently invented five times in a row between 1967 and 1972…
But the funny thing is that ALL FIVE times are in Japan.
Why was Japan so desperate to invent the Karaoke machine in the late sixties? Who was the first? And what was the first ever Karaoke song?
Matt Alt, the Author of Pure Invention, How Japan’s Pop Culture Conquered the World is joining Patented today to tell the story of one of Japan’s most iconic inventions; Karaoke.
Edited by Alex Carlon, Produced by Freddy Chick & Alex Carlon. Senior Producer is Charlotte Long.
Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.
Get 50% off your first 3 months with code PATENTED. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribe
You can take part in our listener survey here.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from Patented: History of Inventions
If you can never connect to a printer, if furniture jumps out to stub your toe, if when you do the dishes the water jumps out the sink to soak you - then you are victim of the inanimate malice of things.
400 years ago on the River Thames a mad genius showed off the world's first submarine. A crowd of thousands including King James watched as Cornelis Drebbel disappeared beneath the murky water, only reemerging after three whole hours had passed.
Fire is the unsung hero of human evolution. We could not have turned into the big-brained, deep-thinking animals we are on raw food alone. The moment two million years ago that our forebears first started using fire to cook, was the spark that started everything off.
For most of their history, High Heels were resolutely masculine. The most manly of manly footwear. How did they turn into burning icons of femininity? And now that the heyday of women's high heels is over, what lies ahead for them?
What do all incredibly cool people have in common? They wear Sunglasses. Whether you're Miles Davis or Audrey Hepburn, James Dean or Bob Dylan, your sunglasses are never far away.