Great insights in this thread. I just wrapped up several years of barbershopping, gonna take a break.

They wear costumes and do all the showmanship because of the stupid competition criteria. There are some ancient crones judging these contests who think the more you look like Doris Day circa 1956 in a sequin factory, the better. I have seen some original awesome 'theme' costumes that have been wonderful to see, but most of it is just a lot of overdressing. The more out of style this becomes, the more they cling to it because many of them dearly love to 'dress up'.

They do sing a lot of insincere songs with thoughtless lyrics. Unfortunately the main mine of singable material is still Tin Pan Alley and that's how they wrote most of them. They desperately need new arrangers to do songs post-Pat Boone, so if anybody arrangingly inclined wants a new subinterest in music, go for it, you can make some money doing arrangements.

Like everybody else, I love the harmony and have learned how to be a better all around singer, solo or ensemble. But the Stepford aspects were really gettin' me down.