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Thursday, April 08, 2010

50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists Series: Introduction & Brief History

[Series Index]

It’s finally here – the much-anticipated 50 Most Influential K-Pop Artist Series.

This series will be about the influence on pop culture that K-pop artists had, not about who is
the “greatest,” “most popular,” or “most innovative.” Of course an artist can be influential by
being original, but originality alone is not the determinant of where a particular artist ranks.
Rather, the rank of a particular artist will depend on the answer to this question: “How much
influence did the artist(s) have on Korean pop culture?”

The influence can be both direct and indirect. The artist can be influential by being directly in
the public consciousness for a decade, or by being influencing other artists who collectively
changed the faces of Korean pop culture. In other words, this ranking has room for a short-
lived innovator who was little known among Korean public, as long as the innovator
influenced many other artists who in turn influenced Korean pop culture. This ranking also
has room for a hugely popular K-pop artist whose music might be considered cheap and
banal, as long as that popularity influenced Korean pop culture somehow.

Important part is that “influence” can be generated not simply from performing music, but
also from other music-related activities. This is very significant for a number of people who
are ranked, because they exerted influence on Korean pop culture as producers, composers,
radio and TV show hosts, etc. However, for completely arbitrary reasons, the Korean limited
the ranking to people who actually did some singing. (One can argue that the greatest Laker
ever is the team owner Jerry Buss, but most people would think of Magic Johnson, Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant first.)

Before we get into the actual rankings, some history lesson is in order because K-pop in the
current form that is popular around the world (and therefore mostly known to AAK! readers)
revolves around boy/girl bands. In fact, the word “K-pop” at this point may have come to
mean only Korean boy/girl bands instead of Korean pop music in general. But for the purpose
of this series, K-pop is used to mean “Korean popular music,” i.e. commercially recorded
music for the purpose of being consumed by the general public, which would exclude Korean
traditional music or classical music.

At any rate, K-pop is much, much more than boy/girl bands. It has a short but rich history that
acutely reflects Korea’s modern history. In fact, the history of K-pop as a whole can be
fascinating narrative of how cultural transplantations operate, and how creativity flowers even
in the face of constricting forces – be it political, social, or commercial.

Brief History of K-Pop

K-Pop Genre Influence Chart

Here is what will be known as the Korean’s most important contribution to K-pop critique.
Introducing… K-Pop Genre Influence Chart.

First, about the technical details. Each decade (except for 1960s) has three columns, which
stands for “early,” “middle” and “late” decade. In other words, the first column under 1990s
means “early 1990s.” There are 20 rows, which each row representing roughly 5 percent. So
if “hard rock” in the late 1990s takes up two rows, it means that hard rock had about 10
percent influence out of all available Korean pop music at that time.

This chart is necessary in order to put a given artist’s place in history in perspective. The
Korean can talk about the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s, but what does
that mean? How does the greatest Korean heavy metal band of the late 1980s compare to the
greatest Korean rapper in early 2000s in terms of influence?

Of course, like everything else on this blog, this chart is arbitrary and capricious to the
Korean’s whim. Everything on the chart is the Korean’s estimates and nothing scientific.
Also, the six genres represented in the chart may be too broad and crude. For example, it does
not include electronica/techno, and instead folds the genre into different broadly defined
categories, mostly depending on the target audience.

BUT, that does not mean the chart is completely off the reservation. The Korean generally
knows what he is talking about, and much thought and research (via Internet, books and
asking the Korean’s friends) went into creating this chart. The Korean is confident that while
people may quibble with details of the chart, the broad strokes of the chart are correct.

With the chart in front of us, let us dive into the brief history of K-pop by decade (with
videos!), after the jump.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

Pre-1960s

The chart starts at late 1960s because there was no truly meaningful Korean “pop culture” to
speak of previous to that time. But Korea did have pop singers previous to 1960s. In the
1920s, Korean traditional singers who were trained in pansori (판소리) would sing popular
Japanese songs in Korean. This is generally considered the first Korean “pop song” in the
strictest definition (i.e., commercially recorded music for the purpose of being consumed by
the general public.) These singers include Do Wol-Saek (도월색), Kim San-Wol (김산월)
and Yoon Shim-Deok (윤심덕). Such singers like Nam In-Su (남인수) or Baeknyeonseol (백
년설) who were hugely popular during the 1930s and 40s.

The dominant music form in that era is what is broadly called trot (트로트), represented with
orange in the chart. Trot is a Japanese adaptation of Foxtrot, a dance form popular in the
United States in the 1920s. Trot has a distinctive 1-2 beat that you can clearly hear at the 18
second mark of the video below. (Among Koreans, trot is also derisively called ppong-jjak
(뽕짝), which is an onomatopoeia mimicking the 1-2 beat.) The song is by Lee Meeja, called
Lady Camellia (동백아가씨) – one of the most popular Korean trot songs ever.

Korea gained independence from the Imperial Japan’s rule in 1945, and underwent the
devastating Korean War shortly afterward. Understandably, pop culture in Korea – what
meager form of it there was prior to 1950s – was at a standstill for the better part of 1950s.
But the American involvement in Korean War would go on to serve as a massive influence on
Korean pop culture.

1960s

Elvis Presley popularized rock n’ roll in the late 1950s, and the same craze would eventually
reach Korea in the form of USO tours for the American GIs stationed in Korea. Many Korean
pop artists cut their teeth by playing for American soldiers stationed in Korea, and playing
undercard in USO tours. Eventually, Korean pop artists began to develop popular rock music
with a distinctive Korean flair. Here is an example of such song: Woman in the Rain (빗속의
여인) by Shin Joong-Hyeon (신중현), which is arguably Korea’s first rock song.

However, as the chart indicates, the dominance of trot will stay on for quite some time.

Rock music of 1960s is marked green in the chart, and labeled as “folk rock”. This is really a
misnomer, because “folk rock” is a name that was coined in the 1970s to indicate the hippie-
influenced, Beatles-like rock music, characterized by unadorned guitar sound. However,
because Korean rock music in the 1960s did not really have its own name, the Korean labeled
it with the trend that the 1960s Korean rock music eventually led to – especially because
simply calling it “rock” would be misleading.

1970s

The Beatles and America’s hippie culture made its way to Korea, and just as well – because
Korea in the 1970s had plenty to rebel against. The generation that was born after Korea’s
independence and came of age in the 1970s made folk rock increasingly popular. Here is an
example of a popular folk rock song: Morning Dew (아침이슬) by Kim Min-Gi (김민기),
sung by another folk rock legend Yang Hee-Eun (양희은):

However, the gradual enrichment of Korean pop culture would come to an abrupt halt in mid-
1970s. As the Park Chung-Hee dictatorship solidified its rule, it began cracking down on pop
music that it considered “rebellious.” Many famous rockers were sent to prison with trumped
up, half-true charges of “disturbing societal morals.” All albums had to be reviewed by the
government prior to their release, and certain songs and albums were banned. Many non-
Korean music was also banned. (This practice continued until 1996.) All albums also had to
include at least one “wholesome song” (건전가요) that, for the most part, was a fatuous ode
to Korea’s (and by extension the dictatorship’s) greatness. (This truly absurd practice
continued until 1987.)

Many singers caved in and neutered their songs of any social content, and regressed into only
singing dumb love songs. Some few, however, continued to resist and went so far as to release
albums on their own without going through the government review, in the face of arrest and
torture. Their songs would go on to become the anthems of resistance for those who fought
against the dictatorship.

1980s

1970s ended with Park Chung-Hee’s death, but his dictatorship was swiftly replaced by
another, which engaged in an oppression that was no less restrictive.

In the early 1980s, the continued softening of folk rock led to its logical conclusion and the
birth of a new genre – what Koreans refer to as “ballad” (marked as yellow in the chart.)
Ballad is a brand of soft rock/jazz/R&B that relies on simple tunes and, admittedly, a good
singing voice. But ballad is more often made distinctive by its saccharine lyrics, singing
almost exclusively about love in the mindless, desperate, Korean-drama-sort of way.
Although this song was released in 1990, here is an archetypical example: You, Reflected in a
Smile (미소 속에 비친 그대) by Shin Seung-Hoon (신승훈).

Because there is no sharp break between folk rock and ballad, it is difficult to say exactly
when – or who – made the first jump into ballad. It is more the case that some folk rock
singers had a few songs in their albums that were ballad-like, and eventually some artists
began to engage exclusively in ballad. What is clear, however, is that by late 1980s, ballad
came to be the most dominant force in Korean pop music, and the dominance lasted until
early 1990s. Although its influence faded in recent times in such a way that few current K-pop
artists can be labeled as “ballad singers,” many K-pop artists to this day include one or two
tracks of ballad-like songs in their albums.

Waves and waves of democratization protests finally made the dictatorship capitulate, and in
1987 Korea had the first free election in decades (or ever, depending on who you ask.) Many
of the most oppressive measures restricting artistic freedom were abolished. Consequently,
Korean pop music began to experience more variety from the tired triumvirate of trot-folk
rock-ballad. Hard rock such as heavy metal (indicated in blue in the chart) began to emerge,
and generic dance music (indicated in pink in the chart) based on pretty faces and catchy
tunes – influenced by Michael Jackson – began to take root as well.

1990s

One can make a strong argument that 1990s represented the golden age of K-pop. Freed from
political oppression, the artists were finally exploring their creativity in many different genres.
The stultifying commercialization of the 2000s was yet to come.

The twin pillars of “traditional” Korean pop music – trot and folk rock – nearly disappeared in
1990s. Trot was considered antiquated and struggled to produce a younger generation of
artists that replaced the old. Folk rock transformed into either ballad or hard rock, and its form
as it existed in 1970s was nearly gone.

Ballad continued its strong run all the way into mid-1990s, but the zeitgeist of 1990s is
characterized by dance music. This song – I Know (난 알아요) by Seo Taiji (서태지) –
marked the beginning of revolution:

Also significant is the emergence of rap and hip-hop in the 1990s (marked in red in the chart.)
In all, by late 1990s Korean pop scene came to resemble its American counterpart –
abundance of dance music, heart-tugging soft rock for some, rock and rap here and there.

2000s

The artistic scene of the 2000s did not necessarily change dramatically from 1990s. What did
change dramatically, however, is what happened behind the scenes. For lack of a better word,
music business in Korea became “corporate.” As it became apparent that there is big money
to be made in music business, the process for discovering, evaluating, packaging and
presenting talent has become standardized and commercialized. The leaders of management
companies like SM Entertainment or JYP Entertainment were considered serious businessmen
instead of free-flowing artists. Instead of merely guessing (or doing what they want, which is
worse for business,) they gauged what people wanted in a sophisticated manner and packaged
their talent accordingly. The result is something like this: Nobody by Wonder Girls.

With the backing of capital, these management companies were able to venture outside of
Korea for the first time. And so, “K-pop” (in the narrower sense of the word) was born. New
talents were shaped and molded specifically with the aim of appealing to non-Korean
audience. For example, BoA (produced by SM Entertainment) was sent to Japan at age 12 so
that she may learn Japanese; she later released albums in both Korean and Japanese, and
topped the charts in both countries. Similarly produced K-pop artists would come to dominate
Asian pop culture.
But innovative music lived on in Korea. Public’s taste grew and diversified, and
groundbreaking bands like Clazziquai would peacefully co-exist with the likes of Girls’
Generation and 2PM. Especially as the generations who grew up with the unsophisticated
music of the 1970s and 80s continued to consume culture – unlike their parents, who never
truly grew up with any music – older K-pop songs would experience a renaissance, and
significant K-pop artists of that era are receiving well-deserved retrospective on their
achievements.

Now that we have gained some perspective, the next part of the series will get into the
rankings.

Got a question or a comment for the Korean? Email away at askakorean@gmail.com.

Posted by The Korean at 8:53 PM

432Share
Super Junior Dominates Once More
Posted on 29. May, 2010 by SparklingDiamond in General

With their Sorry Sorry success, many predicted that Super Junior‘s 4th album will also be a
huge hit. Not even months of promoting the album, Super Junior’s 4jib already landed a spot
in mediatraffic, the world’s music chart.

Mediatraffic sums up music charts such as USA Billboard chart, Japan Oricon chart,
England UK to bring music lovers information on who is currently dominating the music
charts across the globe. In other words, landing a spot in this chart is not a piece of cake.

However, with Super Junior’s immense sales just weeks after the release of their 4th album,
they ranked #7 on the list.
Fans have been commenting on how fast Super Junior entered the list. Another k-pop
domination? Well, we already know how fast k-pop is spreading around the world so it’s no
wonder a Korean idol group entered the list. It seems like Super Junior’s 4jib is embracing
very early success. Congratulations to the boys!

On To Something Positive: K-Pop Hitting USA

Out of all of the periodicals out there, I think Time magazine has always been a little more
international and cutting edge when it comes to politics and pop culture. This week the
magazine boasts an article about Korean Pop music going global with the help of the internet.

Taeyang's Solar album debut hits No. 2 on iTunes R&B charts

It amazes me how times have changed since I was a teenager listening groups like Seotaiji
and Deux. After entering high school and college subsequently thereafter, I took a break from
listening to K-Pop altogether since there were new artists coming out every week. Keeping up
with the trends was just too much for me. The only viable medium to stay in tune with the
latest and greatest K-Pop heads was to ask family relatives in Korea, friends who were avid
K-Pop listeners or KBS broadcasting on Channel 18. Still too much work.

I should also mention this was a point in my life where I disassociated myself from many
things Asian, more specifically Korean: Korean Pride (KP), Korean music, Korean girls, etc.
Yes, I'll admit that I wanted to be more "American", which in my mind meant abandoning a
lot of my contemporary Korean pop culture interests. In fact, I was so far removed from
Korean pop culture that when I got to college my Chinese roommates were the ones asking
me about Korean music! Huh?? Who's H-O-T? FinkL? Boa? Sorry, I don't know any of them.

Then something changed about four years into my career. I took a trip back to my parent's
motherland and fell in love with my roots once again, and K-Pop came along with it. Only
this time, with the help of the internet, there were many people around the world who were
following K-Pop artists as well. I first noticed this on YouTube watching K-Pop music videos
and seeing comments from users who are from all over the world. Now that I'm back in the
states, I still keep up with the K-Pop scene. If you haven't listen to a K-Pop song in your
entire life you should give it a shot. The songs are catchy, dance-able and just plain fun. Here
is an example:

All of these artists are extremely hard working and talented. Renown American producers are
even taking notice of the talent pool and marketability of these idol groups. For instance,
Will.I.Am. from the Black Eyed Peas saw one of 2NE1's music videos and immediately
wanted to work with them. Back in April of this year, New Jack Swing founder and R&B
powerhouse producer Teddy Riley began collaborating with Jay Park (Jaebeom) on an album.
Now whether or not it actually gets released is a different story, but the act of Jay working
with a musical genius such as Riley himself sends a powerful statement to the music industry
- Asians have talent also, not just in math and science. And if that isn't enough to convince
you of K-Pop's growing popularity and influence worldwide, then consider Taeyang's Solar
album which hit No. 2 on iTunes R&B sales charts in the U.S. and No. 1 in Canada which is a
first but hopefully not the only for an Asian artist!

ethnic
1.Konsep jati diri dan Melayu baru : satu analisis kritis terhadap cabaran dan hala tuju
masyarakat Melayu dalam pensejagatan dunia globalisasi
Muhamed Fauzi Othman; Mohd. Azhar Abd. Hamid.
2002.
Source: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Library Catalogue (Infolan2)
DS595 DS595 DS595

2.Malaysia Menangani Globalisasi: Peserta atau Mangsa? (Book).

Ford, Michelle; Ford, Michelle.
Asian Journal of Social Science (1568-4849)
6/1/2002. Vol.30,Iss.2;p.461-464
Source: Academic Source Premier
Show Abstract

8.Globalisasi ; pemahaman kita cetek ?

Shamsul Amri Baharuddin.
Source: Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Library Catalogue (Infolan2)
Show Abstract