Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Korean Music

Just the thought of what is about to come makes me cringe. Someone asked me about Korean music though, so it's my duty to bring to you the wonderful world of K-Pop...opps, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

Our first group is a boy-band that goes by the name of Big Bang. In my class we're doing lessons on the history of Rock 'n' Roll. I asked my students what music they listen to and a 12 year old boy told me that his favorite band is Big Bang. I asked him why, to which he replied "Because they're handsome." Yes. In a nutshell, that is the Korean music scene. 12 year old boys and girls listening to the most horrible shit in the world because the singers are handsome.



Sigh...generic beats rule all here. And forget about any Rock 'n' Roll.

This next one is not so popular anymore. However, for about a six month period I had to endure every kid in my class singing this song 20 times a day. It got to the point where I had to tell them that singing the "Tell me" song would result in an automatic F for the day.



I can understand why the record labels put these groups together. It's simple marketing. But, back home we at least had other options. I have to hear this crap everywhere I go. There's zero indie rock in Busan save for a few groups that occasionally play something like Radiohead covers in the foreigner bars.

The next group no longer really exists, at least not as far as I know. As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of the singers was kicked out of the band, and pretty much exiled from Korea back to America, because he wrote that "Korea is gay" on his myspace page when he was 17. While Korea itself may not be gay, this band certainly is. I present 2pm:



This next one fucking drives me nuts. I have to hear this shit a thousand times a day on the television now. Bullshit song was basically created to market a shitty cellphone. Of course, the girls are pretty hot, but dammit if I hear this one more time I'm going to throw my cellphone at the fucking TV.



Yet, another shitty boy-band called "Super Junior".



And finally one more monstrosity from some of the finest pieces of ass on the peninsula. Hell, if I was 16 I might listen to Girl's Generation. That way if I was ever lucky enough to meet one of them, I'd have some material to work with.




If you turn the volume all the way down it's actually great.



Indeed...

11 comments:

  1. These are actually the only fish I can keep without killing. Pets and me just don't seem to mix well.

    Thanks for the link to my blog on yours.

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  2. Thanks for the link, I will return the favor. Not that it will help much, I get like 3 hits a day. And they are from me, checking to see if I got any hits.

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  3. No problem, but you probably won't get much traffic from me either. I get some hits, but they're mostly family.

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  4. PS. I like K-POP, its so bad its good. HEART, HEART, HEART-BREAKER! NO WAY, NO WAY! My kids go apeshit every time I even mention that I know who G-Dragon is.

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  5. It does have a certain "Plan 9 from Outer Space" appeal to it.

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  6. Come on, Mike! These songs are more than just juicy fluorescent gum balls of 100% pure rot-your-teeth sugar! These are the anthems of the new generation!

    Ah..ah..ah..I like the real shhhh....

    Just a question though, why are there like, 20 people in each group?? Are they all in the group or just dancers?

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  7. I hate to admit it, but I actually kind of like the Chi-chi-chi-chi, baby, baby, baby song. I think Korea has turned me into a 12 year old girl.

    I think those are all members of the group.

    Jen, if you like these songs, just wait until I post a blog about Korean TV.

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  8. lol, love that chi chi chi shit. It's gold!!

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  9. The primary reason that korean music is so obnoxious is that it gets stuck in your head... I've been stateside for nearly a year now and thier music is still stuck in my head... Perhaps i'm just going crazy... but i blame the catchy beat and overly cute lyrics...

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  10. I'm a Korean teen living in sunny New Zealand who can fluently converse, write (all that good stuff) in Korea. I must admit the only reason i turn that Girls' Generation shit on is for the occasional hard-ons (pardon my language :))

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