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Premodern Korean Popular/Folk Music Genres

  • Minyo (민요 民謠)

    • Min (민 民: the people) + Yo (요 謠: song)
    • Folk songs orally transmitted by the common people
    • Includes labor songs, play songs, and ritual songs
    • Arirang: Worldwide famous Korean “national” folk song
      • UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2012

  • Pansori

    • Pan (판: field, site, space, gathering place) + Sori (소리: sound, singing)
    • Popular music genre throughout the 19th century
    • Traditional music narrative genre
    • One singer accompanied by a drum (북 buk)
      • Vocalist: singing (소리 sori) + narration (아니리 aniri) + gesture (발림 ballim)
      • Percussionist: accompaniment by beating + response to the singer by shouting words such as “hooray” (얼쑤 ”eolssu,” 얼씨구 “eolssigu,” or 지화자 “jihwaja” ) and “good” (좋다 “jota”) (추임새 chuimsae also performed by audience members)
    • Six pieces based on folk tales, novels, and epics remaining
    • Contemporary creative pansori pieces composed and performed by young pansori singers
    • UNESCO Oral and Intangible Heritage Masterpiece

  • Pungmul (풍물 風物)

    • Farmers’ percussion music to cheer themselves up and wish a good harvest in premodern Korea

  • Talchum (탈춤)

    • Mask (tal) dance (chum) as musical drama

Korean Popular Music Cultures in the Early 20th Century

  • Sociocultural Background
    • Korean society in the late 19th through early 20th century
      • Westernization (modernization)
      • Capitalism
      • Japanese colonial era (1910-1945)
    • Korean popular culture in the early 20th century
      • Rural-urban migration
      • Western costume and food (coffee, beer)
      • Western-style theatre and dance hall
      • Popular music industry

Korean Popular Music Genres in theEarly 20th Century

  • Sinminyo (新民謠): popular by the mid-1920s

    • Sin (신 新: new) + Minyo (민요 民謠: folk song): new folk song

    • Arranged versions of the existing traditional folk songs for public concerts at modernized (Westernized) theaters

    • Folk song-style new compositions using the Western scale (heptatonic scale) and Western musical instruments

    • “Holding Flowers (꽃을 잡고)” (1934)

      • Lyric by An-seo Kim; music by Myeon-sang Lee; sung by Il-seon Seonwoo
      • About the singer
        • Ex-gisaeng
        • Gisaeng or Kisaeng (기생): Traditional Korean female artists (esp. in the Joseon Era) from the lower-class expert in music, dance, painting, poetry writing, and calligraphy to entertain high-class men
        • Occasionally, sexual service for men; forced to serve ONLY as a prostitute by Japanese colonial rule
        • Some ex-gisaengs with their faculty for traditional Korean performing arts designated as Living Human Treasures in ROK since the 1960s
      • Many sinminyo singers as ex-gisaengs loved by the public

  • “Nose Bag Arirang (꼴망태 아리랑)” (1939)

    • Lyrics by Seong-jip Kim; music by Yong-hwan Kim; sung by Yong-hwan Kim
    • About the singer
      • Tenor majoring in vocal performance in Western classical music at Ueno College of Music in Tokyo, Japan

  • Yuhaengga (流行歌): more popular than sinminyo after the mid-1920s

    • Yuhaeng (유행 流行: popular, trend) + Ga (가 歌: song): popular song

    • Remake of Western or Japanese music

    • New compositions using the Western or Japanese scales (heptatonic or pentatonic scales) as well as Western musical instruments

    • “Hymn of Death (사의 찬미)” (1926)

      • Lyrics by Shim-deok Yun; music by Ion Ivanovici (Romanian composer); sung by Shim-deok Yun
      • About the music
        • Remake of Ivanovici’s “Waves of the Danube Waltz” (1880)
      • About the singer
        • Korea’s first soprano majoring in (Western classical) vocal performance at Ueno College of Music in Tokyo, Japan

    • “He (Elder brother) is a Street Singer (오빠는 풍각쟁이야)” (1938)

      • Lyrics by Young-ho Park; music by Song-gyu Kim; sung by Hyang-rim Park
      • About the singer
        • Recruited by composer (producer) Si-chun Park
        • Singer exclusively under a contract with Columbia Records, Japan

    • “Blue Dream in Cafe (다방의 푸른 꿈)” (1939)

      • Lyrics by Myeong-am Cho; music by Hae-song Kim; sung by Nan-young Lee
      • Description: Jazz/Blues-style song
      • About the music
        • Kim, the first jazz musician in Korea
        • Composer Kim’s wife
      • About the singer
        • Ex-actress of a traveling troupe

    • “Hwangseong Ruins (황성의 적)” (1932)

      • Lyrics by Pyeong Wang; music by Su-rin Jeon; sung by Aerisu Lee
      • About the music
        • Pentatonic scale influenced by a Japanese style (La-Ti-Do-Mi-Fa)
      • About the singer
        • Ex-stage actress

    • “Song for the Marathon Champion (마라손 제패가)” (1936)

      • Lyrics by Eui-sik Seol; music by Ja-myeong Ku; sung by Gyu-yeop Chae
      • About the music
        • Celebratory song for Korean marathoner Ki-jeong Son’s winning of an Olympic gold medal in Berlin in 1936
      • About the singer
        • Graduating from Chūō College of Music in Tokyo, Japan
        • The first Korean yuhaengga singer to perform in Japan and release an album in the Japanese language

Korea’s First Pop Stars and the Korean Wave

  • The first pop stars of different backgrounds in the sinminyo and yuhaengga scene
    • Ex-gisaengs
    • Stage actors/actresses
    • Rookies recruited by composers or record labels
    • Winners of singing competitions
    • Vocalists studying Western classical music in Japan
  • The 20's and 30's sinminyo and yuhaengga in China (especially in the Korean diaspora) through Korean troupes’ tour concerts and Korean immigrants
  • “Arirang” in Japan in the 1930s
  • Before creating and using the term ‘Korean Wave (hallyu),’ Korean popular music had already been circulated and popular outside of Korea!

Emergence of Rock ’n’ Roll and Youth Culture in Korea

  • Rock ‘n’ roll in general
  • Beginning of rock ‘n’ roll in Korea in the 1960s
    • Joong Hyun Shin
  • Rock ‘n’ roll and Korean youth culture
  • Korean rock bands and their music in the 1970s-80s
  • Korean heavy metal in the 1980s

Rock ‘n’ Roll

  • American music genre appearing in the 1950s
  • One of the most influential pop music genres both in the U.S. and around the world
  • Fusion of African American genres (Blues, Rhythm & Blues) and white American genres (Country, Honky-Tonk, Bluegrass)
  • The term “Rock ‘n’ Roll” coined and circulated by Alan Freed in the 1950s
    • Alan Freed (1922-1965): Radio DJ in Cleveland in the 1950s
      • His selection of R&B getting popularity among white youth
      • The term rock ‘n’ roll used to refer to music popular with white youth audience members
      • Spread of the term and genre into the whole country alongside his inroad into NY radio

Music Genres to Rock ‘n’ Roll

  • African American Genres
    • Blues
      • Bessie Smith “St. Louis Blues” (1925)
    • Rhythm & Blues
      • Louis Jordan “G. I. Jive” (1944)
  • White American Genres
    • Country
      • The Sons of the Pioneers “Cool Water” (1947)
    • Honky-Tonk
      • Hank Thompson “The Wild Side of Life” (1952)
    • Bluegrass
      • Bill Monroe “It’s Mighty Dark to Travel” (1948)

Social Background to the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll in the Mid-1950s

  • Cold War Era
    • Dominated by the right wing
    • Political repression against writers, musicians, and entertainers joining in civic movements since the 1930s
    • The middle class’s conservative swing
    • The post-WWII baby boom
    • The abortion of racial segregation in public schools

Cultural Background to the Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll

  • Teenagers as major audience members and consumers of popular music
    • Baby boomers
    • Investment of money and time in leisure and cultural activities thanks to parental disposable income
    • Utilization of TV as a cultural medium
    • Production and marketing of commodities targeted at youth – rock ‘n’ roll as musical merchandise
  • Establishment and development of youth culture
    • Self-identification as the new generation
    • Their own identity and culture formation
    • Expression of their own identity through dance, music (rock ‘n’ roll), fashion, and language they selected for themselves

US Youth (Teen) Culture in the 1950s

  • Elvis Presley (1935-1977)

    • Country-originated white rock ‘n’ roll musician
    • Born in Tupelo, Mississippi and moving to Memphis, Tennessee
    • Selected as a singer by Sam Phillips, the owner of Memphis-based Sun Records in 1954 to record R&B cover songs and country music – targeted at BOTH African American AND white audience members
    • Promoted as a mainstream singer by RCA Victor which purchased the rights to Elvis's music from the Sun Records in 1955
    • The first rock ‘n’ roll super star – idol star for young women and teenagers
    • Scandalized at sensual dance movements in the 1950s
    • Appearing in TV shows and starring in movies

  • Chuck Berry (1926-2017)

    • R&B-originated African American rock ‘n’ roll singer-song writer specializing in the electronic guitar
    • Rock ‘n’ roll fused with R&B and Blues
    • “Johnny B. Goode” (1958)

  • Little Richard (1932-2020)

    • R&B-based African American rock ‘n’ roll musician
    • Spectacular show
    • Influence on later musicians, including the Beatles
    • “Long Tall Sally” (1956)

  • Buddy Holly (1936-1959)

    • Country-originated white rock ‘n’ roll singer and guitarist
    • His own band The Crickets – inspiring the Beatles
    • “That Will Be the Day” (1957)

  • The Beatles

    • The greatest rock band in the pop music history
    • John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Star from Liverpool
    • Inspired by Buddy Holly and the Crickets
    • Cover of American rock ’n’ roll songs (Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Buddy Holly)
    • “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1963)
    • Disbandment in 1970

The Beginning of Korean Rock ‘n’ Roll

  • In 1964, Two bands, Key Boys and The Add4 released their first rock ‘n’ roll albums in Korea!

  • Korean bands working at live clubs in the US Military Bases in Korea released their albums featuring in rock ‘n’ roll songs and introduced the U.S.-originated new popular music genre, rock ‘n’ roll to Korean audience members.

  • Clubs in the US Military Bases in Korea where Korean musicians learned and experienced American popular music genres (jazz, blues, rock ‘n’ roll, soul, funk…)

  • After the Korean War (1950-1953), US military was stationed in South Korea. Since then, US Military Bases are still in several cities in Korea. Through these bases, U.S. has influenced the development of Korean contemporary popular music cultures.

    • Key Boys

      • 5-member male band (working in the eighth US Army Base)
      • The first rock ‘n’ roll album in Korea
      • “Her Lip is Sweet (그녀 입술은 달콤해)” (1964)
      • Korean Beatles
      • Beatles song cover

    • The Add4

      • 4-member male band formed by Joong Hyun Shin (working in the seventh and eighth US Army Bases)
      • The first band Shin organized
      • Their own composition
      • “The Woman in Rain (빗속의 여인)” (1964)

Joong Hyun Shin (신중현), Godfather of Korean Rock ‘n’ Roll (1938-)

  • Listening to American pop music, including rock ‘n’ roll, through AFKN (American Forces Korea Network)
  • Self-study of the guitar
  • Hired as a guitarist by a live music club in the 8th US Army Base through an audition in 1957
  • In 1963, rock band the Add4 and different bands later
  • Production and promotion of many other following musicians
  • “The Beauty (미인)” ranking No. 1 on a Korean music chart with his band Yeopjeondeul (brass coins)
  • Rock ‘n’ roll song “the Beauty” as the most popular song

Korean Youth Culture and Rock ‘n’ Roll in the 1960s-70s

  • Formation of Korean youth culture represented by rock ‘n’ roll in the early 1970s
  • Young audience members’ participation in:
    • Live music clubs where Korean rock bands performed
    • Outdoor rock festivals held by Korean rock bands
    • Dance halls (night clubs) where Korean rock bands accompanied singers
    • Rock band competition
  • Korean governmental regulation of rock ‘n’ roll as decadent music BUT the popularity of Korean rock ‘n’ roll reached its peak in the mid-1970!

Leading Rock Bands in Korea in the 1970s-80s

  • Black Butterfly (검은 나비)
    • Consisting of band masters from different rock bands
    • Saxophone, oboe, and keyboard added
    • “That Girl (그녀)” (1974)
    • Cover of American funk band The War’s “Me and Baby Brother”
  • Love and Peace (사랑과 평화)
    • Fusion of African American genres (soul and funk) and Western classical music
    • “It’s Been a While (한동안 뜸했었지)” (1978)
    • “Beethoven’s Destiny (베토벤의 운명)” (1978)
  • Mountain Echo (Sanullim, 산울림)
    • Consisting of three brother from a campus band
    • Their own composition
    • “Already (아니 벌써)” (1977)
    • The song title and lyrics as a buzz phrase used by Korean comedians
  • Peregrine Falcon (송골매)
    • Consisting of members from two different campus bands
    • Young star – idol star in the 1980s
    • Members starred in movies the same titled as their song titles
    • “I Met You by Chance (어쩌다 마주친 그대)” (1982)

Heavy Metal in Korea in the 1980s

  • Emergence in the 1980s from high school bands covering European heavy metal groups’ music

  • "Global-local balance": Western musical (and visual) style BUT Korean nationalistic band names

  • Appealing to young “male” audience members

    • Sinawi (시나위, *traditional Korean improvisatory ensemble music)

      • Korean first heavy metal album
      • But there were several underground heavy metal groups before Sinawi
      • Established by Joong Hyun Shin’s son, Dae Chul Shin
      • Taiji Seo of Taiji Boys as a former bassist
      • “Turning on Radio Loudly (크게 라디오를 켜고)” (1986)

    • Baekdoosan (백두산, *Mt. Baekdu: the highest mountain in Korea)

      • Consisting of members from underground heavy metal bands
      • On TV shows
      • Metal accessories and leather jacket/pants
      • “In the Dark (어둠 속에서)” (1986)

Korean Modern Folk Music and Collegiate Culture

  • Folk (American urban folk)
  • The ups and downs of Korean modern folk music under military dictatorships
  • The development of Korean collegiate culture in the 1960s and 70s

American Folk (Urban Folk)

  • Development since the early rock ‘n’ roll era in the 1950s
  • Huge popularity among young people in the 1960s
  • Baby boomers interested in culture and politics upon their college entrance
  • Baby boomers’ participation in antiwar and civil rights movements
  • Baby boomers’ enthusiasm for urban folk delivering political and social messages
  • Some of young musicians in the 60s disdaining rock ’n’ roll as unserious entertainment and pursuing ballads on the acoustic guitar – urban folk
  • Poetic lyrics expressing social and political consciousness
  • Urban folk musicians’ participation in antiwar and civil rights movements

Korean Modern Folk Music in the 1970s

  • Starting as an adaptation of American urban folks and European ballads from the 1960s
  • Related to Korean collegiate culture
  • Not as political as American urban folk but music implying social criticism
  • Development by singer-songwriters (fusing American folk and Korean folkloric songs)
  • Three types of Korean modern folk music: folk pop; folk rock; protest folk
  • In 1975, Korean Government (President Chung-hee Park’s military dictatorship)…
    • Implemented the Performance and Popular Music Purification Campaign
    • Censored all types of Korean popular music including foreign pop songs
    • Stigmatized rock ‘n’ roll AND modern folk music as decadent music (due to musicians smoking marijuana)
    • Regulated, restricted, and suppressed these musical genres performed in public
  • After 1975, Korean modern folk music was divided into…
    • Daehak gayo (大學歌謠 collegiate popular songs)
    • Underground music
    • Minjung gayo (民衆歌謠 people’s song) (esp. from protest folk)

Collegiate Culture in the 1970s

  • Korean youth
    • Baby boomers born after the Korean War (1950-1953) – c.f. American baby boomers born after WWII (1945)
    • Exposed to Western-influenced culture and lifestyles as well as Korean industrialization and urbanization
  • Acoustic guitar (tong-guitar in Korean), blue jeans, draft beer
  • Korean young people as college students
    • Learned how to play the guitar, following their favorite modern folk musicians
    • Listened to their favorite singers’ live performances of Korean modern folk at music halls or music cafes (e.g., C’est Si Bon) in Myeongdong, Seoul
    • Drank draft beer at the cafe
  • Modern folk music
    • Rebellion, counterculture

Korean Modern Folk Music in the 1980s

  • Underground
    • Underground musicians’ live performances at music cafes and small theaters in Sinchon and Daehakro
    • Less interested in political issues, but culturally nonconforming and rebellious
    • Musical experiment combined with different musical genres/styles (blues, jazz, new age music, folkloric songs, and rock ‘n’ roll)
    • Popularity just through concerts and albums in the mid-1980s (not through television music programs)

Korean Modern Folk Music in the 1990s and 2000s

  • Min-ki Kim’s “Sangnoksu (상록수)” (常綠樹 Evergreen Tree, 1979) (sung by Hee-eun Yang)

    • BGM for public advertisement using the scene of Korean female LPGA player Seri Park’s triumph in 1998
    • Campaign song for the late Mu-hyun Roh’s (the 16th President of Korea) presidential campaign in 2002
    • National-ish or nationalistic music

  • Lyrics Look at the lush pine needles on the field Although no one tends to them Even when hit by rain, wind and snowstorm The ground remain verdant to the end The past days of despair and pain Do not ever come back again I shall shed blood, I shall awaken I shall become the pine needle of the rugged field Although we do not have much With hand in hand, we shed tears Although our road is long way to go and even precipitous We shall overcome and be victorious

Korean Modern Folk Music in the K-Pop Era

  • Young indie folk musicians
  • IU, “Autumn Morning (가을 아침)” (2017)
    • Remake of Hee-eun Yang’s same-titled song (1991)

C’est Si Bon (2015)

  • Real characters (famous Korean modern folk musicians) and actors
  • Real characters (famous Korean modern folk musicians) and actors

Korean Trot and Pop Ballads

  • Musical traits of Korean trots
  • New (sub)culture of trot
  • Urban and suburban (music) cultures and sonic landscapes
  • Musical traits of Korean pop ballads
  • Heyday of Korean pop ballads

Trot

  • Trot (트로트)
  • Current definition: “fun, upbeat music that evokes nostalgia in middle-aged people”
  • Appearing as a new style and a subgenre of Yuhaengga (popular songs) in Korea in the 1930s (the Japanese Colonial Era)
  • Origin of the term: “foxtrot” – American ballroom dance to big band (since the 1910s, and the highest popularity in the 1930s)
  • The term “trot” used as a popular musical genre since the 1950s

Trot (cont.)

  • Stigmatized as Japanese style music (esp. as Japanese Enka) due to a five-note-scale (pentatonic scale, * la-ti-do-mi-fa)

  • Korean trot song in a major key: Joo Hyun-mi “The Man in Shinsadong (신사동 그 사람)” (1988)

  • Lyrics: “love and heartache,” “feelings of loss, sorrow or grief,” and “yearning for one’s sweethearts or for one’s hometown'

  • Stylized music in company with a performer’s specific choreography and hair/fashion style

Trot Audience

  • Main audience members (consumers) of trot
    • By 1945, young people preferring a new style of Yuhaengga
    • In the 1950s and 60s, a wide range of listeners, including “factory workers” (Chang 2016, 69)
    • In the 1980s, adult members enjoying music at nightclubs
    • Since the mid-2000s, expansion of the target audience to include younger listeners (K-pop idols’ trot releases)
  • Change of listeners’ conception of trot
    • New music style – “indigenous music” – “lowbrow, countrified music” – entertaining music

New (Sub)Culture of Trot

  • Outmoded subculture of (commercial truck and bus) drivers due to the significant trot media (compared to other popular musical genres)
    • Cassette tapes since the 1990s
    • CDs since the 2000s
    • Sold by street vendors at motorway service stations
  • New cultural phenomena in the trot scene
    • USB as a new medium of trot following the exclusion of CD players in new automobile models in Korea
    • Televised survival (audition) shows since 2019 (e.g., Miss Trot, Mr. Trot, I’m a Trot Singer, etc.)
    • Its main audience (the older generations) visible through fan activities specific and applicable to other pop music genres’ audience members (esp. to K-pop fandom)
      • Online voting, music streaming, and ticketing for concert tours
      • Fan chanting and singing
      • Consumption of merch related to trot singers
      • Utilization of social media for fandom

Suburban/Urban Soundscapes of Korean Popular Music

UrbanSuburban
-1945Trot (Yuhaengga)Traditional Korean folk music genres
1950s-1960sTrot
1960s-1970sRock ‘n’ roll, Korean modern folk musicTrot
1970s-1980sRock ‘n’ roll, modern folk-derived genres, trotTrot
1980s-1990sKorean pop ballads, rock ‘n’ roll, dance musicTrot

Ballads

  • Ballads
    • Poetry or music consisting of short verses for storytelling
    • Term originating from medieval French dance music Ballare
    • Influenced by German and Scandinavian tradition of storytelling
    • Influenced by medieval German minnesingers’ singing
    • Early ballads in the 16th and 17th centuries
      • Orally transmitted
      • Unknown songwriters
    • Ballads in the 18th century written by poets and composers and circulated through big pieces of paper
    • Defined as a popular music genre of emotional or romantic love songs at a slow tempo since the late 19th century
    • Rock ballads, pop ballads, R&B ballads, etc.

Korean Pop Ballads: Prelude to Their Heyday

  • Becoming popular with the public by Yong-pil Cho

    • Yong-pil Cho (b. 1950)
      • The king of Korean vocalists in popular music
      • Starting his musical career as a singer in 1969
      • Officially debuted in 1979
      • All-round singer across trot, rock ‘n’ roll, dance, modern folk music, traditional Korean folk songs, AND pop ballads
      • “Let’s Go on a Vacation (여행을 떠나요)” (1985)
      • “Come Back to Busan Harbor (돌아와요 부산항에)” (1976)
      • “Dear My Friend (친구여)” (1983)

  • Yong Lee (b. 1957)

    • “Forgotten Season (잊혀진 계절)” (1982)

  • Sun-hee Lee (b. 1964)

    • “To J (J에게)” (1984)

The Heyday of Korean Pop Ballads

  • Jae-ha Yoo (1962-1987)

    • Singer-songwriter majoring in Western classical music composition at Hanyang University
    • Musical standard for Korean pop ballads
    • “Because I Love You (사랑하기 때문에)” (1987)

  • Moon-se Lee (1959-)

    • The first leader in the genealogy of Korean pop ballads
    • “A Little Girl (소녀)” (1985)

  • Jin-seob Byeon (b. 1966)

    • Debut in 1988
    • The first million-seller record as a debut album
    • The second leader in the genealogy of Korean pop ballads
    • “All I Can Give You Is Love (네게 줄 수 있는 건 오직 사랑뿐)” (1988)

  • Seung-hun Shin (b. 1966)

    • Starting as an underground singer in Daejeon City in 1986
    • Official debut in 1990
    • The third leader in the genealogy of Korean pop ballads
    • “Invisible Love (보이지 않는 사랑)” (1991)

Korean Pop Ballads in the 1990s and 2000s

  • Jong-shin Yoon (b. 1969)

    • Debut as a guest singer for 015B’s album in 1990 while at Yonsei
    • Starting his solo activity in 1991
    • Singer-songwriter and producer (collaboration with many K-pop idols, *founder and leading producer of MYSTIC STORY)
    • “Like it (좋니)” (2017)

  • Dong-ryul Kim (b. 1974)

    • Debut as a winner of the MBC College Music Festival (1993) while at Yonsei
    • Majoring in composition and film scoring at Berklee School of Music
    • “After All This Time (옛 얘기지만)” (2023)

  • Toy

    • Hee-yeol You (b. 1971): singer-songwriter (majoring in Western classical composition at SNU) and producer
    • Featured by guest singers
    • “Wonder If You’re Still Beautiful (여전히 아름다운지)” (1999)

  • Sung-mo Jo (b. 1977)

    • Debut in 1998
    • Promotion with cinematic MVs
    • The last ballad singer as a million-seller
    • “To Heaven” (1998)

  • Si-kyung Sung (b. 1979)

    • Debut in 2000 as the winner of an online music competition (the best performer of a ballad song as the test piece)
    • Recognized as a ‘K-pop’ musician thanks to multiple participations in OSTs for K-dramas
    • Overseas activity (popular in Japan)
    • “Every Moment of You (너의 모든 순간)” (2014)

The 1990s Korean Society and Popular Culture

  • Taiji Boys and popular music culture in Korea in the 1990s
  • Sinsedae (new generation) culture in the 1990s Korea
  • Taiji Boys Sensation
  • Global pop’s influence on Korean popular music (rap dance music, hip-hop, funk, reggae, and R&B)

Come Back Home

  • Taiji Boys “Come Back Home” (1995)
  • Taiji + BTS “Come Back Home” (2017)

Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Situations before/around Taiji Boys Sensation

  • Rapid economic growth but political repression during military dictatorships (1961-1987) by Chung-hee Park and Doo-hwan Chun
    • Hyundai Motors and Samsung Electronics
  • “More democratic” during President Tae-woo Roh's administration (1988-1993)
    • 1988 Seoul Olympics
    • Seoul Arts Center
    • Liberalization of the whole nation’s world travel
  • Excessive educational enthusiasm
    • Parental belief: higher education to secure higher social status
    • Increase of private education market
    • Students under pressure: punishment at school and discrimination by their academic performance

Social, Political, Economic, and Cultural Situations before/around Taiji Boys Sensation (2)

  • Democratization and the changing educational system during President Young-sam