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This is the one
I have been both looking forward to and dreading the most. This is my favorite
Korean band and perhaps one of my top all time bands.
The last time I
saw this band live, they followed up their opening number by telling the audience
they would be opting to play what they wanted in place of exclusively playing
crowd favorites. I will adhere to this.
Frontman Yoon Do
Hyun began as a member of the singing group The Paper Kite and received instant
attention for his power and presence. It’s easy to throw words around as many
Korean artists get similar accolades, but I’ve seen it live and there is no
better way to describe it. He truly has a grasp on the creativity that should
be demanded of an artist. He has a love for all things Rock and shows it by his
eclectic nature, which drives him to try everything at least once. All the
while, he doesn’t really abandon his culture either, as shown above and below,
incorporating Korean folk into his music.
This version of
Arirang was historical as they once played it for an audience in Pyongyang. The
audience was skeptical and did not expect this western propaganda group to play
Korea’s most treasured song. Once they began to play, the audience wept.
He’s a genius.
He’s an artist. He’s Judas Freakin’ Iscariott!
People wanted
him for various pop groups and he turned them down to form a band that he could
name after himself. Since then, Yoon Do Hyun Band, or YB, has had varying
levels of success. They tend to go in and out of obscurity due to the nations
obsession with K-pop, but everyone still knows him.
Perhaps the most
important thing about YB is that they do what I’m doing now. They constantly
try to promote other groups and show the nation that there are solid
alternatives to K-pop.
In the 2002, he
wrote Korea’s Top chant song, “Oh! Pilseung Korea!” and launched the band’s
success. From then on, you couldn’t hate them in this country, even if you
hated rock. He then began hosting a live stage event show called “Yoon Do Hyun’s
Love Letter”, which he inherited from contemporary singer, Lee Sora. This stage
gave him the chance for four years to show off people that didn’t get airtime, such
as Drunken Tiger and the rest of the movement crew.
After several years
of TV Hiatus came the show “I Am A Singer”. This was directed at the promotion
of non-k-pop singers. It challenged these artists to write and perform new
versions of old songs. YB faced a skeptical crowd again, then became one of the
driving forces for the program, starting with their first performance.
Then this...
...became this:
Once his time
there had ended he began a new program that was like “Love Letter”, but on a
more intimate level. This program was titled MUST because he felt he had no
choice but to give music to the people. Though it has featured some K-pop, he
has always put them on the spot to do something original. He has also featured
groups like Schizo and Jaurim.
Really, between this
and “Love Letter”, he has promoted the hell out of everyone else on this list.
Now, as
promised, here are some tracks you might never hear if you don’t know to look
for them.
Stay Alive (Awesome Live):
Mystery (New single, probably going to be popular, but worth a nod):
Back in the 60’s
and 70’s, Britain’s economy and global standing were in decline and the ones to
take the brunt of it were the working men and women. Years of hard times and a
loss of national pride led to anger. Basically they went from a 10 to a 9 and
got up in arms. This anger led to birth of Punk.
Fast forward to
South Korea in the 90’s: the country had seen a massive economic boom and was
now reaching towards becoming relevant in a world that had forgotten it. But
they had hit a plateau. The government was constantly fighting and the world
saw Korean politics as a farce. The people were still wary of presidents because
of the recent memory of a military dictator and a string of corruption. The
rich got their money and never gave back while the ret of the population
struggled to make ends meet. Basically they started at a 3, were promised a 10,
made it to 6 and were beat down by the few who made it to 8 and then had to
keep working hard just to keep the 6 and would never see 7.
By all accounts,
they should be really angry. They modestly declined from burning this mother
down and took the passive approach. Then came the outlet of Korean Punk.
Korean Punk was
born in old Hongdae, which is like new Hongdae, but had more people expressing
themselves through song and creativity and less people expressing themselves
through getting sloshed and finding a random dance partner to rub up on in the
club.
It was a toss up
for me: No Brain or Crying Nut. No Brain won, but I’ll make the concession with
this:
“Shut up! Listen
to me!” are the words of rebellion, Korean style. It might not seem like much
to westerners, but to them it was huge to be screaming that out and having the
audience join in instead of being shocked and disgusted.
No Brain’s style
tends to be more laid back as with one of their earliest recorded singles, “Sailor”
from 2000. It picks up at the end, but the piece as a whole truly accents their rough beginnings.
Unlike other punk
bands, No Brain does not just focus on the anger and cynicism. It’s there, but
it’s not the main message. They have concern for the way society is, but want
their audience to leave feeling that since it can be better, we need to do
something to make it better and not just bitch about it. They actually believe
in the power of hope.
"It's Young"
Vocalist Lee
Seong-woo, or Bulldaegal, moved to Seoul from Masan with nothing but the
clothes he was wearing and the hope of being in a band. He met a group of
students there and that’s how the band was formed.
When he got to
Seoul, he found a place called Club Drug, the first punk club in Seoul. He ate,
slept and lived there with the cockroaches. The place was a rat-infested
hell-hole and they didn’t care: It was where they performed. They would do a
show, then fall asleep in their sweaty clothes on the floor right there.
When the band
started, bass player Jeong Woo-yong, or Bbogle was a music major. The other
students in his major looked down on the punk movement, calling it noise. He is
still playing, while those students are no longer involved in music.
Their uplifting
brand of punk has helped shape and guide the movement in Korea and made them
more accessible to the Korean public in general. Listening to No Brain is a
gateway to more and more of the underground Punk scene that still exists in
Hongdae, amongst the dance clubs and puke-atoriums. Despite being well known,
this underground venue is still the favored choice of the band to play at, and
they frequently do, without charging ridiculous cover.
