Comments on: girl group mania

girl group mania

needled — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:44:28 -0800

Korean girl groups dominated the Korean music charts this summer - Brown Eyed Girls cast a spell with Abracadabra, Girls' Generation is your Genie, 2NE1 is on Fire, 4Minute turn up the Muzik, T-ara Lies.

While Brown Eyed Girls raked in the cash, Girls' Generation captured male hearts, both civilian (watch out for the audience response during the interview segment staring at 3:45) and uniformed (a performance broadcast on KFN, the broadcast network for the Korean armed forces). Brown Eyed Girls parodied by the Dirty Eyed Girls, composed of members of boy bands 2AM and 2PM. 2PM members join SHINee members and MC Mong for their version of Genie.

By: subbes

subbes — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:02:59 -0800

I can't remember where we first learned about Gee, but it was a staple in playlists at our household for a couple of months. Do K-pop groups follow the J-pop (Morning Musume) model and cycle their members out as they grow older?

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:14:40 -0800

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By: shammack

shammack — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:17:01 -0800

subbes : "I can't remember where we first learned about Gee , but it was a staple in playlists at our household for a couple of months." I'm pretty sure we learned about it from fourfour. I like it.

By: needled

needled — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:39:14 -0800

Do K-pop groups follow the J-pop (Morning Musume) model and cycle their members out as they grow older? Nope, the groups just disband. Speaking of Morning Musume, here's Korean girl group After School covering Morning Musume's Dream Girl.

By: gomichild

gomichild — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:11:56 -0800

Awesome a needled Korean post!

By: unmake

unmake — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:18:53 -0800

Wow - I watched a couple of 2NE1's videos, and they're rather blatantly ripping off the Black Eyed Peas recent chart toppers.. Ah, that seems to be 4Minute's angle as well.

By: Iron Rat

Iron Rat — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:25:54 -0800

Not a girl group but my favorite Korean song ever

By: bardic

bardic — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:41:43 -0800

My non-scientific study of Korean schoolchildren that I happen to teach proves that Genie is the best group evar. I'm struck by how darn big many K-pop outfits are. Superjunior has 13 freakin' members. That really must water down the incomes of the members. Then again, they're pretty much treated like crap anyways.

By: Mojojojo

Mojojojo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:45:05 -0800

And now my fave, Iron Rat

By: Iron Rat

Iron Rat — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:45:34 -0800

A clip from a much older Kpop girl group

By: benzenedream

benzenedream — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 22:52:49 -0800

The Pussycat Dolls have metastasized.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:11:45 -0800

And here they are all mixed together. (found via 'related videos')

By: PontifexPrimus

PontifexPrimus — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:36:44 -0800

I'm a bit torn - on the one hand, most of these groups seem to be going for the whole "sexy cute" look, so that seems to be intentional; on the other hand I can't help but feel like I'm like Al Bundy in that episode where he watched the Rap Channel with the sound turned off.

By: mek

mek — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:00:20 -0800

Delmoi: wow, everything by that youtube user is excellent.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 03:39:46 -0800

Awesome a needled Korean post! Acupuncture is down the hall.

By: 1adam12

1adam12 — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:11:01 -0800

Does no one in Korea listen to anything other than corporate-produced, assembled-by-committee, eye-and-ear-candy music? What are the underground music scenes like there? Because this flawless, small-pored face is the only one I ever see, and it freaks me out.

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:04:35 -0800

Check out some p'ansori, 1adam12.

By: amuseDetachment

amuseDetachment — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:39:13 -0800

1adam12: The greater Asia is very much into modern culture. There's no reason yet to be jaded of the establishment, the state is responsible for removing poverty and corporations are bringing about a massive middle class. There's a deep misunderstanding of western indie culture, many just seeing it as merely fashionable. Why should anyone in Korea be suspicious of corporations and desire authenticity when corporations haven't done anything to warrant that mistrust*? Hell even in the U.S., a mass complete rejection of pop music only started arguably in the 80s with punk (when "selling out" has been a defining concern of that subculture), and that ethic has only been completely realizable with the internet & ipod. Outside of a small part of Japan, if there's any rejection of pop culture it feels more like Ginsberg's America, than some kid's MP3 blog (i.e. you only get commentary on a reaction to the establishment, not creation entirely independent of it). Because of these cultural factors, you have permission to like corporate pop. Enjoy. * Labor disputes notwithstanding, their grievances are relatively minor when compared to Korea in the 80s

By: L.P. Hatecraft

L.P. Hatecraft — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:17:20 -0800

The old standby of covering 80 classics is popular with Korean girl groups.

By: Dysk

Dysk — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:41:33 -0800

amuseDetachment, punk broke in the mid to late seventies, and was pretty much over by the early eighties (hardcore notwithstanding).

By: needled

needled — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:44:01 -0800

But p'ansori isn't exactly underground music, as it's a traditional genre. Personally, I've found it rather difficult to find links to the more rock or indie end of the spectrum of music that can be viewed / played through a non-Korean internet connection and not using Windows AND Internet Explorer. If you have a fast internet connection: go to video.cyworld.com and do a search for indie to go: Zitten, indie breakouts Jang Kiha and Faces, poppy Peppertones, hot newcomers Mate. Or, try searching on "쌈지 숨은고수" which should turn up audition videos of various unsigned acts trying out for a spot in the Ssamji Sound Festival (I kinda liked The Filmstar). If you have a fast internet connection, plus Windows and IE, head over to Naver Music and check out the Hello Rookie series, co-sponsored by Naver and government educational broadcaster EBS. As amuseDetachment hints, there isn't as yet an indie scene in the way it's understood in the U.S. The lines are quite blurry, as indicated in this article. (The MTV Iggy series K-Pop Uncovered overall gives an interesting glimpse of k-pop, as well as links to various k-pop music videos)

By: amuseDetachment

amuseDetachment — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:00:45 -0800

Brother Dysk: Yeah, I worded the sentence confusingly. In my mind, punk is much more defined by the rejection of "selling out", which occurred in the 80s; that a violent reaction to selling out ("punk is dead") is as much of a component the punk movement as D-I-Y/anti-professionalism. I see the meme "punk is dead" as still part of the punk movement, but that's debatable. Anyway, when viewing Cantonese/Taiwanese/Korean pop music, it's best to understand it within the context of "HA HA, FUCK YOU POVERTY, WE'VE MADE IT AND WE'RE GONNA PARTAY NOW", which is different than when we all downloaded indie music onto our ipods in the beginning of this decade thinking "FUCK YOU, MUSIC INDUSTRY". It's an entirely different mindset.

By: Dysk

Dysk — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:08:49 -0800

amuseDetachment, a lot of protopunk stuff was at least as great a rejection of the mainstream or 'selling out' as hardcore generally managed. Stiff Records, for example. But yeah, your clarified position makes a whole lot of sense (though I might've used the label post-punk for what you're describing, but tom-eh-toe tom-ah-toe). Also, you mention Cantopop. While it's true that there's a lot of it, and a fair bit of it is the obnoxiousness you describe, Hong Kong has a pretty damn big underground scene, with a few acts that even made it big, most notably the Lazy Mutha Fuckas (who were almost Hong Kong's version of Rage Against The Machine, in a sense).

By: Kattullus

Kattullus — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 08:52:12 -0800

Very popular Korean hip hop crew Epik High left their music company and started up their own independent label, so there's that. They're very poppy by Western standards but they can get harder. My favorite track of theirs is Flow.

By: kinakomochi

kinakomochi — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:36:21 -0800

The is a big youth crew hardcore scene in Korea centered around The Geeks who also run Townhall records There are shows pretty much every weekend in Seoul.

By: pla

pla — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:49:07 -0800

Okay, seriously - Does the "Abracadabra" video start out with someone using a nit-comb on a hairy ass? Creepy.

By: djduckie

djduckie — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:55:24 -0800

girls generation made me feel pervy and in love with korean girls all at the same time. Thanks,ineeded something esle to loathe myself over.

By: empath

empath — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:16:49 -0800

It's kinda depressing that the music sounds like all the generic electro-house coming out of New York and Miami. Not that I don't love electro-house, but I love dance music that has some kind of regional flavor, like Brazil, Portugal, Italy, Germany, etc.. they all sound different. This just sounds like they cut & pasted from other songs.

By: ixohoxi

ixohoxi — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 20:26:22 -0800

Goddamn; "Genie" is fucking infectious. In theory, this stuff represents everything I'm against. In practice, I can't stop watching it.

By: wintersweet

wintersweet — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:24:09 -0800

If you want to hear something something different that's still more or less mainstream Korean music (although pansori is pretty cool), try Ibadi (Chococat or Neverending Story--I like "Kkokonori" more but it's not on Youtube). Ibadi's lead singer is the same as the female vocalist for Clazziquai; I'd link to a representative video on Youtube but there really aren't any because they're kind of all over the place (from Nova Bossa to Flea). But it's hard to deny the power of the girl groups.

By: needled

needled — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:44:06 -0800

In this live 2NE1 performance, I find the reaction of the female audience an interesting contrast to the male audience reaction to Girls' Generation. Girls' Generation song lyrics tend to be about being a cute girl, or in the case of "Genie" being the ultimate fantasy girl friend. 2NE1's lyrics put down faithless men and feckless lovers, and as far as girl group lyrics go there's more of a tone of female empowerment. (And for those tired of girl groups, here's Winterplay performing "Billie Jean" and their own "Gypsy Girl".)