An Odyssey for Korean Rock: From Subversive to Patriotic

An Odyssey for Korean Rock: From Subversive to Patriotic
Min-Jung Son
Asian Music, Volume 43, Number 2, Summer/Fall 2012, pp. 47-70 (Article)
Published by University of Texas Press
DOI: 10.1353/amu.2012.0024
For additional information about this article
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/amu/summary/v043/43.2.son.html
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An Odyssey for Korean Rock:
From Subversive to Patriotic
Min-­Jung Son
Abstract: This paper examines dramatic transformations of Korean Rock and its social
implications, focusing on three crucial events: Taemach’o P’amun (the Marihuana Scandal)
in the mid-­1970s, Kukp’ung 81 (National Wind 81), and the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/
Japan. Associated with subversive hippie culture, rock in the 1970s experienced heavy censorship; newly promoted College Rock by the mass media became politicized during the
dictatorship; rock, notwithstanding, played a key role in uniting fragmented Korean youth
spirits and hearts during the World Cup. With its innate energy and determination to bind
a community, Korean Rock has accomplished its diverse functions.
본 논문은 한국 록음악의 사회적 의미가 어떻게 변화되어왔는지 역사적인 세가
지 사건과 연관 지어 살펴보고자 한다. 세 가지 사건은 1970 년대 중반 대마초
파문, 1981 년 국풍 81, 그리고 2002 월드컵이다. 한국 록음악은 히피 문화의
상징으로서 정부로부터 심한 견제를 받게 되는데 대마초 사건이 대표적이라
하겠으며, 이후 대중매체를 통하여 양성된 대학가의 그룹사운드는 1980 년대
민주화 운동이라는 시대적 과제를 겪고 있는 대학문화에서 정치적 수난을 겪기도
한다. 그러나 한국 록음악은 2002 년 월드컵의 응원가 ‘오! 필승 코리아’를 필두로
명실상부 국민적 소통의 공간으로 태어난다. 한국 록음악은 내재된 에너지와
결속력으로 다양한 상황 속에서 그 기능을 발현하고 있다고 해석할 수 있겠다.
Introduction
Over the last 40 years, rock music and its social meanings in South Korea (hereafter Korea) have consistently shown both variety and transformation. Rock’n’roll
was initially introduced to Koreans, in particular Korean college students in
Seoul, through AFKN (American Forces Korea Network), nicknamed Radio
Vagabond because of its use of a military truck for broadcasting (Maliangkay
2006b, 21–23). The urbanites were exposed to mass media, and Korean musicians began to perform American pop at live shows organized at military clubs
and camps throughout the country (ibid., 24–26). The music they introduced
included the sound of the standard rock’n’roll in 4/4 meter (ibid., 25).
In the early 1960s, American advisors and military personnel moved to the
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), bringing their music with them to
© 2012 by the University of Texas Press, PO Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819
48 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
the Vietnamese War (Gibbs 2008, 5). After losing the US Army as a lucrative
source of support to Vietnam, Korean musicians began to produce Korean
versions of rock for a domestic audience. According to pop columnist Sŏn
Sŏngwŏn,1 the US Army spent between $80,000 and $120,000 on Korean entertainers each month ($906,000 and $1,440,000 per annum) at a time when the
national export net amounted to around one million dollars per annum (Sŏn
1999, 17; Maliangkay 2006b, 26).
From its beginning in the 1960s, Korean Rock music has not remained unchanged in either its musical aspects or conceptual meanings. In order to disentangle the complicated relations between rock music and Korean political and
cultural history, it is helpful to consider three social events in which rock was
deeply involved. The events are Taemach’o P’amun (the Marihuana Scandal) in
the 1970s, Kukp’ung 81 (National Wind 81) of the 1980s, and the 2002 FIFA
World Cup Korea/Japan (hereafter World Cup).
The Marihuana Scandal involving pop musicians, mostly rock stars, occurred
in the early 1970s. The government censorship of so-­called hippie culture expressed by rock led to continual prosecutions of rock musicians who smoked
marihuana. Rock was seen as a demoralizing music by the ruling political regime
(Kyunghyang Sinmun 1975b, 4).
Kukp’ung 81 was a government-­sponsored cultural event that former President Chŏn Tuhwan (1980–1987) held one year after the bloody Kwangju
­minjuhwa hangjaeng (Kwangju democracy resistance).2 Although the motto
of the event was “It Is the Passion and the Will Power of the Youth that Creates
New History,” it was not a simple youth festival, but rather a euphemistic, cultural placation from a dictatorship. Kukp’ung 81 was held between May 28 and
June 1 in the largest open space of Seoul, Yŏŭido Kwangjang (Yŏŭido Plaza), in
which 15,000 people performed for an audience of more than 10 million over
5 days (Kyunghyang Sinmun 1981, 2). The major program of the festival was a
song contest titled Chŏlmŭni kayoje (Youth Song Festival), and the winning
award went to a rock band from Seoul National University (SNU), Galaxy, with
its song, “Hak” (Crane). Rock, an expression of freedom and peace, received the
first prize at the most controversial event of this infamous dictatorship.
The third event, the 2002 World Cup, may not seem to be a musical festival
at first glance. However, what is examined is not the soccer competition itself,
but the mass, mediatized public experiencing of the event. The mass viewing extended throughout the country, and was considered a truly successful uniting of
Korean youth. Interestingly, the most popular pieces that united them were rock
versions of two well-­known Korean songs, “O P’ilsŭng Korea” (Certain victory
Korea) and “Arirang.” The commercial aspect of the World Cup notwithstanding,
this study focuses on rock in its process of becoming patriotic music.
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 49
Contextualizing Korean Rock through these three events, this paper examines
its transformation of social meanings and consists of three parts:
(1) Rock as subversive in the 1960s and 1970s;
(2) Rock as college music in the 1980s and 1990s;
(3) Rock as patriotic music in the 1990s and 2000s.
The first part interrogates the early meanings of Korean Rock. The second part
examines a politically divided college music, analyzing the social implications
arising from diverse festivals—such as Kukp’ung 81, college song contests, and
college festivals. The third and final part analyzes the unification of previously
separated streams of youth culture, that is, the success of rock songs at the 2002
World Cup, which brought the mindset of resistance and the rebellious energy
of Korean youth to a national and patriotic event.
1960–1970: Rock Becomes Subversive
The prevailing styles of popular music in the 1960s were t’ŭrot’ŭ (trot) and the
more pop Western styles (Kim 1994, 520; Lee Yŏngmi 1999, 139). “T’ŭrot’ŭ ,” a
sorrowful love song, was formed in the late 1920s during the Japanese colonial
period, while the more Western styles, called standard pop, were cultivated more
recently by some mi-­8-­gun kasu (Korean singers for the Eighth US Army3).
Korean audiences responded readily to Western music and the fashions of mi-­
8-­gun musicians. Besides the Western—specifically American—musical aspects
of the music, the high level of education among mi-­8-­gun singers garnered great
respect from the Korean public (Hwang 2006, 36).4
Shin Chunghyŏn and the Emergence of Rock
The major stream begun by the mi-­8-­gun musicians became the roots of Korean Rock. Guitarist Shin Chunghyŏn (b. 1938), among others, forged the first
generation of Korean Rock music in the late 1960s and 1970s.
At the age of 17, Shin Chunghyŏn started his professional musical career by
passing an audition for one of the talent agencies that specialized in providing
live entertainment for military camps (Shin Chunghyŏn 2006, 65; Maliangkay
2006b, 26). He began to work as a member of a p’ul band (full band),5 consisting
of 13 members. The group included guitar, saxophone, trombone, and trumpet. Shin enjoyed substantial remuneration6 until his American customers were
transferred to Vietnam. Then, influenced by the Beatles, Shin organized Aedŭ
Hwŏ (Add4), a standard rock band for the Korean public in 1963 consisting of
guitar, drums, bass, and vocals.
50 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
Aedŭ Hwŏ released its first Beatles-­styled rock album, Pitsogŭi yŏin (A lady
in the rain) in 1964. It performed mainly in small cafes located in downtown
Seoul. Although it had a small urban following it was not successful enough to
continue.7 Shin instead changed his musical style to accommodate the music of
the time, psychedelic rock, and in 1968 gave his hypnotic songs, “Nima” (Honey)
and “Ttŏnayahal saram” (Leaving man) to a female duo, the Pearl Sisters, who
became legendary in the 1970s. Their album sold over a million copies. It was
the first big break for Shin!8 Shortly thereafter in the late 1960s and early 1970s,
Shin became a major producer of Korean Rock, and the musicians Shin handled
became known as Shin Chunghyŏn sadan (the Shin Chunghyŏn division). The
musicians and the songs of this division include the Pearl Sisters’ “K’ŏp’i hanjan”
(A cup of coffee, 1968), Kim Ch’uja’s “Wŏlnamesŏ doraon Kim sangsa” (Returning Corporal Kim, 1969), and Park Insu’s “Pombi” (Spring rain, 1970).
Rock as Destabilizing to the Country
Up until the Taemach’o P’amun (the Marihuana Scandal) of 1975, Korean Rock
seemed to have a smooth start. However, rock then became heavily linked to
hippie culture in the public eye, thus regarded by the government as detrimental
to society. To combat this development, the South Korean Ministry of Culture
introduced a campaign called Sinp’ung Wundong (New Cultural Movement),
promoting American folk music as an alternative. A newspaper reported that
there were several folk music festivals in support of the New Cultural Movement,
and that Last Chance, at the time a long-­haired hardcore rock band, was booked
to perform both rock and folk—but with their hair trimmed (Kyunghyang
Sinmun 1970b, 5).
Repression of hippie culture was clearly evident in a number of incidents
in the early 1970s, and long hair was a term used to describe hippies. Some
of the most noticeable incidents related to hippie suppression included the
following:
The headquarters of the National Police proclaimed that they would prohibit hippie foreigners from entering Korea unless they get their long hair trimmed . . . ,
and prohibit hippie foreigners from attending nightclubs and bars. (Dong-­A Ilbo
1970, 7)9
Since a few long-­haired psychedelic rock bands appeared on TV shows, the government ordered to regulate hippie culture. (Kyunghyang Sinmun 1970a, 5)
Bands [called group sound] have recently been reformed . . . Many of them were
unfortunately disbanded as a result of the heavy censorship on their liberal hippie
minds in 1972, right after a timely national issue, the international energy crisis.
(Kyunghyang Sinmun 1975b, 4)
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 51
The prejudice against hippie culture was so extreme that Shin’s music was
banned by the end of 1979. According to Shin, one day in 1971 he received a
call from the presidential Blue House, and was asked to write a song for then
president Park Chung-­hee (Park Chŏnghŭi) (Shin Chunghyŏn 2006, 164;
Maliangkay 2006a, 57). He refused, and instead wrote a different, yet patriotic
song, “Arŭmdaun kangsan” (Beautiful country, 1972). Despite the optimistic message of the song, the government exerted significant pressure on him
and in 1975, finally prosecuted him for smoking marihuana and drug abuse
(Maliangkay 2006a, 57).
In January 1975, President Park Chung-­hee declared Che-­9-­ho Kin’gŭp
Myŏngnyŏng (the Ninth Emergency Order) and began to censor emerging liberated pop music in the interests of “preserving a sound social structure.” Associated for a time with subversive images, rock was cited as decadent, narcotic,
decaying, and demoralizing. After Shin’s fall from favor, Korean Rock gradually
went underground (Sŏn 1999, 58).10
Ironically, the major Koreanization of rock was realized by Shin’s works created while he was an outcast from the politicized cultural arena of the time.
Along with 15 other of his songs, in July 1975, Shin’s megahit “Miin” (Beautiful
lady, 1974) was banned, after it had already sold 1 million copies. The song was
performed by Shin Chunghyŏn’gwa Yŏpchŏn (Shin Chunghyŏn and the Brass
Coins). The lyrics follow:
Beautiful Lady
I see you once,
I see you twice,
And I keep hoping to see you.
I keep hoping to see that beautiful look.
Once they see you,
they will want to see you again.
I really wonder whose lady you might be.
Everybody loves you.
I am one of them.
Everybody loves you.
I am one of them.
As seen in the riff score handwritten by Shin (fig. 1), the melodic line of
the riff employs the traditional Korean folk song “Kaksŏri ta’ryŏng” (Beggar’s
songs). This passage features a traditional Korean pentatonic scale (G-­A-­B-­D-­E
in G Major, C-­D-­E-­G-­A in solmization) with a heavy dotted rhythm that can be
traced back to traditional folk song style (Lee Wuyong 1996, 51; Ma 2001, 66).
Shin even intentionally performed looking like a beggar, declaring his intention
52 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
Figure 1. “Miin” (Beautiful lady) handwritten by Shin Chunghyŏn.11
to infuse traditional Korean musical style into rock. As noted in newspaper
articles of the time:
Shin decided to change his overall hippie appearance. Shin’s band has been performing their mega hit “Miin” with a long-­haired beggar’s look, and was heavily criticized by the media. Shin now regrets this and tries to change his musical style from
chang ta’ryŏng (street market songs) to kŏnjŏn kayo (decent nationalistic songs).
(Kyunghyang Sinmun 1975a, 4) 12
One particular song caught our attention a few years ago. It was modernized kaksŏri
ta’ryŏng “Miin.” . . . It was the first pop music to adopt a traditional Korean folksong
style . . . However, it disappeared due to Shin’s improper beggar’s look and childish lyrics . . . It is so disappointing that the Koreanized rock abruptly disappeared.
(Kyunghyang Sinmun 1978, 5)
1970–1980: Rock as College Music
As the Korean rockers were constrained following the drug and hemp-­smoking
scandals of 1975, the media had to search for new faces to fill this musical vacuum. It was campus rock bands that captured the attention of Korean youth
(Sŏn 1999, 48). Alongside this transformation, the first college song contest
titled Taehak Kayoje was held by MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) in
1977, which signaled the emergence of a different kind of rock, kŏnjŏnhan rock
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 53
(“decent” rock). The intention of this college song contest was clearly described
in the opening remarks of the first MBC college song contest held on September
3, 1977, as reported in the following newspaper article:
Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation organizes a song contest to resonate youthful minds and hearts, recognizing the finest and most decent songs produced by
college students. This will eventually lead to a more enjoyable college atmosphere.
(Dong-­A Ilbo 1977, 5)
Rock in these college song contests was characterized as apolitical and asocial.
Rather, it was regarded as innocent, philosophical, and decent, compared to the
former rock that Shin represented. The festivals, open public places where this
newly invented “College Rock” was presented, helped foster a clean-­cut image, in contrast to the other rock and its associations with dark, smoky, go-­go-­
dancing nightclubs. The separation of the two different rock styles was further
exacerbated by the Massacre of November 3, 1974. Then a hotel, Taewang K’onŏ,
burned down, and 72 youths inside the nightclub in the building died (Sŏn 1999,
33). The older generation could not countenance the indecent behavior of the
youngsters: boys and girls dancing together in a dark space day and night—
especially during the nighttime curfew (Kyunghyang Sinmun 1975b, 4).13
College bands organized in the late 1970s include Sanullim (Echo), whose first
hit was “Ani pŏlssŏ” (Already, 1978). Three highly educated brothers14 formed
the band, and played a psychedelic and slightly metallic rock featuring distorted
guitar sounds and apolitical lyrics.15 The music projected their intelligent yet
indifferent viewpoint of the world with nonchalant vocals delivery and a heavily fuzzy guitar sound. “Ani pŏlssŏ” (Already) was a relatively up-­tempo and
apathetic/escapist rock.
Already
Has the Sun already risen?
Outside the window is bright.
Humming together with delightful morning walking
Hearts wishing for a nice day
Streets are a canopy of warm looks.
College Culture Politicized in the 1980s
Park Sŭnghyŏn, a former organizer of college festivals at Koryŏ University,16
asserted that the present style of college festivals was formed around 1984 (personal communication, April 30, 2008). Park was a key member of those who
pioneered this new style of college festivals named taedongje (lit. “grand gathering festival”). Examining the transformation process in the college festivals,
54 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
several unpleasant incidents occurred on college campuses, as reported in the
following article:
The 45th Anniversary festival [of Hanyang University] was held for four days. Even
though it was initially arranged to have 30 acts, some of them could not be performed . . . It is disappointing that there was a confrontation between Hakminch’u
[Hagwon minjuhwa ch’ujinmoim, student association for democracy in school],
which protested commercial festivals, and Hakto hoguktan (student national defense corps) which championed the conventional festival structure. (Handae Sinmun
1984, 3)
Yusin (revitalizing reforms), an unprecedented strong dictatorship, started
in October 1972. College protesters showed strong resistance to the regime,
and criticized the commercialism and the political indifference embedded in
previous college culture, including college festivals. The students tried to neutralize the dictatorship and build a truly democratic Korea. In pursuit of a true
democracy and the resuscitation of a national spirit, students created a socially
conscious event, using traditional Korean games and music.
Korean college students in the early 1980s were roughly divided between
socially aware activists and relative conservatives, although there were of course
nuanced gradations of political position regarding a Korea in turmoil.17 Taking
into account performing styles and lyrics, college rock bands were neither revolutionary nor conservative. Understandably their music was not well received
by activists, as recalled by music columnist Shin Hyŏnjun:
One day in October 1981, a college concert set to feature the campus rock band
Galaxy was abruptly canceled after the crowd became unruly. The angry crowd
surrounding me began to throw eggs and rocks at the band as the band started
performing.
There was another guest rock band scheduled to perform on the last day of the
festival in the grand stadium. Oxen 81 from Kŏn’guk University . . . Students next
to me brought wooden sticks to stop their performance. The concert was also cancelled after the police fired teargas bombs to control the protesters. (Shin Hyŏnjun
2006, 203)
Presumably falling into the category of garage rock, “Hak” (Crane) of Galaxy
used a typical 4/4 beat with a theme revolving around traumatic social issues.
The band may have used the crane as a musical metaphor to express their desire
to fly freely. In other words, this song was not as conservative as it was cynical
about reality.
Crane
Fully spreads her wings and glides through the sky.
Holding a thousand year old wrath and sorrow in calm waters.
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 55
Um— Nŏul Nŏul white flutter.
Watching down on the dry grasslike world.
Fly— Fly— to the Sky—
Fly— Ooh.
Taking the sunlight with her wings as the sun goes down to the mountainsides.
Immersed into the sunset the whole world turns red.
Um— Nŏul Nŏul white flutter.
Watching down on the dry grasslike world.
Fly— Fly— to the Sky—
Fly— Ooh.
The song was not welcomed by activist students—it was the winning song
from the infamous festival, Kukp’ung 81. Folklorist Han Yangmyŏng asserts that
this festival was a state-­run event cynically intended to cover up the immorality
of the political regime and to circumvent the resistance and criticism of college
students (Han 2004, 470).
Music of College Activists in the 1980s
According to a documentary titled Hŏ Mundowa Kukp’ung 81 (Hŏ Mundo and
Kukp’ung 81), the organizer of Kukp’ung 81, Hŏ Mundo,18 tried to persuade
three major figures of the so-­called left wing group in the 1980s to participate in
the festival (MBC 2005). Known as the leaders of prodemocracy activists, they
included poet Kim Chiha, singer-­songwriter Kim Min’gi, and performer Im
Chint’aek. Kim Chiha wrote a sarcastic poem, “Ojŏk” (Five thieves) in 1970, and
was arrested for breaking the Pan’gongbŏp (Anticommunism law). Kim, thereafter, became one of the spiritual leaders of college activists. Kim was even sentenced to death in 1974, although he was released in 1980. As for Im Chint’aek,
he was one of the creators of madanggŭk (yard play), in which diverse Korean
folk music genres were synthesized for the purpose of mocking the present dictatorship. Im learned p’ansori, a one-­man music theater genre, from traditional
performers recognized as National Intangible Cultural Assets, and played a key
role in inventing a new type of Korean mask play, which combines p’ansori,
t’alch’um (mask dance), and p’ungmul (farmers’ instrumental music). In the early
1980s, student groups of p’ungmul, t’alch’um, and madanggŭk were associated
with the prodemocracy demonstrations, and the organizers and leaders of the
groups were branded as leftists (ibid.).
In regards to Kim Min’gi, his music generated myriad influences on college
activists, and was adopted as processional songs for student demonstrations. For
instance, “Ach’im isŭl” (Morning dew, 1970) was the most famous activist song,
and became one of the most famous popular songs in Korea.19 As musicologist
56 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
Hwang Okon points out, Kim emerged as an antigovernment activist and a cultural and political icon (Hwang 2006, 40). The lyrics of “Ach’im isŭl” (Morning
dew) appear below:
Morning Dew
Over a long night, just like morning dew on leaves,
which is prettier than a pearl,
when sorrow in my mind is dewy each by each,
I climb a morning hill and learn a subtle smile.
The crimson sun rises beyond a grave;
the sizzling heat in the day light is my ordeal.
Now, I will go towards that wild field,
after throwing away all my sorrow.20
Motivated by the American folk song movement of the previous decade,
t’ongit’a (lit. “acoustic guitar”) singers delivered individuality with simple melodies and easy acoustic guitar accompaniments (Hwang 2006, 37). Although there
were two kinds of t’ongit’a—light t’ongit’a and serious minjung kayo (lit. “people’s
songs”),21 they all aspired for freedom and/or democracy. American folk song
was thus politically engaged in the Korea of the 1980s, as the New York Times
wrote:
Singing “Blowing in the Wind” all the places we’ve been, Miss [Mary] Travers said,
“it takes on a different meaning everywhere. When you sing the line . . . , if you
have sung it to a group of union organizers—who have all been in jail—in South
Korea. . . .” (Pareles 1986, sec. 2-­1)
Underlying t’ongit’a was ch’ŏngnyŏn munhwa (youth culture) of the early 1970s
that strongly influenced this musical movement. As mentioned by Hwang, the
urban youth embodied their liberal ideas through blue jeans, draft beer, hippie-­
like long hair, and t’ongit’a music (2006, 39). The musicians include Yun Hyŏngju,
Song Ch’angsik, Yang Hŭiŭn, and Kim Sehwan. Kim Min’gi started his musical
career as a regular t’ongit’a singer, and became recognized as a vanguard of the
minjung kayo, even though he modestly denied being spiritual leader of this
college movement. Kim’s music was distinct from other popular songs of that
time: abstract lyrics, simple melodies, calm-­tempered voice, small-­sized instrumentation, and acoustic guitar accompaniment.
In the early 1980s t’ongit’a music was further connected to minjung kayo
through several music groups, collectively called norae wundong chiptan
(groups of the Song Movement). Such groups as Meari (Echo) and Noraerŭl
Ch’annŭn Saramdŭl (Song Finders) led the movement named Norae Wundong
(Song Movement). Their mission was to develop an alternative popular music,
uncontaminated by mainstream commercialism and geared toward politically
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 57
engaged intellectuals (Hwang 2006, 43). The styles were mostly marchlike or
tragic ballads.
At last, the efforts of college student activism resulted in 6.29 Minjuhwa Sŏnŏn
(6.29 Democratization Declaration) in 1987. The government declared a direct
presidential election and promised democracy for South Korea. Minjung kayo
musicians gradually began to lose their musical and social leadership as pro­
democracy protesters, so they transformed their musical style again, beginning
in the early 1990s to adjust to public tastes and the popular music business.
They infused their social consciousness into rock and created chinbojŏk rock
(reformative rock). The bands for this new rock included Ch’ŏnjiin (Heaven,
Earth, and Man), Mayday, and Iskra; the three major featured singers were Kang
Sane, An Ch’ihwan, and Yun Tohyŏn.22 Music critic Lee Yŏngmi mentioned that
this synthetic phenomenon resulted from the desire of a younger generation to
express liberation and anti-­institutional protest (1997, 128).
1990–2000: Rock as Patriotic Music
Unveiled Underground Rock in the 1990s
Mun Sŏngkŭn, a famous Korean actor and social activist, probed the underlying functions of Korean underground rock as a counterculture in the late 1990s
through a national television news magazine, Kŭgŏsi Algosipta (I Want the
Truth). Mun’s analysis claimed that Koreans had rock in the 1960s, p’ok’ŭ (lit.
“folk”) in the 1970s, minjung kayo in the 1980s, and underground rock in the
1990s (SBS 1998). Reflecting Mun’s own radical viewpoint, the music of each
decade he cites references a youth music that espouses radical ideologies.
Behind each countercultural phenomenon were liberal youth: psychedelic
hippies in the 1960s rock, student activists in the 1970s, and folk and minjung
kayo in the 1980s. In the case of the 1990s underground rock, there was a cluster of clubs in the Shinch’on district, an upscale private college area that would
later host Korean punk (Howard 2006, 88). In a news magazine, Mun investigated how deeply Korean underground rockers suffered both economically
and socially. He suggested underground rock of the 1990s to be the salvation
for a bigoted Korean popular music, which he further signaled in the title of the
program, Taejung ŭmagŭi haebanggu—underground (The solution for Korean
popular music—underground).
Meanwhile, by 1992, underground styles had gradually entered the mainstream according to ethnomusicologist Keith Howard (2006, 88). Seo Taiji, rock
impresario of the 1990s, is significant for this time. His first megahit, Nan arayo
(I know, 1992), was primarily dance music mixed with light rap (Jung 2006,
112). The album sold more than 1.5 million copies and was regarded as the first
work of Korean rap. Seo Taiji as a rocker then began to turn to heavy metal and
58 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
released the metallic song “Kyosil idea” (Classroom ideology, 1994). This musical transition reflected Seo’s previous association with Shinawi, an underground
heavy metal group.
The lyrics of the song strongly criticized the Korean educational system as
dehumanizing, which Seo felt was the most problematic issue for society (Jung
2006, 113). Seo received such an extraordinary response from the youth that
a new term, Seo Taiji sedae (Seo Taiji generation), was coined. This term was
subsequently linked to another one, sin sedae (new generation), whose values,
customs, lifestyles, and mindset departed from those of the older generation
(ibid., 111). The sin sedae generation identifies those born in the early to mid-­
1970s. This new generation began to shift its attention toward less ideological
and less political, albeit still countercultural issues, such as the cruel authoritarianism within the educational system, high school runaways, and the absurdity
of materialistic society (ibid., 113–17). The underground sound whose features
included provocative lyrics, heavy metal guitar renditions, shouting, and rapping
became known to a wider audience. A typical song text:
Classroom Ideology
Enough. Enough. Enough. Enough
Enough of that kind of teaching. Enough.
Already enough. Enough. Already enough. Enough.
Every morning by 7:30, you put us into a small classroom.
And force the same things into all nine million children’s heads.
These dark closed classroom walls are swallowing us up.
My life is too precious to be wasted here.23
Alternative Youth Community: Red Devils
Nonetheless, Koreans needed one more element to make it possible for rock
to become patriotic—soccer. Korea had never been a soccer powerhouse.
However, the Korean national team, as co-­host of the 2002 World Cup, miraculously advanced to the semifinals in the event. Then half a million Red
Devils, the official Korean supporters for the national team, gathered at Seoul
City Hall Plaza in June 2002 to encourage their national soccer team. “Be the
Reds” was the slogan of the Red Devils. People shouted it in unison using the
native term for Korea, taehanmin’guk, to a catchy rhythmic pattern (see fig.
2): a dotted quarter (tae-­) 1 an eighth (han) 1 a quarter (min’) 1 a quarter
(guk), as illustrated in the transcription below. For the 2002 World Cup, Koreans—whether in Korea or overseas—could easily embrace this audiovisual
identity as the Red Devils.
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 59
Figure 2. Rhythmic pattern of taehanmin’guk.
The Red Devils began as a small-­sized Internet amateur soccer fan club named
Great Han’guk Supporters Club (Great Korea Supporters Club) in 1995, and was
renamed in 1997.24 The club was so successful that almost all Koreans, whether
they were members of the club or not, became symbolic members of the organization. This cultural phenomenon became the subject of much research. For
instance, journalists and scholars asserted that the unprecedented successful
union of the Red Devils signaled the overcoming of Korea’s defensive attitude
toward communism, the so-­called red (Song 2002; Yun 2002).25 During the
dictatorships, Korean governments strategically adopted anti-­communism as
a philosophical rationale against any kind of protest, including prodemocracy
movements by college demonstrators; the rationale was the red complex. There
was additional research on the Red Devils Internet site, and a conference of the
International Communication Association (ICA) held in Seoul in July 2002 following the World Cup addressed the phenomenon.26
This paper now turns its attention to the supporting songs of the 2002 World
Cup, which formed a leading force and a crucial component for stimulating and
cementing unity. These songs were effective catalysts in solidifying a fragmented
Korean identity. However, important questions preceded their inclusion: Why
should rock music be the symbol for the World Cup? Why should it be performed by the Yun Tohyŏn Band (hereafter YB)?
Rock Becomes Patriotic
Band leader Yun Tohyŏn was born in 1972 in P’aju, near the northern border
of South Korea, close to US armed forces bases. Heavily exposed to American
pop music, Yun participated in a local activist song group, Chongiyŏn (Paper
Kite). The group was categorized as a noraewundongp’ae (activist song group),
and their music belonged to minjung kayo. He gradually infused social awareness
into his American-­styled music, which was essentially rock. Yun’s early songs
included “Imjin’Gang” (Imjin River, 1994), in which he explicitly addressed his
political awareness about Korean separation and reunification, and “Ittange
salgiwihayŏ” (To live on this land, 1997) with lyrics from the well-­known radical figure Park No-­hae. Afterward from November 2000 until April 2003, he
60 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
hosted a radio show, 2 siŭi deitŭ (Date at 2 o’clock) on national radio station
MBC FM. He became politically and musically moderate, appealing to a wider
range of listeners than previously.
In 2002, YB (Yun Tohyŏn Band) grabbed an opportunity to sing the well-­
known patriotic song “O P’ilsŭng Korea” (Certain victory Korea) as part of a
TV commercial for mobile communication company SK Telecom. The song
garnered a great response from the youth during the World Cup. However, YB
was not the only group to produce a rendition for the World Cup.27 Another underground group, Crying Nut, performed the same song, “O P’ilsŭng Korea.” 28
There are several differences between YB’s rendition and the punked-­up version by this hardcore underground band.29 YB’s performance uses a constant
repetition of the famous refrain (O P’ilsŭng Korea) without a verse, while Crying Nut sings verses between the refrains. YB’s vocal and instrumental timbre is
clearer and softer than that of Crying Nut. However, the sonic aspect was not the
only factor that determined the colossal success of YB’s rendition of “O P’ilsŭng
Korea” (Korea Herald 2005, 5).
The active members of the official supporters club, Red Devils, ranged between the ages of early twenties and early forties, nevertheless every Korean
was symbolically referred to as a Red Devil. In other words, the main body of
the club consisted of two different generations: an older one that had experienced the ideological fragmentation of college culture during the dictatorship
of the 1980s, and a younger generation whose interests were driven more by
a rebellious counterculturalism rather than by ideological or political issues.
YB’s music and image satisfied the specific demands of both generations: rebellious, countercultural, resistant, activist, nationalist, but yet popular music.
As expressed by a chapter title in their autobiography, “Popular Band? Activist
Band?” YB combined social awareness, musical bitterness, and public desires
(YB 2005, 69).30
Propelled by its huge success, YB went further with a punk version of “Ponjo
arirang”31 (lit. “original arirang”),32 the most famous Korean traditional folk
song, in North Korea during the 2002 MBC T’ŭkpyŏlgongyŏn (2002 MBC special concert), which was held on September 29 of that year at Tongp’Yŏngyang
Taegŭkchang (East P’yŏngyang Grand Theater). The performance that night
included “O P’ilsŭng Korea” and a somewhat more politically focused “O T’ongil
Korea” (Reunification of Korea). Reflecting its nationalistic agenda, YB even created a rock rendition of “Aegukka” [the Korean national anthem] for the 2006
World Cup in Germany.33
In the twenty-­first century, Rock in Korea has emerged as patriotic. Punk,
a supposedly anti-­institutional and antihegemonic rock, now served as a vehicle for Korean nationalism; it invoked traditional folk song and even the national anthem—primary music to evoke a collective national spirit. A closer
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 61
examination of YB’s directions, however, reveals that the patriotism expressed
in its songs is not establishmentarian, but rather countercultural. In an essay
YB states:
. . . We don’t have the political precision or wisdom [that Irish musician Bob Geldof
did], but our lives are stamped with our clear stands and viewpoints on the reality
of this land. (YB 2005, 70).
YB expressed its desire for a righteous and reunited Korea through shouting, hard-­edged vocals, distorted guitar chords, relentlessly repetitive rhythms
forced onto stripped-­down bass lines. With its innate resistance and unceasing
determination to bind a community, punk rock for Korea fulfills various functions in various social circumstances, from a critique of urban alienation and
a sterile economic future to trendy distraction for a consumer public (Hebdige
1979, 122; Epstein 2006, 203). By appropriating punk, YB brought the genre
widespread popularity throughout Korea, attracting the attention of a vigorous
youth generation as well as acceptance from an older generation that had longed
for social justice and had spearheaded resistance to dictatorship. Such music
functions as a collective expression of the tensions produced by political suppression, workers’ rights restrictions, and anxieties about school. Paradoxically,
it is highly successful as entertainment at the same time.
Closing Comments
Dissecting a complex of interpersonal values associated with Korean Rock, this
paper pursued an experiential and reflexive ethnography. As suggested by Rice
(2003, 159) subject-­centered ethnography consists of three dimensional experiences: space, time, and metaphor. My research deals with space and time as
social constructs rather than as natural, immutable, and fixed ones, interpreting
different metaphoric meanings deployed in each spatial-­temporal circumstance.
In sum, it examines the history of Korean Rock focusing on several historical and pivotal events through which rock music, a once estranged music, was
transformed into a patriotic vehicle that momentarily unified conflicting political and musical positions. The Marihuana Scandal of the early 1970s caused
Korean Rock to go underground and gave rise to College Rock as part of the
mainstream pop music scene. Kukp’ung 81 generated political tension between
apolitical College Rock and democratic activists. Finally, the 2002 World Cup
was a catalyst for an alternative and unified Korean youth identity through punk,
whether temporary or not.
By contesting established societal norms, Rock in Korea became a powerful
force for developing a new worldview for Korea. Rather than a monolithic or
simplistic explanation of social meanings for Korean Rock, my essay offers a
62 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
glimpse into the multi-­layered nature of its political, social, and artistic relationships. To understand this musical odyssey is to understand the power relations
underlying the complexity of the functions—often contradictory—attributed to
or claimed by Korean Rock.
Daejeon University
Appendix (Song Texts in Korean)
미인
한번 보고 두 번 보고 자꾸만 보고 싶네
아름다운 그모습을 자꾸만 보고 싶네
그 누구나 한번 보면 자꾸만 보고 있네
그 누구의 애인인가 정말로 궁금하네
모두 사랑하네 나도 사랑하네
모두 사랑하네 나도 사랑하네
아니 벌써
아니 벌써 해가 솟았나 창문 밖이 훤하게 밝았네
가벼운 아침 발걸음 모두 함께 콧노래 부르며
밝은 날을 기다리는 부푼 마음 가슴에 가득
이리저리 지나치는 정다운 눈길 거리 에 찼네
학
하늘 높이 화사한 두 날개 펴고 미끄러지네
천년 묵은 분노와 설움을 고운 물결 에담아
너울 너울 하얀 날개짓 하며 검불 같은 세상 내려다보며
날아라날 아라 하늘 높이 날아라 우~
산허리에 해 저물면 날개접어 그 빛을 품고
노을 속에 젖어 들어 온 세상은 붉은 빛이야
너울 너울 하얀 날개짓 하며 검불 같은 세상 내려다보며
날아라 날아라 하늘높이 날아라 우~
아침이슬
긴 밤 지새우고 풀잎마다 맺힌
진주보다 더 고운 아침이슬처럼
내 맘의 설움이 알알이 맺힐 때
아침 동산에 올라 작은 미소를 배운다
태양은 묘지 위에 붉게 떠오르고
한 낮에 찌는 더위는 나의 시련일지라
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 63
나 이제 가노라 저 거친 광야에
서러움 모두 버리고 나 이제 가노라
교실 이데아
됐어 (됐어) 이젠됐어 (됐어) 이제
그런 가르침은 됐어
그걸로 족해 (족해) 이젠 족해 (족해)
내 사투로 내가 늘어놓을래
매일 아침 일곱시 삼십분까지
우릴 조그만 교실로 몰아넣고
전국 구백만의 아이들의 머리 속에
모두 똑 같은 것만 집어 넣고 있어
막힌 꽉 막힌 사방이 막힌
널 그리곤 덥썩 모두를 먹어 삼킨
이 시커먼 교실에서만
내 젊음을 보내기는 너무 아까워
Glossary
2 siŭi deitŭ 2 시의데이트 (Date at 2 o’clock)
6.29 Minjuhwa sŏnŏn 6.29 민주화선언 (6.29 Democratization Declaration)
Ach’im isŭl 아침이슬 (Morning dew)
Aedŭ Hwŏ 에드훠 (Add4)
Aegukka 애국가 (the Korean national anthem)
Ani pŏlssŏ 아니벌써 (Already)
Arŭmdaun kangsan 아름다운강산 (Beautiful country)
Chang t’aryŏng 장타령 (street market song)
Che-­9-­ho Kin’gŭp Myŏngnyŏng 제9 호긴급명령 (the Ninth Emergency
Order)
Chinbojŏk rock 진보적 록 (reformative rock)
Chŏlmŭni kayoje 젊은이가요제 (youth song festival)
Chongiyŏn 종이연 (Paper Kite)
Ch’ŏngnyŏn munhwa 청년문화 (youth culture)
Ch’ŏnjiin 천지인 (Heaven, Earth, and Man)
Hak 학 (Crane)
Hakminch’u (Hagwon minjuhwa ch’ujinmoim) 학원민주화추진모임 (student association for democracy in school)
Hakto hoguktan 학도호국단 (student national defense corps)
Han’guk 한국 (Korea)
Hŏ Mundowa Kykp’ung 81 허문도와국풍 81 (Hŏ Mundo and Kukp’ung 81)
Imjin’Gang 임진강 (Imjin River)
Ittange salgiwihayŏ 이땅에살기위하여 (To live on this land)
64 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
Kaksŏri t’aryŏng 각설이타령 (Beggar’s songs)
Kŏnjŏn kayo 건전가요 (decent nationalistic songs)
Kŏnjŏnhan rock 건전한 록 (decent rock)
K’ŏp’i hanjan 커피한잔 (A cup of coffee)
Kŭgŏsi Algosipta 그것이알고싶다 (I Want the Truth)
Kukp’ung 81 국풍 81 (National Wind 81)
Kwangju minjuhwa hangjaeng 광주민주화항쟁 (Kwangju democracy
resistance)
Kyosil idea 교실이데아 (Classroom ideology)
Madanggŭk 마당극 (yard play)
Meari 메아리 (Echo)
Mi-­8-­gun kasu 미 8 군가수 (Korean singers for the Eighth U.S. Army)
Minjung kayo 민중가요 (people’s songs)
Nan arayo 난알아요 (I know)
Nima 님아 (Honey)
Norae Wundong 노래운동 (Song Movement)
Noraewundongp’ae 노래운동패 (song activist group)
Norae wundong chiptan 노래운동집단 (groups of the Song Movement)
Noraerŭl ch’annŭn saramdŭl 노래를찾는사람들 (Song Finders)
O P’ilsŭng Korea 오필승코리아 (Certain victory Korea)
O T’ongil Korea 오통일코리아 (Reunification of Korea)
Ojŏk 오적 (Five thieves)
Pan’gongbŏp 반공법 (Anticommunism law)
P’ansori 판소리 (Korean one-­man opera)
Pitsogŭi yŏin 빗속의여인 (A lady in the rain)
P’ok’ŭ 포크 (folk)
Pombi 봄비 (Spring rain)
Ponjo arirang 본조아리랑 (original arirang)
P’ul band 풀밴드 (full band)
P’ungmul 풍물 (farmers’ instrumental music)
Sanullim 산울림 (Echo)
Seo Taiji sedae 서태지세대 (Seo Taiji generation)
Shin Chunghyŏn sadan 신중현사단 (the Shin Chunghyŏn division)
Shin Chunghyŏn’gwa Yŏpchŏn 신중현과엽전 (Shin Chunghyŏn and the
Brass Coins)
Sinp’ung Wundong 신풍운동 (New Cultural Movement)
Taedongje 대동제 (Grand Gathering Festival)
Taehak kayoje 대학가요제 (college song contest)
Taehanmin’guk 대한민국 (Korea)
Taejung ŭmagŭi haebanggu—underground 대중음악의해방구–언더그라
운드 (The solution of Korean popular music—underground).
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 65
Taemach’o P’amun 대마초파문 (Marihuana Scandal)
T’alch’um 탈춤 (mask dance)
T’ongit’a 통기타 (acoustic guitar)
Tongp’yŏngyang taegŭkchang 동평양대극장 (East P’yŏngyang Grand
Theater)
Ttŏnayahal saram 떠나야할사람 (Leaving man)
T’ŭkpyŏlgongyŏn 특별공연 (special concert)
T’ŭrot’ŭ 트로트 (trot)
Wŏlnamesŏ doraon Kim sangsa 월남에서돌아온김상사 (Returning Corporal Kim)
Yŏŭido kwangjang 여의도광장 (Yŏŭido Plaza)
Yusin 유신 (revitalizing reforms)
Notes
1
The Romanization of Korean words is based upon the McCune-­Reischauer system.
The exception includes those names of people who have been widely known with differently Romanized names in the West.
2
This democratization movement refers to a popular uprising in the city of Kwangju,
South Korea, from May 18 to May 27, 1980. The results of the Massacre are estimated at
191 deaths, 122 life-­threatening injuries, and 730 minor injuries (accessed December 22,
2007, www.kr.dic.yahoo.com).
3
Mi-­8-­gun refers to the Eighth United States Army (EUSA), the commanding formation of all US Army troops in South Korea (accessed January 15, 2008, http://en.wipidepia
.org/wiki/Eighth_United_States_Army).
4
Since mi-­8-­gun singers had to sing for the American soldiers, they tended to be more
educated than their counterparts who sang for the domestic audience (Hwang 2006, 36).
The most renowned singers of this line include Patti Kim, Ch’oe Hŭijun, Cho Yŏngnam,
Han Myŏngsuk, and Hyŏn Mi.
5
There were two kinds of bands in Korea in the 1960s. The first was the kambo
(combo) band composed of 4–7 members, and the second was the p’ul (full) band of
13–20 members.
6
His salary grew from 3,000 won to 25,000 won, once his extraordinary talent was
approved three months after he was first hired (Shin Chunghyŏn 2006, 76).
7
The band broke up in 1966 (Shin Chunghyŏn 2006, 96).
8
Behind Shin’s fame, there was a businessman, nicknamed King Park, the owner of
King Records, an independent record label (Shin Chunghyŏn 2006, 102).
9
All cited Korean newspaper articles are translated by the author.
10
At this point, another figure came into the musical scene as the godfather of the
underground, Cho Tongjin (Sŏn 1999, 58). The bands of this line include Tŭlgukhwa
(Wild chrysanthemum), Siin’gwa ch’onjang (A poet and a country house), and Hae­baragi
(Sunflower). Their music was acoustic folk rock as opposed to Shin’s electrifying psychedelic rock.
66 Asian Music: Summer/Fall 2012
In the meantime, there was one more figure in the Korean Rock music scene, Cho
Yongp’il. Cho initiated his musical career as a mi-­8-­gun guitarist, and made a huge break
in 1976 with the song “Torwayayo Pusanhangae” (Come back to Pusan Harbor). Nonetheless, Cho had to go underground as he was also accused of smoking pot. After the
two-­year restraint, Cho came back and became the very superstar of Korean popular
music in the 1980s.
11
The score is in Shin’s handwritten sketch (Ma 2001, 90).
12
Kŏnjŏn kayo literally means decent songs. However, the songs under this description were meant to uplift President Park’s political agenda, patriotism, and sound society
(Maliangkay 2006a, 53–58).
13
The nighttime curfew (1945–1982) was enforced between midnight and 4:00 a.m.
14
The oldest one was Seoul National University graduate Kim Ch’angwan, the second
was Kim Ch’anghun from the same university, and the youngest was Koryŏ University
student Kim Ch’angik. Kim Ch’anghun was the songwriter of the winning song in the
first MBC college song festival, “Na ŏttŏkhae” (What can I do?).
15
After their heyday in 1983, Sanullim remained mostly underground, commanding
particularly strong audience loyalty (Howard 2006, 88).
16
Koryŏ University has been known for holding the first taedongje as a college festival
form. The festival was organized in 1984 by the student union, and Park Sŭnghyŏn was
an executive member of the union.
17
Lee said that college life in the 1980s was divided into two: activists and nonactivists
(Lee Yŏngmi 1997, 119).
18
Hŏ Mundo (1940–) became the thirteenth Minister of the Ministry of Unification
(1986–1988) in South Korea.
19
In the mid-­1990s (at the start of the food crisis), the North Korean government
introduced this song to spread anti-­American sentiment. However, the more the people
of North Korea sang, the more they began to feel the spirit of resistance. The song, which
was banned in South Korea in 1975, faced the same fate in North Korea in the mid-­1990s.
20
The lyrics were translated by Moon Sung Hwee in the Daily NK (“Why Is It Prohibited to Sing ‘Morning Dew’ in North Korea?” April 17, 2008).
21
Korean minjung kayo may trace back to the songs for Nongmin wundong (Peasants’
uprising) and Tonghak hyŏngmyŏng (Oriental peasants’ revolution) in the late nineteenth
century, said Korean literature scholar Ch’oe Tongho (2006, 35). However, modern minjung kayo was formed in the 1970s during the military dictatorship of Park Chung-­hee.
22
Yun organized his band, YB (Yun Tohyŏn Band), in 1997, and continued his musical
career as the lead singer of the band.
23
Translated by Jung Eun-­Young (2006, 115).
24
They renamed their supporters’ club Red Devils borrowing from a foreign newspaper
article on the miraculous Koreans’ advance to the semifinals at the 1983 Mexico Youth
World Cup. In fact, the name Red Devils resulted from the mistranslation of Red Furies
(accessed January 15, 2008, www.kr.dic.yahoo.com).
25
Red has been regarded as the color of communism in South Korea since the Cold
War period. The prejudice against the color red is well expressed in a slang for the communists, pp’algaengidŭl (red people).
Son: An Odyssey for Korean Rock 67
26
A conference of the International Communication Association (ICA) held in Seoul
in July 2002 following the World Cup addressed the site. According to an article by Oh
T’aeksŏp, the former chair of the Seoul division of the association, a number of international communication scholars were interested in this social network, where Koreans
communicated with one another, sharing their opinions and emotions (Park 2002, 158).
An astounding statistic of the year 2002 showed the following: 70% of the Korean population subscribed to hi-­speed Internet, 30 million out of 47 million Koreans carried cellular
phones, 75% of Internet daily users communicated by the messenger program, and 60%
of Internet users participated in at least one virtual community (ibid.). The alienated
Korean individualities, who have been blocked by the mass media for several decades,
found alternative ways for sharing their opinions and tastes, as asserted by Park.
27
The so-­called World Cup songs include rockers Kim Chongsŏ’ s “Corea” and Maya’s
“Ah, Taehanmin’guk” (Ah, Korea), t’ŭrot’ŭ Singer Chang Yunjŏng’s “Himnaera!” (Cheer
up!), and classical soprano Cho Sumi’s “Champion.”
28
After arduously performing covers for the Sex Pistols and Green Day, Crying Nut
began writing its own songs in 1998, and became one of the most popular Korean punk
groups of the mid-­2000s (Epstein 2006, 194).
29
Crying Nut became popular and commercialized in the mainstream musical scene,
as mentioned by Epstein (2006, 196). However, their performance style itself had always
been heavily punkish.
30
The producer of YB, Daeum Entertainment, initiated their business with one of the
most representative activist music groups, Noraerŭl Ch’annŭn Saramdŭl (YB 2005, 115).
31
Ponjo arirang (also called Shin arirang) originated in the Kyŏnggi province, and has
been the most popular version of arirang.
32
YB’s punkish version of “Arirang” was originally made to garner support for Korea’s
team in the 2002 World Cup.
33
YB’s rock rendition of the national anthem brought a debate over YB’s artistic purity.
YB’s performance was sponsored by SK Telecom, which was not the sponsor of the Red
Devils. In other words, YB’s music, intended to support the fans’ club, was used as a commercial theme song for a company with no relation to the club.
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