Get to Know K-Music: Seo Taiji & Boys and their coup d'etat

ᏚᎬᎾ ᎢᎪᏆᏓᏆ & ᏴᎾYᏚ (서태지와 아이들)

Seo Taiji and Boys is considered as one of the first k-pop groups in Korea. Their experimentation with different styles of music reshaped Korean's music industry.

In Seo Taiji and Boys we had 3 members: Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun-suk (YG for people that don't know

) and Lee Junno.

PROFILES:

Stage name: Seo Taiji (서태지)

Real name: Jeong Hyeon Cheol (정현철)

Date of birth: February 21, 1972

Some facts:

- he's married to actress Lee Eun Sung (since 2013) and they have a daughter. But she's his secon wife. His first was Lee Ji Ah. But it's a really long and controversial story which I will tell you in next post about Seo Taiji as solo artist

- before Seo Taiji & Boys he was bassist in rock band Sinawi

- his name Taiji doesn't exist in Korean. He named himself Taiji after his favourite bassist, Taiji Sawada from X Japan. BTW Seo is a huge of fan of X Japan (as me!

)

Name: Yang Hyun Suk

Date of birth: December 2, 1969

Some facts:

- he founded and he's CEO of YG Entertainment

- his wife is Lee Eun Ji, former member of Swi.T (notabene girls band from YG Ent.) which is also sister of Lee Jaijin of Sechs Kies. They have 2 children.

Name: Lee Juno

Date of birth: February 10, 1967

Some facts:

- he got married in 2012 with Park Mi Ri. They have 2 children.

- he was bookes for sexual assaulting and tax crime.

And some common fact for all 3 members and theirs wifes: all their wifes are younger then them more then 10 years

So let's get start! It's time for Seo Taiji and Boys!

🔸🔸🔸

NᎪN ᎪᎡᎪYᎾ

They debuted in 1992 on MBC's talent show with their song "난 알아요" ("Nan arayo- I know") and they... had the lowest raiting from jury... Yes, jury didn's see in Seo Taiji and Boys a group that would change Korean music scen

Yep... no comments... (^_−)☆

But they didn't give up and "Nan Arayo" was a hugley successful hit. They took Korean industry by storm. Song charted at No. 1 spot for a record 17 weeks. This record was broken in 2007 by Big Bang "Lies" (18 weeks). But still... they were record-holder for 15 years

Their first album featured 10 song. This album was a introduction of American metal, dance and hip-hop. It was first hybrid between Western and Korean music.

That was beginning of K-pop...

🔸🔸🔸

ᏚᎬᎾ ᎢᎪᏆᏓᏆ ᎪNᎠ ᏴᎾYᏚ ᏆᏆ

Their second album "Seo Taiji and Boys II" was released in 1993. The album futured main song "하여가" (Hayoga) which is mixing street dance and traditional Korean gayageum with Amarican hip-hop beats.

Second song that promoted this album was "To you". Love song, ballad filled with Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie sounds. That was new style of ballad, completly diffrent than the older generation's ballads.

And because of that, older generation was against Seo Taiji and Boys. For them this new pop culture was talking over the tradition of Korea. This new style of music was threat for Korean culture. And this new band can possess maind of young Korean people and does some brainwash (I don't joke... There even was a documentary movie about bad influance of Seo Taiji and that he probably sign pact with devil... Yes... With satan but more about that later

But that wasn't their only problem. Group was banned from appearing on certain television shows because they wore earring, ripped jeans and dredlock *looking for todays idols... Yeee...*. But it didn't handicap their second album to became the first 'double million sellers' album in Korean history

🔸🔸🔸

ᏚᎬᎾ ᎢᎪᏆᏓᏆ ᎪNᎠ ᏴᎾYᏚ ᏆᏆᏆ

Their 3rd album "Seo Taiji and Boys III" (yes, I know, they were creative with title of their albums...

) was much more heavy metal and rock driver. And lyrics was more about social stuff then before. Exaple: "발해를 꿈꾸며" ("Balhaereul Ggumggumyeo- Dreaming of Balhae") which indicates a hope of reuniting North and South Korea. Video for this song is noted to be one of the group's most prominent songs.

But the most controversial song in this album was "교실 이데아" (Kyoshi Idaeyo- Classroom Ideology) which was critical of the Korean education system and about pressure on youth to succeed academically in that time. Besides that, song has big influance in metal music.

And that was a reason why older generation started to accuse Seo Taiji of brainwashing and blackmasking Satanic messages. Yep...

🔸🔸🔸

ᏚᎬᎾ ᎢᎪᏆᏓᏆ ᎪNᎠ ᏴᎾYᏚ ᏆᏙ

And their last album - you can guess the title

was released in 1995. And of course it didn't do without controversy.

One of the songs "시대유감" (Sidae Yugam- Shame of the time) was banned by Public Performance Ethics Committee for criticizing the government. On album we've only instrumental version of the song. But blacklash from the fans was on so a large scale that system of pre-censorship was abolished in June 1996. Yaaaa... They only was a reason to changing a law... Congrats to Seo Taiji and Boys

Original version of the song was released a month after system was abolished.

But the most popular song from the album was "Come back home". Song with gangster rap and strong beat meant for those who had run away from home and reportedly, many returned home upon it was released. And that is song that did many good stuff.

🔸🔸🔸

ᎠᏆᏚᏴᎪNᎠᏆNᏩ

In 1996 Seo Taiji and Boys retired from Korean popular music scene in their heyday. Seo Taiji explained in Happy Together (2014) that he wanted to retire in glory.

Their announcent of retirement was a huge disappointment for million of fans in Korea.

After that Seo Taiji became solo artist and he is now called as "the President of culture" in South Korea. Yang Hyun Suk is successful with YG Entertainment, one of the biggest record companies in Korea. And Lee Juno is... behind some scandals... He can't really keeps his hands to himself

and he had some problems with money...

But Seo Taiji and Boys is considered as the musicians that made the biggest coup d'etat in Korean Industry.

🔸🔸🔸

ᏟᎾᏌᏢ Ꭰ'ᎬᎢᎪᎢ

In Seo Taiji and Boys it not only music played the firs fiddle in their success. For the first time someone was writting lyrics that teenagers could relate to. They were about frustation towards school system (Seo Taiji droped school at age 16), oppression of youth, fear about future, about problems that bother young people and Korean nation. This music was with meaning for them. That was something that mix Western and Korean culture.

And they not only creat new style of music. They changed the entire Korean music industry. They had not to been controlled by broadcasting station for the first time. Seo Taiji wrote all of the music and lyrics. He desinged all of the performances and he didn't use station's dancers or choreopraphers. He did what not other artist done before and more or less he destroyed the "studio star system".