@pickleddragon,
You’re most welcome! I finished watching this week’s episode an hour or two ago, and went bonkers as soon as I heard it.
I’ve also posted the original version from 1990, along with The Korean‘s assessment of the band Dongmulwon [Zoo] who recorded it. I love Korean pop music from that time period. Excellent keyboards. I like it even better than the new version.
Bonkers is a good way to describe my reaction too! 😀 And the article is a very interesting read – it contextualises the music to the era. I especially liked the classsification of K-pop as the music that embodies the idea of “Koreanness.”
It’s also good to see PDs picking up older music and showcasing it through their dramas. This helps introduce newer audiences like myself to these sounds (plus it helps that folk rock is one of my favourite genres anyway).
@pickleddragon, The Korean‘s series of top-50 Kpop essays is terrific. It’s a crash-course in the development and genealogy of Korean pop music. It has been difficult to find much information on vintage Korean artists in English, and his articles have been a godsend. I especially appreciate his translations of the lyrics, his comments on the lives and times of the artists, and their music’s reception by Korean society. Not to mention the political tenor of the times, particularly in relation to official censorship. For instance, during the reigns of dictators Park and Chun, prison terms on trumped-up drug charges stifled the careers of many rock musicians. Rock used to top the charts in the mid-to-late 80s, but actually had been suppressed since the 70s. From what I gather, rock remains more popular in Japan than Korea, for instance.
Check out Shin Jung-hyeon (#1), “the Godfather of Korean pop music.” Three of his songs were used in the excellent OST for SIGNAL, which is what compelled me to watch the series as much as all the accolades from Beanies. Be sure to listen to his original versions. He’s an incredible guitarist. Ditto for his son, the late Shin Dae-cheol of Sinawe (#30). I’ll post a Shinawe number that I can imagine the Rockin’ Surgeons of HOSPITAL PLAYLIST jamming out to.
“Only That Is My World” by Deulgukhwa [Wild Chrysanthemum] (#8) would fit in nicely with the life journeys of the physicians. It’s from 1985, prior to their entering medical school, so they would have known it. It wouldn’t surprise me if it inspired them to become musicians.
Sanullim [Mountain Vibrations] (#5) is uniquely Korean with a psychedelic flavor, and I like them. The band comprised of three brothers released its first LP in 1977, but they had been playing together before that, two as a duo, the other in another band. You might recognize one of them as actor Kim Chang-wan. He’s currently appearing in FIND ME IN YOUR MEMORY.
This is a goldmine! Thank you again. I’m going to be spending some time reading and listening. I’ve heard only a handful of the artistes before, mainly Seo Taiji, so this is definitely a super list to explore more. I also like that it is a compilation from ~2000-2010, so it does not have a lot of the cookie-cutter balladeers or bump-and-grind (as you put it!) pop artistes that seem to be the face of Kpop these days.
I found the reference to the censorship especially interesting, and to think it lasted for a long long time. Usually, the first thing to be cut in a censorship drive is literature and popular writing; music tends to be of relatively secondary concern. Clearly, the establishment thought that the music of the time was equally powerful enough to influence audiences. There are similar stories in South Asia too, where musicians and artistes were banned from performing, but I don’t know if it was as pervasive as it seems to have been in SK.
You’re so welcome. That list of Korean albums is a good one. I found it while searching again for a video of a band from Yonsei University called Magma [Magama/Mageuma in Korean] that performed “Sun [haeya]” at the 1980 MBC College Musicians Festival. I stumbled across it a couple of years ago. The power trio cranked out catchy hard rock, and looked just like your average NY-NJ New Wave band of that era, right down to their haircuts and post-preppy long-sleeved shirts and vests. Their LP is on the list. Dang, I found the clip. The sound is mono, which is not surprising for TV back then. I was able to find the album cut as well. I’ll post it separately. I can imagine The Sawbones from HOSPITAL PLAYLIST kicking out the jams on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBHUcdYCWo
I think that in the case of Korean rock, it was suppressed by the government because the dictators were well aware of music’s role in the student antiwar protests in the US in the 60s and 70s, as well as associated drug use and wonton behavior. Recall that early rock ‘n’ roll was denounced from pulpits across America for its endangerment of public morals. Elvis’s music and gyrations were condemned as scandalous temptations of the young to debauchery and miscegenation. And “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” wasn’t just a song by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. It had a basis in fact. One has only to consider such events as Woodstock and the Rolling Stones’ disastrous free concert at Altamont in 1969 to realize why the Park and Chun regimes were eager to nip any potential homegrown rabble-rousers in the bud. They gave no quarter to political dissent or criticism, and suppressed opponents with a ferocity that made the Kent State shootings, shocking as they were to my young self, seem like small potatoes when I read about the Gwangju Uprising.
There’s one other thing that tyrants hate, and that is being made fun of. Skewering potentates and institutions with pithy lyrics paired with a catchy melody is a time-honored tradition the world over. Think of the Sex Pistols’ punk classic, “God Save the Queen.” I’m sure that something like the following track, and “One Toke Over The Line” from the same album, would have gone over like a lead balloon in Korea back in the day. Hilariously, the latter tune was presented as a gospel piece on the staid and straight-laced variety hour THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW!
In some ways, music can be more subversive than literature, and more difficult to stamp out. A case in point is Irish songs of resistance to British rule, many of which used poetic imagery to conceal the true meaning of the lyrics. Kaona in Hawaiian chants and lyrics is another example of hidden meanings. In Hawaiian songs and poetry, images of rain and fog allude to lovemaking just as sageuks use the snuffing of a candle for the same purpose.
Hah. Fair point about music and censorship. I definitely need to read up more on it. I’ve had only a superficial understanding of it so far, including its history in India. Here, though, I think the music that did get censored was not mainstream to begin with, and almost everyone who was engaged in mainstream entertainment aligned (whether voluntarily or not is a separate question) with the establishment, but for a handful of notable exceptions. Artistes on the periphery singing a revolutionary tune is ‘normal’, but not when they are top billed commercial artistes. That is what makes this especially interesting.
The AAK list is so well done. I’ve been working my way down the list and slow-listening to all the music, and loving it thoroughly. Thanks once again for the pointers and the explanations. This has been an enlightening and enriching and very enjoyable conversation 🙂
@pakalanapikake You might want to give this version of the song a listen, if you haven’t already – I thought this was, melodically, the best version of this gorgeous song I have heard so far. The improvs add a lot of character to the minimalist melody.
@pickleddragon,
Thanks for the pointer. Alas, it was unavailable when I tried to listen to it just now, so I dug around and found what I think might be another copy by the same artist. Is this the one you meant?
Kim Bum-soo has a lovely, warm voice. Very soothing. This is indeed a beautiful rendition of the song, right down to the la-la-las. Thank you for another taste of that earworm. 😉
The version you’ve linked to is a live version, and has a lovely raw feel to it. I had linked to a studio recording, which seems to be from the album Kim Bum-soo Again. Live is always better than recorded, IMO. He’s got a beautiful voice, and gives it a new spin. I like how. the original singer doesn’t really sing the song well (and/or doesn’t have a good voice generally), but the melody is just so enchanting, you forget the singing quality, and just enjoy the music. Earworm is the perfect word for this!!
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PakalanaPikake
April 17, 2020 at 6:29 AM
HOSPITAL PLAYLIST, OST Part 6
Kwak Jin Eon: “In Front of City Hall at the Subway Station” Lyrics
(Han/Rom/Eng/Indo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbyyTdXse1c
pickleddragon
April 17, 2020 at 6:40 AM
Thank you for sharing this song! I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I heard it. It is such a gorgeous piece!
PakalanaPikake
April 17, 2020 at 7:44 AM
@pickleddragon,
You’re most welcome! I finished watching this week’s episode an hour or two ago, and went bonkers as soon as I heard it.
I’ve also posted the original version from 1990, along with The Korean‘s assessment of the band Dongmulwon [Zoo] who recorded it. I love Korean pop music from that time period. Excellent keyboards. I like it even better than the new version.
Enjoy! 😉
pickleddragon
April 18, 2020 at 12:19 AM
Bonkers is a good way to describe my reaction too! 😀 And the article is a very interesting read – it contextualises the music to the era. I especially liked the classsification of K-pop as the music that embodies the idea of “Koreanness.”
It’s also good to see PDs picking up older music and showcasing it through their dramas. This helps introduce newer audiences like myself to these sounds (plus it helps that folk rock is one of my favourite genres anyway).
PakalanaPikake
April 18, 2020 at 10:05 PM
@pickleddragon,
The Korean‘s series of top-50 Kpop essays is terrific. It’s a crash-course in the development and genealogy of Korean pop music. It has been difficult to find much information on vintage Korean artists in English, and his articles have been a godsend. I especially appreciate his translations of the lyrics, his comments on the lives and times of the artists, and their music’s reception by Korean society. Not to mention the political tenor of the times, particularly in relation to official censorship. For instance, during the reigns of dictators Park and Chun, prison terms on trumped-up drug charges stifled the careers of many rock musicians. Rock used to top the charts in the mid-to-late 80s, but actually had been suppressed since the 70s. From what I gather, rock remains more popular in Japan than Korea, for instance.
50 Most Influential K-Pop Artists Series Index
http://askakorean.blogspot.com/1998/02/50-most-influential-k-pop-artists.html
Check out Shin Jung-hyeon (#1), “the Godfather of Korean pop music.” Three of his songs were used in the excellent OST for SIGNAL, which is what compelled me to watch the series as much as all the accolades from Beanies. Be sure to listen to his original versions. He’s an incredible guitarist. Ditto for his son, the late Shin Dae-cheol of Sinawe (#30). I’ll post a Shinawe number that I can imagine the Rockin’ Surgeons of HOSPITAL PLAYLIST jamming out to.
“Only That Is My World” by Deulgukhwa [Wild Chrysanthemum] (#8) would fit in nicely with the life journeys of the physicians. It’s from 1985, prior to their entering medical school, so they would have known it. It wouldn’t surprise me if it inspired them to become musicians.
Sanullim [Mountain Vibrations] (#5) is uniquely Korean with a psychedelic flavor, and I like them. The band comprised of three brothers released its first LP in 1977, but they had been playing together before that, two as a duo, the other in another band. You might recognize one of them as actor Kim Chang-wan. He’s currently appearing in FIND ME IN YOUR MEMORY.
PakalanaPikake
April 18, 2020 at 10:22 PM
PS: You might find this interesting after perusing The Korean‘s listing above:
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/inmydreams/100-greatest-korean-albums-of-all-time-by-melon-2018/
pickleddragon
April 18, 2020 at 11:56 PM
This is a goldmine! Thank you again. I’m going to be spending some time reading and listening. I’ve heard only a handful of the artistes before, mainly Seo Taiji, so this is definitely a super list to explore more. I also like that it is a compilation from ~2000-2010, so it does not have a lot of the cookie-cutter balladeers or bump-and-grind (as you put it!) pop artistes that seem to be the face of Kpop these days.
I found the reference to the censorship especially interesting, and to think it lasted for a long long time. Usually, the first thing to be cut in a censorship drive is literature and popular writing; music tends to be of relatively secondary concern. Clearly, the establishment thought that the music of the time was equally powerful enough to influence audiences. There are similar stories in South Asia too, where musicians and artistes were banned from performing, but I don’t know if it was as pervasive as it seems to have been in SK.
PakalanaPikake
April 19, 2020 at 9:40 AM
Re: @pickleddragon April 18, 2020 at 11:56 PM
Part 1 of 2
You’re so welcome. That list of Korean albums is a good one. I found it while searching again for a video of a band from Yonsei University called Magma [Magama/Mageuma in Korean] that performed “Sun [haeya]” at the 1980 MBC College Musicians Festival. I stumbled across it a couple of years ago. The power trio cranked out catchy hard rock, and looked just like your average NY-NJ New Wave band of that era, right down to their haircuts and post-preppy long-sleeved shirts and vests. Their LP is on the list. Dang, I found the clip. The sound is mono, which is not surprising for TV back then. I was able to find the album cut as well. I’ll post it separately. I can imagine The Sawbones from HOSPITAL PLAYLIST kicking out the jams on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBHUcdYCWo
I think that in the case of Korean rock, it was suppressed by the government because the dictators were well aware of music’s role in the student antiwar protests in the US in the 60s and 70s, as well as associated drug use and wonton behavior. Recall that early rock ‘n’ roll was denounced from pulpits across America for its endangerment of public morals. Elvis’s music and gyrations were condemned as scandalous temptations of the young to debauchery and miscegenation. And “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” wasn’t just a song by Ian Dury and the Blockheads. It had a basis in fact. One has only to consider such events as Woodstock and the Rolling Stones’ disastrous free concert at Altamont in 1969 to realize why the Park and Chun regimes were eager to nip any potential homegrown rabble-rousers in the bud. They gave no quarter to political dissent or criticism, and suppressed opponents with a ferocity that made the Kent State shootings, shocking as they were to my young self, seem like small potatoes when I read about the Gwangju Uprising.
– Continued –
PakalanaPikake
April 19, 2020 at 9:42 AM
Re: @pickleddragon April 18, 2020 at 11:56 PM
Part 2 of 2
There’s one other thing that tyrants hate, and that is being made fun of. Skewering potentates and institutions with pithy lyrics paired with a catchy melody is a time-honored tradition the world over. Think of the Sex Pistols’ punk classic, “God Save the Queen.” I’m sure that something like the following track, and “One Toke Over The Line” from the same album, would have gone over like a lead balloon in Korea back in the day. Hilariously, the latter tune was presented as a gospel piece on the staid and straight-laced variety hour THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW!
Brewer & Shipley: “Oh Mommy” (Tarkio LP, 1970)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmmfD-FecqA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarkio_(album)
(That’s Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on pedal steel, by the way.)
In some ways, music can be more subversive than literature, and more difficult to stamp out. A case in point is Irish songs of resistance to British rule, many of which used poetic imagery to conceal the true meaning of the lyrics. Kaona in Hawaiian chants and lyrics is another example of hidden meanings. In Hawaiian songs and poetry, images of rain and fog allude to lovemaking just as sageuks use the snuffing of a candle for the same purpose.
-30-
pickleddragon
April 20, 2020 at 12:41 AM
Hah. Fair point about music and censorship. I definitely need to read up more on it. I’ve had only a superficial understanding of it so far, including its history in India. Here, though, I think the music that did get censored was not mainstream to begin with, and almost everyone who was engaged in mainstream entertainment aligned (whether voluntarily or not is a separate question) with the establishment, but for a handful of notable exceptions. Artistes on the periphery singing a revolutionary tune is ‘normal’, but not when they are top billed commercial artistes. That is what makes this especially interesting.
The AAK list is so well done. I’ve been working my way down the list and slow-listening to all the music, and loving it thoroughly. Thanks once again for the pointers and the explanations. This has been an enlightening and enriching and very enjoyable conversation 🙂
pickleddragon
April 21, 2020 at 10:42 PM
@pakalanapikake You might want to give this version of the song a listen, if you haven’t already – I thought this was, melodically, the best version of this gorgeous song I have heard so far. The improvs add a lot of character to the minimalist melody.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSE-kVZF0zY
KIM BUMSOO – A City Hall Front Subway Station
PakalanaPikake
April 22, 2020 at 2:06 PM
@pickleddragon,
Thanks for the pointer. Alas, it was unavailable when I tried to listen to it just now, so I dug around and found what I think might be another copy by the same artist. Is this the one you meant?
김범수 Kim Bum Soo 시청 앞 지하철 역에서 @ Memory of Soul 서울콘서트 050327
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPhPGiiW1fM
Kim Bum-soo has a lovely, warm voice. Very soothing. This is indeed a beautiful rendition of the song, right down to the la-la-las. Thank you for another taste of that earworm. 😉
pickleddragon
April 22, 2020 at 10:08 PM
The version you’ve linked to is a live version, and has a lovely raw feel to it. I had linked to a studio recording, which seems to be from the album Kim Bum-soo Again. Live is always better than recorded, IMO. He’s got a beautiful voice, and gives it a new spin. I like how. the original singer doesn’t really sing the song well (and/or doesn’t have a good voice generally), but the melody is just so enchanting, you forget the singing quality, and just enjoy the music. Earworm is the perfect word for this!!