Okay-Pop’s first technology is commonly referenced as the inspiration for the trade we get pleasure from now, however there aren’t sufficient good English-language sources that give its music the main target it deserves. I’m hoping to vary that with a seamless flashback sequence, spotlighting private highlights from the period – each iconic and obscure.
The period in query is commonly thought of to run from the debut of Search engine marketing Taiji & Boys in 1992 to the emergence of TVXQ in late 2003. The music featured on this sequence will largely match inside that timeframe, give or take just a few years on both aspect.
It was a time of bonkers music constructions, wild vogue, slamming techno beats, unhealthy reggae impressions, flagrant use (theft?) of American pop samples, hearty energy ballads, foul language, the growliest rapper tones you possibly can think about and an anything-goes scrappiness that’s unattainable to pigeonhole. To borrow the title of a well-liked second-gen act, these years had been the “massive bang” of an rising musical powerhouse, nonetheless discovering its footing and throwing the whole lot on the wall.
(and 1988… and 2006…)
I need to kick off this sequence with one in every of my all-time favorites – a masterpiece in my eyes and the eyes of many others. The late Shin Hae-chul is extensively thought of some of the progressive skills of the period, a genre-spanning musician beloved for his distinctive imaginative and prescient. Inside his various catalog, To You (그대에게) is the music that set the whole lot in movement and can seemingly endure the longest.
Some songs simply fill you with a swell of emotion from their very first moments. To You is so beloved as a cheering music, rapidly turning into a part of the very material of Korean music. It’s not unusual to see audiences dropped at tears throughout reside performances and covers. You may sense the deep connection the music has made with its listeners.
To You exists in a number of iterations. First got here its 1988 MBC College Track Pageant debut, which took the nation by storm. A number of years later, the primary studio recording appeared on Hae-chul’s second solo album. Fifteen years after that, a 3rd model appeared together with his band N.EX.T on the remake album ReGame?. I contemplate this remaining model to be the definitive recording, buoyed by years of efficiency and musical growth that fulfils the music’s full potential. It additionally appears to be an association typically referenced after Hae-chul’s passing. Nevertheless, I do love the prominence of the swirling strings that encircle the refrain on the 1991 recording.
Above all else, To You is an anthem for the ages. It soundtracks sports activities festivals, political rallies and year-end performances. The music is celebratory and highly effective, with a refrain that lifts spirits and an irresistible pomp and circumstance evident from the ceremonial stabs of its spirited introduction. You’re feeling every reverberation in your chest, from the second the brass provides technique to a pounding rock beat. It has a primordial spirit, as if these melodies have existed from the start of time and simply so occurred to be plucked from the ether thirty six years in the past.
| Hooks | 10 |
| Manufacturing | 10 |
| Longevity | 10 |
| Bias | 10 |
| RATING | 10 |
Grade: A+
2006 Recording
1991 Recording
1988 Debut