Discussion #2
Q2: Are American influences still present in Kpop today? If so, how are those influences connected to Korea’s past history with America dating back even to the 1950s or 1960s, and not just the recent past (1990s, 2000s)?
‘The US military is a powerful agent of globalization.’ ‘Korea has been host to the third-largest deployment of US troops, following Germany and Japan. ’(Kane 2006: 8 ) Beyond any doubt, this military presence has played an important role in the historical development of Korean popular music. Tracing back to the 1950s and 1960s, there are many evidence to show that America popular music introduced by the US military has an influence on Kpop, and those influences still present in K-pop today.
The first evidence is that, Shin Joong Hyun, who is believed to be the Godfather of Korean rock, had been inspired a lot by American rock and jazz. His generation was the first to experience American popular culture. At that time, most Korean got to know American popular culture through the broadcast of American Force Korea Network (AFKN) (Kim and Choe, n.d.). The introduction of AFKN to Korea had a huge impact on Korean popular culture. The famous song of Shin (and his band ‘Add Four’), ‘The Lady in the Rain’, was considered one of the very first rock ’n’ roll songs in Korea (Kim and Choe, n.d.).
As for the second evidence, shortly after the Pacific War, local musicians in Korea learned to play the music of their American occupiers in order to make a living (Kim and Choe, n.d.). Competitions were intense, thus these musicians tied really hard to learn the latest trend in American popular music, they also had to learn how to play all kinds of musical instruments in order to keep their job. It was these musicians who later became major players in Korea popular music industry. Therefore it is obvious that American popular culture had a huge impact on K-pop.
Another evidence is the formalization of hiring procedure. Because of the huge amount of US troops deployed in Korea after the war, local musicians brought from America could no longer meet their demand. Therefore, the US military started to hire Korean musicians and the hiring procedure gradually became formalized, and the entertainment agencies, which are responsible for organizing and managing hiring shows, finally came into being (Kim and Choe, n.d.). Even today, there are still plenty of talent shows being held in Korea, I believe those shows belong to the derivatives of hiring shows. From this we can see that the American influences on Kpop are significant, and those influences still present today.
In conclusion, Kpop is greatly influenced by American popular music through US military, even dating back to the 1950s and 1960s.
Reference
Kane, T. (2006), ‘Global U.S. troop deployment, 1950–2005’, 24 May, Heritage Foundation, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/05/ global-us- troop-deployment-1950-2005. Accessed 15 July 2011.
Kim, K. and Choe, Y. (n.d.). The Korean popular culture reader. Duke: Duke University press, 2014. pp.P276-295.
Ziyu Gan
#13674156
What you show in this essay concerns mostly about the America military influenced the origin of K-pop which is also the main reason. American military definitely plays an important role in the development of Korean pop music, while someone might concern about whether there is any negative effect on the local culture. The culture appropriation happens in some places, might be huge or small, which brings foreign elements into a higher place than the local culture. The communication cannot be avoided during any commercial movements among countries, like K-pop is so popular in the neighbors nowadays in the reason of Korea exporting K-pop musics and K-dramas. My opinion is that Korean people seems pay more attention to protecting their cultural because of their nationalism. K-pop does not just have the Black American elements but also their traditional music, like trot, the group dance and charming appearances of those idols that is also the reason of why K-pop attract the huge amount people around world.
What I want to add is the different way that Japanese and American military. Japan is the one who control Korean people and cultural before America, who did contribute to the Korean music, drama, and radio in the past, but what they did not do is they use radio as organizational measure. With the built of AFKN, more and more Korean people started to get known of American standard music, like jazz, blue combined rock. These music marked as “free” was accepted by Korean and make a huge influence in the reason of escaping from the Japan government and the never-seen type of music. There is sill a popular place called “Itaewon” where American troops stays. There contains not just American but other countries people. We can find this Itaewon mixtures diverse cultural and becomes the famous place for the local and tourists. It is also remarked as the epitome of K-pop which shows Korean fluid and unique culture. In a word, America contributed a lot on the origin and development of K-pop in 1960s and 1970s and most of the influences are positive for Korea.
Dear Ziyu,
Your argument is very clear, the evidences supported your point sufficiently. I agree that American influence still present in today’s Kpop. The three arguments you had here indicated the influence of American military in the past. Indeed, their taste of music changed Korean music back in the days of 1950s to 1960s, which may still remain until now. I wonder, how did Korean audience react to the American style music. I guess, it would also be the Korean audience’s choice, especially the younger generation. The high reception of American style music helped it developed and hybridized with Korean own music.
An example I can think of much later in the days is that, Seo Tai-Ji and boys hit hugely success in the 1990s. Their music contain LA style. Many of the U.S.- based bands appear to have influenced Seo’s music and style of performance (Kim and Choe 2014: 300). They introduced new styles of music, dance, and fashion to Korean people, and the younger generation of Korean audience seemed to love it. Their enormous success suggested this hybridized mixed culture style of music meets audience taste, also suggested that young people accept multi-culture easier than the older generation.
American influence still present in today’s K-pop. In 1950s-1950s, America was popular with rock, folk, and country music. Korea appeared to have these kinds of musics on trend. Until now, US has a lot of hip hop and raps that people are crazy about. Korean popular music seems to have followed this trend, many groups and solo artists do hip hop songs and contains raps in their music, they even have rapping competition. Moreover, Most of these popular hip hop songs contain English lyrics, which also indicated that this style was influenced by American music.
Combining with your argument in the discussion, U.S. influence on Korean popular music was not only in the history, when American military came to Korea, but also still have a big impact on today’s K-pop music style.
Your essay displays an engaging structure and presentation. Your points on the american military’s prominent role in the Korean music industry, is a definitive instance that reveals how influential america is on Korean music. As you have stated, Shin Joong Hyun is indeed a major influential figure for Korea, whom to significant influence from rock counterparts in America.Another artist i would mention, the Kim Sisters, also displays past influences of America on today’s standard in Korean music. For instance, the sound, performance and image of the Kim Sisters resemble an oriental style catered to the american audience, and as time went by, Korean singers adopted similar styles following trends of american music. Furthermore, to elaborate your idea on America’s current influence on Korean pop, much of the sound, music and presentation resemble western music in America. Your point on formalization of hiring procedures details many of the important aspects of american influence on Korean Pop in the past, and as you brought up, in the present as well. Furthermore, your idea that Korean idols tend to follow the latest american trend, is a strong point, however, not only did this occur in the past, it is also prominent presently. We can see as american/western music evolves, Korean Pop is not a longs a way behind, maintaining the sound,performance and presentation of America, strongly suggesting its current influence on KPop. Competition is shown stronger factor in the Korean Pop industry presently, and this idea of maintaining the trend of popular western music has never been stronger before. Rigorous idol training is the present equivalent to the statement you’ve made on the competition of the past, and evidently displays KPop’s need to maintain their prevalence by emulating western american music. Your structural point in your essay, “America’s Military being a powerful agent of globalization”, is a powerful statement and is extremely relevant to America’s past influence on Korean music, and is contribution to the current form of K pop. In conclusion, your statement on American influence on Korea via past relations between the American military and Korean Idols, highly suggest America’s early influences in the 1960’s to its current influence on K pop right now.
I agree with the idea that America popular music introduced by the US military has an influence on Kpop, and those influence still present in K pop today.
The Godfather of Korean rock, Shin Joog Hyun developed his passion for western music through American Forces Korea Network. “In 1957, at the spring variety show at the Eighth US Army base in Seoul, that Shin Joong Hyun gave his first public performance.” “”I ended up building my own radio to listen to American music,” he says. But, honestly, I enjoyed any music that was played on AFKN. During my first performance, the GIs were shouting, ‘Hey shorty! Play guitar solo!'” remembers Shin, who duly asked his bandleader for permission. “He gave me this sheet music book and told me to practice… I played my first guitar solo during my next performance: the crowd went wild, and the bandleader raised my wage by 50%.The following year, Shin cut his first records, covers of Korean pop. His own tastes remained attuned to the west, however. “I remember the first time I heard the Beatles. I was mesmerised by their sound: it was blissful. I tried to mimic them with my four-piece, ADD4.””” From the paragraph, i quoted we can see that Shin Joog Hyun is inspired by America pop music. Also, we can see the needs of America pop music is huge to those people who serve in US military. Therefore, after the Pacific War, musicians in Korea learned and trained to play and perform America pop music. The wage of performing in the US army base is very high, therefore the competition between them is very intense. Since at that time Korea’s economy is not very wealthy, many people make a living base on the music industry. These musicians learned a lot about the trends of America pop music. They practice different types of instruments to satisfy the needs of the American military. Also, these musicians who later become the major pieces of K-pop music industry. In conclusion, Kpop is definitely influenced by American pop music through the US military.