Beck Loves Music

In the Beginning…

It all began one day when I was sitting at my computer, innocently browsing YouTube. Whatever I was watching finished, and my eye was drawn to a face that I thought I recognized in one of the little thumbnails under “Related Videos.” It was cryptically labeled something like “BOF E12,” so I clicked on it.

I have no idea whether this could be considered a strong point in my character, but I have a surprisingly constant attention span, even in the face of something that seems like it’s probably pretty stupid. You know… on the off-chance that it could eventually turn out to be good.

The video that I clicked on turned out to be a Korean drama called Boys Over Flowers. I’ve watched it three times through since that fateful day.

I know.

Boys Over Flowers

Boys Over Flowers is a 27 episode drama based on a manga and subsequent Japanese drama called Hana Yori Dango. Basically, it’s the story of a poor but energetic and pure-hearted young lady who inexplicably becomes friends with the richest boys in her school, with LOTS of drama along the way.

It’s not exactly a wonderful display of either acting talent or fine soundtrack sensibilities, but it’s surprisingly engaging.

In case you’re interested, you can watch it on YouTube too!

» wiki

Kim Hyun-Joong

As it turns out, my favorite character in Boys Over Flowers was played by a guy from a pop group.

Despite his unfortunate hair and occasionally very questionable fashion sense in the show, Kim Hyunjoong was just the sort of sympathetic, solid character that I tend to like, thus the fact that I even looked him up, thereby discovering that he was in a band.

Anyway.

» wiki

SS501

The fact that SS501 was my first introduction to Korean pop music actually makes it even more amazing that I’ve stuck with this for so long. They are very… fluffy… I guess. But with a little rap thrown around here and there. It’s not that awesome.

However, I have listened to some stuff they’ve recently as teasers, and I have hope for them to be better. SS501, fighting!

Their band name, incidentally, is a fine example of something I find extremely amusing about a lot of Asian pop groups. They have some kind of fixation with acronyms and numbers and stuff, for no real reason.

SS501 stands for SS=Super Stars, 5=representing the five members, 0=infinity (forever), 1=as one (solidarity). XD

I wasn’t a big fan of SS501, but my fondness for Hyunjoong took me on to the next thing…

We Got Married

Somewhat surprisingly, Korea has great reality TV. We Got Married is a show where various celebrities are invited to come and pretend that they’re married to each other. They do various activities in between just… like… eating… and talking. It may sound boring, but trust me, it’s really pretty entertaining.

[Think about the implications of this show if it were American... hello sleeze-ville. What I love about Korea is that it's still not acceptable to show that kind of stuff on TV, so it'll all very innocent and legitimately funny without the guilt.]

Kim Hyunjoong was on the show as a groom, and he and his pretend wife, Hwangbo, were among the more popular couples. For good reason too—they were adorable.

Watch the Joongbo cuts on YouTube

On a side note, the SS501 boys visited their friend and his “wife” twice during the course of the show, after which I became a fan. Not because they now miraculously have good music, but because they’re all cute and charming.

» wiki

Chakra

Hwangbo, of We Got Married fame, was also a pop star, although I’m pretty sure her group disbanded sometime around 2003. That’s her on the bottom right in the picture.

I found the following video on YouTube and loved it. I think the song itself and the video are just lovely. Nice work, Chakra, especially considering that basically all of your other songs are just strange. Seriously.

Wonder Girls

At some point while I was trying to find out whether Chakra had any other good songs other than the one above, I got a related video nudge that turned me on to the Wonder Girls.

Their biggest hit to date is a song called Nobody, which I didn’t really care for. Some of their other stuff was okay… my favorite is So Hot, which is apparently just about how hot the Wonder Girls are. lol

The Wonder Girls are currently trying to break into the American market, and were recently signed to tour with the Jonas Brothers. I guess we’ll see how they do.

» wiki

Big Bang

The Wonder Girls, and… yup, you guessed it… YouTube’s related videos feature led me to Big Bang, a slightly amusing group that I’ve developed a surprising loyalty to.

Here’s how it went.

Basically, the Wonder Girls and Big Bang collaborated for a show, pairing up to sing each others’ songs. Sometimes badly.

At first, I was unimpressed. The first song wasn’t really doing them any favors—Taeyang, while he does have a good voice, tends to go nasal when he’s performing live. The next two aren’t much better, since they look like a couple of 12 year-olds masquerading as pop acts.

Me, watching the video:
“Seriously, who are this bunch of fruitcakes…”
“Hey, that fourth guy has a good voice and a good song… I will look them up.”
and finally,
“what on earth is that thing on that guy’s face??”

And that was pretty much it.

The good song that turned me on to Big Bang was Haru Haru, which, if the music video is to be believed, is an epic story of love, angst and sacrificial lies. Roll film, cue crying fangirls.

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Epik High

I was trolling around the internet looking for more stuff in the vein of Big Bang (a little less sugar, in other words), when I randomly came across the following video.

Despite its slightly cheesy opening, I. love. this song. And now I also love Epik High.

» wiki

PopSeoul

At some point during all this, I discovered and subscribed to a Korean pop culture blog called PopSeoul. Korean fever was sweeping the nation! …at least as far as my bedroom door. That, along with one or two other blogs, is what keeps me up on the goings on in South Korea. (In case you’re wondering, that’s Big Bang in the blog banner.)

As a matter of fact, PopSeoul led me to another blog called Dramabeans, which led me to another drama—one which turned out to be a lot better than Boys Over Flowers in many ways. (But I still love you, BOF! F4 fighting!)

Coffee Prince

Coffee Prince is my best show. You should watch it too, because it is so funny and cute.

Story line: A girl starts working for a guy under the pretense that she is a man (it’s a lot more complicated than this, but in a nutshell). She starts to fall in love with him, and he is curiously drawn to her too, but since he thinks she’s a guy, that causes him a whole bunch of angst and confusion—it gets pretty rough.

In the end, everything turns out fine.

YouTube it, yo.

» wiki

Big Bang continued…

I kept listening to Big Bang quite a bit and have developed a certain fondness for their cuteness, which is pretty much also YouTube’s fault. If you felt so inclined, you could waste a considerable amount of time watching video clips of interviews, variety show appearances, and other home video moments that Big Bang‘s caring fans have taken the time to sub.

Speaking of variety shows, one of my favorites of Big Bang‘s members, Daesung, has been a regular on another reality show that I’ve come to love—Family Outing.

One more picture for you, since I there are so many things about this that are so funny. XD

Family Outing

Family Outing is so unbelievably amusing—the concept is that they’ve taken eight celebrities from various arenas (actors, singers, etc.) and then send them on little weekend trips to villages in South Korea. Once there, they give some lucky old couple a nice vacation while they stay and take care of the house and do chores and stuff.

The thing about it that I love is that despite the fact that it’s in Korean and I’m sure the subtitles probably aren’t quite doing justice to all the goings on, I want to be friends with those people! The type of stuff they do and the way they relate to each other totally reminds me of various friends and family members of mine. We would have a stinkin’ awesome time too, even though all we were doing was cooking and some random fishing related task. (Apparently, they fish a lot in Korea.)

I have nearly died laughing at some of the games they play. Oh. my word.

» wiki

Lee Hyori

Originally, I would have classified Hyori in the same group as Rain—Korean megastars whose music I don’t really like at all. (Rain, however, was in Speed Racer, so I can’t totally dislike him. Random, right?)

However, it just so happens that Hyori is on Family Outing and totally reminds me of a certain cousin I have.

She’s hilarious and I love her on the show.

» wiki

The End

So that’s pretty much it.

Honestly, I don’t think I’m going to move on from this whole Korean thing very quickly, at least not as long as the internet hasn’t gone under.

I will, however, be listening to different music… sometimes it’s nice to be able to understand the words.