1. 1. Birth Of Rock: Cultural Imperialism, Nationalism, and
the Glocalization of Rock Music in South Korea,
1964-1975
Shin Joong Hyun
(“Jacky”, “Hicky”):
Born in 1938, fascinated by
jazz and rock’n’roll
Professional musician on the
stage of the US military
clubs
Shared the Korean youth
style and ethos of the 1960s
psychedelic rock
Author of the presentation: Anna Kim
2. 1-2. Birth Of Rock: Cultural Imperialism, Nationalism, and
the Glocalization of Rock Music in South Korea, 1964-1975
Intro: “The Lady in the Rain”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALDoWCcpa7k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=1QxHeeSfbS0&list=RDALDoWCcpa7k&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=a1lbIxyDo94&list=RDALDoWCcpa7k&index=9
“The unforgettable lady in the rain” + exotic “yellow raincoat”
à metaphor of Korean musicians yearning for “foreign music”
3. 2. American Pop in Korea: Cultural Imperialism
Deconstructed
• Impact of the US military in Korea. Korea and US “zone of influence
in East Asia”. Living playing music of the occupiers
• Cultural imperialism? Yes/no?
Definition: creation and maintenance of unequal relationships, therefore
promoting and imposing a culture, usually of politically powerful nations
over less potent societies”
Skepticism about cultural imperialism in the popular music studies
literature. “When it comes to music and songs, cultural interactions
between metropole and colony are far from unilateral or unidirectional.
4. 2-2 Cultural imperialism
For one, the language between Anglophone and non-Anglophone worlds
should be an impediment to whatever ideological message Anglo-
Americal pop songs supposedly deliver to local mass audiences
For another, modern Western popular music owes a great deal to the
input from other musical cultures, particularly African and Afro
Caribbean
à cultural imperialism is not wholly adequate to capture the great
diversity and autonomy of local cultures vis-à-vis global Anglo-American
pop
“Counterarguments against cultural imperialism do not necessary deny
the global dominance of American pop culture”
“The US music still maintains a privileged status as the originator of
most, if not all, global pop styles and genres”
5. 3. Cradle of rock: US Military Camp Shows
• Clubs of the US Army 24th Division (later expanded to Eight Army Corps)
- the main source of American popular music
• Chyasu – music played at that clubs, refers to jazz but encompasses all
kinds of non classical Western music from swing jazz to French chanson
to Argentine tango
Growth of camps à number of performances increased à growth of
professionalism in business and performance
Preaudition agency, creation of show troupe (ssyodan): singers, orchestra,
dancers and other performers
Competition between performers à Hierarchy among the bands: “floor
bands” (part of ssyodan), “house bands” (committed to a particular club),
“open bands” (playing in private clubs)
Different kinds of the scenes: “migun mudae” American military scene, “ilban
mudae” General public scene
6. 4. Pioneers of Rock and “Fatherland Modernization”
• The typical rock band formation: Beatles or the Rolling Stones style
a “vocal group” (pokol kurup), since these band did their own singing
• Korean Pioneers of Rock: Add Four led by Shin Joong Hyun (debut
“Lady in the Rain”), Key Boys by Kim Hong Tak and Yun Hang Gi
BUT:
- Still US Military camp shows did not do much to win Korean audiences.
Only small number of people could understand rock
- Limited places to listen to the music (umak kamsangsil, camps, clubs)
- Rock as novelty, singing all songs by the group and playing at the
same time.
- Needed more time (later in 1960s and 70s Korea began to open up to
American popular culture during modernization period)
7. 5. Bridge: “The Boy in the Yellow Shirt”
Han Myong Suk “Que Sera Sera” the song as the opening tune of
modern Korean pop
Son Sok U wrote “The Boy in the Yellow Shirt”, a “jingle for the
New Era”.
8. 6. Modernity Glocalized: Kayo Meets Pop
“Modernity is inherently globalizing” – misleading.
“It can be interpreted as a weak version of cultural imperialism;
global modernization means homogenization, or more specifically,
Westernization of non-Western cultures”
(p.209)
AS an alternative approach is to focus on the “local” end of the
process
*Park Chung Hee used to refer to his political vision as glocalized
democracy, which turned out to be an extreme deviation from the
stated ideals of Western liberal democracy
9. 7. Kayo and Rock 70’s
While kayo and pop were competing against each other for mass
media spots and larger venues, rock was steadily gaining ground as an
underground club culture
• Kayo indicated the national origin of certain musical styles rather
than the nationality of the composer or performer. Migun Mudae (US
military scene) à musicians spread fast through mass media created
a new trend of Korean popular songs kayo
• Rock: Beatles + the Rolling Stones + The Ventures + The Beach Boys
Number of places to hear music grows: music cafes, music salons,
Myongdong and GI clubs in Itaewon BUT still little public attraction
Era of festivals and contests (obsessed by long hair, recreational drug
use, antiauthority attitude etc. – liberals called it “youth culture”)
10. 7. Crackdown on “Decadent Culture” and the Go-Go
Midnight Revolt
Park Cheong Hee regime against “vulgar” (chosok) and
“decadent” (toepye):
Inspection “changbal tansok” for hair and skirts length
Popular music purge campaign to liquidate the legacy of Japanese
colonialism by wiping out the corrupting “waesaek” (Japanese
influence) on Korean popular music
Promoted wholesome songs “konjon kayo”
Government control over popular music, censorship of broadcast,
performance, film and audio recording. Banned around 223 Korean
songs and 261 Western pop songs between 1965 and 1975
Festivals and concerts were canceled, hemp control
By 1972 loud and noisy rock almost disappeared from the downtown
live music salons à survived in go-go clubs (kogojang)
11. The problems of Rock:
• Aesthetics of rock limited
• Lack of musical originality or creativity
Shin Joong Hyun was able to spread rock’s push to the national
mainstream because of his fame as the creator of soul kayo.
Famous song “Miin” but this song was banned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igy88BMm5tA (2006 concert)
Shin Joong Hyun organized a new band called “Yoptchondul” (songs
included Western rock beat + karak traditional Korean melody)
7-2. Crackdown on “Decadent Culture” and the Go-Go
Midnight Revolt
12. 8. Rock the Nation: Conflicting Visions of the Imagined Community
Assasination of Park Chung Hee in 1979
à Second wave of rock together with new generation raised under
American hegemony
Musicians began to add more a nationalist flavor to their music (as
Shin’s experiment with “Miin”) à the line between alien and national
had already been blurred
à Rock music and other American cultural imports were not
imposed but more or less spontaneously accepted and glocalized
by the Koreans themselves.
• Eight beat go-go rhythm, nasal voice drips
• Shift from Japanese to American postcolonial patronage.
• 1980s decade of Cho Yong Pil “Too Short”:
13. 9. Conclusion
Efforts to glocalize Anglo-American rock:
1st generation (60s ~ early 70s). Vulnerable to the accusation of
peddling “decandent alien culture” because of their US military camp
show origin
Next generations (mid and late 70s). Rock music came from placed
different from US military camps, ex. Colleges, high schools etc.
Late 1970 mid 1980s “campus group songs”
