From: bark@bohr.physics.purdue.edu (Bark Kwangyl)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re: Hot food and pop music
Date: 17 Dec 92 02:36:38 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.korean
Organization: Purdue University Physics Department

In article <1992Dec16.195227.23371@tc.cornell.edu> jfe@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu (Brian Chung) writes:

>	My reference is my life experience and my own intelligence.  I
>lived (and still do) long enough to sample quite a variety of Korean
>popular music.  And I lived in North America long enough to do the same
>for the Western popular music.  And I just happen to like a song with
>a poetic lyric.  Peter Gabriel, Rush, Genesis write such songs, and
>I like them very much.  On the other hand, I don't consider NKOTB or
>Debbie Gibson to be any good.  In James Choi's immortal words, I think
>they suck.  Now, I turn to Korean popular music.  Do I find any kind
>of intelligence in lyrics?  No.  The writing is just simply atrocious
>at the level of NKOTB.  However, I enjoy older songs like Sun Goo Ja.
>Now, there's something that I can call a good song.

As usual, this whole paragraph make me feel pity for you, Brian.
I am going to tone down and try to tell you how stupid your stament above in a 
logical way. Your last chance to be enlightened.

First, you seems like put a great value on lyrics of pop song and think Korean
songs are lack of it.  I can give you hundreds of counter examples of 
very lyrical  Korean pop songs although I have very limited knowledge of it. 
As already mentioned  by somebody, try Chung Tae Chun 's song. 
( This is your serious problem. Why didn't hear others and make 
yourself wiser? )
His lyrics are  full of poetic  beauty. Some of his song's lyric talk about
the   beauty and sadness of life  seen from Buddism's point of view.
Why don't you ask Andrew Sung Hyun Kim for the translation of his lyrics
 and judge yourself whether Korean songs  sucks or not?
Try Song Chang shik. Most of his lyrics are beautiful and  he even made 
a very  artistic song to  a poem by Seo Jung Ju.
Try some songs  even by Cho Young Phil, Byun Jin Seup......
After that make your judgement.

Second, you put Seon Gu Ja in the realm of pop song but we Koreans consider
it rather classical than popular song and call it a Ga Gok. 
Anyway, if you think  Seon Gu Ja has good lyric, you can find hundreds of 
thousands of beutiful lyrics from Ga Gok genre. 
( They should be lyrical because most of them are written by poets. )
Some of those Ga Gok are  very popular in Korea.
How can you say Seon Gu Ja is lyrical and  at the same time Korean 
songs are not lyrical
even if we had thousands of beautiful popular Ga Goks where Seon Gu Ja 
belonging to?  Is this a Martian logic?

In my frank opinion,  taste for music is too subjective topic
to argue or compare with. I know a close friend of mine who think
Schenberg and  Shostakovich's music is very beautiful although it 
make me sleep in a minute.
I have many American friends who really enjoying those Heavy Metal sound
althogh I have too weak ear to bear it.
Even if you compare or judge, do not make a stupid statement like Korean pop 
song's sucks compared with British/American pop music.
That just shows your ignorance.


Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean