The setting up of Seo Tai-ji & Boys in 1992 was a turning point for popular music in South Korea. Using rap rock and techno styles, Hip hop duos such as Deux also were popular in the early 1990s.
In 1995, Korean businessman Lee Soo Man opened South Korea's largest talent agency, S.M. Entertainment, and set up the first K-Pop girl groups and boy bands. By the late 1990s, new agencies like YG Entertainment, DSP Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment were producing talents as quickly as possible.
Groups such as H.O.T, Sechs Kies, god, and Shinhwa, and artists like Drunken Tiger had huge success in the 1990s.
The talent agencies train new artists and bands for the K-pop industry. To make sure it is successful, they take over every part of the young person's career and life. They can spend more than $400,000 to train and launch a new artist. Through this practice of apprenticeship, which often lasts two years or more, trainees are taught to sing, learn professional choreography, sculpt and shape their bodies through exercise, and study multiple languages, all the while attending school. In order to get this money back, the artists are signed up to long contracts, with little money being paid. These have been described as slave contracts. The band Dong Bang Shin Ki or TVXQ were given a 13-year contract which the Korean courts have said was too long and had too many restrictions. With CD sales being low, and Internet sales making only a few cents from a song, most money is made through tours and selling merchandise.
K-Pop is becoming popular outside of Asia, most notably in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 2009, the Wonder Girls became the first Korean singers on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart with their single, "Nobody". The following year, solo artist Taeyang and girl group 2NE1 also reached the top of various music charts throughout the United States and Canada with albums and hit songs. In 2011, Big Bang's album "Tonight" became the first K-pop album to reach the top 10 on US iTunes chart. It was also only non-English language album in the top 100.
To make the genre popular around the world, K-pop artists are starting to work with stars outside of Korea. In the United States, Korean artists are touring with groups such as the Jonas Brothers. They are also working with well-known producers including Kanye West, Teddy Riley, Diplo, Rodney Jerkins, and will.i.am.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK decided to ban K-Pop from the New Year's Eve show in 2012 for political reasons, due to ongoing disputes between Japan and Korea over Liancourt Rocks.
K-Pop does include other popular Korean genres of music than Pop, such as rock. Some popular Korean rock bands are DreamCatcher, Guckkasten, YB and Nell. See also the Pentaport Rock Festival.
Yash Chopra
Yash Raj Chopra (, 27 September 1932 - 21 October, 2012) is an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, and a highly successful Bollywood producer. Some of his successful movies are : "Waqt ", "Deewaar", "Kabhi Kabhie", "Silsila", "Lamhe", "Chandni", "Darr", "Dil To Pagal Hai", and "Veer-Zaara". He is also the founder of Yash Raj Films.
Yash Chopra is undoubtedly India's most successful filmmaker. With a career spanning over five decades, he has been associated with almost 35 films, most of which have created box-office history.
He started out as an assistant to his brother and went on to direct 5 very successful films for his brother’s banner - B.R.Films. These were Dhool Ka Phool (1959), Dharmputra (1961), Waqt (1965), Ittefaq (1969) & Aadmi Aur Insaan (1969). He has wielded the baton, additionally, for 4 films made by other film companies - Joshila (1973), Deewaar (1975), Trishul (1978) & Parampara (1993). But his greatest repertoire of work has been around 30 films made under the auspices of his own company, YASH RAJ FILMS. Out of these, he has directed 12 films himself, while the others have been directed by younger directors – under his supervision and administrative acumen as one of India’s greatest producers.
Yash worked as an assistant for "I. S. Chopra" and later he was working for his brother, who was also in the movie industry, "Baldev R. Chopra". Baldev provided Yash an opportunity to direct his first movie which was named as "Dhool Ka Phool" and was released in 1959. Yash later set up his own company under the name "Yash Raj Films" and the first movie to be released under this company was "Daag" in 1973.
Yash has produced more than 45 movies and has directed more than 20 movies, thus making him one of the most successful filmmaker/producer in India.
Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton and Midtown West, is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City (U.S.). It is the area on the West Side of Manhattan. It is between 34th Street and 59th Street, from 8th Avenue to the Hudson River.
The neighborhood has transportation, hospital and warehouse infrastructure for the Midtown Manhattan business district. Its bad reputation made real estate prices in the area lower than much of the rest of Manhattan until the early 1990s.
Once a center of poor and working-class Irish Americans, over the last three decades of the 20th century and into the new millennium, Hell's Kitchen has undergone change as a result of its location at Midtown. The 1969 edition of the "Plan for New York City" book, authored by the City Planning Commission, stated that people of modest means were being driven from the area by development pressures due to the Midtown location. Today, many actors live in the neighborhood due to its closeness to the Broadway theaters and Actors Studio training school.
"Hell's Kitchen" generally refers to the area from 34th to 59th streets, southwest of Central Park. Starting west of 8th Avenue, city zoning regulations limit buildings to 6 stories high (although exceptions are often made). As a result, most of the buildings are older, often walk-ups. For the most part the neighborhood covers the ZIP codes 10019 and 10036. The post office for 10019 is known as Radio City Station, the original name for Rockefeller Center on Sixth Avenue.
Several different explanations exist for the original name. An early use of the phrase appears in a comment Davy Crockett made about another notorious Irish slum in Manhattan, Five Points. According to the Irish Cultural Society of the Garden City Area:
According to an article by Kirkley Greenwell, published online by the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association:
Local historian Mary Clark adds a story when she states the name:
Today, most residents of the area, and most New Yorkers in general, refer to the area as "Hell's Kitchen", with "Clinton" being the name favored by the municipality, "gentrifiers", and eager real estate agents.
Tim Finn
Brian Timothy "Tim" Finn, OBE (born 25 June 1952) is a singer-songwriter born in New Zealand. Finn is most known for his music with his band Split Enz. He has released solo albums, and was member of his brother Neil's band Crowded House. He also released albums with Neil as the Finn Brothers.
Tim Finn was born in Te Awamutu, New Zealand. He went to Sacred Heart College, Auckland, a Catholic boarding school. In 1971 he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Auckland. It is there that he met Mike Chunn, Robert Gillies, Philip Judd and Noel Crombie. Phil and Tim formed a band called Split Ends, which became Split Enz before they started to tour Australia.
Finn recorded his first solo album, "Escapade", in 1983. This album was very successful in Australia and New Zealand. Because of this, he decided to leave Split Enz in 1984. The band broke up. In early 1985, Tim moved to London. His second album "Big Canoe" was not as successful as the first album. He also wrote some music for movies, and acted in a few movies. His role in "The Coca-Cola Kid" was about five minutes long. He had a bigger role in the movie "La Donna della Luna" (The Moon Woman).