September 7, 2010
This is going to sound ridiculously silly, so I hesitated on writing this blog post for a very long time. But they have been such a big part of my life - actually for more than half of my life - so I think it's worth dedicated a blog entry to them.
I'm usually the type of person to scoff at "girl fans" smothering all over boybands, singers, actors, such and such (although I do admit that I do that occasionally when I find a particular actor/singer/entertainer attractive). But in my case it's different. Or maybe I am just thinking that it's different when it's not. I don't know.
Anyway, today (in Korea...and here too now that it's passed midnight) marks the 14th anniversary of the debut of the legendary Korean Boyband H.O.T. They initiated the entire Kpop scene that is going on right now, bringing the adult-oriented Korean music entertainment of the times to a teen-oriented Kpop that exists today. They literally swept the nation. I can go on and on about the million thousand records they broke and set, all the new ideas they and their fans initiated, what they meant for the Korean culture and in my own personal life...but it would require too much emotion on my part, too much reminiscing. Therefore, I'll keep this (relatively) brief.
I came to know them first when I was 6 years old, at the time of their first debut. At first, I only liked them because of my older sister, who was 11 at the time of their debut (and therefore the perfect age target). As I grew older with them, however, and experienced the tragic (?) disbanding of the group due to greed and money of their entertainment company, my engagement with the group became increasingly popular.
If I had stayed in Korea, I do not know if things would have been different. Regardless, I ended up immigrating to the United States at the age of 7 and therefore never got to see a live H.O.T. performance when they actually performed together as a group, and even watching performances was very difficult (the online community hadn't developed back then).
But I grew up with them. And as I got older and reflected back on their older songs that I had (at a young age) hadn't given much thought about, I reconnected to them at a different level. The band H.O.T. had swept the entire preteen-young adult population of Korea for a reason. They were - and still are - widely different. They gave a voice to the teenagers. Their first song was about school bullying. Their second album title song talked about the weak being oppressed. The second song of their second album spoke about teens being oppressed by the society's norms and their parents. Their third album title song expressed anger toward society's injustices. The second song of their third album, appropriately titled "Hope", gave HOPE to the nation that was undergoing an economic crisis. Their fourth album title song spoke about a crucial event that occurred within the year where children burned to death at a day camp because they were locked to their rooms. The entire fourth album is FILLED with messages about society, addressing crucial issues on suicide, school bullying, oppression, financial issues tearing families apart...Their title song for the fifth and final album together gave voice to handicapped individuals in a society that looked down upon them.
Now can someone tell me if there is ANY OTHER MAINSTREAM KPOP GROUP today that does this?
14 years have passed. A couple days ago, I had the opportunity to see one of the members live in concert. I held front row tickets and therefore saw him extremely up-close. It was a really strange and exciting feeling to be able to see him for the first time after 14 years of following him quietly.
Music is such a beautiful thing. Thousands of people can be gathered together for the sake of music and musicians. And today, we commemorate H.O.T. - the boyband that started it all, but still remains distinguished due to all the reasons I have stated above.
I went from a six year old girl that liked the light-hearted song "Candy" to a twenty-year old college student who appreciates the ups-and-downs of life that are well expressed throughout their five albums. They went from 18 year old barely-of-age boys to grown men all in their 30's. Yet the fandom continues. Now we're more like a family.
