He says:

This song is H.O.T’s first song and it was really popular when it was released because it was one of the first idol bands in Korea. Also what made them different was that there were 5 members (more than other bands) and they danced really well. The song was really cool, it’s about bullying in the school, so people could identify with it.

So many people liked this song so people copy the type of clothes they are wearing. That time we used cassette tape and we write down all the lyrics and sang the song in the school. I was a really big fan of H.O.T so in my room there was H.OT. posters all over the walls. I bought the same type of clothes like that- baggy clothes and the hat and everything.

Everyone thought the members looked really cool, the song, the clothes….everything. Everyone really liked the English rapping, there had been English rapping in songs before but not as long or as cool as this. We wrote down the English, but in Korean, and we would sing it. We recorded all H.O.T’s performances or appearances on TV shows and we would swap the tapes with friends and watch again and again. We bought the photo albums and the magazines they were in. H.O.T were our heroes.

 

Candy is their second single. They are wearing cute clothes and gloves and hat and the dance is really cute so every time we went to the karaoke we dance like them. Lots of people know how to dance Candy. It was winter and we bought the same type of gloves and cute clothes. Now when I look at the clothes they are wearing it’s embarrassing, but back then they were the coolest items ever. Also we like H.O.T because they were not from a wealthy background so we feel they are like one of us.

 

Back then SM Entertainment was really good, the lyrics were really good, we could identify with them and they had more meaning. These days I feel like SM Entertainment became too conservative and don’t want to have anything too controversial. They also don’t seem to care about the quality of the lyrics or English these days. Back then SM Entertainment was only a new company and H.O.T. made them a bigger company. I’m not professional music critic but that’s how I feel about it, that when music companies get a lot bigger they can lose some of their original values.

 

Oh the clothes! Oh the 90’s!

(Also, what is different about the picture?)

Today Mr Gwon recommends G.O.D ‘To My Mother’.

He says:

Beginning of song the lyric is a bit funny because eating Jajangmyeon (black noodle) but it’s actually a really sad story. Lots of people had similar problem in the school because they were poor. It happens a lot, we have meal together in the school, many times lots of students just have kimchi, and some vegetables but when someone has meat type of thing for their lunch box they bully the other students, “Oh why you only have kimchi!”

One time my mother cooked for us and there was no meat on the table so I complained to mum “What should I eat? There is nothing I can eat!” and now I realise I was a rude and stupid kid.

Lots of people, they cried when they listen to the end of this song because the guy didn’t say ‘I love you’ to his mother but she died. It’s really hard to say ‘I love you’, I don’t know about these days, but when I was growing up, it was really hard to say I love you to your parents. I didn’t say ‘I love you’ to my parents for 25 years and when I was in Australia I called my mother and I said ‘I love you’ on Korean Parents Day and they cried. And now we say ‘I love you’ to each other very often.

Every time people listen to this song it reminds us how important our mother is. I’m pretty sure there are many families that… their mother died and they never said I love you to their mother. It’s really sad.

So everyone should call their mother and say ‘I love you’, and thank you. I’m going to call my mother now…

 

 

(On a lighter note, what is different about the picture this week?)