Kpop is Actually Born from Korean Protest Songs

Alright so I'm a total history nerd, I majored in East Asian Studies and eat stuff like this up.

here

Here we go:

It all started with Japan.

Japanese and Korean elite often spoke together and traded pop culture.

modern and successfulChangga

This is where it gets interesting.

independent of Japan.

traditionalmodernize

modern and powerful.

But then, Japan decided to make money off of that...

Japan had seen its first real pop music hit in 1914. People were buying records, following tabloids, and really getting into pop culture. That was really the birth of the Japanese music industry.

Death SongYun Shim-Deok50,000 copies

You can listen to the death song here:

The record industry after that was run mainly by the Japanese yakuza and their partnered Korean gangsters.

The industry was set up very similar to how it is now, with entertainment industries doing everything in-house (SM has specific song writers that only work for SM, and their artists are actors, singers, models, etc)

the real way to make a living was through acting.

So, today's Kpop is based off of this first "Korean pop" hit (the death song) AND protest songs against Japan.

So when people say that Kpop is just a copy of Western music, they're sort of right but not in the way that they're thinking. Yes, its a reflection of Western culture, but the reason behind it is that Korea has been fighting to be recognized as a modern, powerful force to be reckoned with since the early 1900s.

They want people to know Korea is strong, modern, and a country to look up to, not look down upon.

give them this little history lesson.

Again, PLEASE read the full article - its so interesting!HEREit is!