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In the mid-1990s, a massive seismic shift took place under the cultural landscape of South Korea, almost immediately causing a phenomenon known as the “Korean Wave”, or Hallyu (한류).
The Wave – believed by some (Korean) experts to be the most powerful force on earth – has swept outwards from the peninsula, engulfing whole nations, and sparing nobody… Nobody but you, America.
That is, until now.
If you are presently living in the United States of America then I hardly need to tell you that on January 31st, 2012, your nation was struck by the full force of this Korean Wave (although by this time, having gathered pace in its consumption of China, Japan, and most other nations, it might be more aptly described as a Korean Tsunami).
Of course, there had been early warnings. Baby Korean Waves had been lapping upon the shore for years, carrying away only the youngest and most vulnerable, and posing no significant threat to America as a nation. Consequently, these early warning signs were ignored.
But like 9/11 in 2001, 1/31 in 2012 will never be erased from American memory, as yet again the continental United States was paralyzed by a devastating, unforeseen attack from forces trained within allied territory.
On this fateful day, one that will live in infamy, Girls’ Generation became the first K-pop “artists” to perform on American network television. Among their fans, and believers in the superiority of Korean culture, this event has been proclaimed as a pivotal moment: when the crest of the Wave broke simultaneously on both coasts and began its inexorable roll towards the American heartland.
So as America wraps up its operations in the Middle East, all eyes are now on the Korean peninsula. The enemy is once again a shifting, hidden force that will be virtually impossible to defeat. Records show that these attackers surgically alter their appearance, wear wigs and several inches of make-up, change their clothes hourly, perform in groups so large that they could be considered armies, and brazenly imitate America’s own beloved celebrities. Thus, pinning down these enemy forces will not be easy. Experts claim that they are recruited at an early age and then trained to be utterly replaceable and indistinguishable from their peers; often retired at an early age, and never heard from again. It is even rumoured that when one band disappears, another two will take its place…
America’s only hope is that its people and politicians can unite and, working with their allies in South Korea and Japan – where the enemy is known to be at its strongest and most influential – come together to neutralize the threat, not just for the United States, but for the benefit of humanity. Humanity, however, seems doomed as our cultural commentators admit that our present artillery is ill equipped to fend off any sort of attack, when we have little more than Justin Bieber and Kim Kardashian with which to defend ourselves.
National security must be increased. Traitors like David Letterman, Regis and Kelly, and the producers of MTV will likely be detained at Black Sites around the globe, where they will be reconditioned by being subjected the most brutal heavy metal that freedom has produced. The men and women responsible for allowing the Wonder Girls to poison our youth will most likely be executed for their crimes.
Private citizens must also be alert to the early warning signs of a second Wave of attacks. Signs may include kitschy ring tones, unnecessarily cute poses for photos, and finally an uncontrollable urge to watch dramatic videos about women crying while men throw things through windows in slow motion. Some people even suggest that before long, the nation’s t-shirts will be filled by bad English, men will be adopting plunging neck-lines, and that women will be wearing mini-skirts well into the winter months. Eventually we will be begging for a return to airwaves dominated by Bieber, but by then Bieber will have been adopted by a 36-member supergroup and will be recording his fourth Japanese-language album.
Of course, by now it may be too late. Sources in Seoul, Daegu, and Busan unanimously agree that the Korean Wave has finally consumed its ultimate target, the United States of America. Early operations in Asia and Latin America were mere trial runs – warnings, if you will – for this end goal of world domination. Statues are being erected as far North as Pyongyang – where Kim Jong-un is said to now be considering unconditional reunification – of David Letterman, the man responsible for allowing Girls’ Generation into the homes of millions of innocent Americans.
However, word has come from the resistance that it may not yet be over. They say that not every American was won over by the performance. Apparently much of the American public didn’t react well to a nine-member group of what appeared to be untalented juveniles dressed as prostitutes, utterly indistinguishable from one another (on account of their attire, rather than race – let’s make that point clear), trying and failing to be sexy, and pointed to a glimmer of hope in the obvious confusion and apprehension seen on the faces of Letterman, and Regis and Kelly, which is likely to have inspired doubt in the hearts and souls of viewers across the nation. Most importantly, experts have pointed out that the attack was not as devastating as it could have been. Military musicologists have explained that Girls’ Generation only played their new song, “The Boys”, which delivered a relatively minor assault on American sensibilities. If they had played their classic, “Gee,” we might not even be here to discuss the matter.
So as victory is declared on one side of the world, in America they are once again gearing for war, showing a national resilience that may allow the nation to recover from its darkest moment. The question, though, remains: what now for the world? The Korean Wave has come so far that it will take a globally concerted effort to rid the planet of its toxic fallout. China, Japan, Thailand, and Malaysia are all but lost. President Obama will soon denounce them as the new Axis of Evil, and has already begun seeking allies in the isolated areas of the globe which K-pop has yet to penetrate.
***
For more information on the evils of K-pop, see my old TNB post.
So that’s what that was…
We’ll know we have been completely destroyed when preteen girls everywhere show up with matching giant flesh-colored moles just to the right of the mouth area.
Erika! I’ve been trying to reply to this comment all day, but the website has been down for about eight hours. Grrrrr. Must be a result of this Korean Wave disaster.
Anyway, keep an eye out. Preteen girls are a fair warning, but you have to watch out for the elderly, too. When an old man’s cell phone plays T-ara or Big Bang, you know the end of days are near…
Hmm. I hadn’t even seen them except for that iron cross shot I’d seen from your earlier K-Pop piece. So I searched on YouTube for the Letterman performance. All I can say is that somewhere near Minneapolis Klymaxx is laughing their probably-no-longer-cute arses off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34QVPwRLRKU&feature=relmfu
So at least the US has a nuclear deterrent. Japan had…Vocaloid. In other words they didn’t have a chance 🙂
What?! You haven’t heard of them??? But the Korean media claims that all citizens of the United States are aware of Girls’ Generation! Next you’ll be telling me that you don’t know the details of the maps that clearly state Dokdo to be a part of Korean territory dating back several hundred years…
Yes, the YouTube links were embedded in this post when I submitted it for review. I’m not sure if they just disappeared or if someone didn’t want them there. I think it’s better to have them included. There’s really no words that can adequately describe a K-pop performance, as any fan will agree…
It’s definitely surreally robotic. Kinda like taking a Spice Girls video routine and cranking up the precision up to atomic clock and cranking what little sex appeal there was all the way down to ground-zero. How apt that in the video for “Gee” they’re supposed to be mannequins. What better sabotage vehicle than the plastic nothings looming over us in shop windows everywhere as we saunter about, oblivious to their insidious intent. I think maybe you’re right. Time for me to start constructing my Cheyenne-mountain-style bunker, stocked with old recordings of Soul Train on fallout-proof media. It would be tempting to get a video feed to watch the Bill Murray treason trials, but I’ll have to resist since that could be a vehicle of enemy infiltration.
In one of the articles I linked to (the only one that didn’t fawn over them) the other – a very cool man named the Metropolitician – explored the differences between Korean sexy and American sexy. His conclusion was that Girls’ Generation’s style of “sexy” would actually make the American public a little uneasy, if indeed they even found it sexy. It’s an odd mix of slutty and demure.
I don’t know, it never did the trick for me. K-pop girl groups have always left me cold. Maybe that’s because they’re teenagers… Maybe it’s because they are – as you pointed out – robotic. Their moves may be precise, but they’re heartless, soulless. I’m sure they tried hard, but it looks like they’d rather be anywhere else.
Another related point is that whilst pop music around the world is manufactured, you could say that the puppet strings are more visible in K-pop. The fans don’t seem to mind, but the American public won’t fall for it. As I mentioned in that old article, a lot of their songs are written expressly to accompany a new product (usually a phone). Even in other Asian countries, their managers link up very carefully with manufacturers to make sure that they are endorsing the hippest things on the market…
I had originally included YouTube videos of Girls’ Generation’s two performances, but they appear to have disappeared. If you promise not to like them, then please take a look at the following links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO9yFjodDtM (Letterman)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZRXdeblYJQ&feature=related (Live with Kelly)
Hi David, I haven’t heard this group but if I play the videos now I’ll surely wake Victor up. I don’t think I’m in any danger of falling under their spell, though, from what I’ve read.
They have a song called “Gee”. It’s pretty catchy. Maybe “falling under their spell” is going a bit far, but years from now you’ll definitely still have it stuck in your head.
Funny story:
I was teaching my university students about selling culture and using K-pop as an example. I used the English name of Girls’ Generation (they have Korean and Chinese names, of course, which are different) and none of them seemed to recognise who I was talking about. Then at one point it clicked. Just for one student, just once. She – a normally quiet soul – suddenly jumped up and shouted, “gee gee gee gee baby baby baby” and it rippled around the classroom until 20 students were either saying, shouting, or singing this ridiculous, nonsensical song.
Now I’m glad Victor’s asleep. Maybe I never have to hear it.
That’s wishful thinking. The next time you step outside your door you might just catch a few notes from the radio of a passing car. And that’s it. That’s all it takes. The Wave will carry you away, too.
Sounds like this is the sort of thing that easily becomes an earworm. Nothing worse than an earworm.
An earworm is paradise compared to this.
I think the fact that Korea uses K-Pop as a weapon to attack the North says all that needs to be said about it… Terrifying.
Agreed. It speaks volumes. But thankfully not the same level of volume that the North Koreans have to endure.
K-Pop tries to break into the US every couple years. It’s a hilarious failure each and ever time. No one cares about Korean pop culture except Koreans and Asian countries too poor to have their own mass media industries.
I read an essay a while ago that went into detail about how much effort (and money, of course) is put into spreading Korean culture around Asia. Despite their differences, Japan is where its had the most success. Ultimately, though, it seems Korea always wants America’s approval. K-pop will probably never crack the US market, but they’ll always keep trying, and every little half-success (like this) will be touted as the breaking point.
Holy crap, David! We must batten down the hatches! Hoard supplies! Reinforce our eardrums!
I like the whole hooker/Captain Stubing/militaristic airline hostess thing they have going for them. I go shopping in outfits like that.
Holy CRAP! What’s up with all the swastikas on their medals? They’re completely INSANE!
Nazism is quite popular in Korea. Not in the same sense that neo-Nazis and skinheads like it, but more as a fashion thing. Yes, they like the idea of racial supremacy to some degree, but it’s more a case of, “Holy shit, those guys in uniform look cool!” Sadly, much of Korea’s modern culture revolves around seeing something in the West and stealing it, without really thinking about what it means. Sometimes that means fellating a lollypop for a children’s video, and sometimes it means sitting on top of an army tank that’s rolling into a small town, making Hitler salutes and wearing swastikas. Again, in a children’s video…
Ha! K – Pop as a weapon.
I guess we can all be thankful it’s not a shit needle invasion.
Zara, don’t say that… You never know what the future may bring. First your children are carried off on the Korean Wave, then your neighbours are cranking Boo Peep at 4am, and finally you’re bending over to pick up your car keys and… It’s all downhill, I’m afraid. The world is doomed.
You’ve spent more time in Asia than I have Wills, so I’d like to put to you the question of why there is a preponderance of kitsch in this part of the world. It’s like they take the worst of Western “culture” and manage to make it worse. Is it misinterpretation? A lack of creativity? Lost in Translation?
Honestly, I don’t know. But I have theories.
One goes like this: It’s Japan’s fault. After WWII Japan submitted to America. They bent to American demands and adopted elements of American culture. This mutated and blended with Japanese culture. Because of the success of Japan in the Asian realm, other nations look to Japan with jealousy and admiration (in addition to hate). They copy Japan, and Japan’s success in blending old and new; East and West. The other nations thus continue to follow this model, hoping to reach Japan’s level of economic success.
Another would be that it’s America’s fault. America pushes its influence around the world, trying to encircle whatever country it wants to ‘contain’ next. As it goes, it flaunts its money. People look at its culture and see it all shiny and nice, and they want it. They adopt it even though they don’t necessarily get it, and the result are these weird mixes: Japanese fashion, K-pop, etc etc. Clear hybrids of cultures and times.
Well, those are my ideas. God knows what the reality is.
Japan has traditionally had a culture that took from the outside world, improved upon it, and used it towards its own ends whilst retaining its traditional culture. That’s something I really admire about Japan. When you go there, Old Japan is everywhere, mixing seamlessly with a modern, technologically-enabled society.
It may have something to do with the relative strength of the culture wars in countries like Korea and China. Obviously it was stronger in China due to the actual Cultural Revolution, but a similar effect was obtained in Korea through less forceful means. The result is countries with identity crises.
Sure, Japan has kitsch, but the immanent strength of its Japanese culture prevents it from going over the kitsch precipice. You could say the same for Europe and South America too, the nations of which have strong national identities. What is the national identity of China these days? Of Korea?
Anyway, I’m sure we could drag this debate out for weeks. the phenomenon fascinates me, at any rate.
I absolutely love Japan, and respect how they’re blending old and new, and East and West… But I disagree. I think that if there is a “kitsch precipice” then they have long since gone over, head first, screaming and broadcasting it on YouTube. They love kitsch. They love weirdness and bright colours and loud things. Every time I’ve been there I’ve seen it. It’s fantastic. I loved Americatown in Osaka. The world’s kitsch capital, surely.
In China it’s interesting because they’ve got Korea and Japan as models. They don’t want to yield to the West so readily, but they do want to take us all as models – of what to do and what not to do. They are careful and progressing slowly. Like only allowing 20 Western movies per year, and banning English from certain official broadcasts. I’d love to stay here 20 yrs and watch what happens, but obviously that would be suicide. My lungs have already aged 20 yrs and it’s been less than two.
Yeah, I’m with David on this one. I think ‘s always dangerous to over-generalize, but there is plenty of kitsch culture in Japan as well. I don’t think any culture really does a great job at resisting infiltrators with some ostensible, voguish appeal. These days Americans go gaga over that nonsense Downtown Abbey while more Brits can quote from last night’s lame Jay Leno routine than can quote from Graham Norton’s. Between e.g. Panchiru, Vocaloid, some of the ignorantly casual racism that manifests in Japanese Hip-Hop, and any 10,000 examples of Otaku frippery I don’t think Japan is any better than anyone else at maintaining cultural dignitas. On the other hand, I very much doubt cultural dignitas is a good thing.
I do think Asia has had a lot of trouble embracing cultural heterogeneity as much as Europe and the US, which maybe is just a natural lag, but that discomfort is probably responsible for a lot of the creep factor such as the GG swastikas. Interestingly enough you mention China and I think China is perhaps the Asian country least affected by this problem because it’s is already such an uneasy melding of cultures. Despite the Cultural Revolution’s attempt to neutralize everything to the politically central Han dress, the battle at the margins has never abated in China, and that would be a good thing for its aggregate culture if not for the ongoing repression. I predict that China will have the next great global culture, and will leave Japan and Korea (and eventually the US and Europe) in the dust. Whether or not that’s a good thing will depend on her political evolution, but I suspect it will end up being a good thing.
I had never really thought about it before coming to Asia, but it has really been fascinating watching the blending of cultures. For whatever reasons, Western culture is having a big influence on Asia – although generalising is hard because it is so different in each country – and I love seeing just how it plays out.
Japan was probably first to go and has set the standard. Look at Japanese culture. People love it. Did you ever read those “Fresh Fruit” books? We see that stuff and call it “Japanese”… but look at where they get their clothes… They’re mixing Western styles to create something Japanese. I love it. Korea has had less time. Perhaps I’ve been a bit mean about it, but they haven’t transitioned as smoothly as the Japanese did, but they’ve been trying to blend Korean and Western for a while and it’s turned out quite different. Look at K-pop – it’s basically just American music altered to be a little more sugary sweet. That sounds derisive, and I do hate K-pop. But look at Korean cities and modern culture… They’re struggling (but winning) to blend old and new.
In China there is more resistance. From the govt and the elderly, there is this perception of foreign intervention and inherently negative. You really don’t see much Western stuff on TV, and that’s not because people don’t want to see it. The govt has allowed Funshion to show Western movies and TV online, but they limit the number people can see. They don’t want to ban foreign influence; they just want to slow it. Some people say that the Chinese govt want democracy – but that they want it to slowly take hold because if it comes on too fast then things will get ugly and they’ll lose power, resulting in a flawed democracy.
Anyway, like I’ve said, it’s utterly fascinating to behold the power struggle. Everyone wants to modernise, but to do so without giving up their own culture.
One interesting side note is that I know a few Chinese-Americans who’ve come back to China and laughed at how Chinese people in China are so much more Westernised in some regards. Maybe that’s a bad way of phrasing it, but basically Chinese people are going abroad and trying to hold onto their heritage, whilst the ones in China are less worried and more interested in moving forwards, whether it involves acknowledging Western ideas or not.
Well reasoned points, Uche, although I strongly disagree with China becoming a global cultural power, unless it undergoes a dramatic metamorphosis in the coming decades.
China is, on the whole, pretty everyday. It’s a lot of people selling their daily wares and riding bicycles and sitting around talking and shopping. Although there is a strong international interest in China due to its growing economic strength, I’ve seen nothing on the ground level that I feel the international community would be eager to embrace. Most of their classic poetry, for example, is simply untranslatable, and the mainstream youth culture is largely a Western hybrid. So, again, unless they really come up with something new and exciting, I can’t see Chinese culture having much international draw.
Korean culture has done very well in its attempts at world domination (and I do genuinely believe that people think of it that way – of spreading the one true culture) but I doubt China will ever get that far. Chinese culture is disappearing even in China, and they’re struggling to find their own place. It’s impossible to predict the future, but as it stands it is indeed hard to imagine China’s present culture spreading. For one thing, people HATE China. I mean, even the most intelligent newspapers print asinine bullshit (not that there aren’t terrible things done by the govt, or that the govt doesn’t deserve hate), but it seems that you can say anything about China and it will be believed. We’ve a long way to go before people quit hating and start respecting, let alone adopting, the culture.
I think people are intrigued by ancient China and Chinese language to some degree, but its modern culture really leaves people a bit confused. Sadly, Chinese TV and movies are atrocious and the only hope lies in Hong Kong. There’s a kids’ show called Xiyangyang that has apparently been shown outside of China, and of course “Monkey”, but they’re both poor quality and it’s hard to see why they are popular even in China. They won’t take off on any global scale.Could the average North American or European name some modern Chinese song, TV show, or movie? I doubt it. Korean cinema, on the other hand, has some real gems, and its TV shows – whilst shit – are popular again throughout Asia because they’re – like K-pop – more professional and attractive than other nations’.
I’m rambling… I can’t remember where I was going with this.
Brian, I agree it would be hard to see where the seeds of Chinese cultural power would come from. I carelessly left out the lynchpin of my argument on that point, which is that cultural power almost always follows on economic and political power. It may be a sad comment on humanity, but it’s true. The Romans had about as much cultural promise as you say the Chinese do now, what little they had coming from half-baked borrowings from the Etruscans. Then they ran over Greece and saw the potential. Then Augustus came along, and they almost overnight became a keystone of Western Civilization. I could cite a lot of other powers, including Russia under Catherine the Great and then again after the October Revolution (look how they wrested the legacy of ballet from the French) but the best example, of course is America, which was too snobbish to borrow from the rich culture of the original inhabitants and yet had little more than a functional, hardscrabble cultural basis until wealth and power came with the industrial revolution and again after the World Wars. I China will surprise us, as all powers do. As for where it gets its seeds, I don’t know, but I do remark its quiet, heavy involvement in Africa, where there is more untapped and uncommercialized cultural ore than anywhere else in the world.
I wondered why I was suddenly seeing so many kimchi-to-go eateries around town.
The wave needs fuel.
If a Korean wave seriously impacts American pop cult hegemony, it’s not going to be Girls Generation. It’s going to be G-Dragon, with or without some combination of the other members of Big Bang.
Thanks for your input, Amy. I’ve heard a lot of K-pop fans claim that 2NE1 have the best chance. I really couldn’t see America (or any Western country) buying into G-Dragon. Personally, despite my distaste for the whole thing, I think Girls’ Generation have a wider commercial appeal.
Wonder Girls have already broken out internationally over 2NE1 or Girls Generation (though the American TV appearances may have changed that). But I think G Dragon and TOP’s new song speaks for itself. They’re just more interesting than any of the girl groups (or Rain, who sells out MSG but is basically unknown to non-Koreans), with more hip hop influence than any of their competitors, while fitting into the basically unthreatening teen idol paradigm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL0sfti1DcA
Dare I say it, the occasional dude might be able to bop along.
I would’ve thought that Rain is the best-known thanks to his appearance on the Colbert Report, and that awful movie he did. His music, though, isn’t widely known.
You mention teen idol… but I’d place the Wonder Girls as more tailored to the US pre-teen market.
I think China is struggling because they did big mistake because they already destroyed their own culture(books and treasures) and own people(Especially teachers and old people) through Red Army and their history is so mystery and now they are making fake history. Right now they are saying korean history is theirs not even korea, mongol, other asian countries. They are saying Mongoal is their country right now. And look at korean flag there is ying yang symbol in korean flag. Why china didn’t put ying yang symbol in their flag? Why korea has ying yang symbol in their flag? And another question is why China killed their own people and their culture? There are some reasons because they have to control their people because they have many race in china. But I don’t think thats not reasons. I think they destroyed their culture( Iprefer to say Mix of Asians culture) because its not their culture. And I don’t think kpop influence is not a bad thing because when u look at korean history they always want to peace with other nations. Its because of their geography but they had own culture that respect another culture and trade with many goods with other culture. And when you look at korea, they were really big country but they got invaded so many times they get smaller and smaller. Even Gandi called korea Land of Morning Calms because Korea is peaceful country. Look at 1988 olympic that time korea hosted olympic and olympic song was about peace. They really want a peace with other nations.
Hand in Hand ,Koreana – 1988 Seoul Olympic song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycTN0gYtP5o&feature=related
And Theres lots of facts that Korea is peaceful country to all nations.
And there’s mystery about korea just telling interesting fact about korea.
“The largest concentration of dolmen in the world is found on the Korean peninsula. In fact, with an estimated 35,000 dolmen Korea counts for nearly 40% of the world’s total.”
Here is source.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen#Korea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jjmf_4-ZkYo
here is singing all english for Hand in Hand, 1988 seoul olympic song.
Korea is peaceful country but some way its not peaceful country. Like U.S. we killed lots of indians because we need more lands to farm and after gain the land and then farm there and then harvest it. After harvest, We celebrate that day that was thanksgiving day. We did that because we want to become a strong nation and then we helped other nations. So what other bad thing about korea is racism, suicide, invisible hands(like jewish {have u heard the New World Order?}), and alcohols.
Every country has bad and good things. Like ying yang symbol theres always good things and bad things in there country. Korea is becoming very strong country but good and evil are following together. If goodness is going more higher then also evilness going more higher too. And Civilization is moving toward to Asian countries. This year is imjin year(Black Dragon year). If you look at the past about imjin year was very confusing and very important year and there are many changes. There will be big change in this year. So be AWARE about changes.
And here is Imjin Year
1112
1172
1232
1292
1352
1412
1472
1532
1592
1652
1712
1772
1832
1892
1952
2012
2072
2132
2192
2252
2312
2372
2432
2492
2552
2612
2672
2732
2792
2852
2912
2972
Here is more about imjin year
http://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9E%84%EC%A7%84
Wow. Thanks for the comments.
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I cannot stomach much of this music myself. Korean popular music or K-Pop has not expolded across the world, and there is no “Korean Wave”. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in the top 20 top hits listings in The UK & Ireland, nor do they gain much traction in France, Germany or anywhere else in Central Europe. Nor for that matter in Spain, Italy and the Mediterranean, there is very little K-Pop in Sweden or the rest of Scandinavia, in The Baltics, The Eastern Bloc nations or mother Russia. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in Turkey, Iran or anywhere else in Eurasia. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in The Emirates, in Israel, in Egypt or anywhere in The Gulf, The Middle East or North Africa. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa or anywhere inw Africa. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in Brazil, Argentina or anywhere in South America. K-Pop artists DO NOT chart in The USA, Mexico, Jamaica or anywhere in North America or the Caribbean. And not much is happening in Australia despite their large numbers of Asian immigrants.
K-Pop is nothing but a copycat niche sub-genre which can only capture and hold the attention of those who are demographically enclined to like it, such as the large east Asian communities in America and Canada. On top of East and South East Asians themselves in Asia.
It is a bit like saying Nollywood has taken over the world of movies now that it is the second largest film industry in the world by productive output. When closer inspection would reveals that only Africans and where you will find large numbers of diaspora Africans care much about Nigerian cinema. By the same token; are Bollywood pictures hitting up the major blockbusters outside of South Asia? Nope. And not much even with the large immigrant communities in The UK, Canada, South Africa etc.
Back to music, and we find that Rock-n’-Roll is a worldwide phenomenal. As is Hip-Hop too, it truly went global taking with it Hip-Hop culture.
The whole world regardless of ethnicity were taken aback by the likes of Dr.Dre, Eminem, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Sting, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Kanye West, Rihanna, Whitney Houston, Queen, Wham, Run DMC, Nirvana, David Guetta, Amy Winehouse, Shakira…
Rain? Girls Generation? and the likes of whom I had to Google about [good luck tryna catch any of these acts on the radio here in The UK] must try harder. As long as the quality of K-Pop music remains so bad then Korea can forget about becoming a global culture maker.
its dec 2012. k pop tsunami ala Gangnam Style.
resistance is futile. abandon all hope.
You are just so jealous of Korean pop culture and their successes. haha.. so funny… If their musics are so awesome that they are stuck on your head, … just admit it. So quit shitting about the K-pops because that just brings your and American’s reputation down. I’m from France and you guys just look like a scared pussy chickens.
Good write-up. I certainly appreciate this website.
Stick with it!