No, not the Terminator. Park Jin-young, the music producer with the “Midas Touch” has released his latest album and staged a “comeback”.
Top Korean music producer Park Jin-young has made a successful comeback on major television shows as a singer with his newly released album.
Park appeared on the 2007 Mnet KM Music Festival on the cable music channel on Saturday and on SBS Popular Song on Sunday.
Park, clad in black and red sang his provocative song “Kiss,” and performed “The House Where You Live” with rising actress Song Ji-hyo in a musical-like performance on the SBS show.
The 35-year-old singer showed off his powerful dancing undaunted by his age and more stable vocals.
Considering that the NYT once described him as “Given his voice, he was wise to make Rain the vehicle for his newer material,” one would think that he would take a hint and keep on producing (for our sakes, he doesn’t have to produce singers such as Rain and the Wonder Girls, but hey man’s gotta make a living) instead of singing. Of course, considering that Rain has decided to go on a yuhak to the States and that his latest creation, the Wonder Girls, despite being hot right now, doesn’t look like it might last long, Park might have decided that it be best to have an another source of income.
26 Comments
This guy is so fucking bad it’s not even funny. The little bit that I could endure watching was just a big Prince crib. Nobody copies prince with success.
Not only is this guy hard to listen to, he’s hard to look at it. I sat next to him on a plane once,and he made the guy who played Jaws seem handsome
If you’re looking to have a big, full belly laugh at PJY, read this one:
http://www.villagevoice.com/ny.....,15.html/1
Some choice cuts…
No really, you read that correctly. You may have thought Korean music was 10 years late in copying American trends, but it’s actually 5 years ahead. Astounding.
So I assume he expects the fake Hollywood martians to go the Blue House to surrender? Wouldn’t they just walk away with a truck full of cash and promises of a new Industrial Zone on Mars?
Hmmmm…5 years ahead of American music, yet training his innovative Korean musicians by pounding American samples into their heads 24/7. Something doesn’t quite add up.
Oh, fake gangsta, what will you think of next? Aksing Colin Powell for a 40-ounce? Watching Dreamgirls and Stomp the Yard doesn’t make you black. Only face paint and a rasta wig can.
Since Korean music is 5 years ahead…shouldn’t we be seeing a 13-year old Beyonce singing Korean songs? I’m still confused.
If he does well with his latest project than good on him.
And yet, I prefer his old stuff to what most of the current K-pop acts have to offer.
i would prefer him to be terminated.
“ihbb”, on the money. It’s good to listen and be influenced by the best but downright ignorant to not understand what one is listening to and this fellow understands only a little bit of what is there.
Commercialization has dulled and killed so much of everything that the guy should be going to the same roots as his role models did, instead of listening to the results of an industry that is almost too stupid to live (American music industry). I guess that would take true wisdom though.
for some reason i do not dislike this guy
“South Korean techniques are about five years ahead of the American music industry”
If PJY is correct, expect a major downturn in the US music industry 5 years from now. Sorry fans, but this guy sucked 12 years ago when he was prancing around in his underwear http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGXuiJnXPmU (warning: as painful to watch as it is to listen to) and he sucks now. He should go back to pimping middle schoolers full time.
I know for a fact that Michael Jackson stole most of Rain’s dance moves about 5 years back. Not to mention the glove thing.
Being a Korean pop star has got to be one of the easiest, best paying jobs around. You basically just translate the lyrics of an established popular American pop song into Korean and there you go - a new hit. Like the Korean versions of “I’m still alive” and Cyndi Lauper’s “bepop shebab,” and many others. I wish that Korean consumers could see through these guys, and reward more creativity.
One Korean pop star who seemed to have plenty of originality was Seo Tae ji and his gayagum rap. That was kind of cool, was a creative contribution, not just a blatant rip off. There needs to be more artists like that, who can contribute something really Korean to pop music.
Part of the problem with the Korean pop music scene is the dominance of academies like Park’s that train kids, from as young as 11, to mimic American pop stars. It’s the traditional Korean educational system, with long hours applied to rote memorization, applied to pop music. You can bet that anyone with some creativity or independence wouldn’t survive the first cut at a place like that -
An excerpt from the interview:
When G-Soul admits that he thinks some of American hip-hop music is “stupid,” Park pats him on the thigh, a subtle warning that his choice of words is incorrect. G-Soul looks down at his hands. “I tell my kids that after your third album with me, I’ll respect your opinion,” Park says. “Until then, you do what I say.”
“I don’t want an asshole on my label. Nobody smokes—not even a cigarette. I want to be happy with a good kid.
Hmm… Funny, Park doesn’t realize a thing about the creative process. What a perverse way to go about making pop music.
@dokdoforever
There is plenty of creative energy in Korean music scene… the only problem is that the JYP-ish indoctrinated music is dominating commercially.
Epik High’s “뒷담화” is very revealing on the issue.
JYP is an interesting case. He is talented, he is successful, and he has clout in the music industry that extends to America. He does business with Americans, and, apparently, has produced a few songs for various American artists. He’s a great choreographer.
His idea of Americanizing the “talents” in his management makes good sense - particularly because, ultimately, these kids are doing American music.
In the Korean scheme of things, he’s drawing from a well of inspiration that is richer than the Japanese one. In the American scheme of things, he’s merely doing music. I say “he’s merely doing music” in order to assert the fact that he’s not copying music, as the prevalent simpleton analysis has it, he’s making music that is its own — ie, best interpreted not in terms of regional or national borders but simply in terms of individual output. The songs JYP produces are not “blatant ripoffs” and he’s not copying. When a band in America make music, we don’t say that they’re ripping off from whatever pop-culture zeitgeist they may or may not have grew up in, or from the bands they may or may not have grown up listening to, simply because their music might proceed from some genre or sound.
But, sure, JYP is a good producer. Doesn’t mean he should be doing the dances and singing the songs himself. That’s just looney tunes.
Have you heard the Korean versions of “I will survive” and “bepop shebop”? They are blantant rip offs. They just sing in Korean, the music is identical. And there’s one or two like that every year.
Everyone has an influence, of course. But to have an academy choose your identity as a musician, tell you whom to model yourself after, it prevents people from freely experimenting with different types of music and really developing their musical ability. The best music is produced creatively.
Abcdefg, you say copying American acts is better than copying from Japan.
Why not create something Korean?
There’s also a Korean “rip off” of Madonna’s “Material Girl” and that by a Korean male group.
I’ll make this short and simple:
Covers != rip-offs. Obviously.
It’s the same in America and the rest of the world. It’s called pop music. It’s an industry. Expect manufacture, as well as catering to the lowest common denominator. No brains required.
If you want good music “produced creatively” I suggest you look a litte harder or start digging underground. Search Korean indie. There are many good bands with talent, invention, and a sound that in many cases I’d consider distinctly Korean and not just because some of these acts are laying pansori over the guitar overdrive and double-bass-drum blast beat.
The short of it is that the wealthy countries with the music that have their own flavors have been doing modern music for a very long time, have well established traditions. It takes time. (And time will tell!)
My answer above, btw, also serves as my answer for why Koreans have a fondness for covers. Korea is still in a rather rudimentary stage of pop culture.
Anyway, I feel terribly weak when I reply at length to these simple topics. No offense. Just being honest. The last word is yours.
abcdefg: Any leads on Korean indie music? I know where to find it in my own country, but I’m at a loss here.
abcdefg: Any leads on Korean indie music? I know where to find it in my own country, but I’m at a loss here
Not indie but pretty good head banger stuff here:
Moon Hee Jun - Messiah
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Yoon Band - Cigarette Lady
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Moon Hee Jun - My Silent Conflict
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Well, abcdefg, I can’t pass up a chance at the last word. Maybe I just don’t like pop music that much, but I had thought, like thought, like the lyrics in “Juke Box Hero” and “Summer of 69″ that some guy
Bought a beat up six string in a secondhand store
I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played ’til my fingers bled
Me and some guys from school
Had a Band and we tried real hard
Keyboard error. Will try again.
So, the way to the top, as the lyrics suggest is to “buy a beat up six string at a five and dime, then play it ’til your fingers bleed with some guys from school.”
I guess these days, you just enroll in the local rap hakwon.
Hehehe
Drunken Tiger + YB Band - Peppermint Candy 2
http://youtube.com/watch?v=zAyEtxuz_WA
Sugar Donut - Loser
http://youtube.com/watch?v=IiETXE1Xo4o
Kim Dong Ryul + Lee Juck - Dream of a Goose
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vru.....re=related
Yoon Mi Rae - Dark Happiness
http://youtube.com/watch?v=35bxGNRcJKw
i thought seo taji was the dude who copied/pirated Rage Against the Machine??
Vaseline, Galaxy Express, Bloody Cookie, Johnny Royal etc… are some AWESOME indie bands here in Korea. Bands like these often play in places like DGBD, Skunk Hell and WASP.