Saw the video above with Neaato.org‘s hilarious Facebook comment:
are these guys liike the asian backstreet boys? also, 5 azn dudes after 1 white girl. so….asian guys want the white girl, asian girls want the white guy. white guys want the asian girl. white girl wants…jeremy lin until he loses. kidding.
Does the white girl in the video even have any idea what these guys are singing about? Bigbang? Is this kind of like the TV show, Korean (plus white woman) version?
On a somewhat serious note, the Korean music industry has been making big efforts to grow their American market share, and it seems like at least some think it’s possible they’ll make it: Does Korean Pop Actually Have a Chance At Success in the U.S.? My guess is that a great Asian pop group probably has a pretty steep cultural hill to climb, but anything is possible.
BTW, I bought a two-CD collection that had the following two songs a while ago. I don’t understand a word of Korean, but the songs were good:
Related posts:
Am I getting old, or does that girl in the video look like she’s all of 13.
I don’t know why Asians keep doing this shit. Don’t they know that race mixing will lead to the GENOCIDE of EVERY race? I know about these things. I’m Hitler.
Don’t worry Hitler, we’ll all leave the Aryan race nice and pure for you.
That was a white girl?! I thought it was Justin Beiber with long hair….
Anyways, Kpop is successful in the European market I think. But in the US, the entertainment industry likes to copy ideas from overseas and create it as their own w/ white Americans for mainstream media, just like they do with movies. Korean boy groups were around way before Backstreet boys and such.
If youtube comments are to be believed. Tons of (white) girls seems to be pretty jealous of the one in the video.
I don’t see KPop ever becoming mainstream in US. At most it will be a popular cult genre like Chinese King Fu movies or Japanese anime.
On a more interesting note. I remember reading some paper on popularity of Korean and other Asian media are with the American audience. Besides Asian Americans which makes majority of the audience, it is also very popular with Black audience as well.
Oh bkg bang’s Blue. That song is very relaxing. Although I would not want to read too much into it…the white girl is probably there b/c of their international audience. Besides the song is good and she is fine there, I am surprised it has so many views in two days.
But in the US, the entertainment industry likes to copy ideas from overseas and create it as their own w/ white Americans for mainstream media, just like they do with movies. Korean boy groups were around way before Backstreet boys and such.
Boy bands in the U.S. do predate boy bands in Korea. You had very popular groups like New Edition and New Kids on the Block in the 1980s in the USA. The boy band craze in Korea started in the 1990s.
And your statement is odd considering the obvious influence American music has had on modern pop/rnb/hiphop music in Asia. Much more-so than vice versa, clearly.
Boy bands in the U.S. do predate boy bands in Korea. You had very popular groups like New Edition and New Kids on the Block in the 1980s in the USA. The boy band craze in Korea started in the 1990s.
But that doesn’t mean the U.S. was the main influence. Other countries had boy groups way before the 80′s.
Boy groups were basically an American invention, as is rock/pop music in general. They’ve been around since the 50s in one form or another. Think Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, through the Jackson 5 and the Osmonds, then New Edition and then New Kids on the Block.
Claiming that Koreans had boy bands before the US… come on now, let’s get real.
Ei says:
February 23, 2012 at 10:44 am
If youtube comments are to be believed….
Not
I remember reading some paper on popularity of Korean and other Asian media are with the American audience. Besides Asian Americans which makes majority of the audience, it is also very popular with Black audience as well.
Double not.
Eurasian Sensation says:
February 24, 2012 at 10:14 pm
Claiming that Koreans had boy bands before the US… come on now, let’s get real.
Koreans invented everything. Korea is number 1.
The original Koreans were actually white. Their descendents (albeit much mixed with the indigenous population) can actually be found in Japan, as the Ainu, after the original Koreans migrated there.
^ Yeah, except the Ainu aren’t White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ainu_people
Boy groups were basically an American invention, as is rock/pop music in general.
Yes, but we are talking about boy groups in other countries. Are you sure that Americans were the first? Don’t put words in my mouth.
Koreans invented everything. Korea is number 1.
Like Chinese who invented “Arirang”. LOL. And like to pretend that everything came from China.
Some white nationalists like to claim Japan and occasionally Korea as “white” countries because they just can’t admit the fact that there are non-white cultures that have had advanced civilizations for a long time.
King, your link says in the first paragraph that “In Japan, because of intermarriage over many years with Japanese, the concept of a pure Ainu ethnic group is no longer feasible.” That does not contradict anything I said.
@es
I’m surprised you didn’t go on to say that music is a American invention and any music made in music is just copying Americans. I’m pretty sure the Brits will have something to say about where rock music originated.
@jstele
The funny thing is that wonder why is a white ricechaser, so I’m sure his opinion will change depending on the nationality of the girl he hits on. Nevertheless he just can’t accept that Asian or Asian American guys can be popular or successful.
American Blacks invented rock music.
blues was from blacks just like they do with everything else from every other ethnic group and assimilated it for global consumption. and the thieves get all the credit. and the ethnics get labelled ‘minority’ and a pat on the head. how nice.
No, absolute purity is clearly not possible – but that is true in nearly every race. However just look at the Ainu and look at the native Siberians and I think you will see that there ain’t a whole lot of changin’ going on.
Ainu
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/AinuGroup.JPG
Native Siberians
http://images.wikia.com/althistory/images/2/2b/Yakut1.jpg
Where did you get the idea that the Ainu were ever White?
When I read what someone wrote, that the original Koreans were white, I nearly spat out my afternoon coffee.
This must be some kind of satirical act, right?
King is correct.
Quote from Wikipedia:
“Many early investigators proposed a Caucasian ancestry,[34] although recent DNA tests have not shown any genetic similarity with the modern caucasian Europeans . . . According to Cavalli-Sforza, Ainu are in the same genetic cluster as the “Northeast and East Asian”.[38] There is no trace of any Caucasian DNA.”
Care to show any credible sources, Hitler? Is your field of expertise in anthropology?
@ N:
The Brits can say what they like, Americans invented rock & roll. The Brits influenced it, certainly, but that was after the form had already been around almost a decade, but it comes out of The South in the 50s. Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc.
I’m surprised anyone wants to argue this point, honestly.
Bear in mind that I’m not American, and have no interest in undeservedly praising the US for things.
Rock and roll is definitely an American invention. Even the Brits acknowledge that.
And the Ainu are definitely not White.
@ES and B
Remember ES is specificaly referring to the pop/rock genre today . The pop/rock genre is much closer to 60s Brit Rock (if not still the same) than the ‘rock and roll’ period ES is refering to which in turn is much closer to Jazz today. It’s not as a matter of fact as ES likes to make it out to be.
Similarly Asian Boybands today is much more influenced by the older generation Asian boybands than the white boybands which shares close to no similarity. I thought it’s absolutely laughable that he tried to make the connection in the first place.
Much closer to 60′s Brit rock? I definitely disagree with that. Today’s pop rock is much closer to 60′s American rock–even British artists like Adele have an American sound. Mixed with the hip hop influence, of course, which is also an American invention.
Of course Asian boybands today are more influenced by Asian boybands of the past; they come from the same region. But the bottom line is that boy bands originated in the U.S. The concept comes from here.
@B
I think we’ll have to agree to disagree with this one. Remember 50s rock and roll very primarily Black American where the lead instrument is either the piano and saxophone – which again is completely different to a normal pop/rock setup today, and there’s almost no Black rock bands nowadays. And remember the pop/rock genre extends beyond America and when we’re talking about Asia, the Beatles, due to their fame, had probably influenced the pop/rock genre there more than everyone else.
And c’mon, Asian boybands had been around since the 70s (that’s almost 40 years of influence) and there were research into the dynamics and numbers of the band members directly connected to dynamics of social circles of Asian girls so on and so on. Jstele is saying White boy bands are not the main influence, which is correct. And ES trying to establishing some kind of influence by the white boy bands really is laughable.
@ N:
actually reading this thread in terms of “the origin of Asian boy bands”, I think we are arguing against things that other people aren’t actually saying.
I think it’s beyond dispute that boy bands were a US invention. But that is not incompatible with today’s Asian boy bands being primarily influenced by yesteryear’s Asian boy bands. I’ll defer to others’ expertise here, since I confess I’m not an Asian boy band enthusiast (thankfully!). Though honestly to my ears everything I hear in the above clips is a variation on Western pop music – including rapping, and beats that are originally from disco and electro-funk. As I said I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure those weren’t Korean inventions.
Regarding “the origins of pop/rock”, it’s difficult to say what the Brits invented, really. The Beatles, Stones and others’ main early innovation was to try to play black American rhythm & blues, except they played faster to cover up their much poorer vocal chops. The Stones’ early hits were virtually all covers of black soul and blues artists. Just like the Elvis phenomenon, the perception of the British contribution to early rock & roll has to be seen through the lens of white privilege. Yes, those groups did some innovative things, but those evolved out of largely black American roots.
The labels we put on artists and genres are also problematic. The Beatles “Twist and Shout” was previously done by the Isley Brothers – what you might call a “boy band” if you like. Except the Isley Brothers’ version is “soul”, and The Beatles’ version is “rock”, despite the two songs not being that different.
@ES
I think our main difference in viewpoints is because you’re looking at the issue at the western music angle where I’m looking at it from the asian music angle.
I’m not disputing that Brit rock drew large influences from the rock and roll period, but in my view, it’s already morphed into a different beast – like American Chinese food. Maybe it’s due to part colonialism, part cultural invasion, Asian pop/rock almost drew its earliest influence from that period with little or no input from the real ‘rock and roll’ era. The Asian had put their own interpretation of it which bastardize it even more, so it becomes like a white guy cooking ‘Fusion American Chinese Food’. I will still say it originated or has its traces from American Chinese food, but it’s a stretch to say it’s originated from Chinese Food, since it’s a white guy’s take on already bastardized Chinese American Food.
C’mon, we all know when it comes to Boybands, ‘music’ often plays a backseat. It’s the marketing, endorsements and crossing over of mediums. Boybands (and girlbands) themselves is a specific genre within the entertainment industry which is drastically different between Asian and western countries.
N,
It has definitely morphed into a different beast. Musicologists could say that Asian music emphasizes a different set of notes, which comes in large part from traditional Asian music, which uses a different scale. I myself prefer Asian rock music.
That said, the question is whether it’s different enough to be a subset of regular rock or pop, or whether, like reggae or jazz which incorporate different rhythms and focii, it’s so different that it’s its own category. I’d argue the latter, and I believe that most Asian pop/rock stars would also argue the latter. I know that when I was in Japan, I’d see them routinely refer to Western rock stars as influences.
I meant “former.” I’d argue the former.
i can’t believe you just called BigBang the backstreet boys. google their haruharu song and tell me if you think they’re anything like bsb. taeyang (one of the members) is an icon unto himself. and i’m NOT even asian and i know this
the kpop revolution is already coming to the US. did you see SNSD on Letterman. They were also on Live with Kelly? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnbDxyBLKF8
I like this blog it does not fear the Kpop like the other Asian American blogs.
Let me make this clear and note: I’m not some derange V.I.P stans (Big Bang fan group)
When I saw this video I felt the girl was not appropriate for the role. She is a model not actress. If this was an actress then her performance would be 10x’s better verse the model usually dissociative stares to look fashionable. Also I had no beef that she was white.
The second MV “Bod Boy” had one Asian chick and a sea of white girls. Count this as vid #5 were Big Bang only showcase white women or just white/Asian relations. This is why Korean fan girls are very angry and white female fans are like “why are these chicks so ugly”
Personal I’m neither Asian nor white……no I take that back I am mixed with white but also Black and a few other things. Damn Putero Rican heritage and mix racing >_<
I didn't like the idea that both "Blue" and "Bad Boy" took place in New York. city iconic for its ethnic diversity yet Big Bang FAIL to display that instead white out.
This anger a lot of Black female fans because once again we are side lined. To which is nothing but a warrior cry deaf to superficially V.I.P fans who could care less if Black females are dismiss in K-pop or even a brown skin Afro-Latina like myself.
Whatever its not like Korean know diversity anyway they still blackface.
But seriously "Big Bang gonna come in MY back yard and refuse to show ethnicity" I hope those white girls can pay their over expensive taste obvious we Black/Brown are just to freaking poor thus can not be in their MVs.
fair is fair but who cares world of pop is about selling to masses who are dumb enough to buy in
Also HOW DARE YOU compare Backstreet Boys to them…so wrong so so wrong