Strings of My Soul

Koreans refer to him as the “President of Culture”. He’s a singer. He’s a dancer. He’s a guitarist, bassist, composer, and a producer. He’s the leader of fashion. He may be the “savior” of currently declining Korean music industry.

If anybody is interested in listening to Korean rock music, Seo Taiji is a name that must not be neglected. When he fell in love with music, Seo Taiji dropped out of high school, and joined a metal group called “Shin Ah Wee”. The band is still remembered today as one of the legendary Korean metal groups.

After a while, he made a trio dance group called “Seo Taiji and Boys.” Through this group, Taiji made numerous contributions to and records in Korean music history. Before Seo Taiji, Koreans were convinced that it was impossible to turn Korean language into rap.

And Taiji became the first one to break this misconception.

Starting from the groups debut album, Taiji inserted Korean raps into his songs. The group’s debut song, “Nan Arayo (I Know),” received huge popularity. Through the same album, Taiji also showed Koreans what they had never imagined to hear: a song only with rap. The song “Hwansang Sok Eui Gu De (A Women in an Illusion)” consists of three

^{Picture by dalia}

verses, but does not have melody.

On the following albums included “Ha Yo Ga,” which combined rock and traditional Korean instruments, “Gyo Sil Idea (Classroom Idea)” that scorned Korean education system, and “Come Back Home” that brought to Korea a gangster music.

The group’s record includes most sold in total, most sold in certain amount of time, and fastest sold out.

Seo Taiji also brought to Korea various fashions such as school look, snow board, gangster, hip hop, and many more. During “Seo Taiji and Boy’s”’ time, what they wore on TV directly became the fashion of the period.

After the banning of the group, Taiji made a band of his own and started to make solo albums. Currently, he has three solo albums. Through his solo albums, Taiji shows his love and talent in rock music.

This year, which is Taiji’s 15^th anniversary year, Taiji made 15,000 copies of package that consisted of all of his discographies. This made another record: within 2 minutes after the preorder was opened, all the online copies were sold out.

Now let’s talk about his actual music. I personally listen to his solo albums more often partially because I like songs with good sound quality; old songs do not have good sound quality because of lack of technology. As for his 7^th album, “Issue,” his songs have excellent guitar harmonies.

Although all the songs are predominantly played by the rotation of simple four cords, his guitar playing makes it sound like a collage of master piece. When I first listened, I was awestruck by how well all the instruments, including the drums, match perfectly. The only caution for new listeners would be that when you first hear Seo Taiji’s voice, it might sound like computerized voice. But once you get used to it, his voice may also be very addictive as well. _{(Picture by dalia)}

The video below is the music video of his most recent title song, “Live Wire,” although it’s already 3 years old. Enjoy!

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