Korean rock music

Korean rock
Hangul	한국의 록
Hanja	韓國의 록
Revised Romanization	Hangugui rok
McCune–Reischauer	Han'gugŭi rok

Korean rock (Hangul: 한국의 록) is rock music from South Korea. It has roots in American rock, which was imported to South Korea by U.S. soldiers fighting in the Korean War.

Rock music was brought to South Korea in 1950 by U.S. soldiers fighting in the Korean War. After the war ended in 1953, many U.S. soldiers remained in South Korea, stationed on military bases, where local musicians and singers performed. In 1957, South Korea's first rock guitarist Shin Jung-hyeon, debuted on a U.S. military base. Shin, who came to be known as South Korea's "Godfather of rock," later said that Korean rock was born on U.S. military bases.

In 1962, Shin Jung-hyeon formed the first Korean rock band, Add4. Soon after, other Korean rock bands, referred to as "group sound" musicians, emerged, including HE6, K'okkiri Brothers, and Key Boys, who are best known for their hit song, "Let's Go to the Beach." The group sound musicians of the mid-1960s were heavily influenced by American and British rock from the same era. However, instead of performing exclusively on U.S. military bases, they began to perform for South Korean audiences.

During the 1970s, music was heavily censored by the government. Shin Jung-hyun was imprisoned on drug charges. Han Dae-soo moved to New York in self-exile after two of his albums were banned by the government. The imprisonment of Shin slowed the production of Korean rock, but other artists, most notably Sanulrim emerged during the late 1970s, before dance music came to dominate Korean popular music in the 1980s.

In the 1980s, popular musical tastes had moved away from rock music. The scene was dominated by heavy metal music, in particular Boohwal, Baekdoosan, and Sinawe, collectively known as the Big 3.

Rock music was revived in the early 1990s with democratization following the presidency of Roh Tae-woo. As information flowed more freely into the country, Korean youths were exposed to decades of popular foreign music in a short span of time, and some began to form bands. Two of the earliest bands were Crying Nut and No Brain, which introduced the country to a variety of new genres in a localized blend called "Chosun Punk," spearheaded by indie label Drug Records which also managed Club Drug. With increased globalization and access to the Internet, the music scene diversified and incorporated more styles of music. The late 1990s saw increasing diversity in musical influences, as younger bands like Rux emerged and The Geeks introduced Korea to straight edge hardcore punk. Ska-punk was another strong early influence, producing bands including Lazybone and Beach Valley. In 2006, Skasucks formed and led the ska-punk movement in Korea.

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