I was feeling nostalgic again, and was reminded of one of my favorite 90's songs: Cool's "Fate" (쿨의 "운명" in Korean). Now, here's a piece of trivia – one of the reason's I thought Cool was cool had to do with the one back dancer who was a bit...hefty. Yet, he was a regular part of all the group's performances and did all the moves that seemed designed for much smaller bodies to a perfect T. Yet, he was a big dude, and he stood out like crazy if you were looking closely. But stood out in a truly Cool way. Watch for him in the black t-shirt in this video below, which isn't shot as well as a lot of the TV studio stuff (and I have the unmistakable feeling that the camera was trying to avoid big dude in this performance!). Take a look:
Right? Dude – when you saw him – was working it. I always watched for him in all their videos. A true inspiration to all the big bruthas out there!
Here's the original music video, where you can also catch a glimpse if you're looking:
Oh – and it goes without saying that for the 90's, their outfits and moves were sweet, and the song catchy as hell. K-pop in its prime, not the crap that you see passed off as "talent" today (Exhibit A: the inaptly-named "Wonder Girls" – ahem.) Watch the video if you can stomach it. And note the choreography. Wow. (HT to FeetManSeoul)
Just wait until the 2nd member starts singing – and it's just DOWNHILL from there, if you can believe it. And their moves – ugh. I'm not just getting old, dudes – THESE GIRLS are the hot new thing? K-Pop is definitely going downhill.
Oh, lawd. Watch the girl in the white tank-top do her "sexy dance," followed by the girl in the black doing her rap interlude. Then the final held note at the end of the song – aaaaauuugh! It's as flat as the woman singing it. Which isn't actually an insult, people, since none of them have actually finished puberty, which is a whole 'nutha conversation.
They sound like dying penguins who need to be put out of their misery. Let's end this post on a real sexy diva from back in the 90's, who could actually sing (Pak Mi Kyung's "An Unreasonable Reason" (이유같이 않은 이유 in Korean):
Damn, Pak Mi Kyung! She needs to come back and reclaim her throne from these anorexic high school girls. And if anyone wants to dig at Mi Kyung having lip synced in that concert, I'll just say that that was customary at the time on Korean TV, and I heard the girl sing in person twice. She could blow anyone's house down, and in tune at that.
OK – final proof that K-Pop is really starting to suck the big one – Boa's remake of Pak Mi Kyung's song "Eve's Warning" (이브의 경고 in Korean). This version is still pretty new, and I've only seen audio-only uploads of this song so far.
Sorry to be un-PC, but this version sounds like it's slowed down for a performance in a home for the mentally-challenged. Seriously, it's like when I first came to Korea, loved this song, and then put it at the extra-slow speed in the noraebang because me and the Korean alphabet were still getting to know each other, and I still didn't understand most of the words on the screen.
Now, to prove my point, here's the original, sung by Pak Mi Kyung:
No contest. Even the rap's better. That's sad. Not to mention that the song's concept and lyrics are just hella smarter than a lot of the songs I hear today.
I'm not just being The Old Guy – I want to like K-Pop, but between Rain, SuperJunior, The Wonder Girls, or DBSK (read my disquisition on them as "proof" that there are indeed gay people in Korea), there's not much out there worth even the free downloads.
