BACK TO K-POP’S FIRST GENERATION: Yoo Seung-jun (Steve Yoo) – WOW

K-Pop’s first generation is often referenced as the foundation for the industry we enjoy now, but there aren’t enough good English-language sources that give its music the focus it deserves. I’m hoping to change that with a continuing flashback series, spotlighting personal highlights from the era – both iconic and obscure.

The era in question is often considered to run from the debut of Seo Taiji & Boys in 1992 to the emergence of TVXQ in late 2003. The music featured in this series will largely fit within that time frame, give or take a few years on either side.

It was a time of bonkers song structures, wild fashion, slamming techno beats, bad reggae impressions, flagrant use (theft?) of American hip-hop samples, hearty power ballads, foul language, the growliest rapper tones you can imagine and an anything-goes scrappiness that’s impossible to pigeonhole. To borrow the name of a popular second-gen act, these years were the “big bang” of an emerging musical powerhouse, still finding its footing and throwing everything at the wall.

Check out other “Back to K-pop’s First Generation” reviews here.

South Korea’s mandatory enlistment for young men remains a thorny topic, but it was no more consequential to the K-pop landscape than in 2002 when popular Yoo Seung-jun was banned from the country for obtaining U.S. citizenship and thus evading his conscription. It’s a wild story, as he went from one of the most successful stars of the era to a blacklisted afterthought in the annuls of K-pop history. I don’t seek to pass judgment on this case in either direction, but I do want to shine spotlight on his excellent discography.

Apart from his music’s cringey obsession with “west side” gangster language, his six albums of this era are stuffed with hits and buried treasures. 2000’s Summit Revival is my personal favorite album, but I’d like to feature the lead single from his 2001 follow-up Infinity today.

This song represents so much of what I love about Seung-jun’s sound. He’s a gifted vocalist, rapper and dancer and his music often built upon the ‘new jack swing meets industrial funk’ sound acts like Michael Jackson and Bobby Brown built in the early 90’s. WOW is a cavalcade of rhythms, staccato and harsh and made for sharp choreography. The melodies are equally engaging, jabbing and punching in a way that would become more common in K-pop’s second generation. In fact, I assume BTOB’s 2012 hit Wow is a bit of an ode to this song. The titles can’t simply be a coincidence, right?

For reference, I’m linking the “Pt.2” version of WOW here. It’s the superior version and the one he promoted. For some reason, the music video uses “Pt.1”, which is basically a different song. I’ll include that too, but it’s not nearly as good.

Grade: A