We all talk about BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, NewJeans, and whatever K-Pop group that’s currently trending in the early 2020s. But let’s go back… way back… back into time when things were simpler. Let me talk about 90s K-Pop with you.
I’ve personally been into K-Pop since 2004. As of writing this, that’s almost 20 years! I was into the groups during that era, but it wasn’t until the late 2000s that I went down the YouTube rabbit hole, and discovered K-pop groups from the 90s and the music videos that followed. This was also during a time when there were certain parts of the internet that would eventually get shut down due to copyright issues *cough cough*.
Over the years, the three major Korean broadcasting companies KBS, SBS, and MBC have uploaded an archive of past music performances from 90s K-Pop superstars on their respective YouTube channels. Unlike the Japanese music industry, where there has been a slow introduction of J-Pop outside of the country, the Korean music industry has found a market offering a bank of nostalgia to those who witnessed the birth of K-Pop, as well as to those who want to brush up on their K-Pop history. Here are five 90s K-Pop music performances, that I found to be just as good as the new release. Many of these are iconic K-pop songs, with a bonus of one I discovered as recently as a few years ago, thanks to the YouTube music show archives.
Seo Taiji & Boys (서태지와 아이들) – I Know (난 알아요) (1992)
Kicking off this list with a few well-known 90s K-Pop hits with a group that paved the way for the idols you know today. Before being known as one of Korea’s well-renowned K-Rock artists, Seo Taiji was in a boy group called “Seo Taiji & Boys”. During the early 90s, they were well received by Korean youth, to the dismay of the middle-aged, conservative population of South Korea at the time. “I Know” was one of several hits released throughout their five-year career, before parting ways where Seo Taiji would launch a successful solo career as a K-Rock artist; Juno would quietly return as a non-celebrity; and Hyun Suk would start his own record label—known as YG Entertainment: home of groups such as 1TYM, BIGBANG, 2NE1, and BLACKPINK, to name a few.
H.O.T. – Candy (1996)
H.O.T. is one of SM Entertainment’s first-generation K-pop idol groups, with an iconic song that showed the softer side of a group known to be the blueprint for BTS, with their breakout song “Descendants of Warriors”. This song would become a mandatory cover of many rookie K-Pop groups decades later.
Deux (듀스) – Turn Around and Look At Me (나를 돌아봐) (1993)
A two-member group, Kim Sung Jae and Lee Hyun Do, Deux is a lesser-known group to those outside of Korea, but one that remains in the hearts of those who were witness to their rise to fame during their debut years. Other hit songs include “In the Summer” (여름 안에서) and “Us” (우리는). Deux would later disband and each member would release solo albums. Lee Hyun Do would have a successful solo career years later. Unfortunately, Kim Sung Jae passed away in 1995 after the release of his first solo album.
INK (잉크) – Okay Now (그래 이젠) (1993)
INK is a group that I personally discovered during one of my last night excursions on YouTube on archives of past performances. INK was a seven-member group—a concept of a 3+ member group which I thought was only a concept during the second-generation era with the debut of the thirteen-member Super Junior.
Koyotae (코요태) – Pure Love (순정) (1998)
Last on the list, from co-ed trio Koyotae’s first album released in 1998, is what we call in the early 2020s, a bop. “Pure Love” might sound like a corny song, with sound effects of a horse giddying up. But once you hear it, you cannot put it down.
What is your favorite song on the list? Do you have any personal recommendations for 90s K-Pop songs? Let us know in the comments!
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