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 and stationing in U.S. military bases in South Korea after the war. Around the U.S. military bases, local musicians could have opportunities to learn American rock music and perform it on stage for U.S. soldiers. As a result, many Korean rock bands, called Vocal Bands or Group Sound, started their musical careers in the 1960s. Under the military administration in the 1970s, rock music and its subculture were classified as a depraved youth culture and restricted. After the Korean Fifth Republic, the censorship policies under the military government were abolished and rock music became a mainstream genre in South Korea until the end of the 1980s. Today, rock music is not the main genre in the music market in South Korea, but it still occupies a big portion of music consumption in the nation.
History
1950s
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. One girl group called The Kim Sisters debuted on the U.S. military base stage, practiced their talents and skills, and then started their musical career in the United States.
1960s
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 of the same era. However, instead of performing exclusively on U.S. military bases, they began to perform for South Korean audiences. The first generation of Korean rock musicians, including Shin Jung-hyeon, started to appear in the 1960s. However, South Korea was suffering under a totalitarian military dictatorship and the social atmosphere under the Park Chung Hee administration, which was still conservative and closed, hippie culture and rock music, which was representative of youth culture, was merely a target of suppression. In the 1960s, while western countries and Japan were overwhelmed by a new youth culture revolution with rock music, South Korea was far from the fad.
1970s
During the 1970s, music was heavily censored by the Park Chung Hee administration. Shin Jung-hyeon 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. Nonetheless, since the 1970s, with the spread of the phonograph to middle-class families, the distribution of pirated foreign music, and the popularity of playing rock and pop music in music cafes, the number of rock music fans increased and the foundation of rock music culture began to grow. Although there were far more opportunities to listen to western original rock music, the government's censorship was still strict, preventing creative activities from being free.