holywood model: Beyond K-pop: 10 Korean Indie Artists You Should Know

K-pop idols like BTS and BLACKPINK may have taken over the world, but in South Korea, another kind of music has captured legions of listeners for decades: Korean indie rock. Although long beloved in its home country for its stirring melodies and powerful lyricism, K-indie rock hasn't yet achieved the level of international attention that idol K-pop has because, as blogger Ask A Korean! put it back in 2013,

The origins of Korean rock can be traced back to the 1950s, when American soldiers fighting in the Korean War brought their music with them. Local musicians like Shin Joong-hyun, often called the "Godfather of Korean Rock," performed American-style rock 'n' roll on U.S. military bases to entertain the soldiers. In the 1960s and 1970s South Korea was ruled by a repressive military dictatorship, but there were still music lounges in Seoul that people frequented to listen to live performances, such as the famed C'est Si Bon, which was the birthplace of Korean acoustic folk and launched the careers of legendary Korean artists like Cho Young-nam, Song Chang-sik, Yoon Hyung-joo, Kim Se-hwan, Lee Jang-hee, and Han Dae-soo. The 1980s, known as the golden age of Korean rock, saw a proliferation of rock bands—including the rise of heavy metal—before interest in rock waned in the early 1990s.

But Korean rock experienced a revival in the mid-1990s, this time in the form of new indie bands that began performing in Hongdae, the hip, artsy neighborhood near Hongik University in Seoul that has become the heart of South Korea's vibrant indie scene." title="K-pop idols like BTS and BLACKPINK may have taken over the world, but in South Korea, another kind of music has captured legions of listeners for decades: Korean indie rock. Although long beloved in its home country for its stirring melodies and powerful lyricism, K-indie rock hasn't yet achieved the level of international attention that idol K-pop has because, as blogger Ask A Korean! put it back in 2013, "Korean rock, unlike Korean idol groups, is not systematically pushed abroad by well-capitalized management companies."

The origins of Korean rock can be traced back to the 1950s, when American soldiers fighting in the Korean War brought their music with them. Local musicians like Shin Joong-hyun, often called the "Godfather of Korean Rock," performed American-style rock 'n' roll on U.S. military bases to entertain the soldiers. In the 1960s and 1970s South Korea was ruled by a repressive military dictatorship, but there were still music lounges in Seoul that people frequented to listen to live performances, such as the famed C'est Si Bon, which was the birthplace of Korean acoustic folk and launched the careers of legendary Korean artists like Cho Young-nam, Song Chang-sik, Yoon Hyung-joo, Kim Se-hwan, Lee Jang-hee, and Han Dae-soo. The 1980s, known as the golden age of Korean rock, saw a proliferation of rock bands—including the rise of heavy metal—before interest in rock waned in the early 1990s.

But Korean rock experienced a revival in the mid-1990s, this time in the form of new indie bands that began performing in Hongdae, the hip, artsy neighborhood near Hongik University in Seoul that has become the heart of South Korea's vibrant indie scene.">

Beyond K-pop: 10 Korean Indie Artists You Should Know

K-pop idols like BTS and BLACKPINK may have taken over the world, but in South Korea, another kind of music has captured legions of listeners for decades: Korean indie rock. Although long beloved in its home country for its stirring melodies and powerful lyricism, K-indie rock hasn't yet achieved the level of international attention that idol K-pop has because, as blogger Ask A Korean! put it back in 2013, "Korean rock, unlike Korean idol groups, is not systematically pushed abroad by well-capitalized management companies."

The origins of Korean rock can be traced back to the 1950s, when American soldiers fighting in the Korean War brought their music with them. Local musicians like Shin Joong-hyun, often called the "Godfather of Korean Rock," performed American-style rock 'n' roll on U.S. military bases to entertain the soldiers. In the 1960s and 1970s South Korea was ruled by a repressive military dictatorship, but there were still music lounges in Seoul that people frequented to listen to live performances, such as the famed C'est Si Bon, which was the birthplace of Korean acoustic folk and launched the careers of legendary Korean artists like Cho Young-nam, Song Chang-sik, Yoon Hyung-joo, Kim Se-hwan, Lee Jang-hee, and Han Dae-soo. The 1980s, known as the golden age of Korean rock, saw a proliferation of rock bands—including the rise of heavy metal—before interest in rock waned in the early 1990s.

But Korean rock experienced a revival in the mid-1990s, this time in the form of new indie bands that began performing in Hongdae, the hip, artsy neighborhood near Hongik University in Seoul that has become the heart of South Korea's vibrant indie scene.

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