Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Norway

Shin Joong-hyun and the birth of Korean rock music

Sebastian A. Løe

The music landscape of the Republic of Korea today is dominated by K-pop, which is also rapidly spreading to the rest of the world. However, if you venture beyond K-pop and delve into Korean indie music, you will stumble upon rock musicians, among others. Rock has deep roots influenced by pioneers of the genre. Among them, Shin Joong-hyun is credited as the Godfather of Korean rock music. Though politics cut the peak of his career short, he continues to garner recognition to this day. He even released an album in 2019!

Shin Joong-hyun, born in 1938, grew up during Japanese occupation, and later the Korean War, losing both of his parents in the ordeal.  At the time, record players were rare, and foreign records even more so. One of the few outlets for western music was the American Forces Korea Network (AFKN), which he would tune into on his homemade radio. “The AFKN quenched my thirst for music” as Mr. Shin would recall. The American military bases served as an arena for Korean musicians, performing different genres to satisfy the GIs. 19-year-old Mr. Shin made his debut at one such base in 1957 under the name Jackie Shin.

After his solo debut, he would later form what is often considered the first Korean rock band, Add 4, which released their first album Woman in the Rain in 1964. You may remember a version of the title track used in the movie Memories of Murder. Though the album was successful, the band would not break into the mainstream. Mr. Shin first garnered mainstream success after producing the album My Dear for the Pearl Sisters in 1968.

As in the US, rock music grew to be part of the counterculture. The conservative Park Chung-hee government cracked down on this new, decadent youth culture, including rock music. Shin Joong-hyun is perhaps most famous for turning down writing a propaganda song for president Park Chung-hee in 1972, instead making a 10-minute song about the beauty of the Republic of Korea called Beautiful Rivers and Mountains. This resulted in his guitars being confiscated, and his long hair forcibly cut. Ultimately, Mr. Shin would be embroiled in a huge marijuana scandal after spending time with some American hippies, which led to a short stint in jail. However, upon release, he was banned from performing in the Republic of Korea from 1975 until the end of the Park government in 1979. When he returned to performing, he found that disco had supplanted the popularity of rock, and that he would not recover his prominent position before the scandal.

Shin Joong-hyun officially retired in 2006, though he would return to the stage for several performances. In 2008, half a century after debuting at an American military base, he played his first concert in the US at the Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. After his retirement, he has continued to receive praise, not only at home, but also abroad. In 2010, he became the first Asian musician to receive a Fender Custom Shop Tribute Series guitar, standing shoulder to shoulder with only a handful other guitar legends such as Eric Clapton and Eddie van Halen. Then in 2017, he received an honorary Doctor of Music award from Berkeley College of Music on the grounds of pioneering the rock genre in Korea. His three sons are all musicians, including Shin Daechul , the guitarist in the legendary metal band Sinawe(시나위).

Though he did not single-handedly craft Korean rock music, Shin Joong-hyun was a pioneer who greatly influenced the genre and played a central role in its formation. His contribution has even been recognized internationally, and his works are still discovered by new listeners. A true rock legend.

Sources:

[1] https://www.donga.com/news/Opinion/article/all/20190709/96383960/1

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/sep/15/shin-joong-hyun-korean-psychedelic

[3] Shin, Hyunjoon and Pil Ho Kim. “Chapter 12. Birth, Death, and Resurrection of Group Sound Rock”. In The Korean Popular Culture Reader, edited by Kyung Hyun Kim and Youngmin Choe, page. Duke University Press, 2014. P. 275

[4] http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20121108000933

[5] http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20091217000069

[6] https://college.berklee.edu/news/south-korean-rock-legend-shin-joong-hyun-receive-honorary-degree-berklee

Photo:

[1] “Shin Joong Hyun – Beautiful Rivers And Mountains: The Psychedelic Rock Sound Of South Korea’s Shin Joong Hyun 1958-1974”. Light in the Attic Records. https://lightintheattic.net/releases/616-beautiful-rivers-and-mountains-the-psychedelic-rock-sound-of-south-korea-s-shin-joong-hyun-1958-74

[2] Shin Joong-hyun performing at Berklee’s 2017 commencement ceremonies. Photo by Kelly Davidson, courtesy of Kelly Davidson Studio ©