This is by far my most bold comparative article I’ve ever written so far, because discussing two genres of music at the same time, it’s like messing around with the starved lion while inserting your head into a gaping mouth of an alligator. One is a nation’s pride and joy, as well as international sensation, the other is a continental affair, lurking in the depths of the underground, biding its time to explode and dominate once again. I am currently into this continental affair, now that it’s currently rising from the ashes like a newborn baby phoenix. Both have their own distinct fan base and cultures, and sometime, these two genres would clash at each other. One is from South Korea; the other is from the Continental Europe, Korean Pop against European Metal.
When we talked about the history about these two styles, it’s safe to say that Heavy Metal, claiming its roots from Blues Rock and Psychedelic Music back in the 70s is the older genre compare to its much younger modern Korean counterpart, which rose in the late 90s-early 2000s. Some even say that it was invented by accident. It started when Black Sabbath guitarist Toni Iommi was caught by an accident that severed few of his fingertips, and in order to continue to play, he had to modify his Gibson SG with lighter strings and tuned-down sound, which created a signature distortion now common on metal records today. Before that, the closest Rock song ever to the then unknown Metal territory was Voodoo Childby Jimi Hendrix. K-Pop (modern K-pop, that is) on the other hand, began to rise after a slew of influences by the American market, with the first confirmed modern K-Pop boyband H.O.T debuting in 1996. But not until 2003, the K-Pop market is still contained in the peninsula, after TVXQ’s debut, the movement exploded to a global scale, dubbed the Hallyu Wave(but honestly, I don’t understand any sort of this thing by the time it went popular).
Since the Hallyu Wave, bands from older generations like Girls Generation, Wonder Girls, Super Junior, 2NE1(now disbanded), Kara and the newer ones like X1 (recently disbanded due to vote scandals), BLACKPINK, BTS, EXO and TWICE continued to spread their wings of K-Pop to worldwide audience. The Heavy Metal movement also spread through continental Europe, with Finland, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom as the frontrunners of the genre, with bands like Judas Priest, Motorhead (disbanded after Lemmy’s death), Saxon, Scorpions, Lordi, Nightwish, Epica, Mayhem and Amon Amarth leading the charge. Although Metal has established its influence across the American, Asian and Australian continents (Africa now has a growing metal scene, most predominately in the South and Northern part of the continent), Europe is still viewed as the place where Metal was born, and the most metal friendly continent.
Both K-Pop and Metal in Europe are a spectrum within itself. Despite most K-Pop girl and boy groups have a certain formula to their music, it is the visuals that can separate one group from the other. Girl groups like 2NE1 and BLACKPINK went for the “badass girl” persona, and other s like APink, GFriend, Momoland and TWICE once went for the cute and bubbly image, while most boy groups are portrayed as cool, masculine and badass, without taking out the cuteness aspect most K-Pop groups have. The musical aspect of the genre involves inserting some English words to an otherwise Korean lyric in an attempt to appeal to a worldwide audience. Some singers and group members also use English names to gain popularity. Another aspect present within the genre is the choreography and dance. This is mainly done because of most bands having multiple singers, so choreographers must work in such a way that both the singing and the dancing can complement the music and hooking the audience during the process. Whereas the Metal scene spawned multiple subgenres across Europe, with England’s Iron Maiden once viewed as the pioneers of Power Metal, with the genre now has produced prominent bands like Blind Guardian, Rhapsody of Fire, Hammerfall, among others. Dutch native Epica is deemed responsible for the birth of Symphonic Metal alongside Finland’s Nightwish and Sweden’s Therion. Norwegians Mayhem played an integral part of the rise of Norwegian Black Metal, and most notably Motorhead, whose sound is the main starting point for Thrash and Speed Metal, which in turn, created bands like Kreator, DragonForce (they mix the Speed Metal element with their prominent Power Metal sound), and Destruction. Europe’s version of Death Metal is a little bit more melodic, thanks to bands like Arch Enemy and Amon Amarth. One of the most famous examples of European Influences on Metal is the existence of Folk Metal. This particular sub-genre blends traditional metal sound with Folk music either Celtic, Slavic or Viking elements. Bands like Russia’s Arkona, Switzerland’s Eluveitie and Finland’s Finntroll and Korpiklaani are considered the main frontrunners of the genre. The lyrical aspect of this genre is also evolved over the years. What began as a protest or a channel of frustration quickly evolved into songs about drugs, alcohol, politics, religion, culture and counter-culture, and mythology.
From praise, come critics. While Metal has been viewed as a supposed “dangerous” music, K-Pop has a dark and grim secrets looming beneath the supposed bubbly and bright scene. For many years since the Korean Wave, K-Pop artists are often accused of inauthenticity as well as ripping off some elements from their western counterpart. The use of English phrases also criticized by the base of “making the phrase itself meaningless.” Others even say that the scene has ZERO ties with the Korean national identity. The controversy doesn’t even end here. You can actually trace this back to my article Depression and Hard Times: Revealing K-Pop’s Darkest Secrets about all the sketchy, often disturbing underbelly of the K-Pop industry. All those scandals, controversies, bullying, depression and sketchy contracts are part of the industry’s hidden abyss. And we can’t talk about Metal without mentioning all the stereotypes that comes with it. Drug addicts, hedonism, Satanism, Crime, Violence, you name it, we have it all.
The fans are also an important aspect of these genres. Both have enormous dedicated fans around the world, but some of them (Metal elitists and Overly-obsessed K-Pop stans) are considered to be the worst type of fans you have ever encountered. Both of these groups will do anything in their power to ensure that their preferred genre overpowers the other; some can even escalate to fanwars. But surprisingly, the most known fanwars mostly happen within K-Pop fandoms, with currently brewing fanwar between EXO-L (EXO) and ARMY (BTS) over many aspects like chart positions or popularity. Some fanwars can escalate to fistfights or online harassing. Metal elitists meanwhile are considered enemies by a more open-minded ones, citing that metal is diverse, and no one should judge a band solely by someone’s own standards.
Speaking of the dedicated musicians of both genres, I know it may sound weird and impossible, but I would like to see K-Pop Bands and Metal Bands engage into a competition, like pitting one band against another or singers against each other. I mean, in my twisted mind, I’d like to see BTS leader RM square off against Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kursch in a sing-off competition, or TWICE trying to fend off Finnish beasts otherwise known as Nightwish, or even Blinks and The Hordes can tear each other apart when BLACKPINK and Kreator decided to compete against each other. Hell, let’s put Kai of EXO against Amon Amarth’s Johan Hegg and have a high note VS high scream riff-off. That would be a spectacle to the masses.
In the end, both genres have their own distinctive features, whether you are a K-Pop fan or a metalhead (I am one), just enjoy the music and all other things both genres have to offer, and I’m gonna stress this again, don’t shove your taste into someone else’s throats. Quit bitching about other’s musical taste and just enjoy it.
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