After the breakup of the heavy metal band
Sinawe in 1991,
Seo Taiji switched gears and formed the group Seo Taiji and Boys with dancers and backing vocalists
Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Juno. Yang said he first met Seo when the musician came to him to learn how to dance. "Blown away" by his music, Yang offered to join the group, and they later recruited Lee who was one of the top dancers in Korea and joined the group as a background dancer, despite being highly regarded in his own right, because the music "moved [his] heart." Seo Taiji came across
MIDI technology for the first time in South Korea in the early 1990s and started experimenting with different MIDI sounds to create a new type of music that had not been heard by the public. He initially had no plans to debut as a dance/pop boy group, and Seo Taiji and Boys' mainstream success was a surprise.
1992: "I Know" The trio debuted on
MBC's talent show on April 11, 1992, with their song "Nan Arayo" (난 알아요, "
I Know") and got the lowest rating from the jury. However, the song and their
self-titled debut album became so successful that, according to
MTV Iggy, "
K-pop" music would never be the same" again. One of the first Korean rap songs, "Nan Arayo" was a hugely successful hit; its
new jack swing-inspired beats, upbeat rap verses and pop-style choruses combined with a focus on new dance moves took Korean audiences by storm. the music video for "Nan Arayo" features varying color saturation and
chroma key editing, varying the angles of the dancers' bodies constantly. The group sold over 1.5 million copies of the album within a month of its release,
Spin named "Nan Arayo" number 4 on their 2012 list of the 21 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time. In 2015,
Rolling Stone named it number 36 on its list of the 50 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time. "Nan Arayo" is also recognized for establishing the popularity of rap in K-pop and hybridizing the
Korean ballad style with rap, rock, and techno. While there was controversy that the guitar solo in the middle of the song plagiarized
Testament's "First Strike is Deadly", the guitarist for the solo, Lee Tae-Seop, mentioned in an interview that the solo's arpeggios reinterpreted Scandinavian folk songs, which had no copyright. "Hayeoga" earned them their second Golden Disc Award. This was the first of the numerous controversies regarding Seo Taiji and Boys. The band's second album became the first 'double million sellers' album in Korean history.
1994: "Classroom Idea" The
third album shifted to a more heavy metal and rock style. Danceable tunes were nearly non-existent except "Dreaming of Bal-Hae" (), an
alternative rock song indicating a hope of reuniting North and South Korea, which earned the group its third Golden Disc Award. The song was extremely critical of the
Korean education system and the pressure placed on youth to succeed academically, such as doing well on
university entrance exams.
1995: "Regret of the Times" Not backing down, Seo Taiji and Boys'
fourth album exploded with more controversial songs. "
Come Back Home" was a foray into
gangsta rap, featuring a high-pitched nasal voice influenced by
B-Real of
Cypress Hill in "
Insane in the Brain" and by
House of Pain. The version of the song included on the album is instrumental only, as a refusal by Seo to rewrite or remove the original three lines that the Ethics Committee demanded be changed (in bold): In 2014, when asked about a possible Seo Taiji and Boys reunion, Seo revealed that the three members had talked about it often. However, he said:The biggest obstacle is that in the past, we put on really beautiful performances, which fans remember, but if we get back together now, I worry we might disappoint, so I am not confident. I lack more and more confidence as I get older. I don't think I'd be able to dance as fiercely as I had in the past. == Impact and legacy ==