Korean rock

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.

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.

After the war ended in 1953, many U.S. soldiers remained in South Korea, stationed on military bases, where local musicians and singers performed.

[4] 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.

[4] Soon after, other Korean rock bands, referred to as "Group Sound" musicians, emerged, including Key Boys, HE6, Pearl Sisters, and K'okkiri Brothers.

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.

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.

In the 1980s, one of the reasons rock music became more popular than in the past was that censorship was somewhat eased compared to the Park Chung Hee administration.

As information flowed more freely into the country, Korean youths were exposed to decades of popular foreign music in a short span of time, and some began to form bands.

The late 1990s saw increasing diversity in musical influences, as younger bands like Rux emerged and The Geeks introduced Korea to straight edge hardcore punk.

At one point in the early 2000s, fanzines were being made by expatriates and Koreans that discussed the rock subculture and reviewed local bands’ music releases.