|
It's probably safe to say that this is the hottest
Korean group out there (and if you take a look at the poll results on my
site, they're voted number one by far). H.O.T. is a group of five
guys; their groups name stands for High-Five of Teenagers. The first
member to be discovered for H.O.T., was An Chil Hyun (now known as Kang
Ta) while hanging out with his friends at Lotte World (a Korean
Disneyland, it's one of the largest indoor amusement parks in the world,
I've been there a dozen times or so). The manager saw him dancing
and singing and was impressed by what he saw, and approached him with a
card. Although Kang Ta's father was against him becoming a gasoo, he went
on at the early age of 14 to begin his training. He began as a backdancer
for the current popular artist, Yoo Young Jin.
Moon Hee Jun was the next member to be added to H.O.T. Hee Jun had
scheduled a meeting with the managers ahead of time so that he might be
able to make it. The managers liked what he did, and asked him to come
back for another audition, and luckily enough, he made it! Hee Jun
also began as a backdancer for Yoo Young Jin, along with Kang Ta.
Hee Jun, who had heard of Jae Won's dancing skills, became friends
with Jae Won, and asked him to tryout as well, and made it in.
Jang Woo Hyuk was the next person -- after winning first place at a
dancing contest, he was asked to tryout for H.O.T., and became a member of
the group.
The last member of H.O.T. was Tony. The manager, Lee Soo Man,
traveled to LA to hold tryouts, and both Tony and his close friend Andy
(of Shin Hwa) made it in. But only after 4 short months of practice,
Andy's parents withdrew their support of him becoming a gasoo, and Andy
dropped out of H.O.T. (but at least he's making it big now with Shin Hwa,
another big male group).
The High-Five of Teenagers, debut album -- "We Hate All Kinds
of Violence" -- was released on September 07, 1996. Their title
song was "Junsa Ae Hoo Yeh" (Warrior's Descent), but later it
was found that the song was plagiarized off a Cyprus Hill song and they
stopped performing it (even so, most of H.O.T.'s music really isn't
original sorry to say, but they do put a nice touch to their music).
After that they switched songs to "Candy" sending H.O.T. to the
top of the charts. This catchy and upbeat song quickly became a fad in the
Korean music industry.
After fading away from the crowd, H.O.T. came back on June 28, 1997
with their 2nd album, "Wolf & Sheep". Their title song
was also called "Wolf & Sheep" but was quickly banned from
stations because of explicit language (their pretty tough about that in
Korea). They then came out with a new song, titled "Haengbok"
(Full of Happiness) which was at the top of the charts in no time. Their
next single, was "We are the Future" which set a record for
selling over 100,000 copies in only 10 days! H.O.T.'s first concert
was held at Olympic Park's Gymnasium Arena from 1/23 - 1/25 1998.
H.O.T.'s 3rd album, "Resurrection" was released on
September 25, 1998 with the titled song, "Yuhl Maj Chwuh" (Line
Up!). Their next song, "Beet" (Hope) which was written by Kang
Ta, was performed next, and received the King of Kings award. "Oo
Ri Deul Ae Maeng Seh" (Promise of H.O.T.) was performed next, and was
written by Kang Ta and Yoo Young Jin. HOT had their second concert
at Se Jong Cultural Center from 1/22 - 1/28 1999. On a role so far, but
wait, there's more...
The long awaited 4th album titled "I Yah!" was finally
released on September 15, 1999, with the title song, "I Yah!".
Their comeback concert was held at Seoul Olympic Main Stadium on September
18th. During the concert, Hee Jun, while performing his song "Too
Hon" fell off the stage and injured himself. After "I Yah",
"Too Ji" (Git it up!), written by Hee Jun was performed. Kang
Ta's song, "Hwan Hee" (It's been raining since you left me) was
performed next.
With all of their popularity, H.O.T. went on to Japan to
film a movie. Their popular movie, Age of Peace, is out, with several
other products as well, to include a sound track, photo albums, and more.
Once they've finished filming their movie in Japan, they made their long awaited
reappearance back in Korea.
The new album is quite a
contrast to their last two and includes more of their individual styles.
With new looks and more mellow music (less of the yelling type they were
doing before), they made it to the number 1 spots on the charts once
again. Their title song "Outside Castle" has a very nice tune to
it and the dance is no less than what should be expected from this group.
Though two of the songs have been banned because of legal notices (unfortunately
there were more plagiarism lawsuits for them), H.O.T. has and will
continue to be a legend in Korean Pop Music!
H.O.T. has managed to come out with more than just music, they've
produced a number of products to include pop, perfume, necklaces, etc. The
pop comes in 3 different flavors and the perfume comes in 3 different
scents, blue is Hero Spicy, green is Optimist Fresh, and red is Twinkle
Floral. There are necklaces for each member as well. You can buy anything
from organizers to stickers, and anything else you can thing of that could
have their pictures on it. They also pretty much have their own line of
clothes and everything as well with all the advertising they do.
|
