I think Gangnam is, for quite a few reasons, a real high point of pop culture.
1. It's international
2. It's viral
3. It's creative
4. It's earnest
5. It's fun
I think it's a good glimpse at the future of pop culture, art, and for that matter all innovation. It's not going to be some network or record exec deciding what's popular... we will. And we will do with it whatever we will. Make parodies, play with it, enhance it.
And it won't be about patents and copyrights and lobbies and corporations. It will be whoever's out there who's got it in them to innovate, who does it because he wants to put something out there.
The macarena existed. the only difference is that this might not have gotten the exposure because it is korean. but if gangnam came out in the US or maybe even a european country it still would have been pretty big.
there is something to be said about the post pop-culture ironic tone of the video though. people seem to be enthralled in the gimmicky and slightly kitsch right now. while it is fun to look at the world less seriously i am starting to get bored of it. memes and harping back to how great batman or ninja turtles were is getting kind of old. and gangnam style does have a certain element of that in it. so it might not have been AS big in the 90s because it'd be competing against more serious or darker musical ideas such as grunge, alternative rock, gangster rap, and metal.
This kind of stuff that is all flash / no substance always gets a bunch of play from idiots who just follow trends. He's just a korean soulja-boi as far as i'm concerned. Its not something anyone will ever have on a personal playlist to listen to by themselves; its kinda just like a big joke and will probably be regarded that way historically [see vh1 one-hit wonders countdowns (vanilla ice and shyt)]
I think Gangnam is, for quite a few reasons, a real high point of pop culture.
1. It's international
2. It's viral
3. It's creative
4. It's earnest
5. It's fun
I think it's a good glimpse at the future of pop culture, art, and for that matter all innovation. It's not going to be some network or record exec deciding what's popular... we will. And we will do with it whatever we will. Make parodies, play with it, enhance it.
And it won't be about patents and copyrights and lobbies and corporations. It will be whoever's out there who's got it in them to innovate, who does it because he wants to put something out there.
I think gangnam is a load of crap...only in this generation would it be part of a popular culture.
why wouldn't it?
Only arguments I can see for it not existing are due to its geography and dub step was still infant if invented at all.
If you're referring to a trendy dance, then yes.
We can go back from the earliest times in music history and we have examples of fads that were popular.
Anybody remember 'The Monster Mash'? 'YMCA'? 'Who Let the Dogs Out'? 'Macarena'? 'I'm too sexy'? and sadly, many… many… many more. We saw one of these almost every other year.
Only in Korea. It's pretty catchy and the MV is pretty absurd. It would be harder for it to grow because it's not really a ballard, but if MMMBop by Hanson could be somewhat popular back then, I don't see why Gangnam style can't.
This kind of stuff that is all flash / no substance always gets a bunch of play from idiots who just follow trends. He's just a korean soulja-boi as far as i'm concerned.
Well, don't just judge the whole thing off of one music video. The guy who made it is in fact very talented - as a live performer. Friends who have lived in Korea have told me this.
How many good live performers - at the stadium-crowd level - are there in popular music these days?
He's a lot of fun and he gets people going and he isn't weirdly evil like Lady Gaga or something. I'm a fan. I think he's great. Not everyone has to be Bob Dylan.
Would Gangnam exist from 1992-1996
