Episode 41: This is the Message from H.O.T.
For the 25th anniversary of first generation Kpop group H.O.T. (High Five of Teenagers), I spoke with Old R from Kpop Sunbaes on the history and impact of the group.
The current narrative in English media places the start of Kpop history with Seo Taiji and boys and then skips ahead to 2012 with Psy and “Gangnam Style”. While there is no denying the importance of Seo Taiji and Boys, I think what this abridged history leaves out is the massive impact that H.O.T. had on Korean pop music and culture and, despite a 17 year hiatus, their legacy is still very much alive and well today.
It’s impossible to understand where Kpop comes from without looking at H.O.T. and (as we get into in the episode) just because it’s difficult to research them online doesn’t mean that they should be written out of the narrative.
If H.O.T. is mentioned at all these days in English media it tends to be as an afterthought as “SM’s first boy group” as if they were puppets or in relation to the insane antics the 빠순이 engaged in back in the day such as sending razor blades to Kan Mi Youn when it was rumored that she was dating H.O.T. member Moon Hee Jun but the truth is that without H.O.T. you would not have Kpop as we know it. When they disbanded, suddenly, in 2001, it would be almost a decade before another Korean boy group would reach their level of fame, showmanship, and artistry.
The full story of H.O.T. has yet to be told in any language but Old R is going to help fill in the gaps in her forthcoming YouTube series on the history of the group so please do check that out!! The trailer is available here. And I want to thank Old R for her time and for lending me her expertise for a few hours as I picked her brain to help fill in the gaps of my own first generation knowledge.
The playlist for this episode might be a little shocking for Kpop fans who are used to contemporary and export-facing Kpop. It’s important to remember that during the era of H.O.T. that these songs were written by and for domestic Korean audiences and reflect a time before the Globalized Swedish Songwriting Blob was absorbed into the industry. This is an era before the “Big 3”; before “SM” was the SM Entertainment we know today and was just a scrappy underdog company; before many of the “rules” we consider standard for Kpop today had been set; before “Kpop” even existed.
H.O.T. paved the way for battling unfair contracts, reaching out to foreign markets in China and the United States, talking about important issues with their fans, writing their own material, and are responsible for numerous songs that have since become Kpop classics. Even if you don’t know H.O.T. you have probably heard their songs.
(Here’s just a few covers BigBang "Candy”; Winner, EXO, GOT7, Red Velvet, and others "Hope”; ONEUS “Warrior Descendants”)
Referenced in the episode: Moon Hee-Jun’s Edward Scissorhand claws and his pink hair look; Tony and Jae-Duck living that Troy and Abed life; Jae-Won being still ridiculously sexy and also his aesthetic Insta; Woo-Hyuk’s DeLorean; and Kangta & Vanness Wu in one of my favorite collabs of all time.
The songs played are:
1. “Candy” by H.O.T.
2. “Hurricane Venus” by BOA
3. “노을 속에 비친 모습” by H.O.T.
4. “G. 선상의 아리아 (Silent Conflict)” by Moon Hee-Jun
5. “Sunny Feat J” by Jang Woo-hyuk
6. “Scandal” by Kangta & Vanness Wu
7. “Rain” by NRG
8. “Cough Syrup” by Kangta
9. “Black Cat Nero” by Turbo
10. “I’m So Hot” by Lee Jae-Won
11. “Warrior Descendants” by H.O.T.
12. “Only Belong to Me” by Jang Jung-Woo (Stairway to Heaven OST)
13. “Go H.O.T.!!” by H.O.T.
14. “School Anthem” by Sechs Kies
15. “Pom Saeng Pom Sa” by Sechs Kies
16. “Wolf and Sheep” by H.O.T.
17. “Line Up!” by H.O.T.
18. “I Yah” by H.O.T.
19. “Outside Castle” by H.O.T.
20. “Hope” by H.O.T.
21. “Bow Wow Wow” by JTL
22. “Jingle Bells” by SMTown (1999)
23. “Outside Castle” by H.O.T.