Episode 72: M.A.D.E. prologue—The YG Famillenium (1988-2006)

This is the first part in a series of episodes on BigBang’s magnum opus: M.A.D.E. I’d had the idea of trying to cover the album the same way I did Winner’s EVERYD4Y and SHINee’s The Story of Light (two other K-Pop masterpieces) but the more I researched, the more I understood that the story of M.A.D.E. is really the story of BigBang and, more broadly, of K-Pop as a genre.

This first episode—The YG Famillenium (1988-2006)—covers the founding of YG Entertainment and the origins of both the early YG Family sound and the origins of some of the characteristics that would define the agency through this early era.

People curious to hear more on this early era can check out 1TYM member Danny Im’s 2017 podcast on Spotify as well as his various other podcast appearances such as on Fun With Dumb. Danny seems like a super nice guy and it’s a lot of fun listening to him talk about the old days.

I’ll also point people to the massive Seo Taiji Archive if you’d like more information on Seo Taiji. I’d love to dedicate a series of episodes to the short and influential career of Seo Taiji and Boys because there is a ton of material to dig into.

I can’t speak to the origin or authenticity of this video but it appears to depict Seo Taiji hard at work as a bedroom computer warrior, if you’d like an idea of the type of rig he’d have been working with.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Old R from the K-Pop Sunbaes (check out the podcast!!) for lending me her expertise and helping me work through a few things. Old R pointed me towards obituaries for Go Kyung-Min, the stylist who came up with Seo Taiji and Boys snowboarding look and who later co-founded Amoeba Culture, home of Dynamic Duo and Uhm Jung-Hwa.

CEO Byun Do-Seob of Yedang Entertainment passed away in June 2013 under tragic circumstances.

The catalog of Lee Hyun-Do of Deux is also worth digging into. His legacy is almost completely ignored in English but Force Deux is considered one of the best 1990s dance pop albums.

Hyun Jin-Young, who Sean of Jinusean back danced for as part of Wawa, is someone I’ve mentioned on the podcast before and is another unsung (in English) legend of K-Pop. Hyun Jin-Young has completely turned his life around in recent years and you can find him on Instagram.

Park Nam-Jung is best known by K-Pop stans today as the father of STAYC’s Sieun but he was a huge star in his own right back in the 1980s and it’s worth dialing up a few songs to check out his cool moves, fresh from the dance floor at Moonlight Club. You can even spot YG and other Moonlight Club regulars dancing behind him.

This video has a bit of Perry speaking English about 5 minutes in and you can get a sense of the family atmosphere at YG Entertainment at the time. Early BigBang fans would also often say that T.O.P. looked a lot like Teddy and you can kind of see it here as well.

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The songs played are:

1. “Haru Haru” by BigBang (0 to 10 in Japan, live with the Band Six)

2. [“Bae Bae” Freestyle] by Lil Yachty

3. “Kim Satgat” by Hong Seo-Bong

4. “Can See Far” by Park Nam Jung (and check him out in action!)

5. “I'm Chief Kamanawanalea (We're the Royal Macadamia Nuts)” by the Turtles (from one of the all time classic 1960s albums, The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands)

6. “Say No Go” by De La Soul

7. [Method Man on People's Party With Talib Kweli ]

8. “Method of Modern Love” by Hall and Oates

9. “ 난 알아요 (Club mix)” by Seo Taiji and Boys

10. “Girl You Know It’s True” by Milli Vanili

11. “Like an Indian Doll (DJ mix)” by Nami and Boom Boom

12. “너에게” by Seo Taiji and Boys (MV)

13. “하여가” by Seo Taiji and Boys (MV)

14. “발해를 꿈꾸며” by Seo Taiji and Boys (MV)

15. “나를 용서해” by Keep Six (MV)

16. “Gasoline (English version)” by Jinusean (MV)

17. “Baggy Jeans” by NCT U (MV)

18. “Tell Me feat. Uhm Jung Hwa” by Jinusean (and check them out doing the song in 2015 on Infinite Challenge! CUTE!)

19. “1TYM” by 1TYM (MV)

20. “HOT 뜨거” by 1TYM (MV, and keep your eyes peeled familiar faces!)

21. “Storm feat. G-Dragon” by Perry (MV and check out the live performance with Perry’s bleached hair and colored contacts!)

22. “Come Back To Me” by Se7en (MV feat. Heeleys and the Music Camp performance I describe in the episode)

23. “Real Wunz feat. Cypress Hill” by Jinusean (The whole album is on Spotify! Go listen!)