Amen my brother, amen! And it is still being played and copied today!

LOL, you're so cute. Does mommy know you are using her computer?

TresPuertas said:

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AustinAg2012 said:

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I'm pretty sure I know the reason for the various hair colors, but I'll keep it to myself.

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Go ahead. We're in the trust tree here. I want to know as much as possible. Even if it's Rod Stewart-esque rumors (that one is for the olds)

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This might be a 'That's the joke' moment for me, but I believe he might be saying it's easier to tell them apart that way? Or is that just super racist for me to say?

Are they actually boys? Androgyny is big over there...

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Pfft, they're no BSB.

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Are you really defending the Backstreet Boys?

MuckRaker96 said:

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They are just Asian Menudo

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so they are pho?

95_Aggie said:

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Except those bands played real music.

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The Japanese fill that void

Ragoo said:

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All I know is that South Korean women are hot.

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I can watch them dance all day long to these sh-tty pop songs

It's partially explained by the fact that Japan and SK are the weirdest, bizarro cultures on the planet. Especially Japan.

Cstrickland05 said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Pfft, they're no BSB.

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Are you really defending the Backstreet Boys?

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Yes.

I have always contended that "as long as you love me" is a love letter to someone on death row.

I don't care who you are - that's cool
Where you're from- no big deal
What you did- wait. What? What did you do? Why do I need to validate that? OMG you killed the babysitter and put her in the crawlspace?
That's ok sweetie. as long as you love me.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Cstrickland05 said:

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Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Pfft, they're no BSB.

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Are you really defending the Backstreet Boys?

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Yes.

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You are an interesting person.

Interesting interpretation. I like it.

Realistically, it was probably written in order to speak to any and all female fans of the group, so they all felt they "had a chance" no matter what they looked like.

That Lou Pearlman knew what he was doing. Anyone check out that documentary, btw? Very interesting. Those guys (and NSYNC) were getting absolutely screwed. Luckily they wised up before anyone else did.

My little sister is OBSESSED with K-Pop and BTS in particular. She travels across the country to see them, she buys these weird, Korean, stuffed alien dolls for my kids. It was enough of an obsession that I looked a little into it and while it's pretty shallow the message overall is pretty much just about loving yourself for who you are.

Which is fine and innocent enough, but my sister just turned 30 and is single and spending all her time watching this *****

*obligatory*

Ragoo said:

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*obligatory*

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If it means her getting a date then I'll gladly post a picture of her as long as I can screen you bozos before hand.

Water Turkey07 said:

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Ragoo said:

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*obligatory*

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If it means her getting a date then I'll gladly post a picture of her as long as I can screen you bozos before hand.

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oragator said:

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MuckRaker96 said:

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They are just Asian Menudo

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Totally true story.
In the 1980's I was a kid on a family vacation to LA. We stayed at a Sheraton I think it was, somewhere near universal.
Anyway, a rumor started that Menudo was there and thousands of people showed up. They were standing on random cars in the parking lot, it was total chaos.
Well one of the cars got damaged, I still remember it, a black Mercedes, the roof caved where 15 year old Latina girls had been jumping and screaming. Telly Savales lived in the hotel for some strange reason, and it was his car. When we were checking out the next day he was downstairs trying to figure out what to do with the front desk. To his credit I didn't hear screaming or anything, he seemed pretty calm.
Anyway, that's my Telly Savages Menudo story.

TLDR; menudo made Telly's car get hurt.

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But did you see the episode of Silver Spoons when Ricky Stratton got Menudo to play at his house to impress a girl he likes?

Unfortunately, Ricky Martin would not join the band for another year.

Here's real(ish) answer, TLDR at bottom.


My (probably off the mark) explanation:

There are a few entertainment agencies in SK that wannabe stars audition for. The teenagers (mostly) that pass the auditions move away from home and live with their new "group members", usually in big groups of 20-30 juniors. They attend school/university, take lessons in dancing and singing etc and competition is fierce. Everything from diet to social media and relationships is controlled by the company. They don't want them doing anything to ruin their possible "future image".

Very few of these young folks end up getting to "debut" as part of a kpop group.

So yea, not unlike the boybands of the late 90s and such, but with more control.

Kpop has been a huge hit in Asia for awhile now, with some mediocre success overseas by a few groups. "BTS" is one of the first groups not in the big 3 entertainment companies to break out, much less to do so overseas, and their success is largely attributed (if I remember correctly) to the fact that they played a little outside the traditional rules. They had a big social media presence, and openly talked about mental health and problems youngsters were having as a result of economics and social issues and wrote/produced many of their own songs. This resonated with a lot of kids and ta-da. There you go. "BTS" plays sold out crowds all over the world in stadiums, was on Times square NYE, regularly does shows like Ellen, and late shows as well. They spoke at the UN and received awards aplenty. I am a fan, but I generally keep it to myself. In fact this is the most I've shared with anyone on the topic. They're a talented group of fellas and watching their performance at Melon 2019 on youtube I was pretty surprised and entertained throughout. Very few acts these days do as much dancing, rapping, and singing, not lip syncing, as these guys do. Lots of people don't like them, but most comment on how much effort they put into their performances. I should also add that SK has mandatory military service for young adults, and Kpop stars are not exempt. So they will go on break to satisfy that requirement.


So, yea. Same story as boy bands in the US more or less with some cultural differences.



TL;DR: Kpop is manufactured entertainment which takes the best of a lot of talented kids and controls almost every aspect of their lives to ensure they stay squeaky clean and present a good image. SK knows how to produce entertainers, add in a crazy amount of hard work, the right time & place and voila. Worldwide fame.

The one thing I don't understand about K-Pop is why they don't harmonize their vocals. Some of these groups have 7 to 15 members, even if only 1/3rd were really good at singing you should have at least 4 that can sing in harmony.

K-Pop B-shop is a smaller subgenre of barbershop quartet style groups. Check it out.

Jasomania said:

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The one thing I don't understand about K-Pop is why they don't harmonize their vocals. Some of these groups have 7 to 15 members, even if only 1/3rd were really good at singing you should have at least 4 that can sing in harmony.

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I would guess it's because they each have "roles" within the group. The vocalists, the rapper, the dancer, the bad girl, the youngest, the leader, the pretty face, the girl next door, etc etc. From what I noticed they want each individual to have their moments to shine so they dont often have them harmonize. Just my guess.