So I wrote this a few months back but after re-reading it I feel like my division of generations was not quite right and hence decided to revise it a little so here you go! It will be long so yup, you're warned. It will be more focused on the 1st and 2nd gen though (esp the 1st gen cause I found it so fascinating) and uh warning aleart for many #unpopularopinion for the 3rd gen part lol.

*Updated again on 3rd March 2018 after watching H.O.T's Infinite Challenge episode to fix a mistake with the fanchants origin part.

 

 

Idols in kpop goes about 2 decades back. Before H.O.T, the concept of "idol" doesn't exactly exist, they are just singers and are usually solo or duets, the closest to a group would be 3-4 people (this kind of matched the American pop music scene, groups like Backstreet Boys and N SYNC only appeared ~1995). Prior the 90s, Korean music was more on the ballad side or trot side from what I know (iconic singers like Jo Sungmo, Kim Gunmo, Lee Seungchul etc).

 

The roots

 

In 1992, Seo Taiji and Boys appeared (yeah, the group with YG as a dancer and back vocalist). As I quote Billboard, they were "a trio of hip-hop singer/rappers that fused American pop music with Korean lyrics. The band's immense popularity helped modernize the country approach to boy band creation, beginning Korea's still-popular trend of preparing polished acts with in-sync choreography, coordinating fashion choices and genre-melding music." This group was heavily influential (much to the horror of the Korean government, who actually banned Seo Taiji from promoting because their songs were highly critical of the political scene, but Seo Taiji actually sold by the millions despite all that - which was why Seo Taiji was referred to as 'devil' because the government couldn't believe how it was possible otherwise).

 

From then on more other groups appeared, and almost all were hiphop/dance groups.

1993 - Duex (many 1st gen idol dancers cited them as a huge influence)

1994 - DJ Doc, Roo'ra (short for Roots of Reggae, the group that Knowing Brother's Lee Sangmin was in; it's arguably the most successful mixed group till date)

1995 - Turbo (the group with Running Man's Kim Jongkook), R.ef, Clon

 

 

 

The first generation of idols starts with H.O.T in 1996 and ended roughly in the early 00s with most of the groups disbanding. Fun fact: I think the 1st gen idols talked about it before but there's a duo that's literally called IDOL that debuted in 1995, but H.O.T came about and made the concept of idol groups popular.

 

Most iconic first generation groups debuted between 1996 and 1999; this period was marked by the rivalry between H.O.T and Sechs Kies. The transition 1.5 generation (the early 00s) doesn't have much of groups debuts, but iconic soloists like BoA and Rain debuted here; by this period H.O.T and Sechs Kies have already disbanded and their equivalent of comparison would be Shinhwa and G.O.D.

 

1996 - H.O.T (leader of their generation, arguably the most popular group; their official fan club according to leader Moon Heejun had 780k members, but that I'm not too sure because I read on chinese sites that said their Korean fan club had 100k while their China fanclub had 800k - oh yeah, H.O.T is the first group to have an official overseas fanclub; they were also the group that really opened up the Chinese market to kpop, which is now a key source of revenue for many groups; won 7 Daesangs in a single year like holy ; the first group to have all members participate in the album production be it in song writing or choreographing, and they do a pretty damn good job for it, lots of their songs don't sound old at all even 22 years later, in fact H.O.T was quite a self-produced group since debut and leader Moon Heejun in particular contributed greatly to every album they put out; the board of education actually had to enact a law to prevent students from ditching school to watch their shows, the operation hours of train service was lengthened for one H.O.T concert; basically legendary, you can watch Reply 1997 and Infinite Challenge ep 557/558 to get an idea of how it's like)

 

1997 - Sechs Kies (many would say they are the only group that can match up to H.O.T but the members themselves admitted that they had lost in the rivalry; they were still the first to many things - first time idols hosted their own radio shows, first time idols filmed a movie as main characters, first time idols sang in a musical etc; they were the first group of their generation to disband and were arguably the most overworked - 5 albums in 3 years of promotion, it's crazy; they're also a rare group because they've never dormed together; they had an interesting division of Black Kies ie dance/rap line and White Kies ie vocal line; apparently their original name is Magma to show that they're hotter than H.O.T lol; would recommend you to watch Infinite Challenge ep476/477/478), NRG (their story is super sad, one of their members died during promotion period from a sudden disease of some sort, and fans often say this group just has no luck; they were two-top in China with H.O.T and are widely acknowledged as the first wave of Hallyu stars; Yoomin is like, the original flower boy), SES (the real textbook of girl groups and the "pure" concept, and this trio had 3 different ethnicity so I think it was one of their biggest selling points then), Baby Vox, Jinusean

 

1998 - Shinhwa (their name translates to "legend" which is pretty much true; the original beasty idols; the longest running group till date, the only group in history that filed a successful lawsuit against SM together while rejecting attractive solo contracts; have hilarious stories, their variety show 'Shinhwa Broadcast' is the longest running and most succesful idol show ever; in all seriousness this group has been through a LOT of stuff includinng life-and-death moments, and they had a 万人召集 when they were still under SM in which the group gathered an audience of 10k in a rural town within hours of promotion as an effort to bring back their maknae Andy to the group), 1TYM (the YG hiphop group that Suga wants to be lol), S#arp, FinKL (another national girl group, the "next door girl / girlfriend" concept and I heard that they were well known for their harmonies, fellow member Lee Hyori went solo after disbanding and is pretty much a brand name herself)

 

1999 - Fly to the sky, Chakra, G.O.D (the best-selling 1st gen idol group and actually of idols of all times, their 3rd and 4th album sold 1.8m and 1.7m respectively*; well-known for their vocals and also their 100-day concert series; the first nation's boy band with their Baby Diary programme, which is the first time idols showed such real sides to themselves on TV; immense suffering prior debut due to company neglect)

*To give you a quick perspective: the next-best-seller (idol) is H.O.T's 'Wolf & Sheep' which sold 1.5m, 3rd gen best-sellers would be BTS 'Wings' and EXO 'The War' with ~1.6m. Album sales for 2nd gen groups are actually much worse as compared (because of South Korea's low economic performance, and kpop was not global enough to have international fans contributing to album sales greatly), the top seller would be DBSK's last album as 5, 'Mirotic', which sold around 600k copies (and I must stress that they scored this record in 2008, which was during the time of the economic crisis already - Korean media then were actually saying DBSK was helping to revive the staggering Korean industry)

 

 

Apart from these groups, there's also iconic soloists like BoA (SM, 2000; basically a queen, one of the youngest debut at the age of 14, massive achievements in Korea and Japan), Rain (JYP, 2002; well known for his dance and performance, also achieved some success in Hollywood) and Seven (YG, 2003; I think he ran into some scandal but initially he was really popular too) debuting. There's also some hiphop groups like Epik High and Leesang debuting, but they were already very different from the expected idol image.

 

 

 

As far as I'm aware, H.O.T is the first idol group to debut. And they were HUGE in Korea and Asia. Their fans (H.O.T club) literally created the entire fan culture. H.O.T fans wore white raincoats, waved white balloons, and created fan chants*. This whole culture was adopted by every fan club that followed (the thing with raincoats kind of stopped with the 1st gen idols, balloons became replaced with light sticks in 2.5/3rd gen pioneered by Big Bang if I'm not wrong, but overall the whole thing about having organisation within a fan club and having a specific colour to represent the group are practiced till date). H.O.T also had individual colours for each member, a practice that I don't really see in subsequent generations (ok this is not kpop but this China boy band of super young kids have this, and their fans use individual colours for than the team's colour, it's weird idk). Multi-fandom is not tolerated back then esp between the rivals - fan clubs of the rivalry band would have no reaction to other groups' performances, and if for instance a H.O.T fan clapped for a Sechs Kies performance she will be heavily scolded by the fan club president.

 

*I initially thought the 1st gen fans only had the basic fan chants like singing along to the full song and chanting short phrases like "H.O.T forever"  and "Jekki Jjang", without stufff like chanting members' names (for individual parts and all together) and making use of the lyrics fully. But turns out 1st gen fans did all of that! They also had the balloon waves, placards and banners, all that sorts. Also not too sure but I think 1st gen fans have this parade thing? Like their fans would march around the arena carrying flags (like yaknow, the Olympics kind) while waving the flag rhythmically to the beat, it's super cool to watch.

 

A bad part of the fan culture would be how it was acceptable for fans to follow their idols around 24/7 (this generally became the behaviour of "sasaengs" in later period, but was literally the norms for 1st gen). Young fans would camp in front of where the idols live too (this is practised for the early part of 2nd gen), which is pretty ridiculous because most fans were like in elementary/middle school (some idols like Kang Sunghoon would give them food and taxi fare to send them home, some like Jung Suwon would tiptoe past them to get home, some like Eun Jiwon prints flyers telling fans to go home, and you have Lee Jaejin who would report his fans to the police lol).

 

Fan wars back then were also pretty direct, no shading online or anything, they fight face to face (so many legendary wars between the large fan clubs XD) in huge groups (usually before/after music shows or merged concerts). Fans had a very strong sense of honour and were highly competitive, one case I remember was when NRG first debuted the media were calling them to be "Sechs Kies' rival" and that offended the Sechs Kies fans so during a music show they surronded the NRG fans and covered them with a huge banner so that no one could cheer for NRG's performance (to make the statement that "our oppas are better and you are no rival at all" I guess). In schools the girls also group by which band they support (something that's much harder today simply because they are so much more groups; in first gen it was literally H.O.T or Sechs Kies in the late 90s, or G.O.D or Shinhwa in the early 00s, but now although BTS & EXO are the most popular you always have so many other competitors like Wanna One, Seventeen etc). However, one thing very different from fanwars today is that these fans were not strangers to each other. These fans were classmates, neighours, relatives and some even blood sisters. Sechs Kies' fans would take the bus provided by SM for H.O.T fans to go home when their idols are doing a combined gig in the rural areas, and when the 1st gen groups started to disband, fans of rivalry groups cried too.

 

 

In general, I think 1st gen idols had a lot of meaningful songs as compared to the subsequent generations. This generation was most heavily influenced by Seo Taiji (who used music to criticise the society & government), and this reflected heavily in their music content. H.O.T's debut song Warrior's Descendent was themed on school violence (BTS's has this #endviolence thing going on now, but that's literally the theme for H.O.T's first album), Sechs Kies' debut song School Anthem (학원별곡) was a direct criticism of Korea's education system, G.O.D's debut song To Mother was about the suffering of their parental generation etc. This generation of idols started off as "a voice for teenagers", or something along the lines. They discussed issues faced by teens of their age (school violence, the flawed education system that only focused on science & math, the society and parents that only see selected career paths for their children, and how teens were oppressed and their opinions were not respected when in fact they're the future of the nation), and of course sang about love too. There was a lot of emphasis on their teenage identity, and it truly like a role model for people their age. In the later period, hiphop slowly faded out of the idol scene (or at least, it becomes more subtle; most songs would have a rap part though, but it becomes increasingly less important). Kpop music starts to really form its style.

 

This is the era when roles were clearly defined. Main vocals would sing majority of the song (which is why on Infinite Challenge the groups will regroup and the main vocal dies during the 95-marks-chalenge for KTV). Rappers are given a fixed portion of the song regardless. There's always a dance break somewhere for the main dancers to show off. And the fans don't complain about "unfair line distributions". You do what you're best at, and if you're not particularly good at anything, you don't get parts and you don't about it (neither do your fans). Roles start to get pretty confusing as time progress though (main, lead, sub, whatever), especially because the song isn't as clear cut as it used to be and few songs have dance breaks anymore, and also because the groups get larger (it's not uncommon to have 7-9 members or even more now, while 1st gen groups are mainly 5-6 people). The average album had about 20 songs (unlike today when albums have ~10 only).

 

Oh yeah, lip-sync is actually very common in this era, and there's nothing wrong about it. I think it's mainly because of technology restriction because it would be hard for broadcasting stations to edit the footage and audio or something. The idols themselves have talked about it before, how they would yell at each other to follow the beat or count "1,2,3,4; 2,2,3,4" when they dance (I'm pretty sure there was a group who forgot that their mics were on and you could hear them chatting lol). This does not mean they can't sing live though. When they sing live, it's often some event when everything would be 100% live and no AR, and let me tell you they do a pretty damn good job and are way more stable than many 2nd/3rd gen groups in their rookie days.

 

 

In this generation, it is common to have "million-sellers" because digitalisation isn't a thing yet. Selling a million copy would be the mark that "ah, they're quite popular huh" as opposed to how it's such a big deal today. A fun fact is that the 97/98 IMF (Asia financial crisis) was actually a barrier to some groups (eg Shinhwa and NRG), they had to abruptly end their promotions because music shows and charts were down instantly. The biggest issue faced by this generation was actually broadcasting regulations: dyed hair, piercings, English lyrics etc were all not allowed (a lot of idols wore bandanas not to be hiphop but to cover dyed hair, and when Moon Heejoon felt rebellious and threw off his bandana on stage, H.O.T was banned from broadcast stations for 6 months). These ridiculous regulations were only lifted much later, which allowed subsequent generations much more freedom.

 

Mysterious concept was quite the thing for this generation (well ok maybe except for Shinhwa LOL). Idols were like the super high-up, basically perfect, almost inhumane kind. H.O.T doesn't even go to the toilet in the same broadcasting station. It's quite interesting to hear those stories because their personalities were clearly not like that haha. Leaders also had this stigma that they have to appear very strong and charismatic to other teams for the sake of their own group - Moon Heejun and Eun Jiwon, the classics haha.

 

 

The classic look for this generation: mid-parted hair (with super long fringes), baggy clothes (like twice the size one should comfortably wear, and usually of very stuffy material) and large heavy shoes (they used to stuff their shoes with rolled up newspaper but the shoes would still be loose - that's how huge those shoes would be; amazing how they did all those dances with this outfit seriously). Idols used to cover up so much skin (esp the female idols) (and onesie kind of outfits were really popular, I can't imagine how suffocating it must have been - Eun Jiwon mentioned that he used to cut the costumes so that the company had no other choice but to get them replaced), Shinhwa was probably the start of idols ripping open shirts and showcasing their abs. This whole baggy trend died down slowly and clothes start to become a better fit over the years (look at how DBSK was dressed from 03-08, you'll see the entire transition), until nowadays when most idols are in skin-tight outfits. But this whole fashion trend is kind of returning? A few years ago the mid-parting was done by so many 3rd gen idols, and the oversize trend is strong now.

 

A strange thing of this generation is the short lifespan. There's this "5 year curse" that says that most groups don't last longer than 5 years. This is partly because solo activities were seen as unacceptable (all their schedule must be group schedule; Suzy and Seolhyun are doing the completely unimaginable for this generation), and also because of a lot of mismanagement issues (SM's always using their early group to lay the path for their next: they used Shinhwa to threaten H.O.T to listen to the management, manipulated with broadcasting companies to give Shinhwa's well-deserving Daesang to BoA… a tactic they're still doing today lol Super Junior's Daesang went to SNSD, SJ & TVXQ's albums were not even listed as nominees despite being the best sellers just so EXO can win their first Daesang etc… basically half of SM artists' first Daesang all came with some sort of manipulation, it's quite ed up) (and of course DSP… the of a management that overworks and underpays their artists by a ridiculous margin while lying about sales to evade tax, their legacy still continues today ==).

 

 

There weren't many groups in the generation, especially looking at today's standards. Idols generally have a much closer relationship across groups too (both male & female), perhaps because of the lack of social media so news don't spread that much and fans won't be agitated if they are not aware. The concept of "trainees" was not really developed in this era, they would go for audition (or were scouted) and if they're accepted, the company starts to train them to debut already (much unlike how companies today would have tens to hundreds of trainees, then they choose selectively who to debut for their next project; most 1st gen idols were picked specifically to form a group). Fun fact on how Sechs Kies was formed: the CEO of DSP scouted Kang Sunghoon & Eun Jiwon from Hawaii and meant to debut them as a duo, but with the success of H.O.T he decided to make a group instead and the remaining 4 members were hand-picked and approved by Kang Sunghoon himself as part of the deal.

 

Personally, I feel like 1st gen idols were really just meant to be in this business (like born for it rather than trained for it), while the idea of "training to be a star" became more enrooted in subsequent generations. In 1st gen, sure you do need lots of hard work, but the idea of "manufacturing" idols wasn't fully around yet.

 

 

All 3 big3 companies are established in this era (SM in 1995, YG in 1996 and JYP in 1997). They are definitely not as huge as they are today (esp YG & JYP, who only started to grow immensely with their 2nd gen idols Bigbang, Wonder Girls etc; SM, on the other hand, is already leading here with Shinhwa, BoA and most of all, H.O.T), and DSP was a strong competitor (Firetruck, Sechs Kies, Fin KL).

 

 

Conclusion of the first generation: very dynamic groups with pretty similar dances (they have some routines that almost every group has danced to, with all kinds of names like the rabbit dance, hurricane dance etc, it's quite cool like I don’t observe this in any other generation), faced the weirdest regulations and the worst company contracts (Sechs Kies only had a verbal contract with DSP like wtf), amazing music esp music content and unique styles, iconic fashion, things were simpler between idols, a time of exploration of what works and later much reproduced.

 

 

The first generation more or less ended by 2003. Groups like Sechs Kies, SES and H.O.T disbanded. Fin KL's group activities went on hiatus, NRG ventured into the China market and Shinhwa was starting their lawsuit against SM. There's a huge gap in the industry for idol groups. That's when DBSK/TVXQ debuted (2003 Dec 26). This started the second generation of idols.

 

The second generation ranges roughly from 2003 to 2011, but with a very clear division at 2009/2010 (yes, the DBSK lawsuit is a literal marker of transition). Between 2003 and 2009, the scene was led by soloists like BoA, Rain, those 1st gen idols that went solo (eg Lee Hyori, Kim Taewoo), and a few boy bands (not much of girls since iconic girl groups like SNSD and KARA debuted after 2007). And when I say boy bands, I really just mean DBSK, whose influence climbed steeply since debut and peaked in 08/09 (there are other 2nd gen groups that have debuted already, notably Super Junior, Big Bang etc, but they were far from being leaders in this period). Then you have the transition 2.5 generation that’s roughly 2009~2011, where DBSK's influence dropped to a record low (since TVXQ took a 2 year hiatus, and JYJ was banned in every aspect of the Korean market because SM is a ), and hence you have groups like Super Junior, SNSD, Big Bang and Wonder Girls on the rise.

 

Most people actually just identify the 2nd gen with the second period, because arguably that era had some of the most iconic kpop songs in idol history (I think most Asians have heard Sorry Sorry, Gee and Nobody playing on the streets even though they don't know it's kpop). I just want to highlight that although the ~2010 period was truly a very iconic time of kpop, that's not all of the 2nd generation.

 

 

2003 - DBSK/TVXQ (If H.O.T is the leader of 1st gen, then DBSK is the leader of this generation. There probably isn't a Korean born before the 2000s that doesn't know the fan chant to Mirotic - international fans may not feel this way since songs like Sorry Sorry and Gee may be more memorable for them, but Mirotic is like a god-tier song in Korea, in fact it was song and album of the year. DBSK turns combined concerts into their own show, and the whole arena will be covered in pearl red - you can google Dream Concert 2006/7/8 for visualisation. In 2008 they made Guinness record for world's largest official fanclub with 800k members - in fact older fans say that the official fanclub had the most people of 920k in 2006. And just to highlight, to apply for membership you need to pay monthly fees and be of Korean nationality. And not to mention their official Japanese fanclub which has around 600k at its peak with similar rules of application except it requires Japanese nationality. Speaking of Japan, I must stress that DBSK's breakthrough in Japan is probably their biggest contribution to the kpop industry. Japan, the world's second largest music market by revenue, was not receptive of kpop in the 2000s. It's DBSK and BoA, who entered the market, learnt the language and culture and even politics from scratch, who performed to an audience as small as 20 people when Korea had 100k-seating stadiums dying to invite them, fought a long lonely battle until they finally topped the Oricon charts. Without DBSK and BoA, there's no way kpop groups today can sell so easily in Japan. And ask any Japanese friends around you who's the most popular Korean band in Japan now, they'll still tell you it's Tohoshinki. As someone who's been in kpop for 8 years, I can be honest with you and say that I've never seen a group nearly as close to perfection as DBSK was as 5 - visuals, body proportions, individual aura, and of course skills as a singer and performer. DBSK's harmonies and live singing are pretty much CD-standard, a skill that came about because of the harsh standards that Japanese audience expects them to meet in early 2000s when most kpop idols are still lip-syncing. Words can't really explain how HUGE they were esp as someone who's personally experienced this generation myself. Probably everyone in Asia born before 2000 have heard of DBSK in one way or another, because they were plastered over 8 in 10 entertainment magazines, all over salons and their songs are played everywhere, and referenced in all kinds of popular dramas. And I don't mean just the teenagers. Hell, my mom knows about DBSK. Mind you, this was an era when communication technology was still very underdeveloped. The 09 lawsuit shook the entire industry and literally gave the chance for other groups to emerge as leaders) , Buzz (the band that Knowing Brother's Min Kyunghoon is in, they debuted a few months earlier than DBSK; they were super popular with both genders -Taehyung is a fanboy too- and one of the most successful bands before FT Island came around)

 

2004 - SG Wannabe (a ballad trio with average visuals but amazing vocals, quite interesting because they refuse to appear on shows saying they only want people to focus on their music; they sold really well, actually, considering how bad the average physical sales was for their era; tbh now that I think of it, I'm not sure if they are considered idols?)

 

2005 - Super Junior (legendary group, Hallyu leader, rules over multiple markets esp China, Middle East/Arabic countries and South America, they started out low as a 1-year project group but developed steadily in Korea, before Sorry Sorry shot them to complete fame; first idols to sing trot and have sub-units to target different markets, the first kpop group this large with 13 members and at that time most broadcasting stations were unused to a group this large they often don’t have mics for everyone, it's only after SJ succeeded that newer groups started to have more and more members; the first kpop group to have their own concert series, world toured with more than 100 concerts as of date; used to have the most number of daesangs won until the dumb rule that those who won daesang more than thrice cannot be nominated which was blatantly targeting DBSK & SJ because they were the only ones that the rule could be applied to ==), SS501 (they were quite popular then, them and Suju and early DBSK were the three-top until DBSK entered a very different league in 2006-2009, very strong image as flower boys)

 

2006 - Big Bang (another legendary group, the economic driver of YG, Hallyu wave leader, makes great music then and now; they were quite overshadowed by DBSK and SuJu initially but really shone through after the 2010s, is one of the most influential 2nd gen groups today which is a really commendable feat, their members are VERY successful as soloist as well), Brown Eye Girls (the Shinhwa of girl groups, have great music content be it as a group or soloist, always daring to challenge stereotypes and unfairness in society, starters of the y concept)

 

2007 - FT Island (they came into picture when Buzz went into hiatus, climbed to great popularity very quickly, one of the most successful bands), SNSD (the more recent textbook girl group, amazing queens that slays all concepts, best debut song ever, the girl group with the prettiest legs, they're like the old EXO getting all the hate from other groups and especially from SM stans, but watch time fix everything), Wonder Girls (I don't know much about them but definitely legendary, JYP shouldn't have sent them to America according to stans), KARA (another legendary girl group, was huge in both Korea and Japan, they have so much great songs, it was bad when 2 left, it was worse when 1 more was added, yet another great group ruined by DSP)

 

2008 - SHINee (the awkward 2.5 generation of transition which is why despite great songs they're rarely considered "leaders" because it's hard to say which generation they represent, they caught the attention of everyone at debut because they pulled off the cute concept ridiculously well, never stuck to that but instead always coming back with refreshing performances; great choreography and music content that gets better every year; #RIPJonghyunYouDidWell), 2pm (beast idols 2.0 and uh apart from that I don't really know much oops, I think they're still the main source of JYP's revenue in 2017 but lately it may be Twice, idk), 2am (a great ballad group, oh yeah 2pm & 2am were supposed to be one group because JYP wanted to rival SJ's size but in the end he gave up on the idea and just split them into a dance vs vocals), Ukiss (one of the greatest bops in kpop I know, super underrated for their talent, had a super strong start with Manmanhani but things never went right for them once the member change started)

 

2009 - Beast (really great songs both as Beast or as Highlight now, Fiction was my first kpop mv; one of the first non-big3 idols to make it big), MBLAQ (they had so many great songs of various styles, I used to be obsessed with their MVs for a while), 2NE1 (a one-of-a-kind girl group that doesn't try to be girly at all, started a new concept for girl groups with their powerful debut), 4 Minute (may not be as huge as the other girl groups but I really liked their music, I guess CUBE focused more on Hyuna than the group, shame on them), T-ARA (a girl group that could have been HUGE but got ruined because of a stupid scandal, they had amazing 20min drama-themed MVs with amazing production quality, have great releases then and now; heard they're quite popular in China and now signed with a Chinese entertainment company), After School (another group that could have been a top girl group if better managed, tried out a lot of fresh concepts every comeback), f(x) (SM need to let them out of the cellar, this group always have amazing songs and concepts every comeback), Secret (another great girl group with distinct style, had lots of bops)

 

2010 - CN Blue (the band that kind of replaced FT Island), Infinite (true definition of knife choreography, always had a distinct sound, I still can't believe Hoya left), Teen Top (the group first got attention because they were produced by Shinhwa's Andy; had lots of tight choreo that could rival Infinite, not sure what happened), ZE:A (not too sure but I think they were hot topic for a while, the members just scattered and went into acting or variety), The Boss (a super underrated group with amazing vocals, promotes more in Japan than Korea), Girl's Day (the voted president of military men), Miss A (another group that fell apart because of over-focus on one member), Sistar (queens of the summer, shame they're gone, but hey their disbandment was possibly the best-handled I've ever seen)

 

2011 - B1A4 (vocally strong, home to top3 idol producers Jinyoung), Block B (I actually googled them because I cannot remember what they had prior to their later songs like Her and Very Good, found out that they had actually a terrible first company which didn't pay them all that, I think they only started to get big starting 2013), Boyfriend (cannot really remember much about them but all my friends remembered them for the "Boyfriend performed by Boyfriend"), Apink (the group that consistently stuck to the pure concept and still sort of pulls it off)

 

 

A personal view: 2nd gen had the best girl groups ever. BEG, SNSD, WG, KARA, T-ARA, Secret, 2NE1, 4 Minute etc… there were so many girl groups but all with refreshing music, they try out all kinds of concepts (the pure, the cutesy, the independent lady, the y, the badass, the funky etc). It's just amazing.

 

As a whole, however, the 2nd gen idols are much more on the pop-culture side. Few groups sang about societal issues, and those that did were rarely heard of (Super Junior's Don't Don was a direct criticism of how the society is all about money, but that song was poorly received as compared to their other releases). Most sung shallow lyrics about love or pure inspiration. It's kind of understandable since idols are increasingly scrutinised by netizens that did not exist in the 1st gen. Music wise though there was a lot of variation, the songs were all pretty distinct across artists and it's rare that a group continues with the same concept for multiple comebacks.

 

 

Fan culture evolved a little. Rivalry is less tense (perhaps because the idols themselves covered each other's songs a lot, especially with cross-dressing), but it definitely still existed. Multi-fandom is more common and tolerated. Fandoms switched from balloons to light sticks around 2010 - hence the start of a new form of fanwars: black ocean. Fans can still be pretty extreme, they camp outside the idols' dorms day and night, follow them everywhere, sasaeng becomes a business for taxi drivers and private detectives and so on, but slowly more and more fans are being unaccepting of such behaviour. Fan wars start moving online (esp with more and more international fans), but physical fan wars do happen (esp at places like Dream Concert… like it was a Sone VS every other fandom for a few years lol).

 

 

Industry leaders wise, the big3 are fully established by here. SM continued their legacy with DBSK, SJ, SHINee and SNSD (in fact some say the 4 most well-known groups in Asia were: H.O.T, Shinhwa, DBSK and Shinhwa, and all 4 came from SM). YG was literally rocketed to position with Big Bang's immense success, and 2NE1 was well received too. JYP also rooted its position with Wonder girls, 2pm and 2am. Other companies like Cube and FNC were also on the rise. Their respective styles also surfaced: SM groups are known for their dance and visuals, YG groups are on the hip-hop side and focused on individualism with daring fashion, and the JYP way of singing "half-air, half-sound" (personally, I feel like JYP artists don't have much in common, while most SM & YG artists have a very strong "same company" vibe idk).

 

 

This is also the same period when internet is starting to become more prevalent. The power of media is stronger. Idols become more cautious of how they say and act, and inter-group friendship is significantly lesser as compared to the 1st gen (same company friendship like DBSK x SJ x SNSD, BB x 2NE1 is still strong though).

 

 

It's also this generation when the "lifespan" of idol starts to lengthen. Most 1st gen idols barely lasted 5 years, the idea of boy bands returning after military serivce was unimaginable. This starts to change in the 2nd gen. Some groups are actually still around (Super Junior is having their comeback right now #BlackSuit #SJReturns #SuperTV, TVXQ is already having tours), and most others lasted more than 7 years. A lot of 2nd gen girl groups actually lasted ~10 years, but in 2016/7 a lot of these legendary girl groups have disbanded. The main reason is because solo activities are allowed in this era, so individual activities (and income - in 1st gen most groups split their income evenly even if it's earned by one member) and group activities are not a two-choose-one option.

 

 

Revolutionary contribution of this generation: Removal of regulations that restricted foreigners to be an idol (mainly because of Hangeng of Super Junior, he's from China, and was the first non-Korean to debut - 1st gen had some idols who came from overseas, but they were all Korean citizens I think? Anyway back then the law was that foreigners can only appear on max 3 broadcasting stations, so Hangeng danced on stage with SJ for 6 months straight wearing a mask until SM solved the matter), and after that more companies start to have overseas audition and provide Korean classes for foreigner trainees.

 

The DBSK lawsuit was also a huge landmark of progress in Korea's entertainment industry because it exposed how ridiculous the contracts were (alternatively termed "slave contracts", you're signed up 13 years excluding the military service, the GROUP is given 4-5% of its earnings depending on sales etc), the whole issue garnered a lot of public attention and SM revised their contracts by court order and public pressure. And as a spinout effect, the JYJ Law has also been passed and it prohibits the blacklisting of idols by broadcasting companies (because SM is a , but tbh this law is quite useless because still most broadcasting companies don’t dare to invite JYJ but hey progress is being made).

 

And of course, the 2nd gen idols further spread the Hallyu wave into Asia and beyond. DBSK (and BoA) opened up the difficult market, Japan (they were thrown there in 2006 by SM so that SJ can have the space to develop, they handed out flyers and albums on the streets begging for people to give them a listen; took heavy vocal lessons to match Japanese market standards; eventually they achieved immense success there and remains a household brand in Japan). Super Junior is huge in South America and the Arabic world even today. Big Bang's music style appealed greatly to the States and Europe. In general, these groups made Kpop more known to the rest of the world.

 

 

 

The transition between 2nd and 3rd gen is more ambiguous. But roughly most agrees that 2012 is when the third generation starts. No one can really be sure, but I guess things are transitioning, and that transition is 2016 with the rise of Produce 101 and other similar programs.

 

2012 - EXO (at debut their K subunit sort of flopped, M did well though; struck gold with Growl which is now the Sorry Sorry and Mirotic of this generation; in 2012/3/4 their fandom was possibly the most hated fandom across kpop esp by other SM stans because of how obnoxious they were acting, 3 consecutive lawsuits cleared out a lot of fakes who were just there barking in the fandom for the hype; their subsequent releases were not bad although I cannot understand their later MVs; currently the two-top with BTS, no one can get a break from this ongoing fanwar everywhere; anyway I hope now with less tension between China and South Korea Yixing can finally rejoin EXO in promotions), NU'EST (a great group that participates heavily in album production and has great musical content, had a strong debut, not sure what happened but they mentioned on P101 that when they changed their concept a lot of fans left), VIXX (another group with a very distinct sound like Infinite does, lots of unique comebacks and MVs), B.A.P (an iconic group with amazing music content that could have been as huge as EXO & BTS is but purely ruined by management, everyone around me remembers them as the "all blonde at debut" group; has movie-like MVs), BTOB (great vocals and all but I love their debut song above all), AOA and EXID (two girl groups that basically flopped at debut but revived with a y concept, not sure what I should feel about that)

 

2013 - BTS (the "from rags to riches", their music content varies from meaningful to simple pop music, currently the two-top with EXO and is the most hyped group everywhere, high quality production for MV and music, I really like how they add a theme to every era, HYYH will always be a personal fav though I'm a er for all 3 albums esp pt2; broke considerable boundaries for kpop with their achievements in international and esp US market, but tbh the fandom esp the fakes who're just in for the hype are ruining it)

 

2014 - Akdong Musicians (an absolute gem, have great music content), GOT7 (a big3 debut but still not a huge name, guess they gotta up the game), Winner (deserves better promotion, such good bops; also products of the YG program Win: Who is next?), Mamamoo (another gem of this generation, it's cool how their music is so… daily life), Red Velvet (possibly the most solid girl groups of this generation, have some music versatility with their Red side vs Velvet side but the Red side is significantly more popular with the public)

 

2015 - Seventeen (self-produced idols yay), Monster X (great music content and MVs), iKon (YG's huge ambition to take over SM but flopped in the end, have pretty ok songs; anyway give them their own ing colour YG stop being a #redistvxq), Day6 (amazing releases on a monthly basis, deserves more recognition), Twice (never quite get the hype for them but heard they've been improving their skills), Gfriend (got famous through their x2 dance, songs are ok but kind of sound similar), CLC (heard they tried to be versatile after their badass concept and that flopped, idk, I liked their badass concept though), DIA (don't know much about them except they're becoming the next Miss A and 4 Minute if they over-focus on Chaeyeon) (lemme side track but like I never really got the hype about Suzy and Chaeyeon? Cos ok at least Hyuna is a great dancer with stage charisma but I'll never understand how far this pure concept gets people lol maybe it's just a preference thing; but anyway its always dangerous if a group becomes more like XXX's back up dancers so… yep.)

 

2016 - NCT (here's the start of more confusion, says SM; they have lots of interesting songs, most that I cannot appreciate because of personal preference, but their skills are certainly there esp the dance), IOI (never felt too comfortable with this whole "national producers" thing that is now becoming a thing with similar shows like Idol School coming out but ay okay I think IOI accomplished a lot within that short period of time), Black Pink (really liked their music style and all but yeah would agree they're being overhyped with just 5 songs or sth, I look forward to their full album though), Gugudan

 

2017 - KARD (a mixed group with a pretty unique sound as well), Wanna One (P101 p2, breaking lots of records at the moment)

 

 

So by the 3rd gen it's pretty much mechanised? Some groups like VIXX found a unique sound that fits them very well, but a lot of other groups (including some 2.5 gen groups) are just sticking to one concept and it's easy to get bored (Boyfriend, Apink, AOA and so many more) - and particularly for most girl groups, it's like they only have 2 choices: cute or y? (And how most smaller companies, less-known girl groups switched to y… like idk it's sad.) There are solid groups like Mamamoo, AKMU and Red Velvet, but also the empty ones like Twice. Some groups (eg EXO) try to have versatility, but I'm not sure it's working well. Groups like BTS, B.A.P. and NU'EST that has actual musical content are easily overlooked by the public after a while as they prefer easier stans (I'm saying BTS as well because their most criticising music was made in the debut era but that's clearly not a very attractive concept, their subsequent releases focused on other meanings like mental health, growing up etc, like it's great but clearly different from what they set out to do, Go Go hinted at spending culture but it's like super subtle and well-hidden by the cheerful performance).

 

It is noticeably harder for groups to stand out in comparison simply because there's so many. Kpop debuts keep increasing every year, in fact a hundred groups debut every year by 2014, but how many gets remembered? Many acts disband within the first year, or some even within months. Even those names that become more familiar, it’s a tough fight. Big3 debuts, especially the boy bands (iKon, Winner, NCT, Got7, Day6) are not winning the game easily now with the tough competition with black horses like BTS, Seventeen and Wanna One. The fact that a lot of 2nd gen groups with huge fanbases are still around made things even harder for newer groups too.

 

 

Fan culture is changing drastically with the sudden addition of international fans who, unlike Korean and some Asian fans (who grew up knowing that the previous groups existed), have totally not experienced the previous generations of kpop. It is easy for them to only see this generation of kpop as everything and become ignorant to previous contributions. Some show high ignorance and lack of respect, especially towards colours (but arguably, colour is becoming less important for groups as well because there's less merged events, music shows have individual slots for every group so there is less need for fans to distinguish themselves). Fan wars have also moved online completely, and it gets pretty bad, like it's amazing how people thousands of miles from each other are so involved in a war of words on Twitter.

 

 

Contributions of this generation is mainly spreading Hallyu beyond Asia. Kpop is scoring well on itune charts in America, in Europe etc. Markets that were opened by the 2nd gen are now being more deeply explored. It's significantly easier for them to find fanbase in Asia market that's very receptive of kpop now after 2 generations. BTS is breaking significant boundaries in America whether you like it or not. Kpop is becoming a global trend under combined efforts.

 

 

And I'd say the popularity of Produce 101 is a blatant fact that idols are increasingly "produced" (sure, kpop has always been said to be a 'factory', but at least back then these 'idol products' were more or less distinct from each other, they used to have their individual colours as a group, but now it's like so many idols release similar music, and even their camera personas are getting homogenous, idk it gets increasingly hard for me to really notice new groups and I think the rise of social media is putting them under heavy scrutiny). This may be the point of transition when the public becomes so involved in the idol business - it seems to be implying that your skills is less important than your market possibilities (the amount of talented trainees that didn't debut on P101 ugh).

 

There has been little versatility in this generation so far. Idol music is increasingly unpopular with the general Korean public, who prefer releases by the non/less-idol acts like bolbbalgan4 and Heize (and also increasing interest for khiphop like Loco, Dean, Crush etc). But kpop is still growing internationally, and I wonder how far this would take future generations.

 

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Yup that's all of the 3 generations of kpop! Personally I prefer the 1st and 2nd generation because I like the 1st gen's music content and purpose, and the 2nd gen for versatility (and also because I became a fan here so yup memories).

 

Oh yeah to end off, I want to talk about the 1st gen idols again! Today, a lot of the 1st gen idols are already married, some even with kids! Lots of groups (Sechs Kies, SES, G.O.D, NRG and now even H.O.T too) have actually regrouped in recent years. Others who have not returned to idol life are active in their own fields (acting, entertainment, musicals etc) or left the industry all together (eg. Ko Jiyoung), some have started their own businesses too (eg. Tony, Shinhwa etc). Most of them stayed friends and often work together for projects (Hot.Jek.God.RG is like a landmark, after Please Reply 1997 sparked public interest in the 1st gen it ended up helping a lot of them to re-group). It's best when they gather and talk about the old days and past glory, super interesting to watch. I think the first generation idols (esp the males) are the closest knit in general, perhaps because there's less of them too.

 

Most second gen boy bands are still in the scene if they haven't disbanded (SJ & TVXQ are back I can't be happier) (I love getting spammed by SJ stuff lmao their stupidity is what keeps me going everyday), and the remaining ones like Big Bang and SHINee are enlisting or preparing for enlistment. Most girl groups are gone though, it's quite sad to see that.

 

 

 

Kpop had been a big part of my life since middle school and while I spend less time on it nowadays, I can't deny that I'm still quite into it haha. I kind of stopped following newer groups already, even dropped out of BTS updates for a while now that SuJu is back in the scene. Guess I'm really getting old lol.

 

Anyway that's all from me! Do let me know if there's places that require correction haha I'm no professional to begin with. Hope this was a fun (and long) read ^^