Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns

Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns
OriginSeoul, South Korea
GenresPsychedelic rock, Hard rock, Blues rock, Roots rock, Swamp rock, Southern rock, Country rock, Rock, Rock and roll, Rhythm and blues, Funk, Soul
Years active1972–1975
LabelsJigu Records
Past members
Korean name
Hangul
신중현과 엽전들
Hanja
申重鉉과 葉錢들
Revised RomanizationSin Junghyeongwa Yeopjeondeul
McCune–ReischauerSin Chunghyŏn'gwa Yŏpchŏndŭl

Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns (신중현과 엽전들) was a South Korean rock band formed by Shin Jung-hyeon (lead guitarist, lead vocal), Lee Nam-yi (bassist), and Kim Ho-sik (drummer).[1] "Yup Jun" is an ad hoc romanisation of yeopjeon ("leaf coin"), a kind of old brass coin with a square hole.

The band's album Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns Vol. 1, released in 1974, sold more than one million copies.[1] Its most popular song "The Beauty" (미인, Mi-in), was nicknamed "the song of thirty million" (삼천만의 애창곡, referring to South Korea's total population at the time).[2] It was used as background music in the Lee Man-hee film A Girl Who Looks Like the Sun released that year, one of Lee's last before his death in 1975.[3]

The band's next album, Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns Vol. 2, was an implicit rebuke to the dictator Park Chung-hee: according to Shin's son Shin Daechul, Park had demanded that Shin make a song praising Park, but instead Shin and his fellow band members wrote the lyrics of the album's song "Beautiful Rivers and Mountains" (아름다운 강산, Areumdaun Gangsan) about the beautiful natural landscapes of Korea.[4][5] This led to increasing troubles for the band. In particular, "The Beauty" was banned on 9 July 1975, one of 45 songs banned that day by the Park dictatorship under the censorship provisions of the Yusin Constitution, and remained illegal until it was unbanned on 18 August 1987 just after the National Liberation Day celebrations.[6][7][8] "The Beauty" was believed to have become a target for censorship not just due to the political troubles of the band itself and because of the dictatorship's general suspicion of youth culture, but because one line of the lyrics was a popular target for parodies among fans, by replacing "see" (보고, bogo) with other words:[7][8]

한번보고 두번보고 자꾸만 보고싶네
Hanbeon bogo, dubeon bogo, jakkuman bogo simne
I want to see [her] once, see [her] twice, keep on seeing [her]

— Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns, Shin Jung Hyun & Yup Juns Vol. 1, "The Beauty"

Specifically, one parody replaced bogo with the light verb hago (하고), which could be interpreted as merely obscene ("I want to do [her] once", etc.),[9] or could be given a political slant by interpreting it as "I want to be [president] once, be [president] twice, keep on being [president]", a reference to the 1972 removal of presidential term limits in the earlier constitution which allowed Park to continue into his second decade as president.[7]

On 5 December 1975, the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office applied for an arrest warrant for band leader Shin Jung-hyeon on charges of violating of the Addictive Drugs Control Act (습관성의약품관리법), specifically of having allegedly used marijuana beginning in October 1972, and of having supplied 10 grams (0.35 oz) of marijuana to another singer.[10] His trial began on 24 December, and he was forcibly committed to a mental institution for treatment.[9][11] In January 1976, the Ministry of Culture and Public Information (문화공보부) announced an indefinite ban on public performances and album releases by 54 entertainers who had been linked to marijuana, Shin among them.[12][13] As a result, the band broke up.

Discography

  • Shin Jung Hyun & Yup-Juns Vol. 1 (신중현과 엽전들 제1집, Sin Junghyeon-gwa Yeopjeondeul Je Il Jip; 1974)
  • Instrumental Best (연주곡 베스트, Yeonjugok Beseuteu; 1975)
  • Shin Jung Hyun & Yup-Juns Vol. 2 (신중현과 엽전들 제2집, Sin Junghyeon-gwa Yeopjeondeul Je I Jip; 1975)

References

  1. ^ a b "[대중음악 100대 명반]7위 신중현과 엽전들" [The 100 greatest pop music albums: #7 Shin Jung-hyeon and the Yeopjeons]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 13 September 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  2. ^ 유지훈 [Yu Ji-hun] (15 June 2017). "'2017년을 마주한' 그 시절, 신중현과 엽전들" [Looking forward to 2017: Shin Jung-hyeon and Yeopjeons]. Main News. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  3. ^ "태양닮은 소녀(이만희, 1974)" [A Girl Like the Sun (Lee Man-hee, 1974)]. Cine21. 9 February 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  4. ^ "신대철 '아름다운 강산, 박사모가 부르면 안 되는 노래'" [Shin Daechul: 'Beautiful Rivers and Mountains, a song Park Chung-hee fanatics cannot sing']. The Hankyoreh. 19 December 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  5. ^ "정원영 '신중현과 엽전들 가요사 최고 명반'" [Jeong Won-yeong: Shin Jung-hyeon and Yeopjeons' top album in pop history]. Seoul Broadcasting System. 15 June 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  6. ^ "아침이슬, 미인, 고래사냥… '어이없는 금지곡'의 광복절" [Morning Dew, The Beauty, Whale Hunting ... Liberation Day for Songs 'Banned Without Reason']. PPSS. 19 August 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b c "덫…'연예계 대마초의 추억', 잊을만하면 터지는 대마초 파동" [Trapped: 'Memories of Marijuana in the Entertainment Industry', once forgotten and now a new marijuana scandal]. Segye Ilbo. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  8. ^ a b "메가히트 신중현 '미인', 금지곡된 황당이유 들어보니..." [The absurd reason why Shin Jung-hyeon's megahit 'The Beauty' was banned]. Newsen. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  9. ^ a b Tudor, Daniel (2012). Korea: The Impossible Country. Tuttle. p. 210. ISBN 9781462910229.
  10. ^ "대마초 담배피워 申重鉉에 令狀 金秋子도 입건" [Arrest warrant for Shin Jung-hyeon for smoking marijuana cigarette; Kim Chu-ja also involved]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 5 December 1975. p. 7. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  11. ^ "大麻草吸煙申重鉉등셋起訴" [Shin Jung-hyeon and others third to be charged for marijuana smoking]. The Dong-A Ilbo. 24 December 1975. p. 7. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  12. ^ "文公部서 관련자 54명 名單공개" [List of 54 entertainers published by Ministry of Culture and Public Information]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 30 January 1976. p. 8. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  13. ^ "大麻草 관련 演藝人 일반 舞臺公演도 제재" [Entertainers linked to marijuana also excluded from stage]. Kyunghyang Shinmun. 5 February 1976. p. 8. Retrieved 11 September 2017.