The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time: Number 3

Readers, over the past two months, I have worked to create a list of my favorite K-Pop Songs of All Time. For over ten years, I have enjoyed K-Pop, seeing it blossom into a global genre with millions and millions of adoring fans. I have found K-Pop songs I love, made friends over the genre, and seen legacies built over the years. Some of the songs that have made me feel the most are from K-Pop. Given all I have felt and seen, I thought it was finally time to create a ranking of my favorite K-Pop songs of all time.

I don't claim this ranking is perfect, no ranking of this can be perfect. I can only claim that I did my best to provide my personal opinion, with my personal biases, from my years of enjoying Korean music. There are many more boy band songs than girl group (I just prefer their general soundscape), and many songs come from the second generation (2005-2013).

In a way, K-Pop is a bit of a misnomer here. I have included Korean songs outside of the idol sphere, and songs released nearly a century ago. The end result is a list full of songs that left their mark on me. I hope you, the reader, enjoy this list. You may (and almost certainly won't) agree with my ranking, but that is what makes a personal list like this so wonderful.

With that said, let us enter the rules and regulations for what has been qualified as K-Pop for this list.

• Any musical piece released in South Korea, or any of its direct predecessor states, AND/OR is predominantly in the Korean language, Jejuan, or any of their dialects.
• The musical piece must be lyrical in nature.
• Any song, single, or b-side, is eligible.
• This list is MY personal opinion.
• Song rankings may have changed since previous lists and/or reviews.
• The criterion for "the greatest" is a mix of my personal experience, the overall songwriting (lyrically, compositionally, and performance-wise), and the influence of the track in question.
• A song refers to a particular recording of the track and not the basic composition.
• Only one entry per composition.

With all this said. The list will begin tomorrow. For songs 100-11, they will be grouped into daily posts of 10 (100-91, 90-81, etc.). For the top 10, however, each song would get a post of its own.

I hope all of you enjoy this list over the days! Please give your thoughts in the comments, and I will gladly reply when free.

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Previously:

Honorable Mentions

100-91

90-81

80-71

70-61

60-51

50-41

40-31

30-21

20-11

Number 10

Number 9

Number 8

Number 7

Number 6

Number 5

Number 4

3. Shin Joong-Hyun and the Men - Beautiful Rivers and Mountains (1972)

Lyricist: Shin Joong-Hyun

Composers: Shin Joong-Hyun

When it comes to influential Korean artists, Shin Joong-Hyun might be second only to Seo Taiji. Widely considered the "Godfather of Korean Rock," he has been at the lead of several notable groups throughout a magnificent career. Starting out as the head of ADD4, he later released solo material, headed the Yup Juns, the Men, and would be the songwriter behind iconic hits for acts such as Kim Jung-Mi and Kim Wan-Sun. In a way, it feels that Beautiful Rivers and Mountains was the only song with his hand through this list, though several songs were quite close (Kim Jung-Mi's Spring, Kim Wan-Sun's Dance in Rhythm, the Yup Juns' Beautiful Women, and the Men's Sunset).  Even on its own, however, Beautiful Rivers and Mountains is a fantastic triumph of every measure, sounding even more vital and important over fifty years after its release.

By 1972, Shin Joong-Hyun's rebellious brand of folk rock had made him the premier star of Korea. He was then working on an album with his band, Shin Joong-Hyun and the Men, when he received a bizarre offer that would change his life forever. The autocratically-governing president of South Korea, Park Chung-Hee. As the story goes, Chung-Hee sought Joong-Hyun to write an ode to the South Korean government, and as a result, Chung-Hee himself. Joong-Hyun, disapproving of Chung-Hee, wrote down an ode to Korea as a nation, and thus, both sidestepped Chung-Hee's request and directly attacked him.

It is hard not to compare Joong-Hyun's act right here with a legendary poet halfway across the world, who existed about two-thousand years ago in Virgil of Rome. When Emperor Augustus Caesar demanded the legendary poet write an epic about his glorious reign. Virgil, in response, wrote the Aeneid, often considered the greatest work of literature in Latin. An epic that glorified Rome, and subtly attacked Augustus' reign. The main difference between Virgil's literary classic and Shin Joong-Hyun was that Virgil masked his sarcasm, while Joong-Hyun made no subtlety in his attacks.

Beautiful Rivers and Mountains is clear in its ambition, and Shin Joong-Hyun aims to capture the beauty and wonder of Korea in his brief lyrics. This was years before the Hallyu Wave was a concept in the heads of journalists before our cousins wished to visit Korea to meet their favorite celebrities, before the wealthy companies of South Korea on the world stage, and before its economic success. All Joong-Hyun has to rely on is his personal convictions, and this is more than enough. Joong-Hyun's lines are simple, but each one carries near-unlimited pathos. A simple line, such as "Into this world, we were born, this beautiful place, this proud place, we will live" holds unlimited catharsis when paired with Joong-Hyun's emotive performance.

Given the conceptual backstory behind Beautiful Rivers and Mountains, it is musically grand and symphonic in a way that no song has ever quite emulated. Its Psychedelic-Folk sound carries the world-wearied drama of the best of The Animals but pumps the tempo and energy to extremes previously unseen in the slow-moving folk revival. From the dramatic opening rock melody before we get to the basic guitar-driven melody that drives the song. It is instantly iconic and memorable, aided all the more by various genius productional flourishes. A perfect example is the melancholic and wandering synth line that comes in at 1:41. By the time the main song finishes by 5:51, it has grown into a volley of some of the best experimental compositional writing seen in psychedelic rock ever. Kim Gi-Pyu's organ and Son Hok-Rae's flourishes make the song all the more incredible.

For the dramatic composition, a dramatic vocal performance would be needed. Shin Joong-Hyun sings alongside co-vocalist Park Gwang-Su, both singing in tandem. Given the grand instrumental, it certainly would be tempting for the singers to belt out the melody as if they were quoting Shakespeare. Instead, Joong-Hyun and Gwang-Su take a minimalist approach, airily breathing every single line. It is clear to any listener that Joong-Hyun is more than aware of the consequences of criticizing the government, but is willing to go through with the act, even if will, and he definitely did, suffer for it. The airy determination is aided by the golden harmonies between Joong-Hyun's quasi-falsetto and Gwang-Su's borderline baritone, creating a dreamy sound that aids the psychedelic instrumental while still standing separate from other similar songs.

All of this is in service of a heavenly melody, which sees Joong-Hyun's psychedelic songwriting at its best. There is a wistful degree of emotion hidden under a thin facade of energetic grit. Each hook twists around various Phyrgian and Western flourishes, culminating in one of the greatest choruses in Korean history. From its ever-iconic opening hook till the end, each and every line is a well-developed refrain that could act as a lesser song's chorus. The end result is that Beautiful Rivers and Mountains sound vast and expansive the way few other songs have ever been close to.

For a casual listener, Beautiful Rivers and Mountains ends after around six minutes, an extraordinary amount for any modern song. However, Joong-Hyun's band continue playing guitar riffs for another four minutes! Given the lack of melodic variation, these riffs should get tiring, but instead, they sound determined, with a fierce and grim determination in the face of whatever catastrophe would come to the band next. It also helps that the riffs are played with more energy each time, leaving Beautiful Rivers and Mountains well worth its ten-minute runtime, just for the sheer thrill that the riffs provide.

Eventually, Shin Joong-Hyun's fears would turn out true. His guitars would be confiscated, but he'd continue to release hits, especially with his beloved 1974 album under his new band, the Yup Juns. In 1975, however, he was arrested on drug charges and was tortured in prison, and later thrown in a psychiatric hospital. Even after release, he was banned from playing music till Park Chung-Hee's death in 1979.

Nonetheless, Beautiful Rivers and Mountains triumphed over all the adversity thrown in both its way, and in the way of its creators. Nowadays, it is frequently regarded as one of the classics that made Korean music. Its psychedelic folk riffs influenced many, including Seo Taiji, who started out playing in Sinawe, a band made by Joong-Hyun's son, Shin Dae-Chul. Its legacy is nearly as strong as its quality and is one of the greatest K-Pop songs of all time. 

Next: Number 2

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