Abstract

This study examines musical characteristics of so-called 'Hongdae Sound' as a historic musical trend by comparing with 'US 8^th Army Sound' and British 'London Punk'. Hongdae Sound refers to the musical trend that was formed with independent bands and musicians who mostly performed live in the club called 'Drug' in Hongdae area, and voluntarily adopted minor musical sensitivity and indie spirit of 'post-punk rock' genre. But as an industrial standpoint the superficial identity of 'indie' interferes with academic approach when analysing musical aspects of Hongdae Sound. Therefore it is necessary to rearrange its characteristics as the musical trend based on regional classification in order to fully appreciate its status in history of Korean popular music. US 8^th Army Sound refers to the musical trend that was played within the live stages in US military bases in Korea. Many hired Korean musicians for those shows were able to learn the current popular musical trend in the States, and to spread those to the general public outside the bases. The industrial system of the Army Sound was very similar to that of K-Pop, but when it comes to leading the newest musical trend of 'rock-n-roll', it had more resemblance to that of Hongdae Sound. London punk was the back-to-basic form of pure rock that was armed with social angst and rebel, indie spirit. Its primal motto was 'do-it-yourself', and Hongdae Sound mostly followed its industrial, musical and spiritual paths. London punk was short-lived because it abandoned its indie spirits and became absorbed to the mainstream. But Hongdae sound maintain its longevity by maintaining the spirit and truthfulness of indie, while endlessly experimenting with new trends.