Coldplay - Higher Power: 10 locations in Seoul. Which have you been to?

Bullshit. English pop music reigns supreme but I'm sure, you know, when you're in GHANA, they play Ghananiannan songs.

Are you that daft? You hear a lot of ARGENTINIAN pop music in Lithuania?

What are you talking about?  Are you on drugs?

Every country plays their own plus a mix of others (though only pop and no rock sadly).  I didn't think Ed Sheerhan was Korean or Canadian nor Maroon 5 nor anyone else.  Yet different countries muscians do get played all over the world.  Britian doesn't play only British nor Korean plays only Korean anymore.  They play others too. 

Anyways, go back to being in never never land. 

Except no other country plays only their own music.  They play theirs with a mix of others.  Nowadays, Korea plays a mix of K pop and western pop.

Yeah, I remember all the J-pop, Russian disco, Hindi-pop and Tejano music playing in Wal-Mart, Target and Kroger's back home. Same at McD's, Wendy's, Ace Hardware, Best Buy, Meijer's, Piggly Wiggly, The Cracker Barrel, K-Mart, Sears, Kohl's, Macy's, 7 Eleven, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Taco Bell, Radio Shack, Shell, Amoco, BP, Mobil, Pep Boys, Mark's Coney Island, DeLong's BBQ Pit, NY Pizza Depot, Cottage Inn, Marco's. Big Ten Burrito, my H.S. prom, Homecoming, Thursday nights at Good Time Charley's, Rick's, Babs', Goodnight Gracie's, Tequila Rain (wait, I think they played some reggaeton at the tail-end), Clutch Cargo's, O'Hare Airport, DTW, Uptown Coney Island, Lafeyette Coney Island, Tiger Stadium, Ford Field, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park, the Pontiac Silverdome, The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena, Yost Ice Arena, Red Robin, Applebee's, Chili's Ruby Tuesday's, BD's Mongolian BBQ, The Napoleon Cafe, The Turkey Roost, The Chicken Coop, Mary's Fabulous Chicken & Fish, White Castle, DiBella's, Jimmy John's, the barber shop, etc. etc. etc.

Pretty much outside of anything overtly "ethnic" there simply wasn't non-English language stuff. Heck, half the Chinese and Indian joints would play NPR and not whatever "Stereotypical Ethnic Music CD from Columbia Records" mix they usually went with.

What are you talking about?  Are you on drugs?  Are you stupid?

Every country plays their own plus a mix of others (though only pop and no rock sadly).  I didn't think Ed Sheerhan was Korean or Canadian nor Maroon 5 nor anyone else.  Yet different countries muscians do get played all over the world.  Britian doesn't play only British nor Korean plays only Korean anymore.  They play others too. 

Anyways, go back to being in never never land. 

Yeah, I remember all the J-pop, Russian disco, Hindi-pop and Tejano music playing in Wal-Mart, Target and Kroger's back home. Same at McD's, Wendy's, Ace Hardware, Best Buy, Meijer's, Piggly Wiggly, The Cracker Barrel, K-Mart, Sears, Kohl's, Macy's, 7 Eleven, Dairy Queen, Burger King, Taco Bell, Radio Shack, Shell, Amoco, BP, Mobil, Pep Boys, Mark's Coney Island, DeLong's BBQ Pit, NY Pizza Depot, Cottage Inn, Marco's. Big Ten Burrito, my H.S. prom, Homecoming, Thursday nights at Good Time Charley's, Rick's, Babs', Goodnight Gracie's, Tequila Rain (wait, I think they played some reggaeton at the tail-end), Clutch Cargo's, O'Hare Airport, DTW, Uptown Coney Island, Lafeyette Coney Island, Tiger Stadium, Ford Field, Joe Louis Arena, Comerica Park, the Pontiac Silverdome, The Palace of Auburn Hills, Michigan Stadium, Crisler Arena, Yost Ice Arena, Red Robin, Applebee's, Chili's Ruby Tuesday's, BD's Mongolian BBQ, The Napoleon Cafe, The Turkey Roost, The Chicken Coop, Mary's Fabulous Chicken & Fish, White Castle, DiBella's, Jimmy John's, the barber shop, etc. etc. etc.

Pretty much outside of anything overtly "ethnic" there simply wasn't non-English language stuff. Heck, half the Chinese and Indian joints would play NPR and not whatever "Stereotypical Ethnic Music CD from Columbia Records" mix they usually went with.

I heard British, Canadian, and some other countries music playing when I was in the USA.  But the sole superpower will get their music and movies played around the world.  When I first got here, Koreans knew very few foreign anything.  It was a very clsoed market unlike today, which it is not. 

Not sure if there was ant official ban.  But all you heard were the same Korean songs played in every store and shop 50 times a day for months.  Until it burned out and then the next k pop song got played over again and again.

You mean the average place you went into, when younger, was more apt to play Top-20 hits? Well there's a surprise. Also, that when you were more of a newer arrival and perhaps more optimistic and outgoing, you were better able to identify individual songs and singers instead of it just congealing in your brain as "Young people's music I've never heard of." That's called growing old and it happens to everyone. The same Korean songs are getting blasted on a lot of music systems all over, it's just they're 2022's same songs by groups I don't know and don't care about, not 2008-2013's which I did.

But Korea was going through this very anti foreign sentiment at the time and playing only k pop would play into that at the time. 

I was here that time, nobody cared that much. And no, you could find plenty of English-language pop as well. The thing was, at the time, K-Pop was undergoing a second wave that still continues to this day. That was the early heydey of SNSD, 2NE1, FX, Big Bang, 2PM, BEAST, 4Minute, SISTAR, etc. Plus you still had Super Junior and Wonder Girls going strong.

It was getting played more not because of racism but because at the time hit song after hit song was coming out. Also, if you look at the American charts at the same time, not exactly all-Time great stuff except for a few songs.

The reason Korean songs were getting played a lot is because well, they had a lot of really good songs coming out from about 2009-2011. Like A LOT. Stuff you still hear today. Stuff that holds up decently in pop terms. It wasn't like the first Kpop wave in the mid 1990s where it was like good and all, better than many other places, but you could tell the difference in quality between Korean and American pop. This was a product that could go toe to toe. And it did. And it completely changed the music scene here and has had global impacts on the music scene and has substantially altered the profile of Korea internationally. I mean FFS, in the past few years, Korea has had one of the biggest music acts in the world, the Palme d'Or AND Best Picture winner, and a mega high-profile TV series. How many people here in 2010 would have said that was coming?

I know a lot of people here hate Kpop and all, and that's fine. It's not for everyone. But maybe consider the possibility that they were delivering a better product at the time rather than "Korean racism."?

Pretty much outside of anything overtly "ethnic" there simply wasn't non-English language stuff. Heck, half the Chinese and Indian joints would play NPR and not whatever "Stereotypical Ethnic Music CD from Columbia Records" mix they usually went with.

I'm with Hangook on this one.    English language music doesn't come from one country.  Korea used to solely play KOREAN hits.  A place in Canada would play music from a host of other countries.  Not sure how you missed his point.  You also have had Latino music playing in Canada and especially the states in mainstream places for decades. 

I am confused and misread hankook's comment. MY BAD.

A lot of us could admit our errors now and then.

Right L I? (notice me, Senpai)

I'm with Hangook on this one.    English language music doesn't come from one country.  Korea used to solely play KOREAN hits.  A place in Canada would play music from a host of other countries.  Not sure how you missed his point.  You also have had Latino music playing in Canada and especially the states in mainstream places for decades. 

Yeah, these Koreaboos / apologists like to hit back at any slight whiff or insult to Korea and I wasn't actually insulting Korea. 

Yeah, these Koreaboos / apologists like to hit back at any slight whiff or insult to Korea and I wasn't actually insulting Korea.

You linked the playing of Korean music to an anti-foreign(er) sentiment. What would have happened if a phone store (for example) was playing American music back when you first came?

I heard British, Canadian, and some other countries music playing when I was in the USA.  But the sole superpower will get their music and movies played around the world.  When I first got here, Koreans knew very few foreign anything.  It was a very clsoed market unlike today, which it is not.

1) There's a difference when it's all English language.
2) Koreans knew plenty of Western things. Dude, I could talk 90s NBA basketball, baseball, and Premier League with Korean friends I made. We could talk about the days of Britney, BSB, N'Sync and all that crap from our High School to movies from the 80s, 90s and 2000s. Popular TV shows, etc.

The average Korean knew a lot more about us than we did about them. I don't get why people are b*tching and moaning that they didn't know more. Seems rather entitled if you ask me.

You also have had Latino music playing in Canada and especially the states in mainstream places for decades.

You also had a significant Latino population in the U.S.

Not to mention, we're not talking some mariachi music playing when you walk into Casa Bonita, we're talking normal places of business, like McD's or Target playing ethnic music.

Are you seriously claiming that some place in Canada would just be flowing from Kenny G to Kinki Kids to Los Tigres Del Norte to Cheb Khaled? Dude, please. The "international" music is almost always either instrumental OR someone from another country making a song in English. We're not talking just a constant stream of ethnic music UNLESS you walk into an ethnic restaurant.

Korea used to solely play KOREAN hits.

Again, how dare Koreans play Korean music in Korea. That's outrageous. They should be playing music to satisfy OUR demand for diversity? Why because we are more important than they are. Don't they understand that they are just objects for our amusement and are here to make our Korean experience more enjoyable?

Never mind the fact that you could find plenty of American pop music in lots of places like clothing stores and cosmetic stores and cafes and bars.

If Korea played nothing but Western pop songs, people here would b*tch and moan that they were just playing stuff from back home and not satisfying their expectations for their exotic overseas experience or whatever. What exactly is this perfect ratio that Koreans are supposed to coordinate on to make sure there's a proper mix of music? Is there a quota of non-Korean language songs they should be playing? Do we apply this same standard to ourselves?

Also, I'm willing to bet that even in 2010, the ratio of places that would have at least the occasional foreign song playing is probably as good or better than the ratio of non-English songs in the "What're you listening to right now" thread.

Why are Koreans listening to 95% Korean songs says group of people who post 95% English-language content?

I didn't fly halfway around the world to listen to new sh*t. I flew half way around the world to listen to the same stuff I used to hear at the bowling alley down the street.

Music, in general, is bad.

Ha! Reading this, I just remembered how popular J.pop was back in the late 90s/early 2000s. Some good Korean bands as well.  Sorry, irrelevant but please humor an aging man with his memories 

Those were the days....

Now it's my turn to hypocritically rant that other people are liking music they like instead of the music I like.

Damn young kids not liking my 90s music of Smashing Pumpkins, Tupac, H.O.T. and Dragon Ash.

Forget the Korean store music racism, it's about the Korean store Kpop ageism!

You also had a significant Latino population in the U.S.

Not to mention, we're not talking some mariachi music playing when you walk into Casa Bonita, we're talking normal places of business, like McD's or Target playing ethnic music.

Are you seriously claiming that some place in Canada would just be flowing from Kenny G to Kinki Kids to Los Tigres Del Norte to Cheb Khaled? Dude, please.

What?  I made that claim?  Oh, you're just making sh*t up again.  Got it.  Nope.  As anyone could clearly understand by reading what I wrote, I concurred with Hangook that back home stores have never limited their soundtrack to the music of just their own country.  Simple to understand I thought.  Perhaps you're not aware of the different countries that use English. 

What drives you to make up false statements and then argue against yourself?  Most peculiar behaviour. 

 

Music, in general, is bad.

If you only look at the Top 10 chart on iTunes/Spotify. Then, I agree!

If you only look at the Top 10 chart on iTunes/Spotify. Then, I agree!

Nothing worth listening to has come out since Led Zeppelin IV.  Fact.

As anyone could clearly understand

being a bit generous there considering some of the users on this site

Nothing worth listening to has come out since Led Zeppelin IV.  Fact.

You’ve just triggered the world’s worst music critic. He’ll be here in a moment to rant off.

What?  I made that claim?  Oh, you're just making sh*t up again.  Got it.  Nope.  As anyone could clearly understand by reading what I wrote, I concurred with Hangook that back home stores have never limited their soundtrack to the music of just their own country.  Simple to understand I thought.  Perhaps you're not aware of the different countries that use English. 

What drives you to make up false statements and then argue against yourself?  Most peculiar behaviour. 

 

Quite like the way Ted Cruz made up this thing about how Disney is having Mickey Mouse "get together" with Goofy, then got spitting mad about the thing that came from inside his own head.

Marti, the fact that you're arguing like Ted Cruz should give you pause.

I concurred with Hangook that back home stores have never limited their soundtrack to the music of just their own country.  Simple to understand I thought.  Perhaps you're not aware of the different countries that use English. 

Then it's a completely apples & oranges comparison. You're comparing stores in the U.K. or Canada playing American or Australian or German artists recording in the English language vs. stores in Korea playing songs in the English language.

If you can't see that's a really different case, then I don't know what to say.

Plus hangook made it clear he was comparing things to playing music from a completely different cultural-linguistic background.

Dude, it use to be stuff like this being pounded in every shop day in and day out.  No western music allowed.  (Even worse.)