Shin Joong-hyun (Korean: 신중현; Hanja: 申重鉉, pronounced[ɕind͡ʑuŋçʌn] or [ɕin][t͡ɕuŋçʌn]; born January 4, 1938),[1] also transliterated as Shin Jung-hyeon or Sin Junghyeon, is a South Korean rock guitarist and singer-songwriter often referred to as Korea's "Godfather of Rock."[2][3] A pioneer of Korean rock music, Shin is known for forming South Korea's first rock band, Add4, in 1962 and for being at the forefront of the country's psychedelic rock scene of the 1960s and 1970s. He wrote his most famous song, "Beautiful Rivers and Mountains," in protest of the military dictatorship of Park Chung Hee in 1972. Shin was later imprisoned and tortured by Park's regime, and his music was banned until the 1980s.[4][5] He experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 1990s and has since received numerous accolades recognizing his contributions to South Korean popular music.[6][5]
Early life
Shin Joong-hyun was born in Seoul in 1938, during the Japanese occupation of Korea.[3] His mother died when he was a child, and his father later married a Japanese woman. Shin spent his youth with his father and step-mother living in Manchuria and Japan. After they returned to what had become South Korea, Shin's father died in 1952, and his stepmother died the following year.[7] After her death, Shin moved to Seoul, where he worked in a pharmaceutical factory and attended night school. During this time, he taught himself to play guitar after a failed attempt at learning to play the violin.[5]
Career
Beginnings
In 1957, when he was 19 years old, Shin made his debut at a U.S. military base in South Korea, one of the few places where South Korean musicians could find regular work at the time. Shin had been inspired by the American rock, jazz and, later, psychedelic rock he heard on the American Forces Korea Network radio station.[6] Using the stage name Jackie Shin, he gained immense popularity performing on bases, and was performing up to 40 shows per month at one point.[5] Shin later said that the U.S. military bases were where Korean rock was born.[7]
Solo album and first South Korean rock band
Shin released his first album, Hiki Shin Guitar Melody, in 1958. The album included original songs in a variety of styles, covers of traditional Korean music, and covers of the hit American instrumental songs "Honky Tonk" and "Green Onions."[7] Today, the album is highly valued by record collectors, and a copy of the original vinyl record was worth an estimated 10 million KRW in 2016.[8]
In 1964, Shin's rock band Add4 released its first album, The Woman in the Rain.[9] Add4 is considered to be South Korea's first rock band.[5]
Mainstream success and psychedelic soul
However, Shin did not achieve mainstream success in South Korea until 1968, when he produced the album My Dear for the singing duo The Pearl Sisters.[10] The album, which included the hit songs "My Dear" and "A Cup of Coffee," was a huge success and went on to sell more than 1 million copies.[11] For the next several years, Shin wrote songs and produced hit records for young musicians including Kim Chu-ja, with whom he made the album Before It's Too Late. Many of these recordings featured Shin's trademark psychedelic soul sound.[12]
"Beautiful Rivers and Mountains" and arrest
In 1972, the office of South Korean president Park Chung Hee asked Shin to write a song in praise of the president. Shin refused and instead wrote a 10-minute long song about the beauty of South Korea, called "Beautiful Rivers and Mountains," which he recorded with his band at the time, Shin Joong Hyun & The Men.[13] After the release of the song, police confiscated Shin's guitars and cut his long hair, which was banned at the time by the South Korean government.[5] However, in 1974, his new band, Shin Joong Hyun & Yup Juns released their self-titled first album, which sold over 1 million copies and included the hit song, "Beautiful Woman."[14]
In 1975, Shin was arrested for possession of marijuana after giving away a plant to a friend of the president's son,[15] even though marijuana was not yet illegal at the time of his arrest. He was subsequently imprisoned and tortured. He was later imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital.[5] After his release, Shin was banned from performing in South Korea, until after the assassination of Park Chung Hee in 1979. Regarding the assassination, Shin said, "God took Park and opted to save me."[15] However, in the meantime, the public's taste in music had changed, according to Shin. "It was all, 'Let's work hard,' and 'Let's be happy' kind of stuff. It was completely physical, with no spirit, no mentality, no humanity," he later said.[7] Because he could not perform, he turned to producing and song-writing, among other occupations.
Later career and retirement
During the 1980s, Shin ran a music club in Itaewon, a Seoul neighborhood popular with foreign visitors and U.S. military personnel. He opened Woodstock, another music club, in southeast Seoul in 1986 and ran it and taught there for the next two decades.[7] In the 1990s, Shin's music experienced a renaissance of popularity in South Korea.[6] Cho Kwon Woo, Shin Hyo Bom and Bom Yarom Kaul Kyou recorded new versions of his songs, as did his son, Shin Daechul.[15]
Shin announced his retirement in 2006. His "farewell" concert aired over the course of 10 nights in December of that year on South Korean television station EBS.[16] However, Shin returned to the stage in 2008 for his first concert in the United States at the Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.[6]
Shin was married to Myeong Jeong-gang, the first South Korean female drummer and a member of Blue Ribbons, until she died on March 23, 2018.[3][20] They had three sons: Shin Daechul, guitarist for the heavy metal band Sinawe; Shin Yunchul, a singer and guitarist; and Shin Seokchul, a session drummer.[2]
In 2017, Shin received an honorary degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston. The president of the college said that Shin "helped build the foundation upon which the global success of South Korean popular music rests."[4]
^ abcdeRussell, Mark James (2008). "The Golden Age of Korean Rock". Pop Goes Korea; Behind the Revolution in Movies, Music, and Internet Culture. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. pp. 140–143. ISBN978-1-933330-68-6.
^Yang, Seung-joon (February 6, 2016). "LP 가격이 놀라워" [LP's Price is Incredible]. Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^Kim, Hyung-chan (May 16, 2016). "김형찬의 대중음악 이야기 <17> 가요 흐름 바꾼 펄시스터즈" [Kim Hyung-chan's Popular Music Story 17: The Pearl Sisters]. Gukje Shinmun (in Korean). Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^Lee, Joo-yeop (December 3, 2016). "[Why] 록의 시인 신중현이 선물한 최고의 '애국가'" [[Why] Rock poet Shin Joong-hyun gave the gift of the best "national anthem"]. Chosun Ilbo (in Korean). Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^"[대중음악 100대 명반]7위 신중현과 엽전들 '신중현과 엽전들'" [The 100 greatest pop music albums: #7 Shin Joong Hyun & Yup Juns]. The Kyunghyang Shinmun (in Korean). September 13, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^Kim, Hyeong Kyung (February 12, 2012). "록의 대부 신중현, 마지막 발길" [Godfather of Rock Shin Joong Hyun's last round]. Hankook Ilbo. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
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Bogwan Order of Cultural Merit (2010)