Oppa Gangnam Style - awesome Korean music video

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

I'd ask again if this was over yet, but apparently it's not. Anyway I have some admiration for the guy. He shows something special in setting this dubious record, he's played his hand well. So congrats Psy, you're a thing. Better you than Bieber or Buble.

Why do you hate Canadians?

[dropzone]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

(South) Korea has been the new Japan in Thailand for several years now. (See thesis The Korean Craze among Thai Urban Youth: Thai Culture in Transition at Northern Illinois University.)

You mean I coulda gotten a grade for a 25 page Powerpoint presentation? Okay, it woulda been a neat trick in '75, what with needing to practically invent the personal computer and definitely to invent Powerpoint, but still.

But thanks for the NIU plug, Sam. For that I will sing the fight song, to the extent anybody ever bothered to learn it.

Huskies, Northern Huskies, *sound of can opening* glug-glug-glug-glug-glug.
Huskies, Northern Huskies, glug-glug-glug-glug-glug.
*Sound of taking a pull off a joint or a cigarette, then rushing to catch up*
Huskies, Northern Huskies, win-fight-win-fight-win!
Brrrap!

[voguevixen]

Originally Posted by TriPolar

Better you than Bieber.

I skimmed the thread so I don't know if this has been addressed (probably), but Bieber's manager (Scooter Braun) is also Psy's, as well as the Wanted's manager. And Bieber is Carly Rae Jepsen's. He is 18 and has a record label: "Schoolboy Records".

[Alessan]

Originally Posted by Una Persson

It'll even get the gay cowboys out doing it at my club, with their hats and boots and everything.

Wait... getting gay cowboys to mime riding a horse is difficult?

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by dropzone

But thanks for the NIU plug, Sam. For that I will sing the fight song, to the extent anybody ever bothered to learn it.

Huskies, Northern Huskies, *sound of can opening* glug-glug-glug-glug-glug.
Huskies, Northern Huskies, glug-glug-glug-glug-glug.
*Sound of taking a pull off a joint or a cigarette, then rushing to catch up*
Huskies, Northern Huskies, win-fight-win-fight-win!
Brrrap!

I'm imagining this sung to the tune of "Oppa Gangnam Style."

[Siam Sam]

And perhaps the scariest one of them all: Thai prisoners dancing to it. Of all the horror stories I've heard about Thai prisons, this could be the worst.

Looks like Psy is in town now, and his concert tonight (Wednesday night) will be free, as the eight sponsors will pay his fee.

[MegaBee]

Now the song is available as downloadable content for Dance Central 3. It is HARD.

[astorian]

I must be the last person in America to see this video... but I've seen it 3 or 4 trillion times in the past week, along with the Oregon Duck and Minecraft parodies. My son found out about it from his cousins over the Thanksgiving holiday, and he won't stop playing it!!!!!!

[Chanteuse]

I love this mashup with MC Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit!

[Cinnamon Imp]

I swear I don't just come to this thread to post parodies, but since I'm here, have some Whitby Gothic Style

[Siam Sam]

On Psy's Bangkok concert

[twickster]

I woke up with this song in my head this morning. Ai yi yi.

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by twickster

I woke up with this song in my head this morning. Ai yi yi.

No. That song is Cielito Lindo. Otherwise known as the Frito Bandito song.

[twickster]

Originally Posted by Leaffan

No. That song is Cielito Lindo. Otherwise known as the Frito Bandito song.

[Drunky Smurf]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

I was walking through Siam Paragon last week, one of the largest shopping centers in Southeast Asia, if not the largest, and saw children doing that horse dance while following their parents.

This brought a tear of joy to my eye. Isn't the world beautiful.

[Irishman]

Psy was on The Tonight Show on Thanksgiving, where the audience was all active service personnel in uniform. He came out and performed the song, and ran into the audience at one point to dance with them. A crowd of military personnel in dress uniform dancing the cowboy dance.

[Geek Mecha]

Originally Posted by Tangent

I love it! Where was that filmed?

Deadpool vs. Gangnam Style was filmed in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles.

[baileygrrrl]

Originally Posted by Chanteuse

I love this mashup with MC Hammer's 2 Legit 2 Quit!

My life is now complete.

[Disheavel]

And now the internet's most beloved "comedian", Mr. Bill O'Reilly does a review of Gangnam Style in the most racially naive and insulting method ever.

Some choice quotes:
"At least Elvis could sing, this is just some little fat guy from Yongyang, or somewhere like that."
"This doesn't even have intelligible words..."
"Maybe the entire point is that it doesn't have any meaning."

He researched the song/video as much as he researches everything else. Just keep watching, it gets better and better the deeper he digs.

[HazelNutCoffee]

Jesus Christ. That is five minutes of pure ignorance.

Yeah, everyone knows that orientals don't have words!

[Jragon]

I think they mean it doesn't have meaning to most of the people that view it, i.e. all the non-Korean speaking folks that drove it to success.

I mean, they said it like complete assholes, but that's par for the course.

Edit: Though then I guess they're also ignoring the inherent meaning that visuals, rhythm, aural music etc can have to a person even without words. I mean, by their logic half of the stuff classical musicians wrote have no meaning (actually all of it, because, you know most of it is in French, Italian, or Latin).

[HazelNutCoffee]

I think it was pretty clear that he meant to be dismissive of this random Asian guy from "Yongyang." And if he meant that it's weird that people who don't understand Korean like the song so much, then he should have said so, instead of saying things like the song doesn't have words or that it fulfills the masses' need for meaningless fluff.

And what was that nonsequitur about how he knows a bunch of people named Cy that don't even look like Psy?

The irony is that I personally think the song has been dissected to death by non-Korean people who keep saying it's some deep and profound commentary on Korean society. It's a satire, sure, but mostly it's just a funny music video. If O'Reilly had been making the point that people are giving the song more meaning than it actually has, I'd agree with him.

[Leaffan]

Look, grumpy old men said the same thing about Elvis and The Beatles. These grumpy old men, without realizing it, also introduced some xenophobic comments. They can't help it they're grumpy old men. And they're grumpy old Republicans.

I never thought I would start to get as polarized as Americans on the Republican/Democratic dichotomy, but Jesus Christ the right wing in the US are really getting out of touch with reality, with globalization, and with humanity.

[Siam Sam]

In interviews, Psy strikes me as a very nice young man who is astounded by his sudden fame.

[Jragon]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

In interviews, Psy strikes me as a very nice young man who is astounded by his sudden fame.

Yeah, he seemed like a really cool, nice guy in the interviews I saw him in.

[RickJay]

The entire POINT to the song, and to the video, is that it's soulless and empty. It's literally what the guy is saying; it's an indictment of shallowness and materialism. If Bill O'Reilly was hit by a Mack truck, he wouldn't notice it.

[dropzone]

Originally Posted by Jragon

Yeah, he seemed like a really cool, nice guy in the interviews I saw him in.

And my daughters, who are into K-Pop, think he's cute, in that traditional Korean, shaped like a refrigerator, manner that K-Pop singers aren't.

[Siam Sam]

I don't know if Psy will turn out to be a one-hit wonder, but if you're going to be a one-hit wonder, this is certainly the way to do it.

[AaronX]

Yesterday was the Korean music awards, MAMA, where PSY performed Gangnam Style and I think he won best song and best video. Here's a video of his performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcTj5LUxrl0

Also, these 7 seconds are what I remembered most about MAMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajHU5dI3I_k

[Jragon]

Originally Posted by AaronX

Yesterday was the Korean music awards, MAMA, where PSY performed Gangnam Style and I think he won best song and best video. Here's a video of his performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcTj5LUxrl0

Also, these 7 seconds are what I remembered most about MAMA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajHU5dI3I_k

[aside] Is there something about English that's inherently higher pitched than East Asian languages? I notice my own voice dropping octaves when I switch into Japanese mode, and Psy's is WAY higher when shouting to the crowd in English.

[RickJay]

How can you not love the song, the video, and the guy?

While it's a completely different style, there's a similarity between the "Gangnam Style" video and videos like "Hey Ya!" or any number of Beastie Boys videos, or for that matter even something we "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" - a sense that it's just fun. Music takes itself really seriously a lot of the time, and sometimes a video that emphasizes the idea of "let's have a lot of fun and dance and laugh" can really hit the mark.

[standingwave]

Originally Posted by Disheavel

And now the internet's most beloved "comedian", Mr. Bill O'Reilly does a review of Gangnam Style in the most racially naive and insulting method ever.

LOL! The stupid, it burns! This Mozart, he is tapping into the fact that the most popular music apparently is that without intelligible words....

[astorian]

If Bill O'Reilly loathes the video... he's taking it too seriously. At worst it's this year'sMacarena. Silly but harmless fun. It makes kids dance and grownups laugh. I don't really like it but how can you HATE it?

[dropzone]

Originally Posted by RickJay

"Hey Ya!"

IIRC, there were members of this board who treated "Hey Ya!" as a sign of the coming Apocalypse. I didn't hear it until much later but I was immediately smitten. It's loud, stupid, and you can dance to it, the essence of rock and roll. What's to hate, or even dislike?

[Onomatopoeia]

There's an interesting and somewhat touching (without getting sappy) documentary about the Psy phenomenon here on YouTube. It helps if you understand Korean, but I think you'll get the gist even if you don't.

The guy is definitely not a one-hit wonder.

Note that the documentary is 43 minutes long.

[Irishman]

Originally Posted by Jragon

[aside] Is there something about English that's inherently higher pitched than East Asian languages? I notice my own voice dropping octaves when I switch into Japanese mode, and Psy's is WAY higher when shouting to the crowd in English.

Japanese men do speak in a lower register. I think of the old Sylvania commercial:

Japanese Man: "Huh. Kunundehshah. Huhnundushah. Sylvania beat Sony again?"

I had a couple Japanese roommates in college. Same deal. That's about the extent of my Japanese exposure.

However, Chinese and Vietnamese are accused of being "sing-song", and sound like

"pong ning ying yong hi nyong nyahaaah."

To say it right, you have to go higher pitch.

I don't know about Korean.

[standingwave]

Originally Posted by Irishman

However, Chinese and Vietnamese are accused of being "sing-song", and sound like

"pong ning ying yong hi nyong nyahaaah."

To say it right, you have to go higher pitch.

Or as Rush Limbaugh does it.

[Namkcalb]

Originally Posted by Onomatopoeia

The guy is definitely not a one-hit wonder.

I don't doubt he'll have another successful song. But the problem is, GNstyle was so successful, it would be difficult to surpass and anything short of it would invite criticism.

[Una Persson]

Originally Posted by Alessan

Wait... getting gay cowboys to mime riding a horse is difficult?

Oh my, I never thought of that...it's just normally not the music they go for. They are more Ricky Martin (seriously...I know, no country connection there either, but oh well, I don't understand men.)

[Kamino Neko]

Originally Posted by Namkcalb

I don't doubt he'll have another successful song. But the problem is, GNstyle was so successful, it would be difficult to surpass and anything short of it would invite criticism.

It's something like his 7th hit single, and it's from his 6th album.

Suddenly hitting it big outside of home is certainly cool for him, but I doubt he's going to be weeping on the big piles of money it got him when his next one goes back to only charting in South Korea.

[Onomatopoeia]

Wow. The music video on Psy's official YouTube channel has almost 879,000,000 views!

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by Onomatopoeia

Wow. The music video on Psy's official YouTube channel has almost 879,000,000 views!

Thank you, Rumpelstiltskin.

[Disheavel]

Originally Posted by HazelNutCoffee

The irony is that I personally think the song has been dissected to death by non-Korean people who keep saying it's some deep and profound commentary on Korean society. It's a satire, sure, but mostly it's just a funny music video. If O'Reilly had been making the point that people are giving the song more meaning than it actually has, I'd agree with him.

But my problem with that assumption is that Bill O has clearly not done any research whatsoever nor has his "expert". I would have totally agreed with the point you so graciously put upon him, but I don't think it is earned.

As far as overanalyzing goes, however, I think that even our dear Cecil has similarly analyzed "Hotel California" and "American Pie" so overanalyzing songs is something done very happily around here

[Siam Sam]

Uh-oh: PSY apologizes for viral anti-American lyrics eight years ago.

[Stephe96]

Would be funnier if he apologized for saying "I'm bigger than Buddha."

[Siam Sam]

And in what can only be described as a slow news day, the Bangkok Post has unearthed a male beautician near the Burmese border who is a Psy look-alike.

[Leaffan]

Originally Posted by Siam Sam

And in what can only be described as a slow news day, the Bangkok Post has unearthed a male beautician near the Burmese border who is a Psy look-alike.

I'd better be careful here, but, umm there's really little variation anyway in oriental men. It's not like one is six feet 2, blond, and has blue eyes.

Looking at the picture, don't they ALL look essentially like that?

[Siam Sam]

Originally Posted by Leaffan

I'd better be careful here, but, umm there's really little variation anyway in oriental men. It's not like one is six feet 2, blond, and has blue eyes.

Looking at the picture, don't they ALL look essentially like that?

Well, apparently his fellow townsmen thought he was more so.

But I know what you mean. My Thai wife of ethnic-Chinese heritage has been mistaken by her fellow Thai citizens at various times for Japanese and Filipina. Not sure about Korean. But I did know a Korean lady in Bangkok who worked as a translator, and she passed for Thai easily.

[HazelNutCoffee]

Originally Posted by Leaffan

I'd better be careful here, but, umm there's really little variation anyway in oriental men. It's not like one is six feet 2, blond, and has blue eyes.

Looking at the picture, don't they ALL look essentially like that?

You're kidding me right?

[Siam Sam]

After seeing her photos, I can pretty much guarantee HazelNutCoffee does not look like that. Although I can't promise that was not the result of Photoshopping.