Golden Disk's list of 40 influential figures in the history of Korean pop music

Nice! Blackpink is in the list

Not all influence is good

The influence exerted by a certain 1,352 years old singer is all negative

I will add an annotation about some of the unfamiliar names when I feel like it.

i see why they don't play about blackpink out there in South Korea...

JYP??

IU LOWER THAN BOA??

lol and isn’t golden disc known to be bias

They saw the Rolling Stones magazine ranking and accept the challenge of doing worse.

Then seriously, when you see the first names in the ranking, you already see the music* poverty of a country that has never produced a major artist.

When your artist is nicknamed with the name of a celebrity from another country, that already says a lot.

Capture d'écran 2025-10-23 164029.png

Quote from vinslow4

Y'all are reading too much on the order. It's just alphabetical / lexicographical order. All of the Kim's are near each other, similar to the Shin's and Lee's.

You are absolutely right, my bad.

I maintain the essence of my point, however.

Quote from JUSTVIBING

JYP??

IU LOWER THAN BOA??

lol and isn’t golden disc known to be bias

It is not on order

Quote from citron-icy

They saw the Rolling Stones magazine ranking and accept the challenge of doing worse.

Then seriously, when you see the first names in the ranking, you already see the cultural poverty of a country that has never produced a major artist.

When your artist is nicknamed with the name of a celebrity from another country, that already says a lot.

Capture d'écran 2025-10-23 164029.png

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Can't help it

Korean pop as we know it began when Shin Joonghyun, a half Japanese(according to him - he never revealed his mother's name), playing guitar for US servicemen in bases so he started with playing US hits in the 1950s

Cho Yongpil also performed for US bases

KPop began as a copycat for the West so it wil take a bit more to have a major artist

Quote from tetetete

cultural poverty...

Yes and it's not insulting to say it. Their music industry is still young and in the process of growing and structuring. But if you think otherwise, don't hesitate to elaborate. I'm open to discussion.

Quote from vinslow4

so it will be influenced by the West somehow.

Quote from WhyKnock

KPop began as a copycat for the West so it wil take a bit more to have a major artist

And that's exactly my point, the western/japanese influence is still too influential and dictates trends in kpop.

Quote from citron-icy

They saw the Rolling Stones magazine ranking and accept the challenge of doing worse.

Then seriously, when you see the first names in the ranking, you already see the cultural poverty of a country that has never produced a major artist.

When your artist is nicknamed with the name of a celebrity from another country, that already says a lot.

Capture d'écran 2025-10-23 164029.png

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What in micro aggression was the rant eye-

Where's my name?

Quote from tetetete

Language barrier is the number 1 reason kpop is not mainstream in the west but there is no culture poverty

They have a rich vibrant culture and kpop is in its nascent stage but they are doing quite good among local music scenes of asian countries

Rereading my first post, I see that it is confusing. When I talk about cultural poverty, I am talking about music only. I hope this is clearer now, I apologize if it wasn't.

I disagree with the language barrier argument. There are several artists who have made it big internationally despite not singing in English. Especially from their Japanese neighbor.

And I also disagree about the music scene. K-pop is exported primarily thanks to an excellently well-oiled marketing system. But artistically speaking, I find that the scene remains subservient to the trends of other musical scenes in the world, particularly the US and Japan. I can't think of an artist who has had a real influence on the scene by creating something strong and unique.

Quote from citron-icy

Rereading my first post, I see that it is confusing. When I talk about cultural poverty, I am talking about music only. I hope this is clearer now, I apologize if it wasn't.

I disagree with the language barrier argument. There are several artists who have made it big internationally despite not singing in English. Especially from their Japanese neighbor.

And I also disagree about the music scene. K-pop is exported primarily thanks to an excellently well-oiled marketing system. But artistically speaking, I find that the scene remains subservient to the trends of other musical scenes in the world, particularly the US and Japan. I can't think of an artist who has had a real influence on the scene by creating something strong and unique.

but this is a very west centric view.

For example I’m seeing idol groups from so many Asian countries now. Now you can argue idol system originated in Japan but idol system as we know if today and what’s being ported over to other Asian countries is very much kpop-ified.

The west is not jumping back on the GG/BG trend but many Asian counter parts indeed are and they’re developing their own idol systems and idol music inspired by kpop.