Throwback Review: Ultramania by Seo Taiji

Each month, we at KPOPWORLD like to look back into the earlier days of Korean music and the foundations of K-pop as we know it. Who are the artists that helped K-pop reach the heights it has? Who deserves a second listen? This month, we look at one of the most influential Korean artists of all time and his extremely successful solo album from 2000. This is Seo Taiji’s Ultramania.

 

By Michael Luce

 

I need to address this right at the start: this is not a K-pop album, and I am aware of that.

 

Now, I’m sure you’re scratching your head at why this nu-metal album is being included in a publication about K-pop. The crossover between those genres’ fanbases is admittedly quite small, and it’s not like there wasn’t ‘regular’ pop music coming from Korea at the time of Ultramania’s release. Heck, the album didn’t even chart (though that was later revealed to be part of a scandal and conspiracy behind the scenes).

 

However, Seo Taiji and, to a lesser extent, this album are central to the story of K-pop. Much of Seo Taiji’s influence on modern K-pop came from his time in the group Seo Taiji and the Boys. The boy band was instrumental in changing the landscape of Korean pop music by pushing back against the norms of Korea in the 90s and calling attention to social issues in their music.. A 2017 retrospective on the group from VICE ]declared that the group “pioneered socially conscious K-pop for groups like BTS.” The group disbanded after only a few years together, but NCT 127, BTS, SHINee and others have credited them as an inspiration. (Also, one of ‘the Boys’ in the group went on to found a little company called YG Entertainment that you may have heard of.)

 

 

At the time of Ultramania, Seo Taiji was known as “the biggest pop star in Korean history” and was smashing every metric of success. He was the first Korean artist to sell over 1 million albums as both a solo artist and part of a group, and his solo work has also been cited as an inspiration by many groups that would go on to eclipse his level of success. Additionally, Utramania managed to land a spot on the top-selling Korean albums of all time and stayed on that list for over a decade. It’s not too outlandish to draw comparisons between the career of Seo Taiji and the likes of Michael Jackson or Paul McCartney.

 

Looking at this album specifically, Ultramania also managed to break Korean music into the international scene years before hallyu brought the likes of BTS or BLACKPINK to the global stage. I put “Internet War” on while working on campus during my undergraduate, and the professor freaked out because he and his friends used to love the song but had lost track of the name and hadn’t been able to find it for nearly 20 years. The track still circulates in metal communities online to this day. So yeah, Ultramania isn’t exactly K-pop as we think of it, but it plays a part in the growth of the genre and is far from irrelevant to fans.

 

I should say it is worth searching out the *ahem* extra-legal copies of this album uploaded online, as the version on all streaming services is completely different from the original release. It omits several brief interlude tracks like “Lego” and “Plagiarism” that, while under a minute long, really elevate the listening experience. The original also is in a completely different order than what streaming services have, which affects the emotional trajectory of the album. Having heard the version on streaming first, listening to the original, “Tank” made so much more sense at the front of the album rather than the end.

 

 

Ultramania is unabashed in its hardcore and nu-metal stylings. It’s nothing you can’t find from other groups, but it is really good if you like harder rock in general. Despite the similarly harsh guitar tones and Korn-like vocals on nearly every track, the style never wears itself thin or overstays its welcome; this is a wonderfully concise album. The aforementioned interludes range from lounge jazz to noise, and do a great job showing off the rest of the musical genius here. They act like sonic breath mints, allowing the listener to take a break from the intense nu-metal sludge of the rest of the album and reset a bit before the next track comes ripping in. Intense albums like this are difficult to nail because it’s hard to give the right amount of space to listeners that won’t cause them to burn out too fast, and the interludes are essential for that balance here.

 

 

To me, “Internet War” is the standout track here. The intro jolts the listener to attention with the sound of dial-up internet (back before that was retro) and a nasally guitar riff that is sure to worm its way into your brain and resurface when you’re trying to sleep. The vocal delivery matches the frustrated lyrics, and the whole song feels like that good kind of angry—the kind of angry that gets stuff done and makes change happen. (Fun fact: the song has been covered multiple times by idols, such as by members of SHINee and rappers Loopy & nafla.)

 

 

Other highlights include the title track “Ultramania,”, the infectious “Feel the Soul” (“No change! Suck my brain! Let me still gone, you know what I’m saying!”), and the almost pop-punk hidden track “To You.” The album is effective at being loud and upset, but it never feels like a destructive force; once again, this is anger for good and for progression.

 

All this praise aside and before I close this review, I would like to make sure this isn’t taken out of context. Seo Taiji has had an incredibly influential career, and this album is fantastic, but this review does not serve as an endorsement of the actions of Seo Taiji in other areas of life. I won’t go into more detail than he’s done some bad stuff, but I’ll let you look that up on your own time.

 

 

I know most K-pop fans will still probably not like Ultramania because it sounds so different from everything else in this magazine, but it’s historically important nonetheless. It’s like trying to understand Billie Eilish without understanding how important Nirvana was in the 90s. Sure, there’s a pretty sizable disconnect between their styles and the time they were popular, but that doesn’t change the fact that one was created in a world that had been altered by the other. Give it a shot, and even if you don’t like it, at least you know a bit more of the history behind the genre we all love.