Seo Taiji and Boys III

Overview

This third album switched gears to being much more heavy metal and rock driven. It was partially recorded in Los Angeles using American session musicians. The danceable tunes are nearly non-existent except "Balhaereul Ggumggumyeo" (발해를 꿈꾸며, "Dreaming of Balhae"), an alternative rock song which indicates a hope of reuniting North and South Korea. Instead, songs such as the controversial "Kyoshil Idaeyo" (교실 이데아, "Classroom Ideology") with death growl vocals by Ahn Heung-chan of thrash metal band Crash take center stage.

The version of the album included in Seo Taiji's 15th anniversary box set adds a remix of "Kyoshil Idaeyo" and six live tracks, including a cover of "Farewell to Love" originally by Seo's previous band Sinawe.

Controversies

The songs "Kyoshil Idaeyo", "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Nae Mamiya" (내 맘이야, "That's How I Feel") highly criticized the older generation of Koreans and their education system.

"Kyoshil Idaeyo" was extremely critical of the education system and the pressure placed on the country's youth to succeed academically. The fact that Seo is a high school dropout himself added to the discussion, with the group labelled as a negative influence to young people. The song was banned from TV and radio, even though the government run Public Performance Ethics Committee gave the song a pass.

Shortly after the album's release, the group were accused of backmasking Satanic messages in their songs, specifically in "Kyoshil Idaeyo". Although the mainstream news media later proved these accusations to be based on extremely tenuous evidence, the moral panic proved difficult to eliminate entirely.

Reception

In April 1996, Billboard reported that the album had sold over 1.6 million copies.

Kyunghyang Shinmun ranked the album number 57 on its 2007 list of the Top 100 Pop Albums.

Track listing

All tracks written by Seo Taiji, except track 9 written by Yang Hyun-suk and track 13 written by Kim Jong-seo and composed by Kim Jong-seo and Shin Daechul.

Personnel