Meaning of Acceptance of Popular Music through the Influence of the Beatles in Korean-Japanese Popular Music in the 1960s - Focused on the 1960s Band Music of Both Countries

Since the Beatles’ arrival in New York on February 7 th , 1964 was broadcast, they have shaken up not only the United States but also the world’s popular music market. Korea and Japan, which were strongly influenced by American pop culture at the time, were also influenced by British-style band music including the Beatles. Based on this cultural phenomenon that Korea and Japan experienced simultaneously in the 1960s, this study examined the patterns of cultural spread in the Anglo-American region between the two nations via a comparison of the music of the two countries at the time. This study compared Korean and Japanese 60s popular music in terms of melodies and harmonies that were influenced by British-style band music represented by the Beatles. As a result, the band music of both countries exhibited similarities and differences in musical aspects. A common factor is that the band music of both countries follows the Beatles’ band formation and arrangement method; however, differences were also observed. In the case of Korean bands, excluding their adapted songs, the musical influence of the Beatles is not easy to find. Korean band Add4’s songs were made using pentatonic scales, which give the feeling of Korean folk music. The band Keyboys wrote songs in the trot genre. In the case of Japan, other examples can be found. The band The Spiders and The Dynamites used music as similar to the Beatles as possible, thereby reflecting the Beatles’ melodic and harmonic characteristics as much as possible. Jackey Yoshikawa and the Blue Comets showed enka tendencies. Based on our results, Korea’s 1960s band music localized new English-American music and accepted it in a compromise manner. Japanese band music also attempted to localize, but attempted to copy the trend of English-American music represented by the Beatles. It was confirmed that attempts had also been made. Based on these differences in cultural acceptance between the two countries, the patterns of cultural transmission at the time in the Anglo-American world can be summarized as follows. 1. The public’s level of exposure to Anglo-American culture was different in the two countries. 2. The music production companies of the two countries had different approaches to the newly forming English-American music. Thereafter, Korean and Japanese popular music in the 70s and 80s took different paths. This difference can be viewed as the result of the two countries’ different acceptance of Anglo-American music from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, which are considered a time of differentiation in Anglo-American popular music genres such as rock, rock‘n’roll, and R&B. The occurrence of the phenomenon of cultural acceptance influencing later generations of music is believed to be repeating with the birth of K-pop. Accordingly, the formation of modern K-pop and its differences from J-pop can be considered as future research tasks.