The series that many readers say that they love but only three people actually read is back – that’s right, it’s time once again for Kpopalypse Nugu Alert!  Let’s check out some more nugus!

While I generally don’t talk about it on this blog because I think pulling a “bait and switch” on k-pop fans here purely for Korean content is disrespectful, the few readers who know me well personally will also know that I have spent many years of my life being involved with the local punk rock scene in my city, and have toured my country with a few different punk rock bands.  While I enjoyed my time in these groups as well as helping to create some great music and experiences, I never had any illusions of large success in punk rock music.  Maybe it was different in the early days of punk, but punk rock scenes in the 21st century are irritatingly self-conscious and almost nugu by design – even the smallest steps towards any sort of success are instantly met with unsubstantiated cries of “sellout!” by the small scene of followers who are often in groups of their own and tend to exhibit an unhealthy case of crab mentality.  It’s little wonder that punk rock music in 2018 is pretty much a done deal as most scenes around the world have died the death of a thousand backstabbing cuts.  To this day the ever-self-conscious punk music scene is so dead in the water that it is still the only one that constantly feels the need to convince everyone that it still exists at all.

This doesn’t mean that punk is completely inactive however, just that finding artists is always becoming harder and harder.  You could be easily forgiven for thinking that this style of music didn’t even exist in Korea at all outside some idol group’s leather jacket-wearing photoshoot concept, but punk music still is out there for those willing to search.  Enter Kpopalypse Nugu Alert, the series that always has maximum determination to find nugus of different music styles for your entertainment!  The following acts may or may not be well known in Korea but they sure as hell aren’t that well known anywhere else.

Usual Nugu Alert rules apply:

•  Less than 20,000 hits on official channels
• International fans don’t give a fuck
• Relevant to Kpopalypse

Hey ho, let’s go look at some nugu Korean punk vidoes!

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Rudyguns – Why Don’t You Know Me?

Rudyguns’ ska-punk song is ultra-cute and even has its own SM-style “punk box” with all the wall graffiti and objects in the room arranged “just right” for maximum punk effect or whatever, and gets even cuter still when we cut to the street scenes where the female singer bops down the local shopping district in a red jumpsuit just because.  The song is actually pretty rocking while still also being pretty pop and melodic, and the general lack of prettiness in the members is actually refreshing, reminding viewers that all a Korean punk band really has to do to “rebel” these days is not dunk thousands of dollars into plastic surgery and the right shade of BB cream.  Sadly with no actual band shots it’s not very clear who actually does what in Rudyguns, but at least we get some energetic bouncing around and even a token “punk not dead” outfit because just like homophobes who constantly talk about how they don’t want it in the ass all the time because a part of them secretly does, it’s tradition for punk groups to remind you every five minutes that they’re not completely wasting their time flogging a dead horse – honest.

YouTube views at time of writing: 933

Notable attribute: guy at 0:40 takes “box MV” a little too literally

Nugu Alert rating: high

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Heynam Sin & Patients – On My Way

Okay, so this video is just confusing, and I’m not talking about the eye-gougingly horrible “It G Ma“-grade colour scheme.  In “On My Way” I’m hearing a three-piece group made up of guitar, bass and drums, but I’m only seeing a drummer and two bass players.  Perhaps this was originally a four-piece group and the guitarist quit the band before filming of the music video begun, but then I’m not actually hearing the sound of two bass players either, so perhaps someone forgot to bring the right instrument to the video shoot which certainly seems odd because given that making a music video is kinda a big deal for most groups who do one, wouldn’t you want to get that sort of thing right.  It’s clear from watching his fingers that the male bassist seems to know how to play all the guitar parts on his bass so maybe he’s the guitar guy and just thought that bass looked cooler for the video shoot or something, but then that doesn’t make sense either because the female singer has a Rickenbacker which looks way better than the guy’s Fender copy.  Also are those really the drummer’s blonde dreadlocks or did he just staple mop threads to a balaclava.  Anyway this song is kind of the same riff for most of it and not very engaging so I guess I’ll continue to ponder these other important questions.

YouTube views at time of writing: 247

Notable attribute: entire group looks completely off their faces on drugs, especially the guy at 1:58

Nugu Alert rating: very high

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Long Time No Shit – My 2D Waifu Never Betrays Me!

Long Time No Shit easily scoop the award for best band name and song name and concept and actual song for the roundup, but once again what the fuck is up with the instruments?  In this music video it seemed that nobody wanted to play bass, so we get two guitarists and a drummer instead, despite the song very audibly having bass guitar all over it.  Hey guys, I know another group that could use a spare guitar – the members of Long Time No Shit and Heynam Sin & Patients need to get some sort of instrument-swap collective going so they can get themselves properly organised for their video shoots.  Unlike the other groups here, Long Time No Shit aren’t even trying to look cool with punk slogans or tiger-prints, instead happy to be their nerdy selves while shooting a fun video at their local Japanese anime store, which I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually work at.  The whole package is bold and punchy (figuratively and literally – with legit impressive coffee foam) and you probably won’t see a better onesie-clad punk group hit your local anime convention this week.

YouTube views at time of writing: 1903

Notable attribute: the Fender logo on one guitar has been taped over, but the Ibanez logo on the other guitar hasn’t – fuck Fender, I guess

Nugu Alert rating: extreme

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That’s all for another edition of Kpopalypse Nugu Alert!  Kpopalypse will return in the future with more nugus!