Angels of death

I'm sure that everyone (who is anyone) is well aware of the smoking hot bad boy images that many of our faviourite K-poppers love to intermitently perpetrate; these being sandwiched amongst and inbetween between their super cute aigo personas that are equally often played out.

One of my favourite inter-band bad boy fighter images to date could be the fight scene between T.O.P and GD at the start of Haru Haru. Possibly the most homoerotic and fantasizeable one I have come across to date.

I swear GD's lips make contact. I'm sure of it!

Of course there is also that rivalry between the angel faced balladeers 2AM in I did wrong. I never thought I'd be lucky enough to get a rukus from them, but what a wonderful gift it was.

What you see here is Seulong, pre-Jinswoon punch poise.

Then there is the between band rivals, that I've often fantasized a little, or a whole lot, about. And though it is always rather epic in my mind, of course none of the baby-faced beauties are harmed in any way. It seems that such perfect scenarios don't only have to exist within my head though - they have actually been played out for me, and so charmingly too. Thank you MBLAQ and BEAST:

This was certainly one of the 2009 SBS Gayo Daejun moments that sent me spinning.

It seems that of late this bad boy image has been hotting up more and more, almost to the point of popping (I mean this is many, many ways). It's as if the 'black' image, under which the likes of MBLAQ and various other debuted, was not quite down and dirty enough.

Without You (2PM) seemed to be building up to something darker and more daring, with the 'black' rain that starts pouring mid video; it's almost as if it was a warning of darker things soon to come on the K-pop scene.

Indeed, barely a week later G Dragon's She's Gone got its release. It really is quite the video, with a stalking Jack the Ripper-esque period GD calmly trapsing morbidly though a maze, knife swinging confidently in hand, in pursuit of his victim.

I love that there was a big problem made out of the infamous 'bed' scene, but not this video? I'm pretty sure that this is the one he screened at his concert.. And it's so Macbeth, with the blood on his hands. Hot damn.

But, from knives to guns it developed. Look at K-pop go! (Do you get this badass in Europop I wonder?) The new Big Bang video for Tell me goodbye knocked me for six in more ways than one. Not only is it a fully fledged film noir mise-en-scened, appropriately costumed of course, masterpiece, but it may be the most bad assed I have ever seen T.O.P in a music video.

It's so Bonnie and Clyde that it near on blows my mind. In fact, upon watching again for the nth time, it well and truly has. Cigars and vintage phones, mounted stag taxidermy and tailored to perfection suits throughout. I was in no way expecting this! But there's more: graveyards, leather gloves, pathetic fallacy, steaming sewers, leather bound books, bloody noses, whiskey bring pouring - need I go on!
And I know T.O.P loves to be badass and I have already seen him with guns, as in parts of Iris etc., but there is something about this vintage pistache that really seals the deal for me. I don't know about Taeyang being Bonnie and Teddy (1TYM) being Clyde (as is rapped out oh so smoothly by Teddy in Taeyang's Prayer) - I hand these roles over to GD and T.O.P after this onslaught - with T.O.P crusing around bloody faced in a shot out car, and GD collasing in a heap after pouring whiskey all over the shop - I think they deserve these titles most.

So that was what yesterday bought. And this morning, oh this morning. What I would have done to skip work and have this on repeat... You know what I'm talking about: Y. Oh MBLAQ, boy oh boy did you deliver! You gave me one of the things I love most - inter-band fights. Without further ado:

Now take a deepth breath, re-focus, and let's try to break this down together. For time purposes, and in an attempt to keep to the point, I will only discuss the fight scene, that perfect plot line, between Joon and Seungho. So, until three-quarters of the way through the video you have no idea, not even an incling, and then BAM - a smoking hot Seungho close up 'on set', not in UV day glo dance get up. Why is this you wonder - oh yes, that's why, BECAUSE HE IS IN THE STORY LINE! Soon enough Joon appears, in an attempt to drag the girl away from Seungho's clutches (good luck!) - and so it starts. Seungho administering the first shove, follwed by a very quick of the bat punch from Joon. They cut back the the dancing after this, to remind us all to breathe again i'd say at a guess. You've barely recovered, and Seungho retaliates. It may be short, and on shaky handycam and all that, but it is enough for me, job done. And as if this is not enough for one MV, why not add in an assumed gun-point murder by Joon, just for good measure.

Finally, before I come off as a total creep, there is one more thing i'd like to add, something which is almost equally as exciting as all these testosterone driven fisty cuffs: the 'hysterical' Lee Jung Hyun. It seems it's not just the boys whom are up to no good. Look at her go:

I wasn't even really aware of her before, and I certainly was not expecting this, even from an over 19's branded video, when I pressed play. We now not only have guns and murder, but lesbian thematics too? Back alley bars, ventilation tunnels and underground bathroom stalls - it makes Big Bang's Tell me goodbye look tame! Same sex toilet cubicle multiple rape scenes, K-pop really does have it all covered. I never would have predicted this when I first started out down the K-pop road, watching SHINee's Nuna nomu yeppo:

This was no indication of the lengths that K-pop was soon to go to --- just look at them.

The moral of this post is not that I totally get off on violence and to say that this is all I want to see from K - as this is just a part of it - it is just a happy memoir of some of the risque action I've been enjoying of late.

And maybe instead of just slating Big Bang's Shouting Reds, I should have paid a little attention to the song. The violent and gun totting crazed behaviour that I so far have been basking in even it made it into this national sporting anthem:

We’re the Red Killers, everyone step aside,

Light the bright fire of victory, Red soldiers,

Man I told ya, Cock and load, aim and shoot,

We never miss miss, you better kiss these killer boys.

Yikes! As well as that, there are just so many conflicting messages for me in this GD lyric alone: "Cock and load, aim and shoot". The double entendres are eating me alive.
And then telling me, ordering me, to kiss these 'killer boys' in the next line - wow. Killer boys they are, for sure, and, given the chance, kiss them I will! Permission has been officially granted. I wholeheartedly take back some of the Europop abuse. Boys, punish me as you like.