ABSTRACT
No one in Korean popular music history has crossed over the barrier between mainstream and subculture as much as Shin Joong Hyun has done. He has played various musical genres and his contribution goes beyond the rock scene. Nevertheless, he is acclaimed as a rock musician and recognized specifically as a “Korean” rock artist among Korean musicians. If “Koreanness” is not limited to a particular geographical location or to the nationality of a particular musician, what does it mean? To answer this question, I will examine Shin’s music from the point of view of a particular sociocultural condition.
