Across the river from my apartment complex is Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, or KAIST as it is more commonly known. I can see the gates in the interactive tour if I look out from the door of my apartment. For the past week, they’ve been having concerts outside in the evening. There is no rhyme or reason to the songs that are played and reach our apartment. We get all of the bad Korean folk songs, crooning pop songs, and the occasional rock song.
I was on the computer, surfing the web when I heard the bass line of some song that was something familiar, but from the distant past. Forgotten. Old. What could it be? Suddenly, the lyrics floated out over the road noise and I got not only the toe tapping beat, but the song as well. They were playing "Cum on, feel the noise" by Quiet Riot.
I mean, Quiet Riot? Really? From time to time you get the idea that Koreans don’t know that kind of Hair Metal has been dead for twenty years in the United States. When you go to singing rooms, they have entirely too many songs by Helloween. It’s over people. Really. People still consider Metallica "hardcore" here without irony. What gives?
This was just a blip on my WTF meter. The next song was back to Korean folk music that sounds exactly the same to me, as if nothing unusual had happened. I thought the strangeness had passed until the fireworks started. We went outside to watch the show, and low and behold, "Rock you like a Hurricane" by The Scorpions was playing. Now, that song is a total rock anthem, suitable for any occasion, from football games to weddings if need be, but I couldn’t listening to it without thinking about Harrier Jump Jets and Tyranno-vision.
