List of Kpop Groups 1980-2012

Before I even begin this post I will beg and plead that you PLEASE do not steal these charts and claim them as your own. It has literally taken me months to collect and find all of this information. If you must post them on a website please credit me as the creator and provide a link to my blog that's all I ask.

Now on with the post, so for the past couple of months I have been working on something, slowly but surely, and I'm finally ready to reveal to you guys just what it is.

I present to you, a list of the all the past Kpop groups starting from 1980 onward.

How To Read The Chart

[The year they debut is in the left black bar as well as along the top and bottom of the chart. The name of the group is in a colored square and a corresponding square with the same color shows the length of time that group has been active. On the right are color letters, BG, GG, M, and D.

BG stands for Boy Group, this is for groups of all genres that have all male members.

GG stands for Girl Group, this is for groups of all genres that have all female members.

M stands for Mixed Group, this is for groups that have both male and female members.
*Side note, if a group debut as a mixed group but later became a BG or GG I gave then the label of Mixed group if that is how they debut.*

D stand for Duo, a group that only has two members. The neon blue D is for duos with two males, the red D is for duos with two females, and the lime green D is for duos with one female and one male.

If a group started out as a group and then became a duo they were given a group status since that is what they debut as.

Most of the older groups are presumed to be disbanded, but if I could not find a website to confirm it I did not put it.]

(Sorry I had to take screenshots of my excel spread sheet, blogspot does not allow you to upload PDF's.)

(click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Solo artist and groups that use instruments[aka Bands] are not included on this list, I am making separate lists for those two.

I know without a doubt that a few trot groups and a few bands somehow managed to make their way onto the chart. The trot groups can stay, but if you see a band let me know so I can add them to my other list and take them off of this one.

Sorry I had to plaster my watermark all over it, but I knew people will steal it and not credit me and this took a long time to make so I want my credit.

DISCLAIMER: Allow me to state right now that all the information is not 100% accurate. I also had multiple sources contradicting others on such things as when a group debut or when they disbanded. In those cases if two sites had different dates I went with the year the group released their first album/single. I'm not Korean so I did not grow up with these groups knowing when they debut, so please forgive me if a few of them are out of place. If there is an error in the information I am more then willing to correct it, however you must provide me with a link of some kind that will show me proof of the date you are claiming the group debut in (or some type of proof). Also activity is dictated by albums/singles/mini album releases. If the group last released an album in 2004, but have released songs for OST in 2005, I did not count that as active on the chart, because often OST's will credit an entire group when only two members participated in the OST.

Here are a few fun facts, and fake awards I want to hand out.

Fun Facts:

1. Mixed groups were really popular early on but the trend has seemed to have died out.

2. I had always thought boy groups had were more popular early on and then girl groups grew in popularity but is not the case. They seemed to be even, and then girl groups over took the number of boy groups over the years.

3. Korean's love using acronyms for group names. 

Now for some awards (these awards are just for fun and should not be taken seriously)

STRANGEST GROUP NAME: It's hard to choose, some of my personal favorites are Mutant, Butt Head, Turtles, and Stony Skunk

MOST ANDROGYNOUS GROUP: Case & Nova. They are a duo who I first thought were both boys, then I thought it was one boy and one girl, and then I found out they were both girls XD.

SINGERS WHO CHANGED GROUPS THE MOST: Boom (yes Boom from Strong Heart), was in three groups before he went solo, they were Key, Nuclear, and Lexa. Jungah get this award as well, she was in three groups as well, Kiss Five, Sz, and After School.

GROUP WITH THE MOST MEMBER CHANGES: Xing. With a total of 18 members through the groups existence, I think they win the award for most member changes.

These are not really awards just random facts.

GROUPS WITH COLORS IN THERE NAMES:
COLOR: Colored Paper, The Color, Color.
BLACK: Black Beat, Black Out, All Black, Blacklist, Black Pearl, Black Eye, Black Queen.
BLUE:The Blue, Blue Marble, Blue Spring, T-Blue.     
ORANGE: Orange, Orange Caramel.
BROWN: Brown Eyes, Brown Eyed Girls, Brown Eyed Soul.
RED: Red Soul, Red Sox.
GREEN: Green Area.
PINK: APink.
GOLD: Gary Gold Smith, The Gold.
PURPLE: Indigo.
GRAY: Eness Gray.
RAINBOW: Rainbow.


GROUP NAMES THAT HAVE BEEN REUSED OR SIMILAR TO OTHERS
(I didn't include sub-units):
Baby VOX 1997, Baby VOX Re.V 2007.
Brown Eyes 2001, Brown Eyed Soul 2003, Brown Eyed Girls 2006.
Chocolate 2010, Chocolat 2011.
F.O.X 1997, Fox 1999, Foxy 2006.
SEEYA 2006, The SEEYA 2012.
Speed 1998, Speed 2012.
Sugar 2002, Sugarless 2006.
Tiny 2000, Tiny-G 2012.
Take 2003, Take Out 2011.

GROUPS WITH NUMBERS IN THEIR NAME:
1: 1TYM, Uno, As One, A.D-One, One 2 One, OneTwo, A'st1,F1rst, B1A4, One Piece, S the One
2: 2 Shai, Deux, Mr.2, Two Two, C2K, Two & One, O2R, 2NB, Chapter 2, 2AM, 2PM, 2Lepik Soul, 2NE1, B2Y, 2Face, 2Nise,Gril2School, J2, Y2Y, 2Boram, 2 BiC, E2RE Two X
3: 3 Boys, M3, 3 Chongsa, 3rd Story
4: 4Men, A4, 4U, BGH4, 4Mintue, M4, 4Heaven, 4K
5: 5tion, Five, Tin Tin Five, Eagle Five, F-IV, Kisfive, 5 Dolls, X-5
6: Six Bomb, Keep Six
7: 7 Dayz, 7 Princess, 7Size, 7.9.4.2, E7
8: 8Eight,
9: Nine Muses
10: Ten
13: i-13
15: 15&
19: Sistar 19
24: O-24, 24/7, 24K
45: 45RPM
84: 84LY
91: Ninety One
100:100%
212: 212
501: SS501
1730: 1730

I hope international fans find this useful for discovering old school kpop groups. Also I hope this will make fans stop complaining about the large number of rookies that debut each year. As you can clearly see from the chart, as each year has pasted more and more groups have debut and this will continue to happen (unless Korea's economy takes a dive and smaller companies are unable to stay afloat and put out more groups) but more then likely more groups will continue to debut each year.

PLEASE let me know if I left anyone off the list (please remember that this list is for groups only, not solo artist or bands) especially groups from the 1980's.

This is an ongoing project I hope to continue for as many years as I can. I'm looking forward to 2013, let's see if the number of rookie groups can surpass 108.

Link to 2013 list HERE

Feature [15] SPICA

Today's feature is on a group that has amazing vocal talent, though these girls are technically rookies, they have been working behind the scenes of the music industry for years, time to talk about Spica.

MEMBERS:

Boa (Leader, Lead Vocalist)

Jiwon (Vocalist, Visual)

Juhyun (Main Rapper, Vocalist)

Narae (Lead Vocalist)

Bohyung (Main Vocalist, Maknae)

BIO: Spica is a five member girl group who debut  under B2M Entertainment in 2012. Many of the member had pre-debut experience in the music industry in one way or another. Jiwon was originally going to debut as a member of Five Girls along with Uee, Hyosung, Yubin, and G.NA however the company fell on hard times and they never debut. She was also supposed to be a member of T-ARA but left before the group debut. Boa was the vocal trainer for Kara, Rainbow and Infinite. Bohyung was supposed to debut with 2NE1 but never did. Narae was a contestant on Superstar K season 1. Juhyun was in Heo Young Saeng's music video.

Fun fact: Spica is the name of a star in the constellation Virgo. 

OFFICIAL WEBSITES: Official Website: http://www.b2m-spica.com/
                                           Official Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/spicaofficial

                                           Official Twitter: https://twitter.com/B2M_SPICA

        

                                         

MUSIC VIDEOS:
Doggedly (Hyori was the main actress in the MV, the girls do not appear in the video.)

Russian Roulette

Painkiller

I'll Be There

Lonely (a lot of people said this video was coping Sistar's Alone, however I disagree. The outfits do look similar, but the pace of the song sounds nothing like alone, and the dance really does not look all that much alike.)

Up N Down (for those wanting a more dance like beat check out this song.)

You can help support these girls by purchasing their music on itunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/seupika-spica/id495860373

Why Large Amounts of Rookie Groups Are Good?

I've been debating whether or not I should post this, because I try and keep my posts mainly data, and maybe a little bit of my own personal opinion. However I want to try something new, let's see how this goes.

(This is in no way an attack on the big name music companies in Korea. However you simply cannot talk about this subject without bringing them into the conversation.)

So as 2012 comes to a close, I would think it has not escaped the attention of any avid kpop fan that this year marked, what is perhaps the largest influx of rookie groups in the history of kpop. Now while I can understand why people are upset with this, and why it is a bad thing, let's stop for a moment and look at things from a different perspective.

(This is not even half of the rookies that debut this year)

-More groups means more people get to live their dream (albeit for however little time they last): With the ridiculous standards the music industry has, it is inevitable that a hand full of talented people will fall through the cracks. People who auditioned for the big name companies and were turned away because maybe they were an amazing singer but could not dance, or they had a great voice but refused to comply with the companies demands to get plastic surgery, or because they weren't pretty or skinny enough. I mean let's not kid ourselves, as talented as kpop stars are, at the end of the day their company is trying to sell a product and that product is the singer. There is typically a standard that is set (the skinner and prettier, the better for the girls, and the taller and the more muscular, for the guys).

-More groups means the power in the music industry is spread out: There is a formula for success in the music industry, and the big name companies know it well. You are very naive if you think they don't treat everything related to their artist like a business, and new artist debuting with other companies are a threat to their, dare I say the word, their monopolies and strangle holds on the business. More companies, help spread out the power in the industry. I've read articles about big name companies pressuring tv companies, to not let certain artist appear on their shows, and guess what, the tv stations complied. Why, because those big name companies have a product that is special and rare and that will bring in ratings and the tv companies know it could mean the death of a show if the ratings drop. Now imagine if there were multiple successful companies, if one of those companies threatened a tv station, with the threat that if that station let's a certain group on their show they would pull their artist from that show. The tv station could say, "go for it" we will just get someone from another company to take their spot.

-More companies mean new music: The big name companies have a formula that works and as the old saying goes, "If it ain't broke why fix it." Now while some of those companies do try to expand their horizons they will never venture too far away from the beaten path, because they know what works, and they know what their stock holders expect. With new companies, they are in the unique position to try something new, because let's face it, they have nothing to lose.

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Now before someone goes on a tangent in the comments i'll bet you to the punch.
Numerous rookies groups are bad because, "They lack training, their companies don't have enough money to put into promoting them, they are unskilled vocally and make up for it with auto-tune, they will be overshadowed by big name company rookie groups, IT'S SIMPLY TOO HARD TO KEEP TRACK ALL OF THEM."

There, I think that covers most of the complaints i've heard on various websites and forums. Now allow me to give you another way of looking at it.

They lack training: True, many of the groups I've seen that debut seem to need more dance practice and vocal training. This being said, it's only to be expected, many of these companies don't have the funds or the means to hire the amount of staff required like the big name companies. However I can still see potential in many of the groups that have debut. There is always room for improvement, and as a kpop fans for a few years now. I've seen my fair share of groups/solo artist from fairly big name companies, looking very "green" when they first debut however they improve over time. Lastly, I would like to argue that people should criticize singers who debut from music competition shows, who only train for a few months before they debut, if they are going to criticize people who have trained under a smaller company for a few years when they debut. I think it can be said that there are some people out there who simply have the natural born talent to be a star and stand on stage. However there are other that even after years of training they just can't seem to look comfortable on stage. It truly depends on the individual.

Their companies don't have enough money to put into promoting them: It is a little unfair dislike a group simply because they don't have high music video production cost. I mean shouldn't you judge them on their singing talent instead of how pretty their MV is (yeah right, not in this industry). This is where the creativity of the company comes into play. I've seen some pretty cool MV's made on a very low budge. Smaller companies can help their groups pull away from the others (that will clearly fall to the way side) if they can be creative at how they produce a music videos.

They are unskilled vocally and make up for it with auto-tune: Honestly I can't really argue with this one. Way too many groups are either lacking in talent, so their company makes up for with it with auto-tune, or they have talented singers, but their company wants to make a dance hit. And let's face it, dance songs that have a good beats get you noticed, the group can show off their vocals later, they have to get noticed first.

They will be overshadowed by big name company rookie groups: This fall on you as a fan, they will only be overshadowed by the big name rookie groups if you let them. If you find a rookie group and they are from a small company and you think they are worth the effort, why not tweet about them or post a link to their MV on facebook.

It's simply too hard to keep track of all of them:  I say to you, you're just lazy. Of course you are not going to like every single one of them, so who would expect you to remember them all. However sticking to listening to just your bias will come back to haunt you when your favorite group breaks up and you don't have a new group to support since you shunned them all.


So after writing this, I can't clearly say if a bunch of new rookie groups are a good thing or a bad thing. However I know one thing for sure. Please stop whining every time you see that a new group is debuting. New rookie groups from no-name companies are not going to hurt your bias in anyway, so please stop complaining and give them a chance. Who knows, you might just like one of them.


[Feel free to plead your case in the comments, however please keep your comments on topic and tasteful.]