Kang Ta in H.O.T.

H.O.T.'s History

It's probably safe to say that this is the hottest Korean group out there. H.O.T. is a group of five guys; their groups name stands for High-Five of Teenagers. The first member to be discovered for H.O.T., was An Chil Hyun (now known as Kang Ta) while hanging out with his friends at Lotte World (a Korean Disneyland, it's one of the largest indoor amusement parks in the world, I've been there a dozen times or so). The manager saw him dancing and singing and was impressed by what he saw, and approached him with a card. Although Kang Ta's father was against him becoming a gasoo, he went on at the early age of 14 to begin his training. He began as a backdancer for the current popular artist, Yoo Young Jin.

Moon Hee Jun was the next member to be added to H.O.T. Hee Jun had scheduled a meeting with the managers ahead of time so that he might be able to make it. The managers liked what he did, and asked him to come back for another audition, and luckily enough, he made it! Hee Jun also began as a backdancer for Yoo Young Jin, along with Kang Ta.

Hee Jun, who had heard of Jae Won's dancing skills, became friends with Jae Won, and asked him to tryout as well, and made it in.

Jang Woo Hyuk was the next person -- after winning first place at a dancing contest, he was asked to tryout for H.O.T., and became a member of the group.

The last member of H.O.T. was Tony. The manager, Lee Soo Man, traveled to LA to hold tryouts, and both Tony and his close friend Andy (of Shin Hwa) made it in. But only after 4 short months of practice, Andy's parents withdrew their support of him becoming a gasoo, and Andy dropped out of H.O.T. (but at least he's making it big now with Shin Hwa, another big male group).

The High-Five of Teenagers, debut album -- "We Hate All Kinds of Violence" -- was released on September 07, 1996. Their title song was "Junsa Ae Hoo Yeh" (Warrior's Descent), but later it was found that the song was plagiarized off a Cyprus Hill song and they stopped performing it (even so, most of H.O.T.'s music really isn't original sorry to say, but they do put a nice touch to their music). After that they switched songs to "Candy" sending H.O.T. to the top of the charts. This catchy and upbeat song quickly became a fad in the Korean music industry.

After fading away from the crowd, H.O.T. came back on June 28, 1997 with their 2nd album, "Wolf & Sheep". Their title song was also called "Wolf & Sheep" but was quickly banned from stations because of explicit language (their pretty tough about that in Korea). They then came out with a new song, titled "Haengbok" (Full of Happiness) which was at the top of the charts in no time. Their next single, was "We are the Future" which set a record for selling over 100,000 copies in only 10 days! H.O.T.'s first concert was held at Olympic Park's Gymnasium Arena from 1/23 - 1/25 1998.

H.O.T.'s 3rd album, "Resurrection" was released on September 25, 1998 with the titled song, "Yuhl Maj Chwuh" (Line Up!). Their next song, "Beet" (Hope) which was written by Kang Ta, was performed next, and received the King of Kings award. "Oo Ri Deul Ae Maeng Seh" (Promise of H.O.T.) was performed next, and was written by Kang Ta and Yoo Young Jin. HOT had their second concert at Se Jong Cultural Center from 1/22 - 1/28 1999. On a role so far, but wait, there's more...

The long awaited 4th album titled "I Yah!" was finally released on September 15, 1999, with the title song, "I Yah!". Their comeback concert was held at Seoul Olympic Main Stadium on September 18th. During the concert, Hee Jun, while performing his song "Too Hon" fell off the stage and injured himself. After "I Yah", "Too Ji" (Git it up!), written by Hee Jun was performed. Kang Ta's song, "Hwan Hee" (It's been raining since you left me) was performed next.
With all of their popularity, H.O.T. went on to Japan to film a movie. Their popular movie, Age of Peace, is out, with several other products as well, to include a sound track, photo albums, and more. Once they've finished filming their movie in Japan, they made their long awaited reappearance back in Korea.
The new album is quite a contrast to their last two and includes more of their individual styles. With new looks and more mellow music (less of the yelling type they were doing before), they made it to the number 1 spots on the charts once again. Their title song "Outside Castle" has a very nice tune to it and the dance is no less than what should be expected from this group. Though two of the songs have been banned because of legal notices (unfortunately there were more plagiarism lawsuits for them), H.O.T. has and will continue to be a legend in Korean Pop Music!