By Benjamin Lopez

In the west, we’re all too familiar with bands such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, bands who dominated the music sphere and culture, and continue to influence music to this day. Even as far as Japan, their influence spread and dominated their youth music scene almost as much as it did ours. In the 1960s, the Japanese rock scene almost parallels ours. Yet how did it reach Japan, a nation so far away from the United States and United Kingdom geographically and culturally?

How Japan had so much western influence has to do with the American occupation between 1945 and 1952. After the destruction caused by the Second World War, the United States wanted to help rebuild the country and turn a former adversary into a current ally. With the influx of western aid and American soldiers, the cultural mixing changed Japan and shaped them into the nation they are today.

In these U.S. military bases would form the most popular style of Japanese rock of the time, with influence with western bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, groups would form to play western-style music with loud guitars, heavy drums, and punching lyrics.

One group of people would form the band “The Blue Comets” in 1952, created by those who would tour U.S. military bases and jazz cafes, places where Group Sounds would commonly be heard. Jackey Yoshikawa (Real name Itaoka Koichi) would join the band in 1957 and become the band leader in 1963. One of their most popular songs to this day is “Blue Chateau” released in 1967. According to lead vocalist “Tadao Inoue”, the song is supposedly “a tragedy” for Group Sounds as a genre.

“But actually, [making Blue Chateau] was a dilemma, because I made something that was the opposite of what I had been aiming for. It was also painful that other GS began to imitate it. I think GS’s tragedy began with that song” – Inoue.

Other notable bands include The Mops, and The Spiders who are said to have created the first true Group Sounds song, “Furi-Furi” released on May 5, 1965.

As our rock movement was associated with delinquency and bad youth, so were certain parts of GS in this time. “The Tigers” were one such band, with influences directly stemming from The Beatles, wouldn’t see huge popularity until their single “My Marie” released in March 1967. Some of these groups would embrace the style, and others would reject it.

Pictures of the Blue Comets show the group in clean suits, neat hair, and formal poses, while pictures of The Tigers and The Mops show long hair, leather jackets, and clothing reminiscent more of The Beatles in the late 60s. As the movement carried on through the decade, these cleaner groups would become more widespread and mainstream, while those truer to the fashion of GS would fall to obscurity and typically disband.

The Blue Comets would see themselves on the popular Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, whereas The Dynamites would disband in 1969 after four years of relative obscurity. Yet when it comes to all new genres, some original bands would rather go out with the original musical intent than succumb to being “mainstream” as some thought the Blue Comets had become at the time.

As of 1970, most GS bands had already disbanded or fallen to obscurity. The Blue Comets released their last hit in 1971 with “Ame no Sanbika” (Song of Rain) selling less than 4,000 copies of their single. In 1972, many of the members would leave, informally disbanding the group. Most GS bands after disbanding would either form new groups, or reform their old ones such as The Spiders, The Tigers, and some continue to this day like the Blue Comets.

Some of these groups would be seen as pioneers of other genres, such as The Mops for Japanese psychedelic rock. In the following decades, especially the late 1980s, these groups would see a resurgence in popularity, and would continue to have popularity within the older generation.

On May 30, 2000, leading vocalist, and songwriter, Tadao Inoue (changed to Daisuke Inoue) committed suicide due to issues from retinal surgery and fatigue from caring for his ailing wife. Following this tragedy, in 2002, the Blue Comets would return as a group and play a tribute to him, and The Spiders would play tribute at his funeral.

Group Sounds would forever be remembered as an old genre of rock music from a time long gone, during the Showa era. Most of the original “founders” or pioneers of the genre left their groups long ago. Very few bands still hold the GS genre these days. Two such bands that were formed after 2000 fit into this genre, such as Kinoco Hotel and The Captains, self-proclaimed the “last Group Sounds.”

Kinoco Hotel has more of a unique sound than replicating the old style like The Captains. They have a style of jazz, progressive rock, and GS inspiration in their music. The Captains by far more popular still, and is the most traditional to how GS sounds as a whole.

The legacy of this genre is one that is almost forgotten by the younger generations, it is seen as an old person’s genre, from the “Showa era,” and is mainly remembered by older people in the east and the west.

The popularity cannot be understated, however, because this phenomenon was incredibly impactful on Japanese culture. It was one of the first times east and west met within music, and a divider between the traditional older generation and their children born after the war.
It’s something worth remembering, and worth a listen. What was once a big shift in the landscape of Japanese culture is now the tradition. Same as it was here, what was once counterculture is simply just culture.

By Benjamin Lopez

The progress of technology in video games is always prevalent. Looking at games from 2012, the difference in quality becomes greater every passing year. Cutting-edge technology now will be average by five years and antiquated by ten. Understanding the quality of video games is to understand the technical limitations of hardware during the time. Games evolve with their technology, and sometimes they evolve side-by-side.

It’s easy to say how terrible a game from long ago looks. How blocky the geometry of the levels is, how stiff the player movement is, and how the weapons feel. Yet it is unfair to push these modern critiques on games over a decade old. A fairer assessment is to compare games with their contemporary hardware. We must remember people were still using CRT monitors when World at War was released in late 2008.

Why then should we discuss Half-Life, a vintage game from 1998 with the absolute bare minimum for a shooter? It has a three-dimensional engine, artificial intelligence, and loads of weapons. This is where perspective plays a large role. Our modern perspective gives us the ability to overlook how this game changed the genre after its release.

From looking on 1998 backwards, the biggest games in the shooter genre were that of Doom II and Quake II. Arcade shooters where you circle strafe around hordes of enemies equipped with the arsenal of God. Not many of which have a big semblance of a story, because back then, it wasn’t seen as important. When Half-Life was released, it was bigger step in the direction of storytelling, physics, and worldbuilding.

As soon as you start up Doom, you begin with a pistol and zombie soldier to start shooting at. In Doom II, you start with a pistol and a chainsaw to take out two of them. Starting up Half-Life, you start on a tram ride that lasts for five minutes. For most people playing this game for the first time, it’s as boring as actually going to work.

These graphics, while impressive for their time, quickly grew outdated. The sequel, Half-Life 2, released 6 years later and completely overhauled the look of Half-life. Someone nowadays may not be able to get past them at points with blocky geometry and compressed audio. Some people even may even have motion sickness when playing the original game.

If someone wants to play a modern version of Half-Life, or maybe wants to have a more friendly experience to the modern player, there is a remake under the title “Black Mesa” which in essence is the same exact game, but with extended gameplay and a far more updated experience in terms of graphics and gameplay.

This game pushes the limits of what the old engine it uses can handle in terms of graphics and lighting. The Source engine, the game engine Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa run on, is roughly 20 years old, yet creates environments and atmospheres still impressive to this day.
When playing Half-Life, it’s easy to look past the disaster and find the sound effects and voice acting comical or even slapstick. Some even describe the game as a “black comedy” with the absurdity of the situations scientists find themselves in.

While these two are the same exact game, there remain differences in pacing and tone. In the office section, more is done to expand the whole part to remove the sterile empty hallways and make these hallways look like believable office spaces.

For example, in the original game, one hallway is supposed to represent a cafeteria infested with aliens. At first, it’s almost confusing as for what it’s supposed to represent until you start to look around and take in the atmosphere. In Black Mesa, it becomes a little more clear and sometimes even more believable for a room to exist.

Focusing on the environment and story is not forced upon the player. Barring a single 20 second moment halfway through the game, the player never loses control of the character they play as. You never lose perspective, even during the most important moments of the story.

The game will never take away from the player’s focus, you never leave the character for an important piece of story for a cutscene. Important set pieces can be avoided or missed entirely if the player isn’t exploring their environments. Things such as scientists being pulled into vents, or a hidden shotgun inside a sentry turret room, most of these rely on the player to explore and find them.

When it comes to improving on the story, Black Mesa wishes to enhance the existing one without huge changes. Those that exist are confined within one chapters of the original game, “On a Rail”. This is the most tedious chapter of the game, yet it is also the most open. It encourages exploration of your environment, but only in theory. It’s a looping claustrophobic maze of concrete tunnels filled with soldiers and aliens, both fighting each other.

In context of the story, it shows how the “human faction” is beginning to fight against the “alien faction”, as well as this satellite that is mentioned in the end of the previous chapter. When it comes to these older games however, you quickly forget what the story is if you cannot progress beyond an unclear puzzle or a looping shooting gallery.

Black Mesa makes the change by cutting out a lot of this chapter. This plus the alien world, “Xen”, at the end of the game, are the only parts of the game that are drastically different from the 1998 original. Many sections considered tedious have been completely removed, and the chapter is heavily modified to continue a familiar feel for original players, but also simplified for newer ones.

Important events in the game are amplified technologically and graphically. The rocket launch at the end of the chapter goes from a slow tube visible through a tiny slit to a huge room with a large glass window to view the huge rocket until it disappears into the sky.

Beyond this chapter, the remake is relatively faithful, with additions for gameplay, or for graphics and worldbuilding. Playing through the original first is recommended far more than this first. It will make you appreciate the advances in technology, but also in gameplay and storytelling.
One thing to note is the game’s soundtrack is drastically different in tone and mood from the original. After starting the disaster, the background music goes from ambient sounds to a slightly more impacting synthesized track.

Most of this game’s soundtrack can consist of a heavy guitar for combat, and a slow piano for the quieter/moodier segments. In the original, there’s more of a variety in instrument and style. They set the tone for certain segments and have that cheesy 90s feel to them.

Although both the music and the theme of these two differ completely, they still end up being as good as they both can be in their own way at setting the mood and tone for the player and their environment.
The issue that comes with a modern remake is that of how powerful it becomes, and how limited the player may be with a lower-to-average machine. A typical laptop will not be able to run this game. An older desktop computer from 2015 and older will have an issue running this game with the highest settings.

Most modern games have a cinematic graphics setup, and a typical gaming graphics setup. Because the base of the engine is roughly 20 years old, these issues with graphics come into play, even in an updated build.

The source engine by nature is CPU intensive, meaning that is where the most strain will be placed on the computer. In the Earth segments of Black Mesa, the strain is negligible besides the topside chapters. In the Xen chapters however, this is where the graphics and technology of the aging engine get pushed to its limits.

Often will you be in a massive open island surrounded by a large skybox filled with dynamic lights and fully modeled environments, or in giant caverns with bumpy and rocky terrain.
When Half-Life 2 was released in 2004, the engine was built with boxy and square arenas in mind. Even in Episode 2, released in 2007, the partial sequel to the game, the cave areas are relatively flat and square compared to the alien world of Xen.

What are the advantages of playing Black Mesa? When playing the original, it’s apparent where the Quake 2 influences reside. Enemies have death animations rather than ragdolls, physics is incredibly limited and questionable, and the stability of the old engine is something to put into question.

Black Mesa has all the benefits and downsides of the source engine. NPCs can sometimes die by tripping over a soda can, or panic over an enemy that is in another room blocked by a locked door. The game tries to solve this by making events heavily scripted, meaning some characters cannot go with the player unless intended to.

Yet unlike Half-Life, the limitations of the engine won’t typically impact the gameplay. It is kept up to date with engine and performance patches, and the developer team is still active, meaning that for them, there is still an active effort to fix bugs common in the engine.

Although Black Mesa is a modification of a 2004 game from 2012, its full release 3 years ago 2020 ensured that the engine is updated far more regularly for player and gameplay convenience. Older games should not be discounted as relics of the past. Black Mesa shows that a dedicated group of programmers and developers can remake an old classic to show their vision for what the original game should have been.

By Ashleigh Varing

As you may remember, last time I left off on BTS winning Rookie of the Year in South Korea’s Melon Music Awards.

Since then, they’ve proven that was only the beginning of their ascent to global stardom. Record after record, they built their fame, fanbase, and art to something very close to perfection.

That near perfection brought them global attention, spanning their success well beyond the borders of Korea, into Japan, then jumping across the continent to Europe and eventually across the ocean to the United States, Canada, and the rest of the Americas. Truly, they’re a global sensation, unlike those artists fueled by the American-marketing machine.

Perhaps their success goes beyond that. Perhaps they came in at the right time when the world had developed a taste and fascination for Korean culture and art. But that may not be the case. After all, didn’t Wonder Girls attempt to bridge into the states, yet couldn’t, even after getting a Nickelodeon movie? Yes. Yes, they did. BTS? They’ve risen in popularity and improved their craft largely on their own: creating their own music, lyrics, and overall artistic style.

So, let’s take another look at BTS’ discography and the impressive records they’ve achieved with it.

On February 12, 2014, Skool Luv Affair was released. As the third and final album in their “school trilogy,” this album also contained a lot of themes having to do with teenagers. For example, the lead single “Boy in Luv” expresses the experience of love as a teen. The album peaked number 3 on the Billboard World Album Chart, selling a total of 14,852 copies by the end of the year. 

On August 20, 2014, their first studio album Dark & Wild was released. BTS were still discussing love, just from the perspective of a young adult. The album peaked at number 3 on the Gaon Monthly Chart for August, selling a total of 51,655 copies in that month. It was also the 14th best-selling album of the year, having sold 100,906 copies by the end of 2014. 

By 2015, BTS were slowly becoming relevant in the K-pop world, and that popularity was only boosted by the release of their third mini album, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt. 1, on April 29. This album discusses youth and uncertainty of the future, the boys’ sound shifting from hip-hop to pop. Despite the change, their songs were still lyrically dense and held even darker themes than the prior albums. The title track, “I Need U,” even got them their first music show win. 

On November 30, 2015, the album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life pt. 2 was released, debuting at 171 on the Billboard 200, becoming the first K-Pop act outside of the big 3 labels (JYP, SM, and YG Entertainment) to do so. As explained by the title, the album is the second part in the HYYH (Hwa Yeon Yang Hwa a.k.a. “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life”) trilogy. As explained by BTS themselves, “Part one explained how youth is tiring and difficult, and it also touched on how we feel like we’re always on edge. Part two will have a more adventurous and daring feel to it. That’s why our title song is ‘Run.’” 

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on May 2, 2016, debuting at number 107 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album had sold 300,000 copies in pre-sales after less than a week, topping the Gaon Monthly Chart in May with a little over 310,000 albums having been sold. This album even got BTS their very first Daesang, the highest award an artist can win at a Korean music show, on November 19, 2016. They were the first group in multiple years to have gotten a Daesang while under a label that wasn’t one of the big three. The boys now have over 60 Daesangs, and to put that into perspective, the group with the second most Daesangs has 23 in total. 

Later in 2016, on October 10, Wings was released, debuting at number 26 on the Billboard 200 chart, becoming the highest charting K-pop album at the time. The album is about temptation, and as Namjoon explains it, “The harder a temptation is to resist, the more you think about it and vacillate. That uncertainty is part of the process of growing. ‘Blood Sweat & Tears’ is a song that shows how one thinks, chooses, and grows.” The music video for the title track, “Blood Sweat & Tears,” has allusions to the novel Demian, a book about self-discovery inspired by Jungian psychology. 

You Never Walk Alone was released on February 13, 2017, and was a repackaged version of Wings, with four new songs added. The lead single, “Spring Day,” is the longest charting song in Melon history, having spent over 300 consecutive weeks (five and a half years) on the Top 100 Melon Weekly Chart. The song is about longing and was revealed to be inspired by Namjoon and Yoongi losing their friends. In an interview from November of 2020, Namjoon said, “…I had friendships that meant a lot to me back in the day. But once I moved to Seoul and started my traineeship, I kind of drifted apart and eventually lost them.” 

Love Yourself: Her was released on September 18, 2017, as the first album in the Love Yourself trilogy. The album expresses the anxieties and joys of falling in love, this idea further highlighted by the title track, “DNA.” Namjoon claims the song depicts a young, passionate love, and that it’s vastly different from their earlier releases. The album ranked number 1 in 73 countries, debuting at number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the highest selling album of September that year, with 1,203,533 copies sold. 

The group’s third full-length album, Love Yourself: Tear, was released on May 18, 2018. This album has a much more somber tone in comparison to the earlier album in the trilogy, particularly within the title track “Fake Love,” which is about the loss of identity that follows holding onto a toxic relationship. This album sold 1.44 million copies in the first six days of its pre-order period, and it earned them the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 and the first Official Million Certification from Gaon. 

On August 24, 2018, the final album in the Love Yourself series, Love Yourself: Answer, was released as a compilation album, which included seven new tracks. The album focuses on themes of reflection, empowerment, and most importantly, self-love. Love Yourself: Answer sold more than 1.51 million copies, surpassing Love Yourself: Tear as the most pre-ordered album in South Korea. On November 7, 2019, it became the first Korean album to spend an entire year on the Billboard 200, this record only being surpassed by themselves with Map of the Soul: 7. 

On April 12, 2019, Map of the Soul: Persona was released, with various influences from philosophy (microcosms), Greek mythology (Dionysus), and psychology (the book Jung’s Map of the Soul, as shown by the title of the album). The day prior to the album’s release, 3.07 million copies of it had been preordered, and upon debut, it made BTS the first band since the Beatles to have three number-one albums in under a year.  

Their first pre-release single, “Black Swan,” was made available for download and streaming on January 17, 2020. The song discusses the band’s fear of losing their passion for music, with lyrics such as “the heart no longer races when the music starts to play” and “if this can no longer resonate, no longer make my heart flutter, then perhaps this is how I die my first death.” The latter is a reference to a quote by Martha Graham: “A dancer dies twice — once when they stop dancing, and this first death is the more painful.” 

Their fourth full-length album, titled Map of the Soul: 7 (in honor of the seven members of the group and their seventh anniversary together), was released on February 21, 2020. The album was meant as a final sendoff before Seokjin’s enlistment into the military, which was later postponed due to the pandemic. It topped IFPI’s Global Album Sales Chart and Oricon’s mid-year Album Chart ranking, making them the first foreign artists since Michael Jackson to do so. It also became the first album to be certified as Quadruple Million by Gaon. 

BTS’ first English single, “Dynamite,” was released on August 21, 2020, and is likely the song you’re most familiar with. The song was intended to uplift the public during the rough pandemic, and it quickly blew up. “Dynamite” got them their first Grammy nomination, helped them achieve a Daesang sweep (when all Daesangs are won by the same artist), spent 32 consecutive weeks on the Hot 100 chart, collected 7.78 million streams on the first day, and at one point was the most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours (though this record was later surpassed by their own song, “Butter”). 

BE, released November 20, 2020, was an album released to help those struggling with the sudden pandemic. “Dynamite,” initially an independent single, was included as the eighth track on the album. With this album, they became the only artists apart from Taylor Swift to debut at number one on the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 simultaneously. It also made them the fastest group to have five number-one albums since the Beatles. “Life Goes On,” the album’s title track, became the first non-English song to debut at the top spot on the chart. The album also claimed the second spot on IFPI’s Global Album Sales Chart for 2020, making them the only artist to have multiple albums listed. 

“Butter,” the group’s second English single, was released on May 20, 2021. Meant to be a fun summer song aiming to be easy to listen to, it quickly became a hit, with over 108 million views in its first 24 hours and ten consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Not to mention it still holds the record for the most-viewed music video in the first 24 hours. 

“Permission to Dance,” released on July 9 (a.k.a. ‘ARMY Day’), celebrates diversity as well as uplifts spirits. The song features an optimistic message of hope and encourages listeners to let go of their worries and dance. Like “Butter,” “Permission to Dance” was also released in English, signaling the group’s continued efforts to connect with their global fanbase. While its performance on the charts was not as impressive as “Dynamite” or “Butter,” it still managed to debut atop the Hot 100 chart. 

Their most recent whole-group album, Proof, was released three days prior to their 9th anniversary as a group on June 10, 2022. The album includes a re-recorded version of their unofficial 2013 song “Born Singer” (based on “Born Sinner” by J. Cole, which was included with his permission), five new tracks (two of which are only available on a physical copy of the album), the solo and sub-unit songs the members picked themselves, all their title tracks, and eleven demos (also exclusive to the physical album). The album sold two million copies on its release day alone and peaked at number 1 in eighteen countries. 

BTS’ discography is a testament to their artistic vision, creativity, and dedication. Over the years, they’ve continued to push boundaries and break records, setting new standards for what a K-pop group can achieve. And although the rest of them will be entering the military shortly, they are not done for good. There’s a high chance of a comeback in 2025, and there will be updates posted throughout the next few years.