Deli Spice

Kim Min Kyu

Date of Birth: 1971/11/29
Debut: Chow Chow (1997, 1st album)
Hobbies: watching DVDs, taking care of the animals

Yoon Joon Ho

Date of Birth: 1970/10/21
Debut: Chow Chow (1997, 1st album)
Hobbies: Taking walks with “Mooming”

Choi Jae Hyuk

Date of Birth: 1975/04/01
Debut: Chow Chow (1997, 1st album)
Hobbies: “drinking, reading, thinking, loving”

Deli Spice is doing Modern Rock which gained popularity around Great Britain in the 1990’s. While most rock bands in the 1990’s in Korea were interested in Punk Rock, Deli Spice dared to do Modern Rock which was initially strange to Koreans. In general musicians agree that in Korea modern rock began in 1997 when Deli Spice debuted.

All members of Deli Spice were recruited through the PC communication community called HITEL. They composed a song and posted it to the community. Their songs were supported enormously by people in the community, and the group eventually performed at a club called Freebird in the Hong-ik Univerity area. After Deli Spice became popular online, internet has often been used as a pathway through which musicians debut, being independent of other mass media such as television or radio.

The most important aspect that Deli Spice brings to Korean pop music is its musical ability. In the late 1990’s when Deli Spice debuted, there were two main waves in Korean music. The mainstream was dance which Idol stars such as H.O.T created, and the underground scene was predominantly Punk rock.

However, Deli Spice in the late 1990’s was neither; it wasn’t contemporary rock with outstanding playing techniques and powerful vocals, and it was obviously not dance. With repetitive and easy melody and simple lyrics, Deli Spice attracted the young generation of Korea. It created a third area between dance music, which was major, and Punk rock, which was minor. It is for this reason that Deli Spice is considered to be crucial in Korean pop music.
The leader of Deli Spice, Kim Min-kyu, said that he had formed Deli Spice because he wanted to make rock easier and more comfortable. It has been almost 10 years since they debuted in 1997. Today Deli Spice is still an underground rock band representing Korean-styled modern rock. Their music, however, transcends the minor rock mania community and forms a huge fan base; in this sense, they are indeed a unique rock band that reaches both the mainstream and underground scenes. · close