Since the start of The Bias List in January 2016, I’ve always looked back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists each month. Now, it’s time to look even further into the past, one month at a time. And, yes, the top three rankings count toward The Bias List’s personal artist scorecard!
October 2012 Overall Thoughts
Guys… October 2012 was so good. I mean, obviously my top three picks are outstanding, but the month was full of plenty more singles that could easily challenge them. It’s a diverse collection that includes idol groups, soloists and bands — along with a few notable debuts.
October saw the first music from K-Pop Star alums Lee Hi and 15&, as well as the debut of short-lived (and hugely underrated) acts Toxic, Wonder Boyz and Excite. It marked the grand return of Epik High, releasing their first work under YG Entertainment, as well as the first promoted work from soloist Gain since 2010. In my opinion, each of these veteran acts released the best singles of their career.
Other big name comebacks arrived courtesy of Ailee, AOA, B.A.P, EXID, HyunA and miss A. All were great singles, and they joined follow-up tracks by BTOB and Nu’est to make a real standout month.
Not to be outdone, SM Entertainment also threw their hat into the ring in an unpredictable way. Before there was SuperM, the agency gave us Younique Unit, consisting of Eunhyuk, Hyoyeon, Taemin, Henry, Kai and Luhan. They delivered the dubstep madness of Maxstep, which is very much a product of its time. It’s an outstanding encapsulation of the over-the-top SM Performance style, even if there’s not much of an actual song to be found.
Honorable Mentions
Ailee – I’ll Show You (video)
AOA – Get Out (video)
B.A.P – Stop It (video)
BTOB – Lover Boy (video)
Epik High – Up (ft. Park Bom) (video)
Excite – Try Again (video)
EXID – Every Night (video)
Gain – Bloom (video)
HyunA – Ice Cream (ft. Maboos) (video)
Lee Hi – 1.2.3.4 (review)
Miss A – I Don’t Need A Man (review)
Nu’est – Sandy (video)
Seo In Young – Let’s Dance (video)
Toxic – Lonely (video)
Wonder Boyz – Open The Door (video)
Younique Unit – Maxstep (video)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Don’t Forge Me is SOOO underrated. I’m glad it’s number one!
LikeLike
Just gotta say that this is one of my favorite typos ever. I so want to hear what “Don’t Forge Me” would sound like!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Looking Back: The Top Three K-Pop Songs of October 2012 | Rap Star Media
I also have on my list for this month the best Block B B-side ever “Mental Breaker”. There is a fan made video or three, and a whole swath of jumpy concert phone videos as it was/is a mainstay of their live performance. I picked the one below because the audio is better than most.
1) First of all, stylist? what stylist? did they lose their luggage? Were the matchy matchy velvet suits they wear elsewhere on the tour at the cleaners? Whatev, lets just rock out in our own clothes. Is anyone having any less fun? No! Its all good.
2) Dance is danceable and they can sing while dancing without much backing track.
3) But MOST of all, Taeil doing something we don’t hear much anywhere else: harmonizing with his own backing track. So awesome. Hear it for the first time at 0:44 and 1:50 in this video. The lower line is Taeil on the backing track. The higher descant line in falsetto is Taeil singing a melody that isn’t on the backing track or on the recorded track at all.
4) PO’s rap at about 2:40-2:45 on the recorded track also does some cool old skool things with left ear-right ear echo BTW.
5) Also, Nick, it is old songs like this that made us all call Zico an awesome songwriter. The seamless quasi-sung into sung into rap verses, with actual hooks, and a kicking bass line. Recent songs, notsomuch.
Live version
Recorded version
LikeLike
Mental Breaker might actually be my favorite Block B song ever. It’s a shame they never really returned to its sound (or that Zico never wrote similar material for other groups).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah that Girl’s Day’s song… It’s been eight years and it still is one of the best girl group songs I’ve ever heard…
Will you ever do a 2010 ver. of this list sometime in the future? There are TONS of great songs released that year, SHINee’s Lucifer and After School’s Shampoo being my absolute faves!
LikeLike