The Story of TURBO
Turbo (터보) is a one of 90's Kpop Groups which debuted in 1995. Turbo was originally a two member group (or usually called a duo group) when they first started, with Kim Jung Nam (김정남) and Kim Jong Kook (김종국) as the members. The group debuted under GM Agency.
Turbo debuted with their first single called 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) in 1995, from their first album called 280km/h Speed. In the same year, they made other comebacks with 검은 고양이 (The Black Cat) and 선택 (Choices) which made them labeled as Dance Music's Scary Kids, in words, for rising in popularity.
A year later, Turbo made their return with their second album called New Sensation, which amazingly, was sold for 800,000 copies within the first two months for reaffirming their popularity. In this album, they had three singles (just like from their first one) called Twist King, Love Is... (3+3=0) and 어느 째즈바 (At the Jazz Bar). After finishing the promotion of their second album, Turbo was firmly entrenched as a premier dance group, however, the status did not last long for some reasons.
Turbo went into seclusion with their management because they had problems with them. Because of these problems, police were brought to investigate their whereabouts because their hiding place was so effective that they could not find them. Due to this incident, they faced breakup.
Due to the public who wanted Turbo to return, only one member got to return, and it was Kim Jong Kook. Jung Nam left the group because he was unable to reconcile his differences with the management, who later, in 1999, joined a five member group called SNAP.
Ever since Jung Nam left the group, Jong Kook had to look for a new member, who was found in California, U.S.A. This new member had a dream of becoming a singer ever since watching Seo Taiji and Boys. Eventually, he was able to return to South Korea by himself in May 1997 by holding his dream. Two months later, among 3,500 other hopefuls, he auditioned for Turbo and gained the spot.
Jong Kook was the one who insisted him to join the group by saying, "Turbo was supposed to be a talented group!" He also was chosen because of his rapping skills and abilities on speaking English. And he was non other than Mikey himself.
Turbo returned to the gayo world in October 1997 with their third album called Born Again... with the addition of Mikey. They also took back the dance music title by performing 회상 (Reminiscence) (or sometimes called December), 금지된 장난 (Forbidden Games) and also Goodbye, Yesterday.
회상 (Reminiscence) was composed by Yoon Il Sang and sold for 1,200,000 copies, which won in many TV Show Most Notably SBS Inkigayo First Episode. During this time, the group was offered to sing a duet with Will Smith (American singer and movie star), who had just launched his fourth single called Just the Two of Us (which originally sang by Bill Withers). Smith said that he wanted to make an Asian version of the song and picked them because of their music abilities and unique style.
Jong Kook injured his hip while preparing their fourth album, so that their album release was held up. Luckily, in 1998, the album came to be released with Perfect Love as the title, which the group ventured into different types of music, such as Latin, Techno, R&B, Hip Hop, and Ballad.
The single from the album was called 애인이 생겼어요 (I Got a Girlfriend). It was described as a fresh and comical change for the group themselves. The following single was called X: The Greatest Love which had a more traditional Turbo style, and also showed that they were still going strong. They also got voted as one of the best artists of 1998 because of the song.
Yet again, Turbo faced breakup.
On December 30th, 1998, where Turbo was invited to participate in the Asia Superconcert (a concert that broadcast live to South Korea, China and Japan) to represent South Korea alongside with H.O.T, S.E.S, Fin.K.L, Clon, and Sechskies, and also singers from all over Asia like Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan were included, Jong Kook protested his role in the concert by not performing his part and leaving without bowing due to the arguments with the management before the concert.
This rude behaviour was heavily criticised by many who watched the live of KBS 1TV Broadcast, including top politicians. Because of this incident, both Jong Kook and Turbo were banned from appearing on TV.
Within four months after the incident, Turbo returned with their fifth album entitled Email My Heart (the ban was reluctantly lifted in October 1999). They also requested the help of Korea's top musicians and composers like Yoon Il Sang, Joo Young Hoon and Ahn Jung Hoon because they wanted to raise their music level.
Turbo's new single was called Cyber Lover and described as not only an exciting song, but also provided an entertaining look at today's internet based society. They also included a special ticket in 2000 of their albums to celebrate milleniumly. With it, the winners guaranteed a copy of Turbo's new albums henceforth.
The music video of their following up song which was called Tonight gained much popularity and regarded as one of the years best music videos, on the other hand, the album was a success. Tonight music video was directed by Kim Sae Hoon (who also did the videos of To Heaven by Jo Sung Mo and Forever by Sky (Choi Jin Young), which starring Kim Jong Kook himself and talent Kim Min. It also was taken in Los Angeles and dramatizes gang violence in Korean Style typically.
However, both Tonight and Cyber Lover music videos were taken down of the air due to:
- The dramatization in Tonight music video was assumed to be too violent for TV broadcast
- The chat dialog in Cyber Lover music video was inappropriate
1. Turbo's Theme
2. 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Do You Wanna Funk Intro 삽입)
3. 소유할 수 없는 사랑
4. 검은 고양이 (The Black Cat)
5. 초상화 (Potrait)
6. 죄와 벌
7. 선택 (Choices)
8. 잿빛하루
9. 떠나가는 너
10. 나의 일기 (My Diary)
11. 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Acid House Mix)
12. 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Techno Mix)
13. 검은 고양이 (The Black Cat) (X-Mas Mix)
14. 두 아빠 (MBC-TV 홈드라마 주제곡)
15. 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Instrumental)
16. 죄와 벌 (Instrumental)
- 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) 11. 검은고양이 (The Black Cat)
- 노스트라다무스 (Nostradamus) 12. 선택 (Choices)
- 바람의 철학 13. 소유할 수 없는 사랑
- 스키장에서 (White Love) 14. 죄와 벌
- 회상 (Reminiscence/December) 15. Love Is... (3+3=0)
- Goodbye, Yesterday 16. Twist King
- 금지된 장난 (Forbidden Games) 17. 어느 째즈바 (A Jazz Bar)
- Always 18. 상처 (Hurt)
- Hi Energy Style
- Only Seventeen
- X: The Greatest Love 11. Honeymoon
- Easy Love 12. Love Forever
- 내사랑 내곁에 (My Love by My Side) 13. California
- 후회없는 사랑 (Unregretful Love) 14. Cyber Lover
- 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Acid House Remix) 15. Tonight
- 나 어릴적 꿈 (My Childhood Dream) (Techno Remix) 16. D.D.R (Double Date Revolution)
- 검은고양이 (The Black Cat) (X-Mas Remix) 17. Paradoxx
- 생일 축하곡 (Happy Birthday Song) (Acid House Mix)
- Last Christmas Pop Dance Version
- 애인이 생겼어요 (True Love)
- 뜨거운 설탕 (Hot Sugar)
- Paradise
- 그림배경 (Background)
- 남자답게 (Like a Man)
- 뜨거운 설탕 (Hot Sugar) (Instrumental)
- Paradise (Instrumental)
1. 허니문 (Honeymoon) (Techno Mix) 11. 우리들의 천국
Twist King
금지된 장난 (Forbidden Games)
회상 (Reminiscence/December)
X: The Greatest Love
스키장에서 (White Love)
Tonight
Cyber Lover
다시 (Again) [feat. Yoo Jae Seok]
숨바꼭질 (Hide and Seek)
- He was an original member until his departure in 1997
- He became widely known as a legendary dancing machine because of his popping
- He is a former member of short-lived group, SNAP
- He appeared in dramas, Yeonnam-dong 359 and Black Knight: The Man Who Guards Me
- He was born in Hapcheon, South Korea
- Education: Dankook University
- He has an older brother
- He was an original member, along with Jungnam
- He debuted as a soloist in 2001
- He gained worldwide popularity as a member of Running Man
- He was a vocalist of a band in high school
- He starred in a drama, The Producers
- He moved to the US when he was 6
- He has a younger brother
- In 1997, he returned to South Korea to become an idol
- He joined Turbo following Jungnam's departure in 1997
- Along with 3,500 others, he auditioned for a position in Turbo only two months after returning to Korea. The two finalists for the position were Mikey and a person picked for his visuals. Jongkook insisted that Mikey joined the group, saying, "Turbo supposed to be a talented group!"
- He was a former member of M3
- He originally wanted to make hip hop music
- At one point during his training days, Mikey was homeless and slept on building staircases
- He worked as an insurance agent in California before Turbo returned in 2015
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