Artist of the Week: HOT

Here is the Artist of the Week! Posted on Wednesdays as something to get you through the rest of the week~

This week’s artist is…

H.O.T.

It’s only right that I start off this new segment with the group that got me into Kpop in the first place!

H.O.T., which stands for Highfive of Teenagers, is one of the legendary Kpop bands. They were formed in 1996 by SM Entertainment and disbanded in 2001.

Members included:

Moon Hee Jun: The Leader

Birthday: March 14, 1978

Current: Toy

Jang Woo Hyuk: The Rapper

Birthday: May 8, 1978

Current: Time is [L]over

Kangta: Main Vocals

Birthday: October 10, 1979

Current: Breaka Shaka

Tony Ahn: English Rapper

Birthday: June 7, 1978

Current: Top Star

Lee Jae Won: Maknae

Birthday: April 5, 1980

Current: I’m So Hot

These guys deserve to be legends. Towards the end, before they disbanded, they were writing their own music. And you can’t forget their dedication. Once, leader Moon Hee Jun badly injured himself at a previous concert… but he refused to go to the hospital because he wanted to put on the last concert of 1999 with the rest of the group. Even though he couldn’t dance, he still did it. (I’m pretty sure SM Entertainment pressured him to go on since IMO they’re a horrible selfish company, but you can’t deny Hee Jun’s strength.)

Here are my favorite songs by them.

Natural Born Killer is an angry-sounding song and Candy is a cute happy song.

Two more to check out is Iyah! (another angry-sounding song written for the children that died in a school fire due to neglect) and Outside Castle.

After HOT disbanded, Kangta and Hee-jun went solo. Jang Woo Hyuk, Tony An, and Lee Jae Won created a group call JTL, which disbanded in 2003 (probably because SM Entertainment made things hard for them by blocking their TV appearances and such… just out of spite since they didn’t renew their contracts with SM Entertainment).

Where are they now? Well Kangta is over in Taiwan making music, Jang Woo Hyuk just released a new album in 2011, Moon Hee-jun is a solo rock artist, Jae Won is over in China making music, and Tony An came out with a mini album around spring 2011.