The Music That Made Me - Taehun Lee

As part of a new series, someone will be sharing their life through the music that shaped them. This week, we talked to guitarist - Taehun Lee.

Taehun Lee is a maestro. Between his work as frontperson of Cadejo, his work with Hellivision, Bek Hyunjin, his solo work, and many more, Taehun Lee has distinguished himself as one of Seoul’s most innovative guitarists. Here, he shares his musical journey through the songs that shaped his life.

First album I ever bought 내 인생을 바꾼 노래

Jaurim - Purple Heart

I was about 12, and I was collecting basketball trading cards at the time. In the same building where the card shop was, there was a small record shop. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, but I remember the place playing music that I never heard before. As I started going there, Jaurim's Hey Hey Hey became a huge hit. I was already playing guitar, so the band's music greatly appealed to me. One day I got to visit the record shop and it was playing Jaurim sounding music. I asked the manager what it was, and he said it was Jaurim's Purple Heart. I saved up for a couple of weeks and bought the cassette. It didn't have Hey Hey Hey, but the album was filled with adolescent daydream images. It clicked with me and really made me think about playing in bands.

The song that changed my life / 내 인생을 바꾼 노래

D'angelo - Untitled

In college, I was mostly a classic rock guy. Blues was a strong influence, but I wouldn't play much other than Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Then one day I was riding in my friend's car, my friend put on a D'angelo album. I knew who D'angelo was, but it wasn't rocking enough for me at the time. But that all changed when the guitar riff of Untitled came on. After that, I started listening to more of his music and realized that his music was right off of 70's R&B soul references. That changed my whole perspective of music. Playing classic rock was for more selfish reasons, but acknowledging music can make people move for hours really made me think about what music is really about. Also, it's that laid-back feel that made me see that dynamic makes the groove.

A song that reminds me of my childhood / 어린 시절을 떠올리게 하는 노래

Metallica - Enter Sandman

It was the first non-pop song I listened to willingly. A friend in school brought his older brother's cassette player and let me listen to a Metallica compilation. I didn't understand a word, but it was also the opening guitar lick and drive in the later part of the song that made me listen to it for hours. I ended up borrowing that tape and copied it onto my English teaching aid tape. In fact I made quite a bit of copies on those English tapes, my mom thought I was interested in English. Sorry mom. I got to speak it anyhow, so it's all good.

The song that made me want to make music / 음악을 하고 싶게 만든 노래

Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You

It was the first song that I copied from top to bottom. I had a small TV/video that I bought at the second-hand shop. I fell in love with the song after I watched The Song Rates the Same movie. The live version of the totally blew me away and I was obsessed with the song. It literally got me up in the middle of the night practising the song. I still remember the moment when I played the entire solo section without a pause. The sense of achievement I felt was like nothing else, and music became much more serious from that point on.

The first song I fell in love with / 제가 처음 사랑에 빠진 노래

X-Japan - Kurenai

I was a huge J-rock fan in middle school. It was the only counterculture that I had at the moment, and the hype around the band was still valid. Hide had just passed away, and tributes were everywhere. When I found the Blue Blood album and Kurenai on the album, I immediately fell in love. I couldn't play any of the riffs at the time, but it was cathartic just listening to it. I printed out a tablature score of the song and brought it around everywhere. It took me a whole year to play through the whole thing, but it was the first love experience.

The last album that blew my mind / 내 마음을 사로잡은 마지막 앨범

Promises - Pharoah Sanders & Floating points

I'm always leaning towards classics than today's hits. Naturally, writing one is always on my mind, so when I heard the album, I soon realized that it would become a classic. The repeating harpsichord figure sounds like it stays the same through the movements, but it's ever so changing as if it's got a mind of its own. The arrangement and saxophone breaks are in places that seem to have existed for a long time, and the saxophone master doesn't need that many notes to share his experience in this world. It showed me everything I wanted to become in one album. It immediately became a reference that I use in my music.

The first gig I went to / 가 처음 갔던 콘서트

My highschool friend was in a band called Suffokate. He was the first one of us to play at an actual venue, so we all went to support. It was dark, loud, and disorienting, but also fun as things seemed to be totally different from anything I've seen before.

The song I want to be played at my funeral / 내 장례식에서 연주되고 싶은 노래

King Crimson - Starless

I'm not much of a prog guy, but something about King Crimson makes me deal with long play time. I think it's the dogmatic images and lyrics… Actually it's Robert Fripp playing all these riff that would end up influencing Tool and all others who play odd meters and heretic lyrics. What better place to be a heretic than at your own funeral.

The song I will never get bored of / 절대 질리지 않는 노래

All RATM songs

Possibly the most-played artist on my playlist. Listening to Tom Morello makes me rethink my music. He never writes a line that's not rocking. All his lines are in full-throttle always. Their Pinkpop concert in 1993 was my background music for the longest time. I felt like I could almost run over a wall while listening to it.

A song I wish I had written / 가 썼으면 좋았을 노래

The Beatles - Here, there, and everywhere

These days, I'm interested in writing music that simply sounds good without worrying about genre or references. The Beatles have their way of presenting the songs in the most effortless manner. Some songs sound like an old folk tune that's been sung forever. The more I look into their songs, the more I realise they were modern English folk singers. Wish I could become one one day.

A song that makes me cry / 나를 울게 만드는 노래

Nina Simone - Feelings

At her performance in Montreux, she succeeded in breaking a boundary between speech and singing. Often, the most emotional singing resembles speech, and Nina Simone, being the master performer, found a way to integrate her dishearted self into artistic adventure, which ended up as one of the most memorable moments in her career. Her rants about humanity acting as robots seem to be a gimmick at first, but as the performance continues, it quickly becomes a social commentary. Her talking sounds like singing and vice versa, creating an illusion that you are talking to her in person. I haven't heard any other medium to convey emotion more compelling than this.

One song that you have made that has significant emotional meaning / 자신이 만든 곡 중 감정적으로 중요한 의미가 있는 곡을 하나만 선택하세요

Taehun Lee - Solace
이태훈 - 위로

I wanted to write a melody in which people could use their own words. I believe that people talk to each other in an effort to comfort. What better way to do it than putting a melody to it?