[triplecie]

In the US, it's kinda taboo for guys to listen to boy bands or girl groups, or even pop music in general. In fact, the only guys I've seen listening to pop when I was in high school were asian boys. They seemed to be able to listen to the Backstreet Boys without any sort of fear of teasing.

However, when I read about KPop, all I hear about are groups like TVXQ and singers like Rain, etc. At their concerts it seems to be all girls. Is it socially acceptable for guys to listen to this type of music? If not, what do guys in Korea/Asia listen to?

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Update:

Thanks for all of your responses! To be clear, I'm not asking to justify my own musical tastes. I'm actually a student of communication and east asian studies... not to make people feel like a "subject." But it's interesting to see what's acceptable and what isn't.

It seems as though more hip-hop intense music is the norm. Girl groups are OK, but mainly under the guise of thinking their "hot." These distinctions aren't too dissimilar from the U.S. norms, though there seems to be more room for guys to like a particular boy band song (as long as they aren't fans of the guys themselves).

But what about the male artists (Rain, Se7en, etc) who seem to have nearly only female fans but often produce very masculine music. Se7en's "Crazy" or Rain's "I'm Coming," for example, strike me as songs geared toward male audiences. This goes for many of Se7en's songs. Do guys listen to these artists regularly? Is it more the case that guys may not like the artist but might embrace particular songs (like guys have seemed to embrace SexyBack by Justin Timberlake, who has mostly female fans)? Are these artists considered 'neutral' but have more diehard female fans? Or do guys tend to reject these artists all together?

Thanks again!

[saraluv7]

Most guys like YangPa.
Some of my guy friends listen to DongBanShinki as well... or various artists, it all depends on who it is...
Every guy's different, you can't generalize and say that most guys listen or doesn't listen to DBSK or guy groups...
If somebody thinks that they are pretty "gay", others find it pleasant to listen to. Oh! and do you know guys are really
into BaeSulKI? I was like what??? sometimes they just make you wonder where they are coming from...

[saltnpepper]

in korea, a lot of girls' generation fans are guys xP
whenever they have fan meetings or fan signings, there are a lot of guys there..

[corazoncomplicando]

i know that csjh have a lot of guy fans =) depends actually. my younger brother listens to dbsk (half the time cuz i force him too) lol. but he thinks they're alright. he thinks black beat is the jjang though.

[o-cha]

I think it also dependes on age...
A good friend of mine listen to Kim Gun Mo, Lee Seung Chul, and Koyote among many others (although I know he doesn't listen to boybands).

[b1234]

I'm not sure, but Wonder Girls are well-liked by guys I think

[miss scarlett]

My brother isn't a particular a fan of them, but he does listen to CSJH and SNSD. He loves Epik High, lol.
And amazingly, my brother also enjoys Super Junior. Many guys like Suju actually. I have a handful of male friends who are as fangirlyboyly as me when it comes to Super Junior, which is quite scary. They also like Big Bang; not really DBSK.
Wonder Girls, SNSD, CSJH, Yangpa are really popular amongst guys.

[chocopocky]

I know a lot of guys who are into GIRL bands.

[snail.]

Maybe Big Bang, Epik High, Drunken Tiger, Dynamic Duo, Clazziquai, Seo Taiji, stuff like that. I don't know. But girls band attract lots of male fans haha.

[seoulkid]

me and my circle of korean male friends listen to everyone in THE MOVEMENT

thats basically all the hip-hop guys .... DrunkenTiger,DynamicDuo,EpikHigh,Leessang etc etc

but we secretly listen to wonder girls, snsd, brown eyed girls, csjh

but

we openly watch them , purely for the eye candy

if we catch some1 listnin to dbsk or them other boybands we quick to point the kool-aidg0t finger

i think we can just about turn a blind eye to big bang

[love-yun]

yeah most of the guys i know are into the movement
(drunken tiger, epik high, dynamic duo)

some like rock... buzz, nell, jaurim
a lot like younha, sg wannabe and oldschool stuff like jinusean & 1tym

[x0_saturn_0x]

One of guy friend loves to listen to Kim Jong Kook, DBSK, Suju... and I'm gonna take a guess that he'd like Big Bang too.

Another one of my guy friends loves to listen to se7en =D

[elevatormusic]

i have a couple guy friends who are into bigbang.
i'm very proud of them :D

but in my area, most of the guys only listen to american music, except fobs.

[PH4T]

I have a friend who's deeply fond of girl groups or solos.
Such as Girls' Generation, Boa, Hyori and etc.

It's different for every guy though.
He also listens to Big Bang and DBSG (not as much as Big Bang though )

[pandadeath]

I've seen a lot of male member 411s stating they like Big Bang... ^^;

[STAR_x.]

Guys like female artists lol.
Girls like BSG, YangPa, & etc have a lot of male fans.

[cutesmile]

it's your choice . You can like the group or not ^^
i think... many guys listen DBSK to ... If you don't like kpop you can try krap =D or visual kei or jrock ..

[goongS-girl]

Hmmm...I think it all just depends on the type of music the guys likes listening to.

I don't think sex matters, if that singer has a good song then WHY NOT listen to it??

Both my brothers have heard TVXQ and yea they make fun of me sometimes, but they don't BASH TVXQ, they just make fun of the fact that I listen to them 24/7.

My older brother likes Tri-Angle and he's 20. And my little brother likes "O". So I'm guessing more of the upbeat songs are what gets guys....just my opinion...I guess I won't ever really know since I'm not a guy...lol

[13miracles]

My friends ----------------> Wonder girls lol
No surprise their ringtone is tell me haha
But they like Epik high and BB as well
I think you know why
and 1 of my friend said he like to liten to classic music

[aircastles]

It depends on the type of music they listen to. Although, most of them like the girlbands for the eyecandy and enjoy listening to the Movement. (Y'know, hip hop - Drunken Tiger, Leessang, Dynamic Duo, Epik High, etc)

Some may also like Seo Taiji and the likes. Yes, you can't forget about him.

Clazziquai and Jaurim can also be something they listen to.