Artist of the week - MC The Max

PROFILES:
E-soo (vocal & guitar)
Date of Birth : April 22nd, 1982
Height : 177cm
Weight : 59kg

J. Yoon (violin & bass guitar)
Date of Birth : June 13th, 1982
Height : 175cm
Weight : 55kg

Jeon Min-hyuk (drums)
Date of Birth : September 27th, 1983년
Height : 174cm
Weight : 50kg

BIOGRAPHY
Our featured artist this week is my favorite rock ballad group MC The Max. They started out as Moonchild, a four-member group. In 2002, 3 of the members formed MC The Max, specializing in rock ballads with a heavy Japanese influence. Their first hit "A Brief Goodbye" was a remake of a classic X-Japan song "Tears" (you may remember this song from Jang Hyuk and Jeon Ji Hyun’s movie "Windstruck"). For their 2nd album, they invited famous Japanese singer songwriter Kouji Tamaki (from the legendary group "Safety Zone") to write their title song "Time of Love". This song became their first No. 1 song.

From their 2nd album onwards, MC The Max also collobrated with Kohmi Hirose, a female Japanese singer songwriter. Hirose has written many hit songs for MC The Max over the years, including "You Make Me Cry", "Don’t Be Happy", "Sunflower Sometimes Have Neck Pain", and "Love After the Pain". Hirose also remade the song "Don’t Be Happy" on her own album after MC The Max made this song famous.

Since their 2nd album, all the title songs from MC The Max’s studio albums have reached No. 1 on the music chart, an accomplishment that can only be matched by top artistes. Yet, they are still not considered very popular. One of the reasons is that MC The Max usually release their albums in November or December – the winter months fit their sad love songs the best. The songs usually reached No. 1 in January. However, this timing did not work well with all the year end awards taking place in December. That’s why MC The Max have not been nominated to many year-end awards despite the popularity of their songs.

In 2005, MC The Max also released a remake album in the summer. This album is a salute to lengendary Korean singer Cho Yong Pil. The title song "Goodbye in the Memory" also hit the top 10. This year, MC The Max participated on a project album "Somewhere Over The Rainbow Vol. 2", with the hit song "Searching for Love", producing yet another top 10 hit. They are certainly an underrated group that deserve more attention.

There is no words yet whether they will release their 5th studio album this winter. But based on the previous release patterns, fans are expecting to see MC The Max performing on stage again with their new songs this Winter.

DISCOGRAPHY
Vol. 1, 2002 – A Brief Goodbye, My Last Breath, I Want To Fall In Love

Vol. 2: Love is Time Sixth Sense, 2003 – Time of Love, You Make Me Cry, Sixth Sense

Vol. 3: Solitude Love, 2004 – Don’t Be Happy, I Believe in Love, Sunflower Sometimes Have Neck Pain

Remake Album: Memory Traveler, 2005 – Goodbye In The Memory

Vol. 4: The Rusted Love, 2005 – Love After The Pain, Inconvenience

Project album: Somewhere Over The Rainbow Vol. 2, 2006 – Searching for Love

credits: edward1849