015B
A group that put songs forward instead of faces. Two brothers behind the stage wrote the music, while a different voice always stood out front.
At a glance 🔭💭
Some coordinates adapted from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) · Pleiades (CC BY 3.0)
People alongside ⏳🌊
- FriendshipShin Hae-chul
He was Muhan Gwedo's vocalist. When he went solo, the remaining players went on to form 015B.
- MemberJang Ho-il
Jung Suk-won's older brother. He quit his job at an advertising agency to throw himself into music, and he has kept the group going ever since.
- MemberJung Suk-won
A Muhan Gwedo alumnus and the composer who wrote most of 015B's songs. He is known as the one who brought in Yoon Jong-shin as a guest vocalist.
- FriendshipYoon Jong-shin
The first guest vocalist, who sang the debut song. He returned for the sixth album and for recordings in 2011 and 2021, and his Monthly Yoon Jong-shin inspired Monthly 015B.
- MemberCho Hyung-gon
The original bassist, from Muhan Gwedo, he played through the fourth album and died in 2020.
- Guest singersKim Don-kyu
The guest vocalist who sang "Love of the New Human Race," the song that won 015B a Golden Cup on Gayo Top 10.
I. Those left behind by Infinite Track · 1988–1990
(Beginnings) In July 1990, in Seoul, South Korea, the group debuted with its first album, "015B," released through Jigu Records. The name is read "gong-il-o-bi." Its roots go back two years earlier, to the 1988 MBC University Song Festival. That year the grand prize went to the band Infinite Track for "To You," and among its members were Jung Suk-won, Cho Hyung-gon and Cho Hyun-chan. The vocalist was Shin Hae-chul. (Crossroads) After the grand prize, the record label put Shin Hae-chul's solo career first. Shin released a solo album in 1990 and in 1992 formed N.EX.T, going his own way. Among the players left behind, there was talk of putting out a single album as a keepsake. Jang Ho-il later recalled in an interview that the members did not see music as their life's work at the time, and that most of them were headed for ordinary office jobs. (Brothers) Then Jung Suk-won's older brother, Jang Ho-il, joined. Jang Ho-il's real name is Jung Ki-won. He has said that he took the stage name Jang Ho-il to hide his musical activities while working at an advertising agency. With two brothers from Seoul National University and bassist Cho Hyung-gon from Yonsei University's civil engineering department, the group was from the start less a band of professional singers than a circle of college students who loved music. (Guest singers) Since it was meant to be a one-off album, there was no reason to keep a resident vocalist. They decided to bring in, from outside, whatever voice suited each song. This practical choice would later be remembered as Korean popular music's guest-singer system.
II. A voice on the empty street · 1990–1991
(Yoon Jong-shin) The singer of the debut album's signature song, "On the Empty Street," was Yoon Jong-shin, an unknown college student. It was recorded in 1989. He came to an audition through a chain of introductions, and the story goes that Jung Suk-won insisted on bringing him in. The song became Yoon Jong-shin's debut. (Sleeper hit) The album did not take off right away. Only after several months did "On the Empty Street" begin to spread, and sales reached 200,000 to 300,000 copies. The label asked for another album, and "Goodbye Now" went on to win wide affection. Jang Ho-il said it was only around then that the brothers decided to make music their profession. After the success of "Goodbye Now," he quit the advertising agency. (Environment) The 2nd album, "Second Episode," released in July 1991, sold close to 600,000 copies. Its title track, "4210301," took a seven-digit number as its title and dealt with environmental destruction. In a pop market dominated by love songs, it was an attempt to sing head-on about a social problem. (Cassettes) This was an era when LPs and cassette tapes sold side by side. 015B's songs spread less through television stages than through Walkmans and radio, among college students and young city dwellers. In January 1992 the group also released a live album.
The song that saved a group that might have ended with a single keepsake album, and Yoon Jong-shin's debut. Thanks to this song, which caught on months late, the brothers made music their profession.
- A song recorded in 1989, in the group's amateur days. Its unpolished sound conveys the plain simplicity of campus music all the more directly.
- The arrangement, mixing synthesizer with band instruments, carries the grain of late-1980s synth-pop (popular music centered on electronic keyboard sounds).
- At twenty, Yoon Jong-shin's voice is thinner and clearer than it would later become. His unadorned, straight-reaching delivery meets the lonely mood of the city.
- The 2021 remake revived even the original's instruments and noise. Heard side by side, the two recordings let you hear a distance of 31 years.
The 2nd album's title track took on environmental destruction head-on in a market dominated by love songs. It reveals the social awareness of a group that began as a circle of college students.
- Even the title, a seven-digit number, is tossed out like a riddle. The stories surrounding this number kept the song in conversation for years.
- The lyrics' mode of address is closer to questioning and warning every listener than to whispering to a lover.
- A rare song of social criticism for Korean pop of its day. Heard alongside the early-1990s surge of interest in environmental issues, its context comes into view.
III. A million copies of urban feeling · 1992–1993
(Heyday) In August 1992 the group moved to Daeyoung A/V and released its 3rd album, "The Third Wave." For the first time it passed 1 million copies. "Very Old Couples," sung by Kim Tae-woo, drew wide sympathy with its matter-of-fact portrait of the weariness between longtime lovers, and the album also included "If We Let Each Other Pass Like This," a duet by Yoon Jong-shin and Park Sun-joo. The album is also regarded as a turning point that brought house music into Korean pop. While Seo Taiji and Boys, who debuted the same year, captivated teenagers with rap and dance, 015B sang of city life in one's twenties with a polished, synthesizer-honed sound. (Mystique) The brothers almost never appeared on television. Even when they took No. 1 on the chart shows, only the guest singers stood on stage. Having the people who wrote and arranged the songs stay off-screen was unfamiliar at the time, and being a group whose faces no one knew only heightened curiosity. (Golden Cup) The 4th album, "The Fourth Movement," released in August 1993, also passed 1 million copies. "Love of the New Humans," sung by Kim Don-kyu, held No. 1 on KBS's "Gayo Top 10" for 5 consecutive weeks and won the Golden Cup. That year 015B received the Singer of the Year award at the KBS Music Awards, and with the 3rd and 4th albums took a Golden Disc Album Bonsang 2 years running. The album also carried songs that poked fun at a generation, such as "Kids These Days Have No Manners," sung by Yoon Jong-shin. (Royalties) Yet little of the money actually reached the brothers. Jang Ho-il recalled that their contract paid a fixed sum agreed in advance rather than royalties on sales, so they earned little relative to their hits.
The face of the first million-selling album, the 3rd. Its matter-of-fact portrait of the weariness of a long romance made it the song that symbolized love among city twentysomethings in the 1990s.
- Famous for its long intro. Fans still tell of how often it was sung in karaoke rooms to use up the remaining time.
- Kim Tae-woo's vocal never bursts with emotion but flows like everyday speech — a restrained delivery well suited to the theme of weariness.
- The arrangement lays a buoyant rhythm over synthesizers, so the loneliness of the lyrics and the brightness of the sound pull against each other. This crossing is counted as the song's particular charm.
- Its way of looking at both people's indifference, rather than blaming either one, set it apart from the love songs of the day.
The signature song of the 4th album, which earned 5 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on Gayo Top 10 and the Golden Cup. It is also known for Kim Don-kyu taking the No. 1 stage in place of the brothers.
- The "new humans" of the title was a term for the new generation of the time. The song depicts that generation's clumsy, cool-posing romances as if observing them.
- Kim Don-kyu's weighty, soft lower register is the heart of the song. It leans toward calm recitation rather than belting out high notes.
- The crisp drum machine (machine-programmed drum sounds) beat and layers of synthesizer show the polished texture of early-1990s Seoul pop.
- A case of reaching the top of the charts without the songwriters ever appearing on screen, it is talked about as the peak of the so-called mystique strategy.
IV. Remakes and the fin de siècle · 1994–1996
(Remakes) The 5th album, "Big 5," released in November 1994, became the group's third million-seller. Cho Yong-pil's "Bobbed Hair" was re-sung by Cho Sung-min, and Nami's "Sad Fate" by Kim Don-kyu. It is said that they originally meant to remake more songs but for various reasons included only two. The album is counted as part of the remake trend in mid-1990s Korean pop. "The Last Letter to You," sung by Lee Jang-woo, is also on this album. (Liner notes) In the 5th album's liner notes, Jung Suk-won wrote out in detail how each song was made. This was rare for a pop album, and today it is counted as a source that offers a glimpse into the group's creative process. Meanwhile, founding bassist Cho Hyung-gon, after staying through the 4th album, left the group to study at Berklee College of Music in the United States. (Monolith) In May 1996 the group moved to LG Media and released its 6th album, "The Sixth Sense." It was an experimental album on the theme of the fin de siècle. On "21st Century Monolith," Yoon Jong-shin sang under the pseudonym Shin Kyung-pil, followed by songs such as "Dictator" and "Bean Pod." Sales came to around 240,000 to 300,000 copies, falling short of the three albums before it. (Pause) With the 6th album, 015B ceased activity. Jang Ho-il went on as a broadcaster, and Jung Suk-won as a composer and producer, each on his own path.
A remake of Cho Yong-pil's 1979 song, sung anew in Cho Sung-min's voice. It shows the remake wave the 5th album stirred up in Korean pop.
- It keeps the original's familiar melody but recasts its rhythm and timbre in 1990s electronic sounds. You can hear how the same song changes clothes with the times.
- It became a song understood alike by the parents' generation, who knew the original, and the children's generation, who listened to 015B.
- Heard alongside the song-by-song working notes Jung Suk-won wrote in the 5th album's liner notes, the intent of the arrangement can be surmised.
The emblematic song of the 6th album, themed on the fin de siècle. Sales dropped, but the range of experiment was at its widest.
- Yoon Jong-shin sang under the pseudonym Shin Kyung-pil. The voice of the first album, in effect, returned on the last one with its name hidden.
- The monolith of the title recalls the black slab of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Anxiety and anticipation toward the coming new millennium are the song's mood.
- The electronic sounds are colder and the textures more intricate than on the earlier albums. The direction of the 6th album, which chose experiment over popular appeal, comes together in this song.
V. The long hiatus and the return · 1997–2012
(Hiatus) In 1995 Jang Ho-il formed a project band, Genie, with Shin Sung-woo and released records apart from the group. In 2001 015B produced singer Lee Ga-hee's debut album, which fans call the unofficial album 6.5. Meanwhile the market changed dramatically. Idol groups took over the chart shows, and in the 2000s MP3s and music download sites brought CD sales crashing down. (Tribute) In May 2006 “Final Fantasy,” a tribute album on which younger musicians covered 015B songs, came out in a limited run of 10,000 copies. That same month the group staged a comeback concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Olympic Park. The fans who had been college students in the 1990s were by then entering their thirties. (Lucky 7) In August 2006 came “Lucky 7,” the 7th studio album and the first in 10 years. It included the title track “How to Make Her Call” and “Lost for a While,” sung by Boni, and ranged across the sounds of the day, such as hip-hop, chiptune (electronic sound imitating old game consoles) and house. The guest-vocalist system stayed in place, and the group also teamed up with a new generation of musicians such as Verbal Jint and Dynamic Duo. (From January) On the mini-album “20th Century Boy,” released in June 2011, Yoon Jong Shin took the mic again. The song Yoon sang was “From January to June.” In 2012 the group released the digital singles “Let Me Go” and “80.”
A song made once again with Yoon Jong Shin. It came out in an era when people listened to music on streaming sites rather than on records.
- The structure, moving through half a year month by month, drives the story. It is a way of telling that follows how feelings change as time passes.
- Yoon Jong Shin, now past forty, sings with far more ease than at the debut, almost as if talking. A bond of more than 20 years between them comes through in the voice.
- It keeps the lyrical melodies of 1990s 015B, while the sound is as clean as a 2010s digital recording should be.
VI. One song a month · 2017–2026
(Reinterpretation) In September 2017 the group launched the “Anthology” project by re-recording “Friends and Lovers,” from the 2nd album, with the voices of Shin Hyun Hee and Kim Root. The pop-rock arrangement of the original became acoustic folk, and the lyrics took on the speech of today's young generation. (Monthly) In 2018 the brothers founded the label The015B and, from March of that year, began releasing a new track every month. Jang Ho-il said that watching Yoon Jong Shin's Monthly Yoon Jong Shin was what settled the decision. The releases ran along three lines: “New Edition” for new songs, “The Legacy” for remakes of older songs, and “Yearbook” collecting each year's singles. In place of the 1990s approach of staking everything on a single album, it was a way of steadily building up songs suited to the streaming era. In 2025 the “New Edition” singles kept coming every month. (Farewell) In July 2020 founding member Cho Hyung-gon died at fifty-two. After returning from studies at Berklee, Cho had taught popular music at several universities. The 30th-anniversary concert that year was postponed because of COVID-19; instead, in June 2021 the group re-recorded “On an Empty Street” with Yoon Jong Shin, 31 years after the original. They matched the instruments and sound of the 1989 original and even brought back its noise. (Now) In 2025, 015B was still working the way it had from the start, with Jung Suk-won and Jang Ho-il writing the songs and handing the vocals to guest singers. Jang Ho-il said the music would go on for as long as the fingers could keep up. For the generation that came through the 1990s, 015B is still a name that matters.
Lesser-known stories
(The name) The origin of the name 015B was long a mystery. One theory held that it was a playful twist on Muhan Gwedo; another, that it imitated the names of foreign bands like U2 or UB40; yet another read it as gongilobi (空一烏飛), hanja meaning 'a single crow flies in the sky,' and the members' own explanations varied over the years. In a 2025 interview Jang Ho-il said it probably came from 01orbit, the ID Cho Hyung-gon used on the PC dial-up networks. Everyone kept attaching meanings to a name coined almost as a pun, and in the process the real starting point was forgotten. (Phone number) The seven digits of “4210301,” title track of the 2nd album, are said to have been the phone number of the Environment Administration at the time (today's Ministry of Environment). As the song spread, calls flooded that number, and the story goes that it was eventually changed. An environmental song made a real government office's phone ring, but since this was never officially recorded, the episode has lived on only as fan lore. (Making-of notes) In the liner notes to the 5th album “Big 5,” Jung Suk-won wrote in detail about how each song was made. The liner notes of 1990s Korean pop records usually held nothing more than lyrics and a list of credits. These notes are a rare document in which a composer seldom seen on screen explained the work in writing, but because they existed only inside the CD booklet, they were never widely read. (Royalties) The group sold more than 1 million copies with three albums in a row, yet according to Jang Ho-il, the contracts of the time paid a fixed fee rather than royalties based on sales. As a result, the brothers earned little relative to their sales. It is testimony to how copyright and settlement systems had not yet taken hold in the Korean pop industry of the early 1990s.
Glossary 📚🔎
Guest vocalist
(Meaning) Gaegwon (客員, 'guest member') means a member (員) who comes as a guest (客): someone who does not belong to a team permanently but is invited to join when needed. (In Korean popular music) A practice in which a group keeps no fixed vocalist and instead brings in a singer from outside to suit each song. 015B introduced this practice in 1990, and singers such as Yoon Jong Shin, Kim Tae-woo, Kim Don-kyu and Cho Sung-min took turns at the mic. It is like a school drama club that writes the script and directs, then borrows the right actor for each scene from other classes. (Elsewhere) In orchestras and universities, too, people who join for a time without being regular members or faculty are called guest members or visiting professors.
Producer group
(In Korean popular music) A team centered less on the people who sing than on those who write, arrange and direct the recording. Because Jung Suk-won and Jang Ho-il made the music while leaving the vocals to guest singers, 015B is called Korea's first producer group. In soccer terms, it is as if the coaches who draw up the tactics, rather than the players on the field, gave the team its name. (Elsewhere) In film and broadcasting, a producer is the person who raises the budget and takes responsibility for the whole production.
Million-seller
(Meaning) A compound of the English million and seller, meaning a product that has sold a million units. (In Korean popular music) An album that has sold more than 1 million copies. In the 1990s, when cassette tapes and CDs sold in vast numbers, it marked a singer's major success, and 015B produced three million-sellers in a row, from albums 3 through 5. If a school had 1,000 students, it is the same as every student at 1,000 such schools buying one copy each. (Elsewhere) In publishing, a book that has sold 1 million copies is called a million-seller.
Remake
(Meaning) The English remake means to make (make) again (re). (In Korean popular music) Re-recording a song already released, with a new arrangement and a new voice. After 015B's 5th album covered Cho Yong-pil's “Bobbed Hair” and Nami's “Sad Fate,” a remake craze swept the Korean pop scene. It is like cooking the kimchi stew your grandmother used to make from the same ingredients, but adjusting the seasoning and garnish to today's tastes. (Elsewhere) In film and television, too, reshooting an old work with new actors and direction is called a remake.
House music
(Meaning) The name is widely explained as coming from the music played at Warehouse, a club in Chicago, in the 1980s. (In Korean popular music) A dance genre that layers synthesizer and piano over a drum machine's even thump, thump on every beat. 015B's 3rd album is regarded as the turning point that brought this sound into Korean pop. Just as the body jumps on its own to the steady slap of the rope on the ground when skipping rope, the steady beat sets the body moving. (Elsewhere) In English, house usually means a home.
Golden Cup
(In Korean popular music) An award given on KBS's music chart show “Gayo Top 10” when a song held No. 1 for 5 consecutive weeks. Because it required holding the top spot for a long time, it was an important gauge of popularity in those days. 015B's “Love of the New Generation” won it in 1993. It is like a special prize given only for finishing first in the class on five exams in a row.
Mystique
(Meaning) Sinbi (神祕, 'mystery') refers to something wondrous and strange beyond human understanding. (In Korean popular music) An approach in which singers deliberately stay away from broadcasts and interviews so that the public grows more curious. Even when they reached No. 1, the 015B brothers did not appear on television and put only the guest singers onstage, leaving the impression of a group whose faces nobody knew. It works on the same principle as a hidden character in a game whose concealed identity makes it all the more intriguing. (Elsewhere) In religion and philosophy, the same word means mysticism: the belief that God or truth can be met through direct experience rather than the intellect.
Digital single
(In Korean popular music) A release of one or two songs issued only on music sites or streaming services, without a physical record such as a CD. It took hold as listening habits changed from the 2000s on, and 015B has released a digital single every month since 2018. It is like handing out one worksheet every week instead of a thick workbook all at once. (Elsewhere) In everyday speech, single can also mean someone who is unmarried or has no partner.