Panic
The two are said to have wanted to remain 'cultural guerrillas' backed by a devoted few rather than become mainstream stars.
At a glance 🔭💭
Some coordinates adapted from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0) · Pleiades (CC BY 3.0)
The people beside them ⏳🌊
- ProducerChoi Sung-won
A member of Deulgukhwa who recognized Lee Juck's demo tape, produced the first album, and let the two make the second album entirely their own way.
- MemberLee Juck
The vocalist, also responsible for lyrics·music·arrangements, who designed Panic's musical world and produced the albums personally from the third onward.
- MemberKim Jin-pyo
A rapper who joined while still in high school, took part in every stage of production from the second album on, and supplied Panic's low-register rap and razor-edged lyrics.
- FriendshipKim Dong-ryul
A fellow singer-songwriter who formed the project group Carnival with Lee Juck in 1997 and released an album together.
- FriendshipJang Kiha
Eight years Lee Juck's junior in the sociology department at Seoul National University; Lee personally recounted the bond between them on a 2013 broadcast.
I. Demo tape · 1994–1995
(Formation) In 1995 the duo Panic made their debut on a Shinchon Music record produced by Choi Sung-won, formerly of Deulgukhwa. The members were singer-songwriter Lee Juck and rapper Kim Jin-pyo. Lee, born in 1974, was twenty-one; Kim, born in 1977, was an eighteen-year-old high school student. The two had known each other since childhood, but their musical tastes could not have been more different. Lee played in bands, while Kim was a student who traded hip-hop news on the PC networks of the day. (Family) Lee was studying sociology at Seoul National University. On a 2013 broadcast he revealed that all three brothers in his family had gone on to Seoul National. His mother, a former newspaper reporter, took up women's studies at thirty-nine, and she is said to have taught her sons that learning was something she did not as a mother but for herself. Little has been made public about Kim's upbringing. (Demo) At first Lee was preparing a solo debut. The team came together when he played his own songs for Kim and asked him to join. The demo tape is said to have been turned down before it ever reached Choi Sung-won. Choi was the one who recognized what was on it. Taking on production of the entire album, he steered it toward music that broke out of the mold of commercial pop. (Asymmetry) The songs prepared for a solo album became, unchanged, the first album, "Panic." As a result, Kim joined only when recording was nearly finished. Lee wrote the words·music·arrangements for most of the songs; about the only track centered on Kim was "Again, From the Beginning," given over mostly to rap. That song became the starting point for Kim's later career as the rapper JP. The asymmetry would be corrected on the second album.
II. A slow walk to No. 1 · 1995–1996
(Failure) The first album came out on October 1, 1995. Seo Taiji and Boys released their fourth album that same month. The title track, "Nobody," drew little response. The two later liked to joke that their debut song had originally been "Nobody," but since nobody noticed it, they switched to "Snail." (Radio) The turnaround began on the radio. As listeners kept requesting "Snail," word spread, and the song took over the title-track slot. In April 1996, six months after the release, it reached No. 1 on KBS's "Gayo Top 10," and it topped the chart shows on MBC and SBS as well. It is recorded as having taken first place 9 times. "Snail" likened the longing of someone worn down by a treadmill routine, dreaming of a distant sea, to a slow-moving creature. The bewilderment and dreams of people in their twenties in the mid-1990s overlapped in the song. (Left-handed) The follow-up, "Left-Handed," was also widely loved. It stood beside people pointed at for being different from the majority and spoke up boldly on their behalf. The song is often read as an anthem for marginalized minorities. Putting such a theme on a chart-show stage was rare at the time. (Sales) In an era when cassette tapes and CDs sold side by side, the first album's cumulative sales are said to have topped 600,000 copies. At the end of 1996 the duo reportedly won an award at a year-end music ceremony. That autumn H.O.T. debuted, and the industry was shifting into the age of agency-manufactured idols. At exactly that crossroads, Panic walked off in the opposite direction.
After the title track was ignored, this song survived as a radio request and reached No. 1 within six months. Its slow-paced path to success resembles the snail in the song.
- Lee Juck wrote the words·music. Kim Jin-pyo's voice does not appear on the album recording, and on broadcast stages Kim played saxophone. So comparing the stage footage with the record reveals how the first album started out as, in effect, Lee's solo album.
- The song opens quietly, almost like talking to oneself, then breaks wide open toward the distant sea in the refrain (chorus). Within the song's form, a stifling daily life and a dream stand in contrast.
- It is the sound of a mid-1990s analog band recording. The texture of instruments played by human hands comes forward rather than machine-made sound.
- On "I Am a Singer 3" in 2015, Yangpa opened the song gently on piano, then built it up with the full band from the second verse. The moment is remembered as proof that the original's feeling holds up even in an arrangement made for a big stage.
This song caught on after "Snail." It stands beside those shunned for being different and speaks up boldly.
- The heart of the song is its voice: the singer does not shrink back but squares up in defiance. It runs against the grain of the lyricism of "Snail" on the same album.
- This song stands with people pointed at for being different from the majority. That is why it is read today as a song symbolizing marginalized minorities.
- Thanks to its briskly galloping rock rhythm, the heavy subject actually sounds exhilarating. It also served as a crowd-pleaser on the chart shows.
- At the 2026 reunion concerts it was performed as a hit alongside "Snail." It is a song audiences across generations responded to together.
III. Voices from the bottom · 1996–1997
(Blade) Lee recalled that while promoting the first album, seeing the ugly side of show business left a blade standing in his heart. Choi Sung-won let the two make the second album as they wished. Released in September 1996, the second album, "Mit," was the first on which Kim took part in production from the start, and his low-register rap formed one axis of the whole record. (Critique) "Mit" took aim at society as a whole. "Bug," with lyrics by Kim, attacked head-on the teachers who crush their students. Many songs, including the promotional track "UFO," dealt with exam-driven education and social hypocrisy. The sound, too, broke from the grammar of the hit songs of the day. It mixed raw rock, hip-hop, and experiments that sounded downright grotesque. One newspaper at the time headlined its ragged breathing and frequent profanity. (Censorship) The price was paid on the airwaves. Most of the tracks never made it onto broadcast. Separate versions of "Bug" and "Mama" were made with parts of the lyrics erased. That autumn the Constitutional Court ruled the Public Performance Ethics Committee's prior review of records unconstitutional, but the door of broadcasters' own censorship remained narrow. (Guerrilla) Commercially, it fell far short of the first album. Instead, the album later earned a place among the 100 greatest albums of Korean popular music. The two reportedly wanted to be cultural guerrillas backed by a devoted few rather than mainstream stars. Long afterward, Lee said of the album that, looking back now, he is truly proud of it.
This is the best-known song from the second album, "Mit," which found the broadcast door so narrow. You can hear the album's sharp-edged stance against the realities of education and society.
- With Kim taking part in production from the start, the exchange between Lee's singing and Kim's low rap comes into sharp focus. Unlike on the first album, this is a song where Panic truly sounds like a duo.
- It uses sounds far rougher and stranger than the tidy folk·rock of the first album. It seems intent on not letting the listener get comfortable.
- It sidesteps the grammar of the day's hit songs, namely the formula of repeating an easy chorus. The critique the song wants to voice seeps into its very form.
- Though the second album fell short of the first in sales, it was named among the 100 greatest albums of Korean popular music. This is the signature song of an album whose acclaim arrived only with time.
IV. The sea in the drawer · 1997–2004
(Detour) After the second album, Lee continued experimenting outside Panic. In 1997 he released an album with Kim Dong-ryul, a singer-songwriter the same age, as the project group Carnival. In 1999 he joined the six-piece band Gigs, led by Jung Won-young·Han Sang-won, as vocalist, moving between jazz and funk. Kim, meanwhile, was broadening the reach of his rap. (Inner world) In 1998 the third album, "Sea Within," came out. It was the year the shock of the financial crisis swept over the country. Yet this album turned its blade inward instead of outward. Lee produced it himself, and it painted an inner sea of wounds, longing, and hearts gone astray. The title track "The Sea in My Old Drawer" and the follow-up "Hidden Picture" were widely loved. It is regarded as having less of the second album's shock but even greater popular appeal and polish. (Colleagues) The credits list players such as Lee Sang-min of Gigs and Jung Jae-il, who would later make his name as a film composer. The third album broadened one person's songs through the sounds of many musicians. (Hiatus) With the third album, the two promised to meet again someday and went their separate ways. In 1999 Kim joined the hard rock band Novasonic, and afterward worked as a solo rapper under the name JP. In December 2000 their label released the compilation "Best of Panic" without consulting either member, and the two expressed their regret. Even during the hiatus, they are said to have occasionally worked or performed together. The team had not ended; it had only paused.
This is the title track of the third album, which turned its blade inward. In the year of the financial crisis, it sang of the sea within rather than of society.
- Lee produced it himself. Where the second album's aggression has gone, lyrical melodies and lush arrangements fill the space.
- Its voice is one of reminiscence, as if taking out a memory long folded away. If the sea of "Snail" on the first album was a dream, the sea in this song lies closer to time gone by.
- As befits an album featuring many players, including Lee Sang-min and Jung Jae-il, the instruments are layered thickly. You can hear the painstaking texture of late-1990s Korean rock·ballad recording.
- At the 2026 concerts it was performed alongside a theatrical stage prop, a dolphin pieced together from fragments. The song's melody had also been woven into the "Snail" arrangement on "I Am a Singer 3."
V. Riding Rocinante · 2005–2006
(Reunion) After the third album, the two had worked separately while promising to collaborate again someday. The following year they agreed that they wanted to make songs that sounded like Panic again. For about 1 year they worked alone, keeping label staff and production crew out of the studio. In the meantime, Lee published the novel "Fingerprint Hunter" and served as a DJ on KBS FM. (Fourth album) In December 2005, 7 years after the third album, the fourth album, "PANIC 04," came out. The title track "Rocinante" was inspired by the old horse ridden by the hero of Don Quixote. A melody Lee first played on guitar became the song's foundation, and mime and performance artists joined them onstage. The story of someone pressing toward a dream, however reckless it may look, was rewritten in the voices of two men past thirty. The follow-up "Bus Stop," a ballad calmly portraying the lonely heart waiting for someone who has left, became the album's most enduringly loved song. (Album) Lee said music seemed to be turning into an accessory, and that rather than hits consumed in a moment, he wanted to make an album that could be listened to again and again. He also said the album as a form might soon disappear. Indeed, it was a time when MP3s and digital downloads were rapidly pushing the CD market aside. Kim's share extended beyond rap to the album as a whole, and senior singer Lee Seung-hwan remarked that the two seemed to have come back more mature. (Wrap-up) Promotion of the fourth album wrapped up with a national tour in April 2006. Afterward the two returned to their own work, and "PANIC 04" long remained Panic's last album.
This fourth-album title track announced the reunion after 7 years. Borrowing Don Quixote's old horse, it depicts a heart that keeps pressing forward, however reckless.
- Lee's own guitar melody drives the song. From the intro, the guitar carries a short, catchy repeated phrase (hook).
- Kim's role extends beyond a single rap section into the texture of the whole song. The press pointed this out at the time of the reunion.
- The two made this song over nearly 1 year without letting the production crew into the studio. It sounds polished and mature rather than raw like the 1990s.
- The music video features mime and performance artists. The giant windmill set at the 2026 concerts also echoes the song's Don Quixote imagery.
The follow-up single from the fourth album. Its promotional run was short, but years later, by way of audition shows, it became Panic's most enduringly loved song.
- The heart of the song is Lee Juck's vocal, which holds feeling in rather than letting it burst, pressing it down with quiet composure. The loneliness of waiting for someone who has gone rides on that restrained tone.
- The arrangement is spare, with instruments pared away, so the emotion of the voice and the lyrics comes to the fore.
- In 2011 Busker Busker sang this song on “Superstar K3.” That performance carried it to a generation that had never known the original.
VI. Panic again · 2007–2026
(Rediscovery) In 2010, when Huh Gak sang Lee Juck's solo song “Run to the Sky” on Mnet's “Superstar K2,” Panic's songs drew fresh attention as well. The following year, on “Superstar K3,” Busker Busker sang “Bus Stop.” In 2015, on MBC's “I Am a Singer 3,” Yangpa performed her own arrangement of “Snail.” The arranger, Kwon Tae-eun, explained that “Snail,” “The Sea in My Old Drawer” and “Rocinante” were all woven together in that performance. It was an era when audition and competition shows became a passage handing old songs to a new generation. (Separate paths) Lee Juck broadened his work as a solo singer and television personality. On one 2013 broadcast he even described his connection with Chang Kiha, eight years his junior in Seoul National University's sociology department. Around 2012 Kim Jin-pyo was racing as an official driver for a professional team, and for more than 10 years he has run a stationery distribution company. Lee Juck is known to have hinted that Panic could return at any time. (Return) In February 2026 Lee Juck announced a concert. “Panic Is Coming,” held from April 16 to 19 at the LG Arts Center in Seoul, was their first solo concert in 20 years, since 2006. Tickets for all four nights sold out in under a minute. Alongside “Snail” and “Left-Handed,” the set included “Bug” and “MAMA,” songs that had once been kept off the airwaves. In the audience, people in their 40s and 50s sat beside people in their 20s and 30s. (Now) In June a remastered LP marking the 20th anniversary of the fourth album was released. In October came word that they would play another solo concert in Seoul from December 4 to 6. Panic, who never officially disbanded, are back on stage in the 31st year since their debut.
Lesser-known stories
The record of the hit “Snail” does not contain the voice of Kim Jin-pyo, one half of Panic. The first album was originally prepared as a Lee Juck solo album, and Kim Jin-pyo joined only as recording was nearly finished. So when the song was performed on television, Kim Jin-pyo played saxophone instead of singing. That the signature song of a duo is essentially one person's recording became, if anything, harder to see as “Snail” grew into a major success. Panic's demo tape is said to have been rejected once before it reached Choi Sung-won. There is also a story that the party who sent the demo back later heard “Snail” on the radio and regretted it. In the history of Korean popular music, it is not rare for a rejected demo to come in through another door and succeed. Still, this anecdote survives mostly in the recollections of those involved and in wiki sources. “Best of Panic,” released in December 2000, was an album the label put together without consulting the two members, and both expressed their displeasure. In the years when the CD market was at its peak, agencies often released compilations from the old recordings of singers who had stopped performing. The album remains a case where such industry practice ran against the wishes of the artists. The musician credits of the third album, “Sea Within,” include Jung Jae-il, who later made his name as a film composer. At the time he was a young player. That the Gigs·Panic circle centered on Lee Juck in the late 1990s became a workshop for the next generation of musicians is something one can confirm only in album credits.
Glossary notes 📚🔎
Title track
(Meaning of the word) From the English “title,” it means the song that serves as the face of an album. (In Korean popular music) The song put forward first for broadcasting and promotion when an album is released. The title track is usually the one that gets a music video and is performed on chart shows. It is like choosing one picture for the cover of a class anthology and placing it at the very front. For Panic, the title track “Nobody” failed to catch on, and “Snail,” which came later, took its place. (Elsewhere) In publishing or film, a title simply means the name of the work.
Follow-up single
(Meaning of the word) It means a song that carries on (續) after (後). (In Korean popular music) A song chosen from the same album and promoted next, after a period of activity with the title track. Sometimes the follow-up succeeds even more than the first song. It is like a substitute who comes on in the second half of a soccer match and scores the winning goal. On Panic's fourth album, the follow-up “Bus Stop” was loved as long as the title track “Rocinante.”
Music chart show
(In Korean popular music) A television program in which a broadcaster ranks the week's popular songs by criteria such as record sales, airplay and viewer votes, and announces the number one. In the 1990s, taking first place on a program like KBS's “Gayo Top 10” was the surest proof of popularity. It is like counting the praise stickers in class each week and announcing the friend who got the most. The criteria of chart shows, though, are far more complex than that, and they differ from broadcaster to broadcaster. “Snail” reached number one on the chart shows of all three broadcasters.
Unfit for broadcast
(In Korean popular music) A broadcaster's decision, after its own review, not to air a particular song. The ruling is made when lyrics contain profanity or coarse expressions, mention a specific brand name, or are judged likely to cause social controversy. It is like the school broadcasting club leaving out songs that don't suit the school's atmosphere when choosing what to play at lunch. The record can still be sold, but it can no longer be heard on television or radio, so in the 1990s, when broadcasting was almost the whole of promotion, it was a heavy blow. Several songs on Panic's second album ended up in this position.
Producer
(Meaning of the word) From the English “produce” (to bring into being), it means a person who brings a work into being. (In Korean popular music) The person who sets the direction of an entire album and leads song selection, arrangement, recording and the hiring of musicians. A producer may write songs directly or decide how to shape songs written by others. It is like the group leader in a team project who gathers everyone's parts and arranges the presentation into a single flow. Panic's first album was produced by Choi Sung-won of Deulgukhwa, and from the third album on, Lee Juck took on the role himself. (Elsewhere) In broadcasting, the word is more commonly used for the PD responsible for producing a program.
Singer-songwriter
(Meaning of the word) A word combining the English “singer” (one who sings) and “songwriter” (one who writes songs). (In Korean popular music) A singer who writes the lyrics and music of the songs they sing. The term is used to distinguish them from singers who perform songs written by others. It is like the cook at a cooking contest who doesn't just make a menu someone else chose, but plans the menu and cooks it too. Lee Juck wrote and sang most of Panic's songs.
Remaster
(Meaning of the word) It means to master again (re). Mastering is the final shaping of volume and tone before finished recordings are released as a record. (In Korean popular music) Reworking previously released recordings with new equipment and techniques. The song is not re-recorded; rather, the sound of the original recording is made cleaner and more even. It is like scanning an old photograph and correcting its color and brightness. The scene in the photo stays the same, but it becomes sharper. In 2026 Panic's fourth album was reissued on LP in just this way.
Duo
(Meaning of the word) The Italian duo comes from the Latin duo (two). (In Korean popular music) A group in which two people work as one team. The two may split similar roles, or, like Panic, take on different ones — singing and rapping, composing and writing lyrics. It is like doubles table tennis, where one player returns the ball and the other attacks. (Elsewhere) In classical music, it means a piece for two instruments or a performance by two players.