Fucking USA
Encyclopedia
"Fucking USA", often called "Fuck'n USA", is a protest song
written by South Korea
n singer and activist Yoon Min-suk. Strongly anti-US Foreign policy and anti-Bush, the song was written in 2002 at a time when, following the Apolo Ohno Olympic controversy and an incident in which two Korean middle school students were killed by a U.S. Army vehicle; anti-American sentiment in Korea
reached high levels. Musically it is a parody of "Surfin USA" and though it has a vulgar aspect it is not supposed to be, according to Yoon, just an angsty punk type song but a serious critique of the Bush Administration and US foreign policy in particular in the Korean peninsula, just conveyed in an ironic and jokingly vitriolic way.
s of U.S. President George W. Bush
taunting Koreans, while chants of "부시악" ("Bushi Ak" or "Bush Evil") echo in the background. It displays a slideshow of Korean political cartoons attacking U.S. foreign policy, ending abruptly on the line "Yankee Go Home!", with an animation of the Statue of Liberty
exploding.
The video has developed a minor cult status in the West, where it has been shown on comedy shows such as Tarrant on TV and Web Junk 20
.
Protest song
A protest song is a song which is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of topical songs . It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre...
written by South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n singer and activist Yoon Min-suk. Strongly anti-US Foreign policy and anti-Bush, the song was written in 2002 at a time when, following the Apolo Ohno Olympic controversy and an incident in which two Korean middle school students were killed by a U.S. Army vehicle; anti-American sentiment in Korea
Anti-American sentiment in Korea
The Anti-Americanism in Korea began with the earliest contact between the two nations and continued after the division of Korea. In both North Korea and South Korea, anti-Americanism after the Korean War has focused on the presence and behavior of American military personnel , aggravated especially...
reached high levels. Musically it is a parody of "Surfin USA" and though it has a vulgar aspect it is not supposed to be, according to Yoon, just an angsty punk type song but a serious critique of the Bush Administration and US foreign policy in particular in the Korean peninsula, just conveyed in an ironic and jokingly vitriolic way.
Video
Later a music video was broadcast on a South Korean news program, where it was picked up by Rob Pongi and subsequently rebroadcast on the show's website along with Japanese and English subtitles, enabling it to spread worldwide. The version of the song in the video has been remixed and opens with caricatureCaricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
s of U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
taunting Koreans, while chants of "부시악" ("Bushi Ak" or "Bush Evil") echo in the background. It displays a slideshow of Korean political cartoons attacking U.S. foreign policy, ending abruptly on the line "Yankee Go Home!", with an animation of the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...
exploding.
The video has developed a minor cult status in the West, where it has been shown on comedy shows such as Tarrant on TV and Web Junk 20
Web Junk 20
Web Junk 20 is an American television program in which Vh1 and iFilm collaborate to highlight the twenty funniest and most interesting clips collected from the Internet that week. The show is now hosted by comedian Aries Spears. Patrice O'Neal hosted the first two seasons, while Jim Breuer hosted...
.
External links
- The Fucking USA Video
- Myspace with the lyrics and song to listen to
- http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ko&u=http://www.ddanzi.com/articles/article_view.asp%3Finstallment_id%3D59%26article_id%3D1285&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.ddanzi.com/articles/article_view.asp%253Finstallment_id%253D59%2526article_id%253D1285%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7ADBRTranslated version of a Korean interview with the man behind the song]
- Over 120,000 views at YouTube in this version