KPOP 1st generation · Drug Records / Captain Rock Company
Crying Nut
クライングナット / 크라잉넛
Crying Nut came out of the Hongdae live-house scene in the mid-1990s and are still the reference point for Korean punk.
- 1998DebutJun 1, 1998
- 5Members
- 1thGeneration
Last updated:
01
In 30 seconds: Crying Nut
The songs run from rough punk through melodies built for crowds to sing, and the band has never stopped playing live.
Start here if you want the other half of Korean music — the part that grew in small rooms rather than in training buildings.
02
Key facts
- Group name
- Crying Nut
- Reading / Hangul
- クライングナット / 크라잉넛
- Company
- Drug Records / Captain Rock Company
- Debut date
- June 1, 1998
- Days active
- 10,379 days (28 years, 4 months)
- Debut song
- Speed Up Losers
- Generation
- 1st generation
- Fandom name
- (未公表)
03
Member guide
Profile comparison
| Members | Birth date | Blood type | MBTI | Nationality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| パク・ユンシク | 1976-01-01 | 50 | 174cm | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| イ・サンミョン | 1976-01-01 | 50 | 175cm | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ハン・ギョンロク | 1977-02-11 | 49 | 177cm | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| イ・サンヒョク | 1976-01-01 | 50 | 174cm | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| キム・インス | 1977-01-01 | 49 | 172cm | Not disclosed | Not disclosed | South Korea |
Ages are as of 2026-10-31.
Selected releases
04
Start here
Follow a few songs from the starting point to the group's current sound.
Stray Cat MVStray Cat is where the current official channel picks the band up.
Old School Melody MVOld School Melody reaches back to the older material from the present-day shelf.
Our old bar MVThe 2025 video shows a band still running at full speed decades in.05
From debut to now
- 1995Crying Nut set out from the club culture around Hongdae in Seoul and built the early context of Korean indie and punk.
- 1998The first album showed the force of raw punk and left work that is easy to come to later as a leading entrance into Korean rock.
- 2002The heat of an anthem and the celebration of the live room reached television and sport, making them known to a general audience.
- 2006They held lyrical melodies and the force of punk together, adding signature songs that are easy to walk into later.
- 2018Several full albums and constant live work made them a base line that cannot be skipped in tracing the history of Korean rock.
- 2025Following through to the newest single shows a present-day Crying Nut in the official videos, not only the early signature songs.
06
Achievements
Key milestones
10
Official links
Official site
Official social accounts and platforms
Shopping guide
Verified English shopping links are not yet available.
12
KPOP DISCOVER's Crying Nut note
Crying Nut is a five-piece punk rock band that started moving in the middle of the 1990s out of the club culture of Hongdae in Seoul. The debut album Speed Up Losers, from 1998, records the force of raw punk, still rare in Korea at the time, exactly as it was, and it has not lost its freshness for anyone coming to it later. Growing up somewhere other than the idol context of K-pop, the name still cannot be left out when the base line of Korean music is discussed.
Lining up an entrance, the three songs Speed Up Losers, Horse Riding and Myeong-dong Calling make it clear. Beyond the sharp punk sound of the early period, they show melodies easy to sing along to, the celebration where the heat jumps in a live room, and something close to an anthem, each a different face. Putting the three together is enough to notice that the strength of this band does not run in one direction.
From the album Has a Good Time in 2002 onward, more lyrical songs appeared and the reach into a general audience widened. Following the album 25 in 2020, Best Route in 2024 and the single Our old bar in 2025 shows a band still working, not a name remembered fondly. Speed Up Losers, then Horse Riding, then Our old bar covers the force of punk, the celebration and the present.
Editors' take Speed Up Losers / Horse Riding / Our old bar — three songs cover a thick axis of Korean rock from punk to the present, in a five-piece band.
Trivia worth knowing
Live culture
Crying Nut grew out of the Hongdae club scene, and any account of Korean indie and punk tends to start there.
Membership
Twin guitars, bass and drums plus keyboard and accordion give the band a festive tone it can reach for at will.
Signature song
Speed Up Losers is the raw early impulse, Horse Riding is the popular one, and Myeong-dong Calling is where the melodies come forward.
Sports context
The Offside songs sit close to a sporting chant, which is where the unity of a live crowd is easiest to feel.
Comparison
Set against No Brain the differences within one punk era emerge, while Buzz and DAY6 expose the generational gap across K-rock and K-band.
Where they stand now
Following through to Our old bar in 2025 shows a working band still renewing itself rather than trading on nostalgia.
13
Japan activity score
KPOP DISCOVER original metric
No. 193/ 241 groups
No. 193 of 241 groups with recorded activity in Japan (top 80%)
- 0Japanese releases
- 0Japan-related tracks
- 0Members from Japan
- 2Official Japanese accounts
The denominator is the 241 groups, out of 564 covered by KPOP DISCOVER, whose raw score reaches at least one point. The score adds 10 points per Japanese-market release, 3 per Japan-related track, 12 per member from Japan, and 8 per official Japanese account. Japanese-market releases carry the most weight because they are the most direct evidence of activity; related tracks add track-level detail; members from Japan stand for Japanese-language communication and continuity; official accounts stand for a permanent point of contact. The weights are an editorial judgement, not a statistical optimisation, and the ranking tracks release volume in Japan closely. Source: releases, tracks, members, and official links recorded by KPOP DISCOVER (updated 2026-10-26).
How this score is calculated →View in JapaneseFrequently asked questions
What defines Crying Nut?
The songs run from rough punk through melodies built for crowds to sing, and the band has never stopped playing live.
Why should a new listener start with Crying Nut?
Start here if you want the other half of Korean music — the part that grew in small rooms rather than in training buildings.
Which songs should a new listener try first?
Start with Stray Cat, Old School Melody, Our old bar, then continue to the official video index.