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For the past month, Sally has brazenly branded her homework with schoolgirl crush grafitti before handing it in. Every chapter summary for Prince Caspian comes accompanied with "TRAX" scrawled into the margins in bold black print, making the assignment rather unworkable as proof to her mother that Sally is engaged in Serious Study here at Herald School. I once asked what the hell TRAX was: she told me that TRAX is a "visual rock" band, "the best band in all of time!" Apparently they are so damn good that she can't resist etching their godlike monicker into everything she owns: her notebooks, her folders, her prototype robot death squads.

Since I once made Sally a mix CD and she came back next class proclaiming that the Deftones' My Own Summer was her favourite song, I figured TRAX might be halfway cool. I didn't know exactly what 'visual rock' entailed but since modern music genres live and die in a hipster's heartbeat, it probably didn't matter. TRAX continued to plague my marking, but left little long-term impact on my life.

Today Sally handed me an essay comparing Western and Korean suburbs and I noticed that the customary "TRAX" had been replaced by "TAX & Rose", neatly stenciled in the bottom-left corner. Huh? Sally explained that Rose had left the band to pursue a solo career as a vocalist, but that she still liked him. He was Rose, after all.

"Wait... wait... this guy in this band you like... his name is Rose?" She assured me that indeed it was. TRAX is compiled from the four band members' names: Typhoon, Rose, Attack and X-Mas. "But Sally, X-Mas is just a politically correct way to say Christmas. You are listening to music created by people named Rose and Christmas. This cannot be cool."

Sally remained stolidly dedicated to her opinion that TAX & Rose was the greatest thing going since kimchi. Since her mom had just bought me a giant box of cookies for Teachers' Day, I withheld further criticism at the time. But, my interest piqued, I came home and hunted up the official TRAX webpage.

Now, if Korean music is a neverending sample-pack of former American successes and expired trends (and it is), 'visual rock' has got to be the Korean version of that ridiculous, perplexing and short-lived abortion child of the '80s, HAIR METAL. Splashed with the scent of leather and a hint of Goth, TRAX has revived an unseemly horror from the past, inflicting a new wave of fluffy glam upon unsuspecting Korean teenagers. The despair has traveled Eastwards. But there are dredlocks too, and all kinds of things that make me laugh uncontrollably and with a tinge of madness.

I WILL PLAY IN THE SNOWFIELDS OF APOCALYPSE, MY LOVE, UNTIL YOU BRING MY HAIR SPRAY TO THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN.

BONUS QUESTION: Can you guess which one of these dudes is the estranged Rose??

Posted by Chris at 11:11 AM >> Commentations (10)