Today’s post is one I’ve been excited for.

In March of 2022, (G)-IDLE released “TOMBOY”, the lead single of their first full-length album I Never Die. Devastated over the unjust departure of Soojin, I was jaded and not very invested in a (G)-IDLE comeback. Watching the music video, however, I came to see plenty of band merch cut up and used as pieces of a DIY outfit ensemble for the girls. (G)-IDLE hadn’t done anything too edgy before, so this was their first foray into that sort of imagery. For my little “TOMBOY” retrospective, I’ve decided to go through the girls’ looks one by one, in order from least to most exciting. The finale has to be a banger, after all.

Yuqi

Unfortunately not every Yuqi look can be a winner. Despite taking up plenty space in the merch gallery with some of the coolest shirt picks out there, the stylists really did Yuqi dirty for the “TOMBOY” music video. Honestly they should have let her bring something from her own closet.

The shirt she’s wearing under her red corset is the Metallica “Creeping Death” shirt, which is a shame because you can only really see the text at the bottom and miss the entirety of the cool artwork. Metallica sells weathered versions of this on their website because they’re capitalist kings and know vintage shirt demand is high.

The shirt itself is a really cool design and I’m bummed that the stylist decided to cover it up, but whatever. The design was cut up for the off-the-shoulder look, so portions of the purple lightning can be seen above her corset, at least.

The shirt sewn into a sleeve for Yuqi is another Metallica tee, but this one is the “Damaged Justice” design. If I’m being honest, I don’t like this shirt design in the first place. The composition of the artwork is all off, awkward angles abound. Doesn’t really matter, though, as the sleeve-ification renders the illustration into something abstract. And that’s really all… Yuqi only had these two shirts as part of her outfit, both for the same band. Pretty underwhelming.

Minnie

Minnie is a pretty simple one, but her outfit is actually made up of four different band tees. That’s a higher count than Yuqi, and better yet, this outfit is actually flattering. Starting with her jacket, we have a Slipknot logo. The angel and rose art beneath it, though, are not from a Slipknot shirt at all. The angel and roses are actually from a My Chemical Romance shirt, which I find pretty funny. Here’s the shirt in question.

As for the disembodied Slipknot logo, I went through some Slipknot shirts to see which ones have a red logo with black outline on white. If I’m being completely honest, I’ve never cared much for Slipknot. A hell of a lot of my friends do, though, and I’ve heard about how Corey Taylor can get it one too many times. If there’s any cool information here I’m far less likely to have it. I don’t know much about Slipknot shirts and since this was just a logo, I’m shit out of luck. I’m sorry I failed you.

Onto Minnie’s skirt. The front is pretty easy to identify considering it’s the entire goddamn shirt design. This is the AC/DC For Those About to Rock shirt. For Those About to Rock is their eighth studio album and the third album of their golden era. They were at the peak of their career when this baby came out. As far as the shirt design goes, I like it. It’s more fun than the actual album cover which is just a depressing sepia version of this. I also love the logo in particular with the gradient lettering. Nice pick!

This wasn’t the only shirt on the skirt, however. I almost missed this, but thanks to Show!Music Core (you know- the one that’s not Inkigayo or M Countdown) I was able to see Minnie’s butt. That’s some KISS ass.

You Wanted the Best, You Got the Best!! (two exclamation points, people!!) is a live compilation album. You know what one wants even less than a compilation album? A live version of that shit. But whatever, diehard fans will do their thing and want as many versions of a song as they can get, and I respect it. Having seen KISS live several times, I’d be a hypocrite to judge. This shirt design is actually pretty niche, and I’m not sure who manufactures it or what. The You Wanted the Best shirt on KISS’ own website is actually another design entirely. This one is a bit of a mystery as to how the stylist acquired it.

Shuhua

Shuhua’s outfit in particular has been a nightmare for me because I am a completionist (except when it comes to Slipknot I guess). The skirt Shuhua wears in this music video is made up of shreds of several shirts, some of which are never made visible completely in photos or videos. But I was not about to give up, that’s for sure.

The Metallica portion of the skirt is the design of the Damaged Justice tee from their ’88 tour, just like the one Yuqi has as a sleeve. There’s a lot of reprints of this shirt so I doubt it’s a real vintage one, but hey, you never know! When looking up this shirt I also found pictures of Kesha wearing it, so that’s funny.

That’s not the only piece that Shuhua shares with Yuqi, though, as a portion of the Creeping Death tee is also attached to the skirt as seen below.

The front of the skirt, which looks kind of like plenty slices of shirts spliced together, is actually just one Babymetal shirt that has been mix-matched. This Babymetal logo is actually a parody of the Behemoth logo, which is not uncommon for Babymetal shirts. I’ve seen other shirts of theirs with tributes to the Ozzy Osbourne logo as well as Judas Priest.

I was able to figure out which shirt design this was from the wonderful Babymetal T-Shirt Archive twitter account, so thank you Abbymetal for your hard work! The art is by Isana Kagami. This shirt is interesting to me because all three girls have pigtails in this artwork, whereas Su-metal wears a ponytail. It’s a sick ass shirt regardless, and I’m especially excited to see a Japanese metal band get some rep here. Despite the tension between South Korea and Japan, we can all get behind representing asian women in metal.

So what’s left? There’s the Kiss End of the Road tour shirt that Shuhua has hanging from her hip, along with a Dr. Feelgood Mötley Crüe shirt that I managed to identify somehow by sheer willpower. I watched an unofficial Shuhua fancam on .5 speed multiple times to figure out what the hell that black and white shit was. Why did I waste like two hours of my life on this?

The End of the Road World Tour was allegedly KISS’ last tour, but rock bands are kind of in a boy who cried wolf situation when it comes to that shit. But hell, they’re getting old, so maybe it is really the end and I’m just in denial. As far as shirt designs go, it’s incredibly average. The Mötley Crüe shirt, however, manages to out-average it by being one of the most common compositions ever. At least Dr. Feelgood fucks.

Thus completes the skirt, so all we have left is the AC/DC shirt Shuhua is wearing under her red top. It’s an AC/DC “Shot Down in Flames” shirt, which was allegedly popular in the 90s despite the song coming out ten years earlier. I’ve seen one of these for sale for $235 today, but there’s plenty reprints available. Take your pick! I actually love the design itself, reflections of the Highway to Hell art in the AC/DC logo. Definitely visually interesting, A+!

Soyeon

Soyeon is repping two bands here. Let’s just get that Slipknot skirt out of the way first. The shirt used is an Antennas to Hell shirt, which is pretty boring. Antennas to Hell is just a greatest hits compilation, not even its own album. I’m sorry Slipknot, this is some pretty weak representation of you. The design is pretty boring too. I may not be a huge Slipknot girlie, but even I can tell you they have some pretty cool artwork on a lot of their merch. This is just not living up to the standard.

But what else is Soyeon wearing? I know, I know. The second we see a Nirvana shirt we all collectively sigh, because although the band is amazing, everyone and their mother has a Nirvana shirt. It’s not particularly new or exciting. Despite that, it’s at least an In Utero shirt as opposed to the smiley design that’s been driven into the ground. And In Utero? Well, that’s the perfect fit for Soyeon.

With the recent release of “Wife”, there’s no longer any doubt about the feminist themes Soyeon likes to include in (G)-IDLE’s work. If you were paying any attention, they’ve always been there. “TOMBOY” was the first explicit depiction of it, then “NXDE” disposed of any speculation; the feminism is here to stay. And while it’s obvious that these outfits were just created to use rocker imagery to make the girls look empowered and rebellious, the pick of an In Utero shirt for Soyeon has meaning regardless.

So what’s feminist about In Utero? After the commercial success of Nevermind (you know, that Nirvana album with the baby on the cover that’s always trying to sue), Kurt Cobain felt that he wanted to get closer to his punk roots with their next release. In addition, with a growing fanbase meant growing speculation. There started to be debates about the bands’ beliefs and what their music stood for. Well, Cobain was a feminist and huge supporter of the riot grrrl movement, and so part of In Utero was dedicated to making his positions very clear. In the liner notes for In Utero, Cobain even wrote this: “If you’re a sexist, racist, homophobe or basically an asshole, don’t buy this CD. I don’t care if you like me, I hate you.”

The title for In Utero actually comes from one of Courtney Love’s (his wife, lead singer of a band called Hole) poems. The cover art (the anatomical mannequin with angel wings on Soyeon’s shirt) was created by Nirvana’s art director Robert Fisher with Cobain’s instruction. The back collage, however, was created by frontman Kurt Cobain himself in his dining room. The symbols surrounding the tracklisting are pulled from Barbara G. Walker’s The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects.

Controversial tracks like “Rape Me” got Nirvana into trouble with music networks who threatened to cut to commercial if they dared to perform the song. In our current times, KBS has deemed “Wife” unsuitable for broadcast as well. The parallels here are not lost on me, despite being separated by thirty years and a hemisphere.

Miyeon

For our grand finale, Miyeon! Now, I must admit, this is the dress I am most jealous of. I would love to wear this on a fun night out. But that’s not why Miyeon’s dress is the most interesting; it is the most interesting because of the particular shirts picked to make this masterpiece.

What’s most obvious is the AC/DC in the front. Much like Shuhua, this is the “Shot Down in Flames” shirt design being used again. It’s also not the only shirt being used again in this dress; the Behemoth Babymetal logo is also seen on Miyeon’s sleeve.

The AC/DC art seems to have been custom printed instead of just a piece of a recycled shirt… which makes sense, considering what’s happening in this music video. It’s a safe bet that the stylist chose the phrase “shot down in flames” for a reason. But what about the skull on Miyeon’s shoulder?

This is one of the many Slaytanic Wehrmacht shirts, but not an original. I was a bit surprised to see this Slayer shirt chosen, just because of the controversial “wehrmacht” name. The Slaytanic Wehrmacht is the name of Slayer’s fandom, wehrmacht translating to “war machine.” Why is this controversial? Because the Nazi militia was also referred to as the Wehrmacht. Step back stays, armys, ahgases, moas, and most relevantly Neverland- the Slaytanic Wehrmacht isn’t here to play.

The original Slaytanic Wehrmacht shirts looked like this, and go for around 200$ today. This shirt design has become fairly iconic, inspiring hundreds of knockoffs and bootlegs, so many spinoff shirts made at this point that it almost constitutes its own subgenre of Slayer tee.

But Miyeon isn’t wearing this (and thank Satan for that, because if her stylist had cut one of these relics up it would be a damn shame). Instead, the design she’s seen wearing has a black and white skull, the red slayer logo overlaps the helmet, and there’s some gray at the bottom that was left in on Miyeon’s dress. After using my shirt sleuthing skills I found the exact shirt they used for this, as shown below.

A slaytanic wehrmacht skull with the slayer logo over an iron cross (also known as the biker cross). Perfectly respectable to cut this one up for a custom metal princess Miyeon dress, in my humble opinion.

So are Slayer Nazis or Nazi sympathizers? Short answer, no. One of the founding members, the late Jeff Hanneman, was the son of an Allied WWII soldier. His father even gave him a medal he looted from a dead Nazi. Brutal.

Slayer has many times over confirmed this. But why does Slayer use Nazi imagery? Well, because Nazis are fucking evil. And Slayer makes music about evil, including historic evils. Hell, their most infamous song is their song written about Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor piece of garbage. Whether nazi imagery and references should be used in this way is a matter of personal opinion and tastes. Is Slayer’s depiction of the disgusting Nazi regime a harrowing account of the darkness humanity is capable of? Or is it making the Wehrmacht look cool and badass unintentionally? A question as old as time.

After decades of accusations hurled at them and being grilled for exploiting Nazi imagery, Slayer decided to make a definitive statement on it (ie: addressing it in their art itself rather than just in interviews) to clear the air. In 2016, Slayer uploaded the music video for their song, “Pride in Prejudice.” Part three of a trilogy of music videos, this piece depicts some neo-nazis being subjected to brutality the likes of which is befitting of their regime. If you do not like gore do not watch this video. Some fictional nazis get their shit rocked, and not just in a cathartic fun to watch way- a large intestine is ripped out of one while the other gets his skull crushed in. And best of all, Danny Trejo is there!

I think, had bad faith kpop antis who hate (G)-IDLE known enough about metal lore to twist it for their narrative, we’d have had another Chaeyoung-Sowon situation on our hands. Miyeon narrowly avoided becoming part of an idol nazism controversy trifecta. And I’m glad, because she shouldn’t be. Miyeon has most likely never heard a Slayer song in her life.

Why I bring this up and think it is interesting comes down to image. Kpop stylists and artists often gain inspiration from the metal aesthetic, and who can blame them? Our shit is cool. But with that comes accidental references like these, as stylists aren’t basement dwellers like me with the context and ability to sleuth out the origin of any tee. Did Miyeon accidentally cosign nazism? No, absolutely not. But she narrowly avoided it, considering other bands out there. And knowing kpop, something even this tangentially related to sensitive subject matter would never have been considered had they known. Seeing Miyeon rep some thought-provoking portions of metal culture and history is a sweet treat only made possible by stylist naivety.

Kpop idols are so meticulously curated, the complete opposite of metal; kpop is sanitized, made to be as appealing to as many people as possible, whereas metal is deliberately provocative. But kpop wants to look cool, and appropriates metal images to do so. On the surface, metal is seen as badass, counter-culture, rebellious, giving a bad boy edge to their idols in merch. But what most of the kpop industry doesn’t understand is that when you really get into it, metal is a genre full of controversy, boundary-pushing, provocation- art that deliberately makes audiences uncomfortable. Metal’s reputation as rebellious wasn’t unearned, and that means involving taboos and things that aren’t quite pretty. And I love that.

I love that the industry’s cluelessness has enabled the confusing image of a glamorous kpop girl like Miyeon wearing a shirt praising a band that pushes boundaries and has music videos where they violently rip out nazi guts with Danny Trejo. Kpop is definitely manicured and meant to be as palatable as possible, but it is not entirely incompatible with counter-culture and metal. After all, kpop wouldn’t be what it is today without the likes of Seo Taiji. And nowadays, what are homicidols, if not the conversion of idol culture with punk rebellion? Even kpop itself is rather unapologetic about the counter-cultural elements inherent to it: its nonwhiteness, its gender nonconformity, and its unique culture (ie: album packaging, weekly music shows, ISAC, etc).

Where do kpop and metal align, and where do they diverge? What elements of kpop are most rebellious, and which are least? Which elements of either scene could do good influencing the other? Which parts of kpop are metal, and which parts of metal are idol-like?