WBW: Buzz – “Coward”

It’s Wednesday and that means a brand new edition of your favorite, my favorite, everyone’s favorite,Way Back Wednesday!

Today we take a short ride back to 2005 and focus on a group that I don’t think has ever been featured in this column before,Buzz. Before there wasF.T. IslandandCNBLUE, Buzz was one of the first hybrid idol/bands on the K-pop scene. The group had some early success and their power ballad “Coward” was probably being their biggest hit. The song was from the group’s second album ‘Effect’ released in March of 2005 and spent three total weeks at the top of the charts.

The rock ballad sound quickly caught on with fans becoming another in a long line ofnorebanghave-to-impress-the-girl classics that guys of that generation would know.

While I genuinely liked the song, another reason for the staying power of “Coward” was the legendarily absurd music video that was released. The video tried to emulate some of the rock ballad inspired, dramatic videos (thinkMoonchildorSky) but those videos were en vogue much earlier and by the time this song was released, those days were long gone. While I might have found it out of place, I’m sure there are fans who loved it and either way, it left its mark on K-pop. Buzz as a group name is still alive but the original members have left, going their own separate paths. Luckily they left us this gem from back in the day.