Jungy Rotten
Jon Twitch

In the 1970s musician Shin Joonghyun was asked by then President-for-life Park Junghee to write pro-government songs. He declined, and his integrity cost him his career and his freedom. In 2007, No Brain took a different path from Shin, selling the rights to one of their songs to presidential candidate Lee Myungbag.

The campaign bought the rights to the song "You Have a Crush on Me" off No Brain's 2005 album Boys, Be Ambitious. The original chorus "You have a crush on me" was modified to "This time Lee Myungbag." It was recorded by another singer not connected to No Brain.

"Why did LMB choose that No Brain song? He liked the melody? Bullshit. He aimed at votes of people in their 20s, 30s," wrote a member of No Brain's website. "But now I got to thinking...No Brain's getting in the right position. A band singing with no thought, 'no brain.'"

No Brain was contacted for their response, but the manager refused to comment on this issue. The only comments No Brain made about the sale were posted on their website by singer Yee Seongwoo. "Sorry, friends who got disappointed by this!" he wrote (in Korean of course). "Sorry for not considering your passion for us! Go ahead, friends who throw hatred for this! If that helps it go away then I guess it's better."

Speaking on behalf of the band, Yee admitted they sold the rights to the song, but they were not expressly supporting the candidate. "We're not asking you to be the god of punk," one fan wrote to them, "but just a minimum amount of senses and reasons. Are you now just playing dress-up? No Brain's on the same level with HOT (a Korean boyband)."

Of course there were plenty of No Brain fans willing to overlook the band's indiscretion, or even defend it. "Have they ever declared they're left wing before?" questioned one No Brain supporter. "You're just angry because it's not the candidates you're supporting."

Lee Myungbag has run a controversial campaign, dogged by allegations of white collar crime that keep resurfacing.

"This isn't a matter of right or left," insisted one other critic. "Who's Lee Myungbag? All the crimes he committed. Illegal ivestment. Stock fraud. If you're selling your song to this party, at least you should make clear where you are standing."

This certainly seems at odds with what they said in one of their songs, "Burning Youth," where they sang "Let's keep our pride with our eyes wide open, in the world full of lies and frauds."

One former punk girl who saw them play at Ssamzie Sound Fest wrote: "They're now disconnected from their past. The moment their song becomes one of the LMB's logo songs, the songs in their past become trash."

Another critic adds "Punk without spirit is noise." No Brain seems humbled by the experience. "I learned a lot from this," wrote the lead singer. "We recently got so used to compliments. Thanks for letting the devils who believed they were angels spread their evil wings. Yes! We will burn ourselves."

"I've lost many rockers and idols of my youth to drugs, alcohol, suicide, and yes, time and money," wrote another long-time follower of No Brain. "If they can't avoid getting lost to time and money, the last thing I'd want is seeing them on the side of [Lee Myungbag]."