Genreized Temporality, Museumified Sound : ’7080’ as a Musico-cultural Sign

The term '7080' has been widely used in the mainstream mass-mediascape of the Korean peninsula since the 2000s to refer to the identities of music creators, performers, and listeners, the characteristics of music-related events or places, or the musical genres or styles. This study attempts to describe and explain the ethnographic present of the mid-2020s where the expression of '7080' appears everywhere, with the observational and analytical framework of museumification. On the contrary to the previous academic works that analyze ‘7080’ as a bundle of (selected) preexisting musical genres/styles rooted in the period of 1970s and 1980s, this paper argues that the process of solidification of '7080' as a music-related sign is not something about 'internal' musical genres of the specific time period, but is rather about the current listener-identity of those who consider themselves to be the owners of the experiences associated with that era. Through a process of perpetual re-museumification in which the ‘7080’ identity holders constantly attach the label of '7080' to all musical works and behaviors they are ready to enjoy 'now', the implication of the signifier '7080' is constantly changing. In addition, this museumification process often transforms its meanings into a totally new one, or even betrays their previous meanings. The phenomenon that the signifier itself is changing over time, as shown in the cases of '7090' and '7080+90,' shows the process of re-recognizing and updating the identity of '7080' among its members within the context of always-new present. This change of sign-form itself becomes a part of the two decade’s history of the cultural-symbol '7080'.