Musical History

Pre-debut

Since the late 1990s, Korean talent agency and record label SM Entertainment has been holding annual auditions to scout new talents that complemented the success of pop groups H.O.T, S.E.S, and Shinhwa, all of which were created by SM founder Lee Soo-man in the mid 1990s. Leeteuk and Eunhyuk were the first two members of the group to be recruited in 2000 under SM's Starlight Casting System in Seoul.

In 2001, the company held their first oversea casting auditions and discovered Han Geng in Beijing, who was chosen among three thousand applicants.[2] That same year, Yesung was discovered under Seoul's casting system; Sungmin and Donghae were then selected to be trainees after their appearance in an SM-sponsored contest. A year later, Heechul and Kangin was recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles. Siwon was casted in 2003 and Ryeowook in 2004, in which the latter was discovered through the Chinchin Youth Festival singing competition. [5] In 2005, Shindong was selected.

Not long after boy band TVXQ's debut in 2003, news about Lee's unprecedented plans of forming another boy band quickly spread on the Internet. In early 2005, Lee confirmed the news and announced that an all-boy project group of twelve members would debut near the end of the year, promoting this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia."[6] Lee announced that unlike most debuting pop groups that has members with no pre-debut experience, the members in this group were chosen because of their performing experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum made their first appearances in dramas and films;[7][8] Leeteuk, Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, and Siwon have had television appearances, and Han Geng made his first media appearance as a model. Heechul also became an established radio host and MC after his television drama debut in early 2005.[9] Lee also stated, though not directly, that this group would be a rotational group, with a concept very similar to Japan's girl group, Morning Musume. Line-up changes would occur every year, and new members would replace some of the older members.

For a while the group was rumored to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm."[10][a] However, before the group settled with their current name, the company simply referred to them as Junior, a representation of the members' young ages when they first became SM trainees.[10] After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their concept name to Super Junior. The group thereafter became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.[5]

Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005.[b] At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip hop dancing. The group danced to B2K's "Take It To The Floor." Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance away from the group, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006 as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary.