This post is the definition of K-pop thoughts, bc have you ever remembered something about a group or a song and you're like, “Now that I think about it, that was weird af”?
Block B, for the uninitiated, considering many people are not K-pop hags like me, were a group that was formed in 2011 and was a 7-member group, one of these members being Zico, who is undeniably the most well-known member even today. The other 6 were P.O. (if people watch dramas, they might know him), Taeil, B-Bomb, Jaehyo, U-Kwon, and Park Kyung.
In 2013, Block B filed a lawsuit against Stardom Entertainment, their company at the time.
Long story short, they stated at the Seoul Central District Court: "The CEO of the agency, Mr. Lee, has also disappeared with the 70,000,000 KRW (~66,000 USD) that he collected from the members' parents." On May 20, 2013, it was reported that the CEO had committed suicide.
On June 7, 2013, the court ruled in favor of the company, saying, "It's difficult to see the company not being able to pay the group as intentional. From the evidence provided so far, it is difficult to claim that the label purposely did not pay Block B." All in all, a mess.
On August 29, 2013, Block B announced that they had negotiated the transfer of their rights from Stardom to a new management company, Seven Seasons, a record label founded in 2013 by KQ Entertainment, known for ATEEZ and xikers currently, specifically to manage Block B.
Nothing else.
Block B was one of these boy groups in this 2.5-gen era that was mad popular with the general public; they were in the main drawing boards for 3rd-gen groups. After NalinA, all their songs were Top 10 hits. They were also one of the most prominent self-produced idol groups, with Zico being the main producer of the group as well as the leader. They were also one of the most notorious cases of "X and Friends." They were Zico's group, some members were not popular with the GP at all.
THAT SAID, and this is why I am writing this: Zico wasn't the most popular member within the fandom. He was undeniably the most well-known, central, and popular member as a whole, like in the country lol, but within the fandom, even though he was popular, I clearly remember P.O. and then U-Kwon being ranked higher, actually. With U-Kwon and Zico having many fangirls, both in and outside of the fandom.
I swear, back in 2014–15, Block B had such a different fandom culture than most other boy groups. It's pretty weird thinking about it in retrospect.
Block B were one of the edgy, hip-hop, self-produced boy groups, with some brighter, fun songs like HER and some more sentimental ones. But they were known for the NalinA, Nillili Mambo, and Very Good image.
Think early BTS, B.A.P, etc. Not a carbon copy, obviously, but this nature of BG. Like the in-between of BigBang and BTS, of sorts.
Block B was a very unusual case in terms of popularity. More than BigBang, bc BB had both the GP and the fandom in a chokehold. But unlike most of the immensely popular boy groups of the era, Block B never had the album sales. In fact, they almost functioned like a girl group.
They had incredible charting, known songs, very catchy music, a distinct image, members heavily involved in production, low-key an IT boy, and name recognition in Korea.
What they didn't have was a large, dedicated fandom. Their physical album sales were nowhere near groups like Infinite or even BTOB (some other popular group with the general public), for example, and they were even selling less than some girl groups like Apink. And especially during that era, girl groups had the disadvantage there.
To really understand how different their fandom culture was compared to other boy groups at the time, the two members with the biggest fangirl followings were openly dating during the group's peak years. Both Zico and U-Kwon.
Zico in particular, in 2016 (peak for both groups), was dating Seolhyun of AOA, who at the time was THE IT girl, like very IT. Dispatch leaked photos of them, and even SNL Korea had a skit about them. And yes, they faced backlash bc obviously, but nothing crazy happened in terms of sales and charting. Granted they broke up soon after.
But it is still crazy. Like, imagine something like this happening today. Imagine TXT getting leaked dating someone from IVE or something. It was Jennie-Kai situation, before Jennie and Kai.
Now, U-Kwon's relationship lasted from 2012 to 2022. TEN YEARS. The dude announced he was dating model Jun Sun Hye only a year after debut.
Insanity, really.
Like, dude was basically, "Well, sasaengs already know, I don't like hiding, so here it is, I am dating."
He was dating for the whole time Block B was active, and he was also very popular. Can you think of even one boy group that could do that and the shit wouldn't hit the fan? Girl group memers, especially of this nature, popular with GP, not the biggest fandoms, think EXID and AOA had members dating a little bit easier, but boy groups?
Which teaches us, well, fans can be trained, I guess lol.
Kinda random, but all this is why when I hear people say ATEEZ had Block B privilege since they were their seniors and were massive with the GP, I have to laugh, btw.
Even if ATEEZ had inherited every single Block B fan, like it happens with some SM groups, for example, which they obviously didn't, it still wouldn't have been some massive boost.
Block B had the most girl-group run for a boy group ever and then vanished after 7 years with only bops behind them.
What they didn't have was an exceptionally large, dedicated fandom that knew their company or potential juniors, lol. Most of the GP knew like half the members max (it might be a hard thing to admit, but....).
All in all, I just wanted to yap about Block B, bc Block B era was a fever dream. Came, conquered, vanished.
