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Back in 1958, the entire world stopped and held its breath when rock and roll wunderkind Elvis Presley paused his white hot music and movie career to serve in the U.S. Army. Looking back on that earth-shattering event over six decades later, its easy to understand why The King opted to not fight his draft number being called up for service: Presley and his respective management – that would be Colonel Tom Parker for those uninitiated rock and roll historians – saw only downside for the already controversail rocker if he attempted to legally wrangle his way out of Uncle Sam’s clutches. The common logic was that it was best for Elvis to keep a stiff upper-lip and serve his military tenure and just hope and pray that once all of the military manuevers were said and done he would still have a lucrative career to come home to. That turned out to be sound thinking and we bring this dusty example to light today only because of the news from our Don’t Be Cruel fans over at Variety of a similar story rearing its head, proving once and for all that history does indeed repeat itself…
K-Pop sensations BTS (which sounds a bit like a burger you’d order at a fast food joint, wot?) have broken a million-and-one hearts today with their announcement that they’re putting their super-nova careers on hold until 2025 in order to fulfill a mandatory requirement that they serve in the Korean military. Band member Jin will get that ball rolling by being the first member of the group to dive into some military fatigues at the end of this month.
In a press release announcing the temporary disbanding of the group, BTS’s representation said that “The members of BTS are currently moving forward with plans to fulfill their military service. Group member Jin will initiate the process as soon as his schedule for his solo release is concluded at the end of October. He will then follow the enlistment procedure of the Korean government. Other members of the group plan to carry out their military service based on their own individual plans…”
Their label went on to say that “With the release of their first anthology album earlier this year it opened the path to allow the members to take some time to explore individual projects. As part of the HYBE family, we support and encourage our artists and are beyond proud that they will each now have time to explore their unique interests and do their duty by being of service to the country they call home. After the phenomenal concert to support Busan’s bid for the World Expo 2030, and as each individual embarks on solo endeavors, it’s the perfect time and the members of BTS are honored to serve.”
In the midst of all of this drama, BTS is making hay while the sun shines, performing an epic free of charge concert in Busan this past weekend. Just how “epic” could this concert have been? Reportedly 50 million fans showed up to show their support for BTS and their unique style of music; yep, pretty epic in our books.
In an era where it feels like most might protest (at best) such a thing as obligatory military service, BTS looks to show their fans that there’s nothing that’s not cool about serving your country. Of course, we already knew that thanks to the 1958 lesson of Elvis Presley.
Vents extends its best wishes to the members of BTS and will look forward to catching up with them in 2025!
