It's very kkondae (old thinking) whenever someone says "back in my days..." and we get so annoyed by it every time it happens because, come on, the times have changed. Drawing a direct comparison between the K-pop landscapes of then and now might be like comparing apples and oranges – the context has transformed dramatically. However, this doesn't stop fans from taking a walk down memory lane, reminiscing about the defining moments that built the K-pop universe we know today.

Recently, I came across a vibrant Reddit thread where seasoned K-pop aficionados shared their nostalgic "Back in the day..." stories; it was really fun to read as it brought back some memories. And maybe for newer fans who just got into K-pop, they might find these things interesting as well! Diving into this thread was not just a journey back in time, but a vibrant festival of memories that resonate deeply with veteran fans.

Easy access to Music Videos? HD Music Videos? We didn't know that.

Fans had hard drives filled with music videos and had to join "Asian Music Communities" for links to even download them. I remember someone telling me they used to get their K-pop music videos from a peer-to-peer site and client like Kazaa. The video resolution was probably 240p with a low bitrate, and the video files were just a few megabytes large. Later on when GOM TV came out, you could download the MV's in much higher quality but you had to buy each one! Imagine, having to pay for every K-pop music video you wanted to download and watch.

Subtitled Variety Contents were all fan-made, and they would do anything to fight against copyright.

It's not how it is now, where you get instant subtitles when watching your favorite K-drama on Netflix. Back in the day, you had to wait weeks or months for the subtitles for K-dramas/K-variety content. Also, since the subtitles were usually in SRT format, you had to figure out how to make the subtitles play in sync with the video. For others, they found the videos on sites like Dailymotion but they would be split up into multiple parts and hope that the copyright police didn't come calling and take the videos down. Imagine watching parts 1 to 4 only for the final part 5 to be deleted due to copyright violation.

The games the idols used to play... fans are glad they don't do it anymore!

The Pepero Challenges...

Pepero Game

Passing Paper Game

Rain had an ongoing rivalry with Stephen Colbert and even had a dance-off.

JYP was rockin' out with Conan O'Brien.

Idols on Twitter were unhinged.

miss A Suzy's interaction with Ian Somerhalder, and everyone could read the replies on Twitter (now X).

Life before lightsticks existed.

The OG Weekly Idol Hosts.

What are some of your own "Back in the Day" K-pop/K-drama stories?