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1992 Crossmen


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So I was reliving my youth a bit (watching Fan Network) and I have come to a startling realisation....

The 1992 Crossmen is my all time favorite drum corps show.

Now don't get me wrong. I loved each and every show I marched and I love everything that my corps ever did, but there is just SOMETHING about 92 Crossmen that gets me each and every time. We all know the drumline were demigods, but how about that hornline? They were awesome! That guard was absolutely out of this world. But I think that the main thing about this show was it's design. No amps. No voice. NOT NEEDED! This show totally conveys what it is meant to be about and more importantly, it is totally evident to me that the kids "get it" is well! They sold this show from the second they walked out of the tunnel.

So who else feels the same way? Feel free to add on or to correct me if you think I am wrong (which I am not)!

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So I was reliving my youth a bit (watching Fan Network) and I have come to a startling realisation....

The 1992 Crossmen is my all time favorite drum corps show.

Now don't get me wrong. I loved each and every show I marched and I love everything that my corps ever did, but there is just SOMETHING about 92 Crossmen that gets me each and every time. We all know the drumline were demigods, but how about that hornline? They were awesome! That guard was absolutely out of this world. But I think that the main thing about this show was it's design. No amps. No voice. NOT NEEDED! This show totally conveys what it is meant to be about and more importantly, it is totally evident to me that the kids "get it" is well! They sold this show from the second they walked out of the tunnel.

So who else feels the same way? Feel free to add on or to correct me if you think I am wrong (which I am not)!

It's in my personal top 10 list.

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I LOVE this show

but I'm biased...

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I always loved the Crossmen during the Ruocco/DeLucia years. Great shows.

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It's one of my faves, along with 92 Madison Scouts as well (City of Angels). I don't know about perfect, but it's definitely got a ton of appeal, at least musically. I haven't watched it in a long time.

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ahh 92 Crossmen. that horn reentry after the drum solo....gets me everytime. a box 7 GE moment if there ever was one

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I agree. There have been few stereo systems that have played that re-entry loud of enough for my liking.

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I LOVE this show

but I'm biased...

This is truly my favorite of all the Crossmen years. Crossmen drumline..................

I agree. There have been few stereo systems that have played that re-entry loud of enough for my liking.

I remember cranking the volume up and the house a shaking. lol. Mark Thurstan's drum solo's and parts OMG.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The 1992 Crossmen was my one and only season marching drum and bugle corps. What a magical summer.

The corps was a solid veteran corps, yet there was a lot "new" that year, not least a contingent of hornline rookies who could barely play but were needed to fill out the line. We had an all-new brass staff, mostly culled from Star and Cadets, who brought a belief that if we only followed the "system," we would pull our weight along with our all-world drumline. The drill designer, John Milauskis, was in his first year with the corps - I believe he had previously designed for Magic. He brought along some folks from Florida. We had some more Florida folks who had marched with Suncoast before they folded.

I remember the Friday night the hornline first played "Journey Under the Sun" in a junior high school gymnasium in Jerseydelphia. When we finished, we just kind of looked around at each other as if to say "did we just play that?" A staff member told us after that night that THIS moment could be what people talked about in Madison in August. The staff kept trying to show us the big picture - how if we took care of business on the practice field each day, we could accomplish great things.

The design of the show was somewhat risky, as it included original and unfamiliar music, but it was arranged for maximum impact. The storyline was pretty basic - creation, beauty, conflict (the Rainforest), reflection on beauty, and a resolution that was not a "resolution." The unresolved ending led towards the plan for the next two years' shows and also reflected the care-of-creation imperative that was the desired outcome. But this show had a message without being "preachy." You can enjoy the show without analyzing it.

All through the summer there was this sense of having an unspecified potential we needed to realize. Testifying to this potential, we beat Cadets of Bergen County several times in the early season, but could not defend our DCE championship of 1991. Preview of Champions was a disappointment, as we placed ninth, but the placement was never so much the issue as was the idea that we were underperforming. Changes were coming. The question mark at the end of the show was added, as was an attempt to add a VERY simple body movement to the ultimate hit in "Journey Under the Sun." When I think of what corps members do today with body movement while playing, I am amazed, as it simply was beyond our reach at that time.

In mid-July, we were told that there were three corps we could pass up - Blue Knights, Santa Clara, and Phantom. We passed up BK in the last week of July and beat SCV for the first time in history on August 2 in Lynn, Massachusetts. Being a rookie, I could not understand the importance of beating Vanguard, but a volunteer who I was standing with while hearing the scores was nearly overcome with emotion. As is well-documented, we outscored Phantom for the first time on finals night.

I think everyone who was part of 92 Crossmen is proud, not only that we placed in the top tier, but that the end product of what we did in that year has stood the test of time. Many corps were more technically accomplished, many scored and placed higher, but there was something just right about this show and this group of people.

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The 1992 Crossmen was my one and only season marching drum and bugle corps. What a magical summer.

The design of the show was somewhat risky, as it included original and unfamiliar music, but it was arranged for maximum impact. The storyline was pretty basic - creation, beauty, conflict (the Rainforest), reflection on beauty, and a resolution that was not a "resolution." The unresolved ending led towards the plan for the next two years' shows and also reflected the care-of-creation imperative that was the desired outcome. But this show had a message without being "preachy." You can enjoy the show without analyzing it.

All through the summer there was this sense of having an unspecified potential we needed to realize. Testifying to this potential, we beat Cadets of Bergen County several times in the early season, but could not defend our DCE championship of 1991. Preview of Champions was a disappointment, as we placed ninth, but the placement was never so much the issue as was the idea that we were underperforming. Changes were coming. The question mark at the end of the show was added, as was an attempt to add a VERY simple body movement to the ultimate hit in "Journey Under the Sun." When I think of what corps members do today with body movement while playing, I am amazed, as it simply was beyond our reach at that time.

I was at Preview and thought that sections #2 & #4 (Beauty - Appalachian Morning and Resolution on Beauty - Puma) absolutely grooved, but the rest felt disjointed and like filler - no emotion behind it. I had taken a friend who had never seen a drum corps prior, and he thought the same thing, and went as far as to say those 2 songs were his favorites from everyone at Preview. Now fast forward to Finals in Madison - WOW! Now there was a cohesiveness to the show, all the music worked (no longer any "filler"), and while the groove sections still were my favorites - all the music was played well and "sold". The amount of pass-throughs in that drill was insane - but fun to watch! Great corps - X-Men '92!

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