1973 Madison

[fastbreak]

I was listening to early 70's shows and the thought popped in my head. The drastic change in programming style, etc. of the 70 to 72 Madison to the very popular and the rise to fame starting with 73 Madison.

Was there a major reason from going to the varied music show from the total show package? Remember the "Alice" show and the 72 Patriotic show?

A second question pops up. If Madison would have stayed with the total show concept of the early 70's, would there be a Madison today?

This topic may have been discussed to death, but I haven't run across it from looking at other topics.

Just thinking and wondering. Thoughts, comments...

[Northern Thunder]

I think you'd have to say 1973 was the start of the "big sound" Madison. As a matter of fact, early in '73 their show was performed at a slower overall pace. That all changed at CYO Nationals when they decided to up the drive considerably, and for the next couple decades they were known for their aggressive style. I have a recording of a July, 1973 Scouts' show, which sounds quite a bit different from their August product in terms of energy.

[danguernsey]

I was listening to early 70's shows and the thought popped in my head. The drastic change in programming style, etc. of the 70 to 72 Madison to the very popular and the rise to fame starting with 73 Madison.

Was there a major reason from going to the varied music show from the total show package? Remember the "Alice" show and the 72 Patriotic show?

A second question pops up. If Madison would have stayed with the total show concept of the early 70's, would there be a Madison today?

This topic may have been discussed to death, but I haven't run across it from looking at other topics.

Just thinking and wondering. Thoughts, comments...

Although both were themed shows, the change from '71 "Alice" to the '72 "Patriotic War Tunes" was part of a conservative "recoil" away from the radical experimentation of '71. We got reamed pretty bad for "Alice" in '71 and, perhaps, overreacted by going back to a more traditional 60s type show. The Cavaliers went through a similar change from

the '71 "Circus" show to a more traditional show in '72.

As for '73, we were still groping for an identity. In the early part of '73, we had one foot in '72 doing a Civil War Medly for color pre and concert (e.g., see footage from '73 "Competative Drum Corps"). It was slow, ponderous, OLD. The other foot was foward looking--visceral, energetic, youthful, NEW. The Scouts had played "Ballet in Brass" in 1962, but put such a fresh spin on it that appeared to have been released yesterday. It had the big-band energy of "Cherokee" from 1970. The tune that defined the Madison image in '73 was "God Bless the Child." We dropped the Civil War stuff at mid-season, replacing it with God Bless. All the pieces came together at that moment. When we added the white aussies and gauntlets at mid-season, the Madison image and sound was born. That image pretty much remained in place up to the present. '73 CYO still ranks up there as one of the best crowd reactions I ever experienced in my 7 years in marching with the Scouts. Friggin unreal!

You ask, "if Madison would have stayed with the total concept show of the early 70s, would there be a Madison today?" I don't know; hard to say. I do know that why so many people wanted to become Madison Scouts in 1974 and beyond was because of the image and sound that we forged in that glorious summer of 1973. Great times!

[fastbreak]

Thanks Dan,

The difference from the early season to the end was beyond belief. Getting rid of the little scout hats to the aussies and if my memory doesn't fail me, you guys went to the red sash also in 73 was definitely a different look.

The horn line I believe was in the mid 40's for size in 73, but the size jump to 54 to 58 in 1974 and the drum section growing up in 1974. WOW!!

The reason for the "would they be around" question was, at least to me and several others, was that Madison was treading water. The Blue Stars definitely were growing stronger by the moment and the Kilts were the Kilts, always there in the hunt for titles".

When you look at the fortunes of the Blue Stars from 73 to 81 and Madison in the same years.... hmmm. No conspriacy theories, but the way potential members looked at those two corps?

[endy29]

Actually the horn line in 73 was 52 and grew in 74 to 60+. (Hence the size limit in 75 to 128 members) The 73 corps was pretty much already a young veteran bunch. A lot of horns from 71 returned in 73 plus a contigent of out of staters from Ohio. Only one horn aged out in 73 (me unfortunately). The mid season changes were extensive adding God Bless, goosing the tempos dramatically and the revised ending to Ballet in Brass. Remember this was the first full season without a Cadence catagory on the sheets.

Thanks Dan,

The difference from the early season to the end was beyond belief. Getting rid of the little scout hats to the aussies and if my memory doesn't fail me, you guys went to the red sash also in 73 was definitely a different look.

The horn line I believe was in the mid 40's for size in 73, but the size jump to 54 to 58 in 1974 and the drum section growing up in 1974. WOW!!

The reason for the "would they be around" question was, at least to me and several others, was that Madison was treading water. The Blue Stars definitely were growing stronger by the moment and the Kilts were the Kilts, always there in the hunt for titles".

When you look at the fortunes of the Blue Stars from 73 to 81 and Madison in the same years.... hmmm. No conspriacy theories, but the way potential members looked at those two corps?

[danguernsey]

The difference from the early season to the end was beyond belief. Getting rid of the little scout hats to the aussies and if my memory doesn't fail me, you guys went to the red sash also in 73 was definitely a

different look.

In '73, the horn line wore black sashes with silver trim. The rest of the corps--no sashes. That was the standard Scout uni from '73-'75. In 1976, the drum line wore red sashes, the horn line and guard wore black; same in '77. In 1978, the entire corps wore red sashes.

The horn line I believe was in the mid 40's for size in 73, but the size jump to 54 to 58 in 1974 and the drum section growing up in 1974. WOW!!

In '73, the horn line was c. 54. In 1974 and 1975, we had 64 horns. The '74 drum line had 9 snares.

The reason for the "would they be around" question was, at least to me and several others, was that Madison was treading water. The Blue Stars definitely were growing stronger by the moment and the Kilts were the Kilts, always there in the hunt for titles".

1970 was a breakout year for us after the "dark ages" of the 1960s. 1970 was a pretense of what was to come in '73-'75. In '71 and, especially, in '72 we treaded water.

When you look at the fortunes of the Blue Stars from 73 to 81 and Madison in the same years.... hmmm. No conspriacy theories, but the way potential members looked at those two corps?

We had our first out-of-state member in '72, "endy29." He aged out in '73. The rest of the corps was local. In '73 we picked up a few more out-of-staters--about 10% was out of state in '73. '74 and '75 was about 15%-20% out-of-state. By my last year in '77, over 50% of the members were out-of-state. Quite a change! A lot of guys wanted to be Madison Scouts. The image/sound/swagger was infectious and, face it, we were just damnn good!

[Scerpella]

Quite a change! A lot of guys wanted to be Madison Scouts. The image/sound/swagger was infectious and, face it, we were just damnn good!

While I recognized what a quality corps Madison was in 71 and 72, the thought of someday joining never occurred to me until 73. The first time I saw them in the Aussies and gauntlets I practically swooned. It was bad*ss from moment 1.

Interesting thing about 72 Scouts is that while they were 14th and out of finals, they tied with Argonne for 1st in MA with a perfect 5.0 .

[Jim Anello]

Thanks Dan,

The difference from the early season to the end was beyond belief. Getting rid of the little scout hats to the aussies and if my memory doesn't fail me, you guys went to the red sash also in 73 was definitely a different look.

The horn line I believe was in the mid 40's for size in 73, but the size jump to 54 to 58 in 1974 and the drum section growing up in 1974. WOW!!

The reason for the "would they be around" question was, at least to me and several others, was that Madison was treading water. The Blue Stars definitely were growing stronger by the moment and the Kilts were the Kilts, always there in the hunt for titles".

When you look at the fortunes of the Blue Stars from 73 to 81 and Madison in the same years.... hmmm. No conspriacy theories, but the way potential members looked at those two corps?

You perception of the Blue Stars getting,"stronger by the moment," is interesting, because it was not my impression as a fan in the stands. Don't get me wrong. The Blue Stars were a very, very good corps. But, I got the impression that, by August of that year, the pace of their improvement was slowing down; to me, they were starting to go a little bit stale. Maybe it was that Madison was improving by leaps and bounds in comparison, but that was my impression at the time. I have wondered who would have placed higher if Finals were a week later.

A great topic of discussion for another thread would be what happened to the Blue Stars in 1974. 3rd to 12th was quite a dropoff.

As for the divergent paths the corps took after 1979, somebody will have to weigh in on what was happening off the field. But, the Blue Stars placed a lot of importance on being a finalist every year since DCI's start. Not making the 1980 finals really surprised the corps. I was pretty tight with members of the corps and the staff then, and they were sure they were making finals. I'll never forget the look on the staff's faces when their prelims score was announced. They couldn't believe it. That seemed to take a lot out of the corps.

[Northern Thunder]

A great topic of discussion for another thread would be what happened to the Blue Stars in 1974. 3rd to 12th was quite a dropoff.

Funny thing about that 1974 12th place for the Blue Stars. It was the most "un-12th place" performance in DCI history. They were 8th in marching, 8th in horns, 8th in total general effect....and a 12th place in percussion.

[Jim Anello]

Funny thing about that 1974 12th place for the Blue Stars. It was the most "un-12th place" performance in DCI history. They were 8th in marching, 8th in horns, 8th in total general effect....and a 12th place in percussion.

And for all that, I remember two things about their show. One, the rather abrupt start to it; I felt like I woke in the middle of "Tiger Rag." Two, how they kept recycling the end of "South Rampart Street Parade" in various tunes during the show.

They took 8th in GE? I've gotta tell you, I am really surprised by that.