Vanguard in the 80's

[supersop]

A retrospective look at the greatest decade in Vanguard history. So close to winning 7 titles? Maybe even 8!!! First let's take a look at their placements and a few words about each show.

1980 - 7th place - 85.600

Asymmetrical drill for the first time on the field. Slightly misunderstood, heavily ticked because of their design (perhaps). A down year? Nah not really. They were still SCV of the 70's only better. Dance choreography in the guard? Who woulda thunk it!!

1981 - 1st place - 94.000

Don't call it a comeback. 1980 was better than 7th place bad. SCV learned its lesson and played the game to win their first title of the 80's. AYPGO became an instant classic and a new standard for other corps to live up to. Closing with Evita was powerful and majestic .. done in a way that only SCV could pull off .. and that's why they were affectionately known as the Rolls Royce of the industry.

1982 - 2nd place - 93.550

1 Blue Devils - 95.250

2 Santa Clara Vanguard - 93.550 ( -1.7 )

This corps was a stone cold killer. It just so happened their friends from down the road were as well. Vanguard took their first 2nd finish of the decade with a show that epitomized great drum corps. Tasty show, tasty beats, meaty books, massive power, crisp as a pickle ... this is just dang good drum corps!!!

1983 - 3rd place - 92.75 (HUH?)

Semifinals

1 Santa Clara Vanguard 91.900

2 Blue Devils 91.150

2 Garfield Cadets 91.150

Finals

1 Garfield Cadets 94.400

2 Blue Devils 93.800

3 Santa Clara Vanguard 92.750

Subjective judging on ticks or just one day too long of a season? This one must have stung for SCV knowing they were in the perfect position heading into finals. So began the legend of Garfield's late season streaks of terror ...... This could potentially have been the first 3pete in history .. alas that honor went to Garfield in 1985. Regardless, this show was all class and full of emotion .. just like we had expected from and loved about the Vanguard. Oh, and STEEL DRUMS FTW!

1984 - 3rd place - 97.4

Ushering in the build up era, Vanguard put out one of its most memorable programs to date. Fanfare and Allegro, Musika Bohema, On the Town, Tenderland (OH MY TENDERLAND!). Improve 3.9 points from Semi's to Finals ... yes 3.9 points, SCV overtook Phantom to land in 3rd ( -0.6 from 1st place) behind BD and Garfield. When learning my DCI history in 1987 the first thing I came to realize was, any corps in the top 3 or 4 is a championship show ... it's just a matter of judges preference as to who will win and not necessarily based on who was hot on finals night. Tastiest drum solo evarrrrrr!

1985 - 2nd place - 97.2 (beginning of the 4pete)

After being stuck in a cluster during Semi's with 4 corps within 0.6 of each other .... Vanguard did it's best to tear a new one finals night and set themselves a step ahead of the rest. They fell short of 1st to Garfield by 1.2 pts. Arguably, a bad spread considering the ensemble tear Garfield had in their closer on finals night (but that's not the first time that's happened to the corps that won). Much of the 85 show was tried again in the 86 production (which made 86 even better). This would be the first in a long line of bridesmaid positions that would befall the Vanguard.

1986 - 2nd place- 97.0 (equaling their Semi's score)

2nd time should have been the charm. Vanguard did everything they could from a design and performance perspective in making the 86 show POP in a way that 85 fell short. More punch in the battery parts, better octave work in the sop line, streamlined drum solo, added a magic trick and the tunnel pants (AWESOME!).. this show really had everything one needs to win a DCI trophy. In my opinion at the time .. they were robbed. I came to appreciate jazz and later was dumbfounded at what BD had done that year ... it took me 5 years to understand, enjoy and love that show of the Devils .. but when my brain finally caught up to my passion, I fully understood why Vanguard was landed in 2nd place yet again.

1987 - 2nd place - 97.8

Ok, this was highway robbery!!!!! I saw SCV several times that summer and there was no way anyone was going to catc................... oh crap .. Garfield is awesome! Did they play better than SCV? NO. Did they march with better technique than SCV? Hard to judge ... extremely hard even though SCV could drive 10" spikes through steel beams with their pivot hip shifts. TOES TOES TOES FTW!! If ever there should have been a tie ........ this was the year. In my heart, Vanguard was totally robbed. In my head, Garfield equaled SCV's masterpiece and raised them a coupe`, tendue and a professional dancer in white tights.

1988 - 2nd place - 96.9

4 in a row? Unbelievable to say the least. At this point, most were long past the notion of politics holding SCV back. Was it the politics or just the fact that this was the heyday of DCI? BD was undefeated going into finals week ...... Vanguard had a 0.4 edge on the Scouts in their last meeting just a few days prior to finals week. With no scores or placements being announced finals week until finals night .... I could only imagine how blindsided SCV must have felt. Then again, BD was a monster all year and Vanguard more than likely had their gaze set firmly upon the Black and Grey from Concord. IMO the better version of POTA was offered in 1988. Tempos were a bit slow in some sections to be as effective as 89 ... but overall a more cohesive thought process went into the design of this show. Not quite as good as 87, but still worthy of a championship.

1989 - 1st place - 98.8

FINALLY!!!!!!! Vanguard got what they deserved. It took 8 years to bring home another DCI trophy and 128 rings ...... but what a journey from here to there. That said, I didn't feel this show should have won. Out of all the Vanguard offerings in the 80's this wasn't the one that should have taken home the gold. Sorry to say that so bluntly, but those Rockford people took over your spot as the bridesmaid holding a 20 lb bag of screws. This was a more exciting Vanguard than 88 ... but the luster was worn off of the product after having a grand season that should have won them the title the year prior.

In closing, I would just like to say that SCV was probably the best overall corps of the 80's even though Garfield did manage to win 4 titles in that span .. and Devils winning 3. These 3 corps won 9 of the 10 championships in this magical decade. I could easily have seen all 3 corps taking 3 titles each instead of the 4,3,2 outcome. They were just that good and just that consistent. Vanguard just had a mystique about them .. an invisible shield of greatness that couldn't be broken no matter the outcome. Pure class and fully worthy of being Idolized .. even to this day. The accomplishments of this corps in the 80's truly deserves to be remembered and immortalized properly.

Record for the 80's

1st - 2 times

2nd - 5 times

3rd - 2 times

7th - once while being innovative

BRAVO!

Edited September 21, 2010 by supersop

[84BDsop]

Re the 84 improvement from semis to finals....that was the year it was raining a lot during semis (I remember seeing them huddling under a large tree while we were warming up), and they were late to the gate...I think they arrived at a dead run. So prelims wasn't their best show...it was an oddity of an otherwise great show (they spanked us a lot until after Whitewater). That poor placing put them in a too-low slot for finals...but they turned it on Saturday night, tying with Garfield in M&M, and with BD and Garfield in brass.

[tommytimp]

Ehh...overrated.

Kidding.

[supersop]

Re the 84 improvement from semis to finals....that was the year it was raining a lot during semis (I remember seeing them huddling under a large tree while we were warming up), and they were late to the gate...I think they arrived at a dead run. So prelims wasn't their best show...it was an oddity of an otherwise great show (they spanked us a lot until after Whitewater). That poor placing put them in a too-low slot for finals...but they turned it on Saturday night, tying with Garfield in M&M, and with BD and Garfield in brass.

Thanks for the insight! Half of the 80's decade was before my time, so I hope I'm not off base in my comments on anything. I really did do a ton of homework from 87-92 .. and getting vids and tapes were hard to come by back then. Inside scoops can make all the difference in the world in forming a proper opinion ... so thanks for the feedback.

[TrainWreck]

In closing, I would just like to say that SCV was probably the best overall corps of the 80's

Keep in mind Vanguard's 81 win was by .3. Take away the BD drum score and BD is up by 1.7 points! If BD placed 8th in drums, we won. SCV deserve the win as they were more consistent across the captions due to the BD purcussion anomaly. However, it's a tenuous victory.

The streak I think that's overlooked is Blue Devils 79-84 streak:

79 - 1st

80 - 1st

81 - 2nd (.3)

82 - 1st

83 - 2nd (.6)

84 - 2nd (.1)

6 consecutive years of being in the top 2. The years the corps did not win, they didn't take 2nd by much.

Expand the streak from 75 - 86 and you've got 12 consecutive years of top 3 finishes.

[MsBusDriver]

1981 - 1st place - 94.000

..."AYPGO became an instant classic and a new standard for other corps to live up to"...

Got to disagree with this statement just a tiny bit. YPG became an instant classic in '73, ('74). It set a new standard for other Corps then!. And having that two tempo ending, truly set the Drum Corps world on its ear. I would love to see it back one more time...sometime...maybe...

I'm glad that it won again in '81 though and I know that is the decade you are talking about. Not trying to diss your analysis or anything, you've done an excllent job. I totally loved SCV during the '80s. They were really fun back then!

[supersop]

Keep in mind Vanguard's 81 win was by .3. Take away the BD drum score and BD is up by 1.7 points! If BD placed 8th in drums, we won. SCV deserve the win as they were more consistent across the captions due to the BD purcussion anomaly. However, it's a tenuous victory.

The streak I think that's overlooked is Blue Devils 79-84 streak:

79 - 1st

80 - 1st

81 - 2nd (.3)

82 - 1st

83 - 2nd (.6)

84 - 2nd (.1)

6 consecutive years of being in the top 2. The years the corps did not win, they didn't take 2nd by much.

Expand the streak from 75 - 86 and you've got 12 consecutive years of top 3 finishes.

Then again ...... While SCV was 2nd for 4 years in a row (since we're measuring tenths)

1981 1st

1982 2nd (1.7)

1983 3rd (1.65)

1984 3rd (.6)

1985 2nd (1.2)

1986 2nd (1.4)

1987 2nd (.1)

1988 2nd (.2)

1989 1st

I totally agree that BD's run was impressive and at the expense of PR mostly ... but being less than 1.7 pts away from a title every year for 9 years, taking 2 championships and losing 2 by less than .2 .... pretty amazing consistency out of both Cali corps ......... but this is about SCV

Got to disagree with this statement just a tiny bit. YPG became an instant classic in '73, ('74). It set a new standard for other Corps then!. And having that two tempo ending, truly set the Drum Corps world on its ear. I would love to see it back one more time...sometime...maybe...

I'm glad that it won again in '81 though and I know that is the decade you are talking about. Not trying to diss your analysis or anything, you've done an excllent job. I totally loved SCV during the '80s. They were really fun back then!

You're so right and I totally didn't think about 73 and 74 since I was so focused on the 80's. Point taken.

Edited September 21, 2010 by supersop

[tommytimp]

Keep in mind Vanguard's 81 win was by .3. Take away the BD drum score and BD is up by 1.7 points! If BD placed 8th in drums, we won. SCV deserve the win as they were more consistent across the captions due to the BD purcussion anomaly. However, it's a tenuous victory.

But why would we take it away? It's not like BD got jobbed that night in the drum caption. They were bad. SCV was the most balanced corps on the field that year and deserved to win.

[BigDale]

In closing, I would just like to say that SCV was probably the best overall corps of the 80's even though Garfield did manage to win 4 titles in that span .. and Devils winning 3. These 3 corps won 9 of the 10 championships in this magical decade. I could easily have seen all 3 corps taking 3 titles each instead of the 4,3,2 outcome. They were just that good and just that consistent. Vanguard just had a mystique about them .. an invisible shield of greatness that couldn't be broken no matter the outcome. Pure class and fully worthy of being Idolized .. even to this day. The accomplishments of this corps in the 80's truly deserves to be remembered and immortalized properly.

Record for the 80's

1st - 2 times

2nd - 5 times

3rd - 2 times

7th - once while being innovative

BRAVO!

Well said.

Dale

'86 SCV contrabass

[Northern Thunder]

Santa Clara Vanguard of the 1980's=SUPERB!!!!!!