Fran Haring Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 But man, when Star hit Hershey in 92, the chocolate factory blew the roof! I hear ya... they were great that night, and the audience absolutely loved 'em!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I think this is generally accurate. Question: You, Jeff or others may have been around for SOI 91-93.....what was it that made people so angry about them? And if possible what percentage of the adverse response was from the production (music/visual) and what percentage from other stuff (unrelated to the performance)? a few reasons that I remember....the main one being the perception that they bought their way to the top. I mean Cook wasn't broke in 85, but they didn't even crack top 3 until 1990. People tend to forget that BD started as an actual corps in what....72? and then won in 76? But by this point, that didn't happen much where corps came out of nowhere and became a contender. Face it, Star was a first year finalist. I remember being in the stadium at 7:40 AM in 1985 to watch them perform at prelims for DCI East. There may have been other issues in terms of show content, but really, I think it all came down to the perception of money. Did they travel better? Perhaps. They ate better, but some of that wasn't just money....it was common ####### sense. I don't see Crown getting ####, or now even say Phantom for the tweaking of the uniform every year, but when Star did it, people flipped out. it was, all in all, a lot of stupidity 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan9 Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) a few reasons that I remember....the main one being the perception that they bought their way to the top. I mean Cook wasn't broke in 85, but they didn't even crack top 3 until 1990. People tend to forget that BD started as an actual corps in what....72? and then won in 76? But by this point, that didn't happen much where corps came out of nowhere and became a contender. Face it, Star was a first year finalist. I remember being in the stadium at 7:40 AM in 1985 to watch them perform at prelims for DCI East. There may have been other issues in terms of show content, but really, I think it all came down to the perception of money. Did they travel better? Perhaps. They ate better, but some of that wasn't just money....it was common ####### sense. I don't see Crown getting ####, or now even say Phantom for the tweaking of the uniform every year, but when Star did it, people flipped out. it was, all in all, a lot of stupidity So..... understanding what you say about Star being a first year finalist, it makes sense that the young whipper snapper would be held in contempt by veteran corps and their fans that had been waiting for years to make finals.....and these guys come out of the chute in serious competition. It's also pretty obvious that if you are trotting out all these props and new uniforms, et al...that some would suggest that finances was the reason. Thanks Jeff. Edited June 3, 2013 by Plan9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Ream Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 So..... understanding what you say about Star being a first year finalist, it makes sense that the young whipper snapper would be held in contempt by veteran corps and their fans that had been waiting for years to make finals.....and these guys come out of the chute in serious competition. It's also pretty obvious that if you are trotting out all these props and new uniforms, et al...that some would suggest that finances was the reason. Thanks Jeff. Outside of the 93 show, it's the only thing I can see. I know in 91 they got booed a lot in some places, but never came East. Cross to Cross would have had burning babies thrown at them here. I mean in the midwest you had the trio of Madison, Cavies and Phantom at the top. All of a sudden, this corps that used to be the cute new corps is beating some of them. By 90, they had beaten all of them, and by 91, they won it all. in 92, they kicked ### most of the season. So a lot of people try to compare BD and SOI, outside of show design for 93, I don't see it. I mean too many people want to say ABSOI for 92 in the crowd reaction ( kinda like 08), but it was Cavies first DCI title ever, and the show was what, 3 hours away from home in a stadium full of black jackets with green letters? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
normy diploome Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) Since the public, wrongly or rightly, didn't appreciate what Star was doing in 1993, would it be fair to say that had Star won that year's championship, or had their show been copied by a lot of other corps, that DCI would have suffered financially? Regardless of Star not winning to Cadets in a very close 1-2 finish, it is the direction the activity has moved toward. It may be argued reasonably that the financial downturn in our activity is a cause-effect relationship. I would put that within a larger context of where society has gone with entertainment and leisure spending and later where economy has roller coastered regarding non-committed monies, general inflation, and the uptick in transportation, insurance, food, housing, education, and all costs, not just for drum corps. We are an activity in a different time and culture from even '92-'93. Edited June 3, 2013 by normy diploome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
normy diploome Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 So..... understanding what you say about Star being a first year finalist, it makes sense that the young whipper snapper would be held in contempt by veteran corps and their fans that had been waiting for years to make finals.....and these guys come out of the chute in serious competition. It's also pretty obvious that if you are trotting out all these props and new uniforms, et al...that some would suggest that finances was the reason. Thanks Jeff. Let's face it. A lot of the jealousy of Cook/Star was that they hired their staff of very well accomplished people from other corps who could not pay as much as Star nor provide the perks (the private jet, the brand new busses, the finest of all equiptment) that Star was able to provide. Mr. Cook and Mr. Mason were excellent businessmen who did their homework research well. Their gain, however, meant the loss for others. It was not merely a new face on the block making old timers feeling disrespected. Many of the accomplished corps (viz. Garfield and Cavaliers) also suffered in that they had to discover and adjust to new staff as creative and successful as those they lost to Star. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corpsband Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I'm going to link again to this essay posted last Wednesday, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the tempestuous premiere of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, about major turning points in musical history, because of its observation that even some of Beethoven's work was met with criticism on its arrival. I am more familiar with movie history, where it's certainly true that several of what are now the most-admired films were panned (by critics and/or the public) on their initial appearance. The whole "riot" thing -- in fact the importance of the Rite of Springs itself -- has come under some scrutiny. Next morning Claude Debussy wired him a dinner invitation, not mentioning the premiere. As far as composers were concerned, this was business as usual. Two hostile critics had their fingers on the button. Henri Quittard in Le Figaroaccused Stravinsky of "laborious and puerile barbarism", while Adolphe Boschot in L'Echo de Paris said the composer had "worked at bringing his music close to noise". These snap verdicts ring truer than a century of reverent commentaries, acclaiming the Rite as a milestone in musical modernism. It was, I would argue, the very opposite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjeffeory Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I think this is generally accurate. Question: You, Jeff or others may have been around for SOI 91-93.....what was it that made people so angry about them? And if possible what percentage of the adverse response was from the production (music/visual) and what percentage from other stuff (unrelated to the performance)? Plan, I'll chime in ( even though I'm not the Jeff you're talking to)... I think a LOT of people were jealous of Star because the corps was perceived to have money and were successful initially, even though they worked their butts off just as much as any other corps. I believe that people felt that they hadn't paid their dues and earned their way to the top. I think I heard people say "that's the best corps money can buy" many times... Also, some people were upset with them in '90 because they were scoring well with what some people thought was a dirty visual show. Frankly, Star had always had some detractors because of of their initial success, and it never really left them. That opened the door to criticize performance and choice of production. Frankly, there were a couple of years where I heard a few people in Star say that they felt that Star should have placed higher ( '88 and '89) but didn't because of politics; so they knew that they had to be that much better than the rest in order to earn a higher placement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 (edited) double post Edited June 4, 2013 by Stu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Maybe BD should be less thin skinned, and their supporterstoo. After all, it's about the ring right? Or do you all have a case of Marcia Marcia Marcia going on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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