Your Favorite Drum Line - 1970's

[uncle z]

I just wanna know who voted for the Guardsmen!!!!!!!!!

They should be disqualified for those '76 orange vistalite drums!!!! :P J/K!

[GGarrett]

I just wanna know who voted for the Guardsmen!!!!!!!!!

They should be disqualified for those '76 orange vistalite drums!!!! :P  J/K!

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HA! Must have been someone IN the line during those years. I was in the Gmen drumline '78 and '79. We just never could clean it all the way up, but we sure were loud, and I credit Jim Campbell for creating the "Pit" concept in '78. We dropped our timps after opener and the crew became cymbals. Suddenly in '79 it seemed like everyone dropped the "Timp line." (Or "Tymp" for you purists...)

Blue Devils get my vote for favorite, but I certainly hate to vote for just ONE. As the years '70 through '79 passed, each year the bar was raised again and again. Early '70's Kingsmen with Mr. Float kickin' it and developing his mastery of the idiom. Vanguard and the Rob Carson/Fred Sanford/Ralph Hardimon years. Oakland Crusaders... I saw them warm up one time and was introduced to the "hears what it sounds like when you play clean as a line" concept. Bridgmen...wow...defined "chops" when you saw them. But devils in 1976 blew us all away with the Buddy Rich version of Channel One Suite. Listen to BD, then break out the Buddy Rich album. Compare for yourself.

Not to mention their look, the way they held the sticks, the height they played, the uniformity in style. If you were there, you know that '76 changed drumming for drum corps in many ways that carries on to this day...

[GGarrett]

I spelled "BRIDGEMEN" wrong in my last post. Cripes. I wouldn't want any of those guys from their '78 or '79 drum lines hunting me down. They all looked like they were in their late twenties when they marched those years, and I'm 100% sure they all had jobs in the off season as hitmen, wrestlers or ####'s Angels back then. But they sure could play!! Apologies guys for the typo...

[johnric]

I spelled "BRIDGEMEN" wrong in my last post. Cripes. I wouldn't want any of those guys from their '78 or '79 drum lines hunting me down. They all looked like they were in their late twenties when they marched those years, and I'm 100% sure they all had jobs in the off season as hitmen, wrestlers or ####'s Angels back then. But they sure could play!!  Apologies guys for the typo... 

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thats it..I'm calling all of them now... :P

[uncle z]

thats it..I'm calling all of them now... :P

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Whoa--shades of Miami '57!!!!!

Paul Milano, grab yer belt buckle and get the back of your fellow Midwesterner!!!

[oaklandcrusader]

Have to go with SCV and Kingsmen who I believe set the early standard for drumlines in the '70's and beyond...

Some random thoughts on the '76 season... (don't mean to offend

anyone)

- Did I miss something regarding the '76 Cavvies drumline...they had a nice bass drumline but were kinda average and not very clean...Their hornline however, could blow you out of the stands

-Most overrated drumline of the '70's were the Madison Scouts...never really played anything and when they did it wasn't clean

-'76 Blue Devils were one of my favorite shows of all time...They had a very good drumline but I didn't think their book was as difficult as some of the other top lines that year

- Always liked the '76 Freelancers drumming during their off the line (great Timbali player) and drum solo...likewise, 27th Lancers streetbeat marching off the field (one snare and one bass drummer playing) and Cavvies bass beat going off the field as well

[dc oldtimer]

...Their hornline however, could blow you out of the stands

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Thank you from a '76 Flugel. IMHO I think that was the last time a Cavalier hornline was allowed (or is that aloud? :P ) to sit back and just blow the stands down. Since then it was "controlled volume" (YAWN) I remember that year my lip bled during the our performance at The US Open. NOTHING like blood splattering out of the bell of your horn during the final note of the show! Chicks dig it! B)

[Paul Milano]

Some random thoughts on the '76 season...  (don't mean to offend

                                                                  anyone)

- Did I miss something regarding the '76 Cavvies drumline...they had a nice bass drumline but were kinda average and not very clean...Their hornline however, could blow you out of the stands

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Actually, the drum line was incredible for a number of reasons. First, the rudimental difficulty of the parts was off the charts for the entire battery. Second, the stick heights on the snare drumming (VERY high style) made playing these difficult parts even harder (hence, not quite as clean as the low-style, less difficult part-playing lines). Third, the ensemble intracacies of the parts, and the overall musicality (listen to the second "Clock" drum solo, for instance), while not quite where BD and SCV were, were also outstanding. Throw in some ridiculous drill moves (snares playing a forty-count roll to begin the show, with the snare line split four guys on each side of the 50-yard line, about 30 yards apart!!) - and well, the insanity never seemed to start.

All in all, a truly remarkable line. It was, as you heard, the "comparative" lack of cleanliness that did them in that year (though they were in second place at prelims). It was just impossible to sound like BD and SCV when playing those rudimental parts at the high sticking heights. Alas, it was fun, and gratifying to try!

[byline]

-Most overrated drumline of the '70's were the Madison Scouts...never really played anything and when they did it wasn't clean

You may be right about most of the '70s, but I've got to disagree with you about 1978. That year, they had an especially strong drum line, IMO . . . and their scores reflected that. However, I'm not a percussion person; it's just how I recall that particular line.

[PJS53]

Maybe our 76 line would have rated higher if Leo didn't drop his stick in finals! :P  He will NEVER live that down will he?

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Mitch, maybe you should just stick to the hornline threads. Now Leo needs a trip to the therapist too!