Best Year Ever

[bawker]

I just watched my 1991 DVD again.

Yep, I was right. :P

[up4479]

IMO the best year was 1969. In no particular rank or order, here are my thoughts.

The cometition was intense and exciting. Major show or local show, the corps changed placings often right up to the end of the season and the outcome was seldom set. For example, there were about 30 top 12 corps at the VFW Nats in Philly that year. Only 12 could make it but any of 30 corps could have been there. I'm not sure how many corps were there overall but there were at least twice that.

The overall participation was at or near it's all time high. Some organizations fielded as many as 3 corps in 3 classes. In the major drum corps markets like Boston for example, most towns had one or more drum corps. Lacking a real drum corps, there were towns with competitive drill teams and CYO bands, often more than one per town. (Don't underestimate the contrubutions that drill teams and CYO bands made to drum corps.) Some of these units were huge. (Rules about unit size came after the 1973 oil embargo in an effort to keep the economic playing field level.)

The shows were starting to change. The music and drills were becoming more complex and entertaining. The quality was improving as well. This was the period that lead up to the revolt against VFW and American Legion rules. DCI was not formed out of thin air. The corps wanted to change the rules. They wanted to try new things. They took things into their own hands.

There were lots of major shows all over the country that attracted large numbers of corps and paying fans. The World Open, The BiG V, American International Open, U.S. Open, etc. There were large invitational shows as well like The Dream, Shriners Invitational and CYO Nationals.

These major shows were just the icing on the cake. The local circuts ran several shows per week including week nights, Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Saturday and Sunday nights. Many of the major corps participated in these local circuts when they were home and they were home most of the time. While some had to travel more in their "home" areas, they did't go on the road for 6 or 8 weeeks at a time.

Speaking of nights, if the local field had no lights, they rented them. In the Boston market, a company called Interstate had special unit that was kept busy all season long just providing lighting services for drum shows.

There were several publications including the weekly Drum Corps News. Some major newspapers ran weekly columns like Herb Cole in the Boston Globe.

Don't forget the audio recordings from the likes of Stetson Richmond and Fleetwood among many others.

The season lasted longer. Mostly from Memorial Day to Labor Day but some of the local circuts had to schedual shows outside that period to fit all the shows in. There were off season shows as well like An Evening With the Corps and Drumfest held in indoor venues during the "off season".

If you think all this activity was tough on the fans, IMO you are wrong. The stands were full, on both sides and the end zones, all the time. Shure, there were a lot of small stands but the larger venues sold out too. Roosevelt Field, Manning Bowl, Boston College and dozens of others would be standing room only. (Yes, even when there were reserved seats, there were still general admissinon tickets sold and people were glad to find a non seated vantage point just to be there.)

There were a lot more "drum corps nuts" back then. These were dedicated fans that had no direct involvement in the activity. The never marched, they didn't have kids or even relatives involved. They just loved to watch drum corps. They went to dozens of shows each season, they boght records and donated money to their favorite corps. They never sat on their hands durng shows. If a corps did something exciting, they jumped up and went wild. Most of the major corps would get several rounds of applause and 2 or 3 standing ovations for each individual performance. These people really pumped up the kids. They would go wild for even the smallest (class C or what is called Div III tocay) corps. All the kids felt like winners.

The demand for bus charters was so great that some companies had busses and staff dedicated to drum corps. The busses were rented by the show, not by the season. Some corps like the I.C. Reveries even had their names on the roll signs on the busses of these commercial fleets. The busses weren't decorated for the corps but you could tell who was rolling down the road.

I could go on but why belabor the point. Just ask anybody who was there.

[howl711]

2000 or 1993

The top 5 in 2000 were the most entertaining they've ever been, including two of the best shows ever put on the field (Cavies and SCV). Cadets were also, obviously, amazing and entertaining, and BD's show was one of their darker and more well-designed shows, as well. And Boston, well, they were the fan favorite--a good, fun show. But everyone was great that year from Crossmen to Bluecoats, and they may have slipped a bit but Madison's show was still fun to watch and hear.

And '93, well, ####.

[torn8o]

For me...my ALL TIME FAVORITE YEAR IS...

1980

This is for two reasons.

Reason #1- The first drum corps video I ever owned was 1980 DCI full finals (from the TV telecast). My trumpet teacher (when I was 12) gave me his copy of it. The very next Saturday, I sat and watched all four hours of it ending with tears as I told my mom "I want to be a soprano soloist for a Drum & Bugle Corps someday"!

Reason #2- To this day I believe that it was THE BEST ALL AROUND YEAR of soprano soloists in DCI history YET TO BE MATCHED!

My runner ups are...

1988

1989

1991

1993

[SCVAlumTofRGuy]

While I was also there in '82 and agree it was a strong year, I'm with jwillis and cast my vote for '84. The top three were separated by 0.6, it was anyone's ballgame with the various ties for High This or That, VK blew into Finals real strong (I love NBC!), 27th's ungodly good drumline, the Top 7 scoring 92 or higher (go Suncoast!), SCV jumping 4 points in Finals and nearly pulling it out, Madison's Cats, BD's La Fiesta, the Top 5 being separated by 3.5 points or so....whew! I appreciate that not everyone likes ties, but '84 is one year I would've liked to have seen a 2-way tie between any of the Top 3 or even a 3-way to really create some buzz for the following year.

[Rocketman]

Well, you're all WRONG! It was 1975, factor in the Muchachos and the top 7-8 were awesome. Had Kingsmen been able to build from 74, WOW!

Rocketman - 75 rules

ampssuck

[X-mensop]

Seen alot of 1995 on here which I would agree great year!!!!

But if I had to pick i havent seen 1999 on here. SCV's show ROCKED , BD had a pretty awesome show, Cavies moved up, phantom was good, Crossmen had a jammin show, Colts had a nice sounding hornline. Tope to bottom it was awesome. Plus NO ONE expected the tie.

[X-mensop]

oh also Madison show was smoking.....

[leadsop97]

99 was a great year...madison = corpsgasm

95 is also a good year

[MAV]

Good morning:

Funny - I think this topic has come up every year since I first started posting in 1992. (Hey, when did alt.drumcorps pop up?)

Anyway - for it's always the same answer...1980.

This was the true golden year of DCI. The songs, the tight placements, and other happenings that made it special. The year we lost Jim Ott, but also the year 27th played at the Olympics. The year of Vanguard's assymetrical drill. And as mentioned, the most unbelievably sweet solos ever.

Also...note that in the voting for the Classic Countdown this past spring, 1980 was the only year with two productions from the championships: 27th and Spirit (although one could have also chosen Blue Devils, Bridgemen Civil War, Madison, Cavalier percussion walking over the guard...and that North Star soprano solo.

MAV...who was a baby at the time