1992

[727driver]

Fortunately, that's all gone now and I like everybody, and don't care who wins (as long as BD doesn't beat SCV :)

Easy there turbo.....I thought all the hard feelings were gone! :P

[gellio]

Easy there turbo.....I thought all the hard feelings were gone! :P

It was a joke!

[jayboe172]

cough cough.....1989...

[jjeffeory]

Yeah they (Phantom) did, and I went NUTS at DCI Midwest when you guys topped them and Blue Devils! I knew that night that you had both corps beat for the rest of the season. I also remember a Jr. Scouts staff member I talked to at that show (he was on staff when I was there too). I think DCI Midwest was a week after DCM. I asked about the shows, and he said Star was the corps to watch out for and he thought only the Cavies had the goods to beat them at finals. He raved about Star. It was awesome. I had a burning hatred for Phantom for a long time, after going head to head against them and PRC. I always liked their shows, because I'm a huge classical fan, but I hated when then won! Fortunately, that's all gone now and I like everybody, and don't care who wins (as long as BD doesn't beat SCV :)

I do remember beating Blue Devils and Phantom Regiment for the first time that year and it was at DCI Midwest. You see, the week before we got 3rd at DCM behind Star and Phantom. We weren't very happy about that, so we must have practiced really hard or something for the next week.

Ha! That's funny! Oh and yes, I hated Phantom that year with a passion. It was an in-state rivalry thing. Actually, 1990 is about the only Phantom show that I really just don't like to this day. I really didn't ever dislike Star because I almost marched there the year before and I liked their shows. I kind of dug the Scouts because they were unique and somewhat similar to us.

It's just weird because there were so many great corps in 1990 from 1st place to 20th place. They were all really good, and that's what made it so special. I mean Boston got 12th in Quarterfinals and then dropped to 15th in Semifinals. Magic of Orlando ended up being in 16th place and had a higher final score than 12th place Dutch Boy! Blue Knights and Freelancers were frickin' awesome too! Those shows were totally top 12 shows in any other year.

1992 was awesome too, but it wasn't as good from 1st place to 20th. You just can't say the same, in my opinion. The top 6 shows were pretty awesome. There were some nuggets in the rest of the top 12 shows too. It was pretty good and all. After that, the scores dropped off pretty quickly. The Glassmen (13th) weren't going to knock off The Freelancers for 12th place. Neither were either Boston (14th) or Sky Ryders (15th). You could just tell that they weren't quite "top 12" shows. Okay, that's my opinion and I explained why!

Edited July 6, 2006 by jjeffeory

[walder]

due to the poor recording techniques and stadium's horrible acoustics (camp randall), the 92 recordings are a poor representation of what really went on.

As far as the best year? That is highly debatable. many of the shows were either flat or too many rookies to be good.

85, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 98, 00, 02, 04 were much better all around years for corps in general.

[burdettsky]

Four years for me stick out.

The aforementioned 1992, the only year in which nine corps broke a 90. Blue Knights were in 9th with a score of 90.0.

1995 was a great group of corps with excellent finals night performances.

1999 maybe the best. Colts 12th place show was amazing, what an opener. Boston's finals debut. SCV back in title hunt. The beginning of Cavies attack on DCI as a pure contender.

2002 awesome as well. A stiff battle for finalist spots. Cavies record high score. 5th through 8th place changing with every show.

[Orpheus]

'92 is close, but for me it's '91

Agree 100%.

edit: Just as an aside, I'm not gonna say that 1991 was the "best" year ever, in terms of overall performance quality, but it was definitely my favorite year ever. From first to twelfth, it was the most entertaining finals and a lot of really cool stuff was happening lower down the ranks, too. In terms of how "good" the corps are, in terms of technical proficiency, what we're seeing these days definitely exceeds anything we saw back then, especially when you look at the corps in, say, the 7th thru 15th spots. But '91 was the year I enjoyed most.

Edited July 6, 2006 by Orpheus

[Matt_S]

Hmm, 1990 and 1991 are two years that I know almost nothing about. I know more shows from even most years in the 80's than I do for those two years. I guess I'll have to go back and listen to a few of them.

[cavies98]

Yup, 1992 was an amazing year. The first year I aw a show live - DCI North in Buffalo. My other favorite years (very close to 92) are 89, 90 and 91. Top quality, entertaining shows all around!

I'm listening to the audio tracks from 1992 finals on Season Pass, and I just needed to post. Was that the best year of drum corps ever?

Cavaliers - beautiful Peterloo Overture

Cadets - playing Holsinger to Tame the Perilous Skies

Star - everyone wanted to see them get beat, including me

Blue Devils - belting out When a Man Loves a Woman after taking off their jackets (and their guard in red spandex)

Madison Scouts - powerful brass and percussion, City of Angels

Crossmen - Songs for the Planet Earth, awesome music

Santa Clara - Fiddler on the Roof * the bottle dance

Phantom - classic white, costuming, 1812 Overture

Blue Knights - playing Copland

Velvet Knights - Magical Mystery Tour, how funny were they - but they could actually play and march too.

I went back and started listening to the old stuff because sometimes in this new world of B flat horns, amps, strange shows with doors at obnoxious characters, you just need to go back and listen to the "good" stuff. Anyone with me?

[usmcontra]

I'm sorry, I don't agree with your assessment of 1990 or 1991....The Cadets were clearly the best corps in 1990 and Star should have won by a larger margin in 1991 than they did. That was a perfect brass perfomance to an extremely difficult book. Your 1991 show was amazing though - so beautiful - it remains my favorite Cavies show. At the time, I wanted it to win - but now the Star 1991 is one of my favorite shows ever - just brilliant. I also disagree about 1992....you guys would have been in the hunt for the title if there was one more day, one more week, or one more month left. I can see why the Cadets passed up Phantom, BD, and Madison so late, but you, Star, and the Cadets were clearly all championship caliber that season - well the Cavies were since 1989, but still - 1992 was a great finish.

When I say we would have won in '90 and '91 given one more night, I am going by the scores Thursday, Friday and Saturday. By how much the gap closed on Friday and Saturday, assuming that both corps had the same jump in scores on Sunday, we would have overtaken Cadets in '90 and Star in '91 and Cadets would have overtaken us in '92. Of course, we're talking about Utopia here. It's all about what you do on Saturday night.