Thanks to Chuck Naffier for digitizing this slice of Madison Scouts history. It was a dream come true for me. Please Share, Like & Subscribe. Ring the Bell for updates when new videos are posted.
The best feeling in the world is when you are at a drum corp show all day long and you are sitting in the scorching sun and then the sun start to set. It's cooling down and you just know that you are about to have the best corps coming onto the field. The music is getting louder and more powerful, the drills are becoming faster and bigger and the guard tosses are going higher and faster. And now it's dark. You see the bugs flying by the lights and the stands are now full. The crowds are louder. The back stands are filling up from earlier performers. Your back and butt are hurting from sitting all day on that hard bench. You can start to smell all the dirty food containers people are leaving under their seats but then you remember what you are witnessing right in front of your eyes. Is there anything in this world better than this
thank you for this. The mic'ing in the concert piece is superb. Shaun Owens ... you'll always be a monster! This is well before my time .. but my G** ... so much respect.
I marched Phantom Regiment that same summer. Your color guard was far and away the best thing going that summer. Those rifles…whew. I was only 18. We were rivals, but god did I respect your corps.
I miss this Madison Scouts, straight balls to the wall power and marching and maneuvering excellence, outstanding General effect. The Madison “Mojo” is gone, and no offense to the ladies of the new Madison Scouts, it’s gone forever.
They kinda lost their way. I watch stuff like this and then marching alongside them in the mid 90s…everyone wanted to be the scouts. Even if they got 4-6th place they were LOUD and FUN!! I’ll always remember that 95 show. “Throwing babies” was a nightly occurrence…the crowds were going nuts for that show. They knew how to write a show that would pull the crowd to their feet. And they did it year after year. I’d say you kinda felt the mojo leave just a little bit around 2000. Are they still alive and well? Yeah, and they’re still good, but they gotta find themselves from leadership down. Just be Yourselves, just be Madison! Lean hard into that. You don’t have to be “modern” to be relevant, just be the best version of you. That’s what people love about the The Madison Scouts!
VERY nice. I was fortunate enough to make it to the top of Warhawk Stadium for their Whitewater prelims run,,,specifically going into the push in "Memory," the only time aside from retreat I ever herd them play all season (that happens when you're in BD and usually go on last or damn close to it). i wish there was more vid of 84 BD. There's our prelims and finals run....and SOMEWHERE out there is Riverside, CA (our 2nd or 3rd show overall), but aside from the audio of a standstill in Stillwater, almost nothing else.
The one thing you can never experience is feeling the waveforms penetrating and exiting your bones, muscles and nerves. You can place 300 brass in Bb and it will never match 60 G bugles. It’s like flying a piper versus F16.
Thank you for posting this clip. In my opinion, DCI, is the reason for the demise of one of the greatest activities in North America. They've turned the activity into a marching band competition, superimposed on a three-ring circus. Drum lines, Play Nothing But Rim shots, head bobbing, juggling, arms flaring all over the place, very few rudiments. The brass line today consists of trombones, electric guitars, all sorts of keyboard instruments, PA systems, singing and dancing and prancing, with so much clutter, props on the field. This is a far cry from a real, drum and bugle Corps. Today is December 23rd, 2022. Former member of the Long Island sunrises.
Im from 1982 and 1983 drum corps. I agree with you on all of your points. I recall that snare "stick height" was so important and needed focusing on back then. Now the snares have their sticks above their heads and everywhere else. I do believe though in the idea that things change and become something we dont recognize from when we did it. Drum Corps is a perfect example. Several years ago I had to pick - Attend a show, with all the new stuff going on, or stay at home. I chose to go and embraced it best I could. It took attending a couple more shows to learn to appreciate and accept it, even with all the wild stuff going on. Now I love it. Maybe its time for you to do the same....?
that's funny, just had a conversation with someone a couple of hours ago concerning DCI and that mess with Cadets. . . . I agree with you on the demise and pointing the finger to the activity.
I have said before and I will keep saying it - there is no “company front” like a Madison company front … and I agree that all-key tuning will NEVER match either the POWER or the FINESSE of a G-bugle horn line … others may argue that the G-bugles were bastardized horns but the “productions” rolled out in today’s DCI just don’t generate the crowd reactions of these shows from the early 1980s … this is MY opinion and only DCI can do anything to change it, but it is probably better for them to just face facts and rebrand as the Independent World Class of Bands of America and stop claiming to be “drum-&-bugle corps” … true drum corps died when the Allentown Predator convinced DCI that “Corps = Band” back around the turn of the millennium, and DCI became the place where traditions die … again, don’t troll me or denigrate me because I disagree with the direction taken by DCI - I voted with my wallet, and DCI (including my beloved Madison Scouts) has not received ONE RED CENT from me since my nephew marched with Magic of Orlando in 2003, and only DCI can find a way to change that (though I won’t hold my breath)
