Tennessee Band/Rocky Top—1972

[HeavenUniversity]

Some of you may not have been born. Thought a lot of you would enjoy it.

 

[Okie]

That is great.

I love marching bands. It's another one of the college game day experiences that makes the student years so awesome. More and more, though, it is replaced by stupid piped in music from the latest CFB fad playlist.

 

[feathersax]

Some of you may not have been born. Thought a lot of you would enjoy it.

Ahhh, what memories. Precision drills, swirls, 'circle drill', & excellent music! Pageantry at its best. Dr. W.J. Julian & his staff created the Pride of the Southland Band.

 

[TAF]

That is great.

I love marching bands. It's another one of the college game day experiences that makes the student years so awesome. More and more, though, it is replaced by stupid piped in music from the latest CFB fad playlist.

Like the difference between your Torino...

and THIS POS...

 

[Scot Harvath]

1972 was my second year there so I was probably at that game.
It sucks being old but the alternative is worse.

 

[Buzzbait]

1972 was my second year there so I was probably at that game.
It sucks being old but the alternative is worse.

That was freshman year and I remember staying in my seat for every halftime performance.

 

[gm1ll]

Did I hear a woo in there?

 

[TAF]

Did I hear a woo in there?

NO!

 

[malinoisvol]

Did I hear a woo in there?

Yes. Yes you did.

 

[teeball]

Thanks for this post. I enjoyed seeing the halftime shows and the fabulous Pride of the Southland Band. Now it’s only talking heads.

 

[Volador]

Thx for sharing. That band has more moves than Dylan Sampson!

What is truly mind boggling though is the fact that the band director sketched EVERY move and sequence on PAPER, yes Paper my friends. He must have used 1,000 pages of paper to help each band member where exactly thus be on the field for their 12 minutes on the field. Wait!! You mean there weren't computers back in the 70s??? Oh the humanity!

 

[adam.vol]

More and more, though, it is replaced by stupid piped in music from the latest CFB fad playlist.

 

[Vol1976]

Some of you may not have been born. Thought a lot of you would enjoy it.

I was there!

 

[Vol1976]

Thx for sharing. That band has more moves than Dylan Sampson!

What is truly mind boggling though is the fact that the band director sketched EVERY move and sequence on PAPER, yes Paper my friends. He must have used 1,000 pages of paper to help each band member where exactly thus be on the field for their 12 minutes on the field. Wait!! You mean there weren't computers back in the 70s??? Oh the humanity!

Julian was genius!

 

[kckempf]

Thx for sharing. That band has more moves than Dylan Sampson!

What is truly mind boggling though is the fact that the band director sketched EVERY move and sequence on PAPER, yes Paper my friends. He must have used 1,000 pages of paper to help each band member where exactly thus be on the field for their 12 minutes on the field. Wait!! You mean there weren't computers back in the 70s??? Oh the humanity!

They were still having to do the designs manually for a lot of shows when I marched in 2003, though they used software to print them rather than sketching by hand. The software would tell them two marchers could not pass so close to each other. Technically correct but we "made it work".

 

[Hunerwadel]

I was there!

I was at every home game in '72 plus I went to Birmingham to watch the Auburn game. Yes Birmingham. Unfortunately #4 and 3-0 UT lost to 2-0 Auburn 10-6.

 

[Boca Vol]

Did I hear a woo in there?

f*** NO! That was back when people had a sense of tradition, honor, and decency!

 

[Tin Man]

1972 was my second year there so I was probably at that game.
It sucks being old but the alternative is worse.

Time is the crucible in which we burn.

 

[mercuryvol]

Dr. Julian was a great administrator but the entire design of the show was due to the tremendous amount of work by Walter McDaniel ( Mr. Mac) and his on the field training of the Pride. He also was the designer of the orchestral and band performances at the opening ceremonies of the’82 LA Olympics. He passed away 2 years ago. I sure do miss the halftime performances. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Hunerwadel]

f*** NO! That was back when people had a sense of tradition, honor, and decency!

Wait, are you sure you're talking about Tennessee fans?

Well OK. I'll give you tradition.

 

[HeavenUniversity]

I know this is from a Vols basketball game, but I love this basketball pep band Rocky Top—

 

[albedo33]

Some of you may not have been born. Thought a lot of you would enjoy it.

I believe it was 1972 when band director WJ Julian introduced a new tune for the band, one called ‘Rocky Top.’

 

[iMan423]

Speaking of, where is the band at State???

 

[Boca Vol]

I believe it was 1972 when band director WJ Julian introduced a new tune for the band, one called ‘Rocky Top.’

I like they they play the “original” version with the repeat before the Rocky Top chorus. I don’t know my musical terms but maybe @feathersax or another POTS member can chime in.

 

[feathersax]

I like they they play the “original” version with the repeat before the Rocky Top chorus. I don’t know my musical terms but maybe @feathersax or another POTS member can chime in.

The original arrangement was by Barry McDonald. Dr. W.J. Julian noticed the crowd reaction to "Rocky Top" during a halftime show in 1972 in a game against Alabama.
With persuading from assistant band director and arranger Barry MacDonald, “Rocky Top” made it into the halftime show, a 50-second snippet tacked on to the end of a circle drill.
The crowd loved it. “It was up-tempo, fast and had a lot of energy,” Bill Connell (former P.O.T.S. Drum Major) said. “It was easy to manipulate if you had to change some counts a little bit with the drill. It just worked perfectly.”