A recent poster, Jim Fiduccia, when talking about Imperials instructor Tom Billaedeau, said:

Tom went on to form a corps of his own, the Royal Grenadiers, and was successful until they ran into the same problems in the early 80's as did all the mid level corps.
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Gosh, what were those problems? Maybe:

1. Competition with OTHER youth activities?
2. drugs?
3. DCI pressure on local sponsors to raise fees for their corps? (Thus eliminating small local shows)

Thoughts?
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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; quartermaster 1964-66, ass't drum instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958 -1963

Everything came down to money, because you needed lots of it to be competitive with the "big boys". And if you couldn't do that, DCI made sure you didn't survive. It was tougher and tougher to be satisfied with just fielding a good corps and providing life experiences for the kids. Average ages got older, and that raised expectations. There were also more experiences available for kids. And I've always believed that as high school bands got better and more like drum corps, many kids got what they needed for their marching "fix" through those channels, and it took up much less time and energy. I don't think drugs had anything to do with it - plenty of corps had drug problems but managed to survive.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79

I think that Bob nailed it pretty well. $$$ needs (in order to compete) and lack of DCI support to mid range corps were telling.

The rapid improvement of high school bands was also important .. as Bob noted. They began to provide a much better and affordable musical marching experience to kids. (As a CSJA judge judging marching bands, I saw this happening and was amazed at their improvement).

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What did you do in the Corps? drummer; later- quartermaster 1964-66; assistant instructor 1964-70

What years were you a Corps member? 1958-63

High school bands fought the drum corps influence as "unmusical" for many years - and, not entirely without reason, because drum corps wasn't very musical for a long time, mostly because of the instruments available. It wasn't until the mid to late 70s that bands in general started adapting drum corps arrangements, drumming styles, and drills. It was probably slower in the midwest because of the huge influence of Big 10 bands in that area, which were also slow to take on the drum corps style. When we made the switch in 1974 at Joliet West, we were way ahead of the curve, and kind of lead the pack for a long time for that reason.

What did you do in the Corps? Snare; Drum Major; Drum Instructor/Arranger

What years were you a Corps member? 1970-73; 78-79