The 1977 DCI World Championship Finals were held on a Friday because the American Legion had already reserved Denver's Mile High Stadium for their National Championship on Saturday. At the event, the Blue Devils received a perfect score in Brass Effect and Percussion Effect, ending just a tenth of a point shy of a perfect score in Visual Effect on the way to the corps' first back-to-back Championships. One of the biggest headlines in Denver was the Bridgemen's disqualification due to what was claimed to be an interpretation of the overage rule. Crossmen made Finals for the first time, and the Cavaliers placed 8th in Prelims after re-writing half their show midseason. Noticeably missing from the Finals were the Oakland Crusaders, who placed 15th while capturing the highest percussion score in Prelims, and Guardsmen, who placed 16th after besting the Cavaliers seven times throughout the summer. Notable sights and sounds included Seneca Optimists' horns and drums disappearing under a parachute, Blue Stars sneaking onto the field backward, and Bridgemen's drum major putting on clown make-up during "Pagliacci." Garfield Cadets did two things that were unprecedented; teaching all but twelve of the guard members to play horns for the closing statement of "I Don't Know How to Love Him," and challenging the judging community by singing "Amen" at the end of the piece—at a time when vocalizing wasn't exactly legal. 27th Lancers placed fourth in 1977, matching their then-best placements from 1972 and 1975…this despite the corps finishing eighth in Total Brass. The show started with Bill Conti's "Fanfare" from the 1977 Academy Award-winning "Rocky;" the movie that propelled Sylvester Stallone to stardom. Several corps that year played music from the film, including the first place Blue Devils.
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Michael Boo was a member of the Cavaliers from 1975-1977. He has written about the drum corps activity for more than a quarter century and serves as a staff writer for various Drum Corps International projects. Boo has written for numerous other publications and has published an honors-winning book on the history of figure skating. As an accomplished composer, Boo holds a bachelor's degree in music education and a master's degree in music theory and composition. He resides in Chesterton, Ind.