Crusaders

The Crusaders were founded on December 17th, 1988, and just two days later they released their first intro. The 14 founding members all came from three groups: International Fart Federation, Jetboys, and Abnormal.

In an interview published in Forth Dimension #6, Bustman claimed that “The Crusaders never kick inactive members. Once a member, you are free to stay as long as you want.” However, several scrollers from various productions suggest otherwise :)

The group was highly innovative and acted as “first movers” on several occasions. For instance, they had their own BBS from day one — certainly not a common thing in the Amiga scene back in 1988. Another milestone was the “invention” of the music disk. Their incredibly productive musician, Dr. Awesome, created so many modules that they needed a way to release them — leading to the concept of the music disk.

And speaking of Dr. Awesome... He was one of the first professional composers to emerge from the Amiga scene. By mid-1991, he had more or less left the scene to pursue a career in the music industry. One year later, in the summer of 1992, he and fellow Crusader Fleshbrain released the music CD Hobbits & Spaceships under the Crusaders label.

Another scene milestone was marked on September 1st, 1989, when the first issue of the chart The Crusaders Eurochart Top Ten was released. While charts had existed before, what made The Eurochart stand out was its frequent release schedule (every other month) and the fact that votes were collected from all over Europe, rather than from a pre-selected group. The Eurochart was an immediate success, and The Crusaders went on to release 14 issues before handing it over to Static Bytes.

Finally, you cannot mention The Crusaders without mentioning The Gathering. During Easter 1992, The Crusaders and Deadline organized their first party, The Gathering '92. The party was a huge success and the largest ever held in Norway at the time. Visitors came from all over Europe, and several major Norwegian and international groups took part in the competitions.

Sources:
- Various productions by Crusaders
- Numerous Amiga diskmagazines
- Amiga Scenery by Glenn Lunder