However, its modern era began in 1963 with the hiring of Arthur P. Barnes as interim director (he got the full-time post two years later).

The band and its new director also clicked over his arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which featured the striking effect of a single trumpet playing the first half of the song, joined later by soft woodwinds and tuba, and finally bringing the full power of the brass only in the final verse.

When it was played at the "Big Game" against California, just eight days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Barnes said, "I've never heard such a loud silence."

Empowered, the student-led band threw away the traditional marching music and military-style uniforms, eventually settling for a mostly rock and roll repertoire and a simplified uniform consisting of a white fishing hat with red trim (and as many buttons as will fit), red blazer, black pants, and "the ugliest tie you can get your hands on.

"[1] In the springtime and at non-athletic events, band members appear at performances (and sometimes even at rehearsals) wearing "rally" attire, which can range from swim suits to Halloween costumes to furniture and pets, always displaying their freedom from the usual rules of fashion.

This led a Rolling Stone writer to note in 1987, "It's hard for anyone raised on rock to imagine that a band could sound this loud without thousands of watts of amplification.

A team of Stanford students write a script for the halftime show, delivered over the public address system, which provides a basic explanation for the band's formations.

They have been criticized and disciplined for their actions on several occasions, and according to Peter Sagal of NPR in 2006, the LSJUMB is "the only university marching band...repeatedly fined and banned by the NCAA".

Special emphasis was placed on the allegation that California player Garner's knee touched the ground before his lateral; all band members performing the re-enactment froze in place at this stage, and a single member, carrying a large yellow arrow, ran out and repeatedly pointed at the "down" Garner.

To this day the position of Band Manager is conferred from one generation to the next with four seconds left in the Big Game in commemoration of The Play.