If you love the internet like I do, you've probably come across this amazing YouTube video, yeah?
Dougsploitation was the discoverer of this gem, a truly cornball religiouska masterwork purportedly by the band Sonseed. But something about the video seemed so totally awesome — so pitch-perfect goodbad™ — that, in this age of big-budget viral fakes (a little color temperature adjustment here, a little VHS video noise there, and, hey presto, the DORITOS EXTREME SONSEED campaign is ready to roll!), it quickly generated a bit of controversy. It also inspired a serious-business inter-office betting pool
I could only think of one way to win the "fake or not" bet: find a copy of Sonseed's actual 1983 record album. So I did.
And, Sonseed's First Fruit is now ready for you — just click the image above to download it. Enjoy. It's the real deal: an album full of, well, religious 80's music, and, uh, that's pretty much it, leaving little doubt as to the band's legitimacy. If you're an internet completist, you'll probably get a kick out of it. But please note: you've already heard the best song! (Although, to be fair, "Say Yes" is only a few musical degrees away from a Ringo Starr Beatles B-Side.)
posted at 3:30 PM
55 Comments:
-atomicjo.com
But don't think I'm trying to convince you it's fake, believe what you want, this is just a "facts gathering", and shows my conclusion to it.
Make it stop!
"Ok, I thought that was a fun piece of music and was sure it was authentic. Curiosity got the better of me, looked up the lead singer on WhitePages and gave him a call. Sal Polichetti, a lovely guy. Told him there was a controversy about whether Sonseed existed or not, about this post. He was totally friendly and likable. Turns out he works in NYC, a couple of blocks from where I live.
I asked him if I could take notes as we spoke and said ok. This is what he said:
When the song came out on YouTube and he got all these random emails and calls, the first thing he looked for his copyright and he has it, registered it in 1981.
The band got together around 1979/1980, kind of an accident through a friend, Joseph, connected with Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Brooklyn, they all met, played for Pentecost Sunday. They kept in touch, met, prayed for an hour, all Catholic. It was quite innovative at that time, no Catholic rock music then. How he wrote the songs, the band members took hymnals, added guitar solos and drum solos, ended up doing local concerts at churches and schools, never took a dime. 18 to 20 rotating performers at one time.
Recording studio in Brooklyn, 9 original songs. Sold record at cost, gave records away. Somebody sent the record to NBC and it was played on a show, The First Estate, Channel 4. They lipsynched. The people who ran that show thought Jesus Is a Friend was “catchy and snappy”.
The band, Sonseed, sold 1100 tickets at a concert and gave the money away to charities, like to soup kitchens.
The band lasted to “late ‘83”. The keyboard player was his first wife.
He got an email from a blogger in California who had showed the videotape to friends over the years and Doug heard about it.
Sal has a video of their last concert, their drummer passed away 15 years ago.
Father Joseph Ciccone, a band member, (now a priest) then worked for an advertising agency, he designed the logo and the album cover.
And that's it. He was a total gentleman. And real."
david, thanks for sharing your phone call.
word.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAB19Jyp1BA
It should also be mentioned that I'm one of the guys who has $5 riding on this, so obviously I want it to be fake.
Also, the flag was totally waving, and I don't care what anyone says, Neil Armstrong has shifty eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snLnP0ASE3U&watch_response
the pain must be spread.... even if its generic ska beats make your ass move unintentionally...
Friendly,
Thierry
rebeccashow.com
http://www.JesusIsMyFriend.Info
http://www.cafepress.com/JesusIsMyFriend
you da man!
Do you have an attorney?
I do.
You may be hearing from someone soon.
Thanks for all the attention but no one from Sonseed (especially me) has authorized any of this. I can't speak for everyone but I know most of the copyrights of these songs are held by the group members that wrote them.
Sal from Sonseed
it took me about two minutes to do this chords, by the way - the song is awesome
The album has a Library of Congress entry from 1981, with the same tracklisting as this album.
That pretty much settles it.
UNLESS THE GOVERNMENT IS IN ON THE CONSPIRACY!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imperials
although sals voice is on none of the other tracks (and "Jesus is My Friend" appears to be a very special one on this album, although the musical range has quite some variety), the drum track appears to come from the same set. all tracks on the album share the same snare sound.
secondly, and more important, if this is a fake, it is a very well made one, because this is clearly a vinyl rip. vinyls, maxi and especially LP, tend to lose frequency range and quality towards the inner rim of the disc, because one rotation traverses a much shorter range of length, and thus information has to be compressed a lot more.
e.g. if you compare the quality of the last track of the album, you will notice that it sounds far more distorted than the first track, which is a typical vinyl effect and also a primary reason why vinyl is dead ;)
Believe me, this is a real band and had quite a following back in the day.
Thank you for finding this...It rocks !
I RAPE MY SISTER!
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