The 12 Days of Christmas - Straight No Chaser

 Now that we are legitimately in the midst of the twelve days of Christmas, I would like to share as promised the original Straight No Chaser video of the Twelve Days of Christmas from 1998 -- the one that started it all for them.  After graduating, the founding members left IU and began jobs and families.  Because of the campus group's ongoing popularity, IU decided to hotst a 10th anniversary reunion show for the original members.  One of these members, Randy Stine, posted an some old videos, including "12 Days", which were intended as nothing more than a walk down memory lane before the 2006 reunion.  At first, not much happened beyond the odd view here or there. Then, in 2007 alone, the "12 Days of Christmas" video went viral, garnering more than seven million views.  Some Atlantic Records representatives saw the video and rapidly signed the group to a record deal.  Though there have been a few lineup changes in the intervening years as original members have left to pursue other opportunities or spend more time with family, five of the original founding members are still together singing and touring, along with five other SNC alums from subsequent years.  To date, the original "12 Days" video has had over 13 million views, and the groups cumulative YouTube views have amassed more than 25 million views.  That's quite an impressive feat to pull off for a bunch of guys who'd gone their separate ways for a decade.  Still, there is no denying the group's appeal--intricate and close harmonies form the basis of the group's success, particularly when paired with entertaining mash-up arrangements such as in "12 Days."

Here is a video of the reunited group performing the same arrangement ten years later.  Not much has changed--they are as silly as ever and just as awesome!

You gotta love these guys--how many groups have you ever seen ENCOURAGE use of video or taking of pictures during a concert?  They remember how they got their start, and they celebrate that ever-widening fan base's support, even going so far as to bring up house lights after intermission so that they themselves can take pictures of their audiences while on tour, which are then posted to their Facebook page.  And that's just really cool.

Happy 4th Day of Christmas, everyone; hopefully you won't have 4 birds calling you--unless you're in Britain, in which case that might be a good thing...

Source:  http://www.sncmusic.com/bio/