One day in high school a friend let me borrow a few CDs that ended up opening my brain to new areas of music. I was typically listening to classic rock, punk, and hip hop of the 90s to late 2000s. I remember she lent me "Exquisite Corpse" by Daedelus, and the Scissor Sisters self titled debut album. Along with Daft Punk, Scissor Sisters was some of the first disco-ey dance music that I found myself grooving to and listening on repeat. I definitely think being a huge fan of Queen and the showmanship of Freddie Mercury got me into this group. Both The Scissor Sisters and Queen showcase grandiose elements in their recordings and performances, and have flamboyant lead vocalists.
Jake Shears and Ana Matronic
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The Scissor Sisters emerged from the New York gay club scene at the beginning of the millennium, in 2001. They're led by the infectious vocals of Jake Shear and Ana Matronic. Playing the instruments we have Scott "Babydaddy" Hoffman as a multi-instrumentalist, Derek "Del Marquis Guen on lead gutiar, and Randy Real on the drums (their former drummer was Paddy Boom). It's hard to categorize them but they dabble in Glam Rock, Pop Rock, Nu-Disco, Alternative, and Electroclash. Their vocals can be so reminiscent of The Bee Gees in their Pink Floyd cover, "Comfortably Numb" or Sly & The Family Stone on "Laura"(posted below). They really give me Elton John vibes on "Mary"(also below)
The group made a lot more waves in the UK than their hometown USA. The English label Polydor signed them to a contract after the success of their disco-tinged "Comfortably Numb" cover. They released a few singles that all peaked between the 10s-20s of the charts in the UK. Their self-titled album sold 2 million copies over there, making them one of the few acts of the 21st century to do that at that point. The sales from the funky group of clubbers from New York were in the company of mainstream, straight laced acts such as Norah Jones, Coldplay, James Blunt, Robbie Williams, Keane, and Dido. It was released in the US 6 months after the UK release. Wal-mart refused to stock it because the title of the song "Tits On The Radio" was an attack on their values and image hahahaha! Their loss, that song is groovin!
(From Left) Band Members Babydaddy, Jake Shear, Ana Matronic, Del Marquis
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They released a few more albums after their debut but this is by far my favorite. It's one of those albums where the songs lead seamlessly into one another, you can tell they took a lot of time assembling a proper track order. My two favorites are Laura and Lovers In The Backseat. Laura kicks off the album and it's a piano driven, good time leadoff. Lovers In The Backseat is probably my favorite and the one I've listened to the most, I just love the way Jake sang the enticing vocals from the verse to the smooth chorus. There's a Spotify link at the bottom of the album for your listening pleasure. I hope you give the whole album a shot, but below are my favorites from their debut. Enjoy!
Scissor Sisters - Laura
Scissor Sisters - Lovers In The Backseat
Scissor Sisters - Tits On The Radio
Scissor Ssiters - Better Luck Next Time
Scissor Sisters - Mary
Full Album Scissor Sisters
https://open.spotify.com/album/65Fllu4vQdZQOh6id0YwIM
Yea, very unique stuff, haven't heard of them, but I can sooo see myself dancing my ass off to this in the right atmosphere. It's very melodic and you'd think poppy, but it got that harder edge to it, very sublime, but it's that subtle bite that makes it more special as it just shows it has multiple layers. Laura and Tits on the Radio are my faves :) Mary is interesting as it just keeps showing their range. Very interesting band, thank you for opening my eyes to them!
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I'm glad you liked those two! I think they were my two favs starting out too. Lovers in the backseat grew on me by the 5th or 6th listen it was my favorite.
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Awesome...!!!
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Thank you!
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I'm a little surprised there was no mention of It Can't Come Quickly Enough which sort of breaks from the funk you mentioned, but is one of those once in a career songs that holds up so well.
I've got a big soft spot for Scissor Sister's despite thinking that Swerlk was one of the worst songs I heard last year (sorry if you are partial, but I didn't like it at all), but their debut was pretty special. I still get a little bit of play out of the remixes that came from it. I used to play this all the time when DJing when it first hit.
https://soundcloud.com/ssremixed/scissor-sisters-laura-paper
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Yea I think It Can't Come Quickly Enough is good but I never vibed as hard with it as I did the ones above. Swerlk was alright I liked the first verse but the rest of it was meh. That Laura remix is an interesting take on it though I liked that!
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