A Deeper Context: Scissor Sisters Daringly Sizzles

Scissor Sisters. This band defines rad. Their campy, over-the-top and glitzy personas are blended so greatly together that Freddie Mercury would have been satisfied. Talking about Mercury, the band’s lead singer Jake Shears shares the same spirit of him along with inspirations from David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Madonna and of course Elton John. Female lead singer Ana Matronic is also as glam. She’s the mother version of Lady Gaga, but with the bow-down-to-the- fierce bitch attitude. Matronic doesn’t sing much in the group, but her emitting Grace Jones’ nature gets her enough attention and demand on stage when she’s hyping the crowd up with her slick vulgar choice of words.

As for the music, their sound is certainly eclectic. You can hear sounds of glam electro rock from the 80’s where Andy Warhol would have probably taken them as his residence muse band at the factory. Even though their fame in America has been dismal because of the conservative issues (not New York and LA though), but the rest of the world has embraced them. Thank god. Their sound throughout the three studio albums they have released has been a hybrid of glam electro rock with some parental advisory cartoon like sensibilities. So yes, your under 15 child may not be socially qualified to be listening to them talking about rough sex and they instead should go back to their Disney Channel gods or Mr Bieber. With their first two albums Scissor Sisters and Ta-Dah, it was rather a twin-like creation. Both of them shared the same vein of sound explained earlier. However, their latest album Night Work is more cohesive and conceptually has more maturity to their sound and presentation even they are still trying to get listeners to dance and get shit-wrecked. Credits go to executive producer Stuart Price who I worship. I dream one day he works with Gaga and create a new level of music magic.

I favored their debut single Comfortably Numb because it was a time where I remembered my dad got so excited to introduce them to me and I was amazed how diversify he was. I mean, my dad’s fucking traditional with fucking traditional morals and for him to introduce a band where the lead singer sings in jockstraps and S&M leather outfits was just WTF? What The Fuck? Oh, but forgot, Jake Shears is really similar to Mick Jagger and Jagger is my dad’s musical god. This song was a full-blown electronic glam cover version of Pink Floyd’s classic that put them on the map. I still find it amazing that the band had the guts to release a cover song as their debut single. But it paid off! This song didn’t really radiate their upbeat essence. It was more moody and formal. I must agree I wasn’t too crazy about this song at first when my dad introduce me to them in the car on a Sunday afternoon going to brunch, but years later I’m musically hallucinated on them. The video itself was also sick. It had this deep neon green Matrix-esque ocean theme going on with everyone floating around in 80’s Bee Gee Saturday Night Live flamboyant outfits with sea animals swimming around them. I thought it was fucking genius, different and effectively inexpensive. It was a good stepping-stone for them to project their artistic vision.

But my favorite single from them so far has to be Fire With Fire. The Glastonbury-ready tune had hints of inspirational Elton John lyrics and vocal production set along with mild electronic beats underlying the main simple pop-rock beat. It was a different moment for Scissor’s Sister. It was a comeback for them in a more poised and well-mannered way, which disappointed some, but I was in to it. The video became my favorite of 2010. The video embodies my taste, creative vision and the life I live and want to live in the future. The streaks of sleek glam lights in New York City set during a loneliness night just gives me Goosebumps and a rush of emotion every time I watch it. It was like this epiphany moment for me where sometime we can’t really wait for acceptance from others about our identity, but instead we have to be fucking brave and live life through our own judgments and wants. Very deep stuff. I know. Next.

What they do next will be interesting. I don’t expect them to change much, but I want them to elevate themselves by maybe hiring more mainstream producers and try to produce a top 40 hit single worldwide. They had a global hit minus USA with I Don’t Feel Like Dancing, but I want them to conquer America and put it in their faces. When it happens, it’ll mark a new social change in American music history and prove why U2’s front man Bono has once declared them has "the best pop band right now".