Can they cut in? Scissor Sisters hope to with `Ta-Dah'

By Jim Farber

 

Source: New York Daily News

 

 

More than an ocean divides the U.S. and the U.K.

 

A sensibility gap looms between the two as well, wider and deeper in some places than the water.

 

You'll find proof in the recent career of the Scissor Sisters. In England, they're scream-worthy pop stars, embraced by everyone from grandmothers to schoolgirls to music's savvy set.

 

Here, in their own country, they're favored mainly by various cults - gay listeners, dance music fans and arty types.

 

In 2004, the group's self-titled debut became the best selling album of the year in the U.K., moving in the millions. On these shores, it moved just 282,929 copies, according to SoundScan.

 

Band co-leader Scott Hoffman (aka Babydaddy) isn't short on theories as to why. "American pop culture is really boring right now," he says. "And we're a Puritan country that's afraid to offend anybody. Also, the Scissor Sisters write real songs with melodies and in America right now the (rhythm) track has become the new pop. We don't make sound bites for people with short attention spans."

 

Instead they make something that sounds like the `70s Bee Gees being waylaid by classic Elton John. With front man Jake Shears' campy falsetto quipping over Hoffman's bouncy piano riffs, Sisters songs have an unusually animated flair. But it often masks more complicated messages below. Shears' lyrics contrast the music's froth with darker characters and gnarlier emotions.

 

Never is this clearer than on "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," the first single from the Sisters' new album, whimsically titled "Ta-Dah," out Sept. 26. It may be the first club anthem ever written about shunning the disco in favor of a brooding night at home.

 

That's typical of the group's intriguing bait-and-switch approach. "We'll have a song about a transvestite selling her body while on acid, then put it to a melody that little girls can sing," Hoffman says.

 

The result takes full advantage of pop culture's capacity for creative subversion. "Subversion is different from shock value or simple sex or violence," Hoffman explains. "It has more layers."

 

The group began exploring them the moment they chose their name, which stands for a lesbian sex act. Their music also adopted an outsider's view. Shortly after transplanted New Yorkers Shears and Hoffman formed the group in 2001, they hit on the mad idea to recast Pink Floyd's hazy salute to apathy, "Comfortably Numb" as an ecstatic neo-disco song. At first, the result didn't impress many outside the reaches of Tompkins Square Park. But eventually "Numb" nabbed the attention of U.K. DJs and that got the band signed to Polydor Records overseas. After much touring and hard work over there, the song wound up going top 20. The album went all the way to No. 1.

 

In the U.S. they couldn't even get the album into Wal-Mart. The chain banned it for lyrical content.

 

One potential issue for the band is that three of its five members are openly gay, including its two leaders. But Hoffman thinks the problem is "bigger than that. Some people will dismiss us before they listen, just because they see a picture and see that we dress up or act flamboyant and they say, `That isn't me.'"

 

Obviously, this hasn't been a problem overseas. "The gay thing and the flamboyant thing have never been issues in England," Hoffman says. "They embraced Queen and David Bowie way before America did. Over there people find a song they like and it just goes from there. It's a song-loving country."

 

Now, however, the group worries about giving its audience songs they can love as much as those on their debut. Hoffman admits the band went through major fears of a sophomore slump when first recording the new CD. "We had two years of touring and promoting on the first album and now you've got to make a whole other album," he says. "We pictured our fans being disappointed. We pictured complete failure."

 

Things hardly turned out that way. "Ta-Dah" is a robust chaser to their debut, filled with catchy hooks and affecting beats. The group did have a bit of marquee help this time. Elton John, who has become one of the band's major fans, co-wrote two songs on "Ta-Dah," including the single. He also performed on both, extending the band's debt to a sound Elton first forged on songs like "Bennie and the Jets." The Sisters also expanded their range by bringing in more influences from the classic British music-hall sound, especially on a song called "Paul McCartney." Sir Paul, of course, has made great use of the style throughout his career.

 

"It's a love song to inspiration," Hoffman explains. "Jake has been so blasphemous as to say that he thinks the Wings catalog is better than the Beatles catalogue. I don't agree. But he's an extreme person."

 

The question is, will the Sisters' extreme sensibility continue to thwart a U.S. breakthrough? Hoffman wouldn't be surprised. "We're not mainstream people," he says. "So why should we be mainstream pop stars?"

 

 

Just shows how amazing we are in the UK! :P Nah Babydaddy's right though, the U.S charts are always so dull - hip hop dirge with Mr X feat. Semi-naked Woman 2. :rolleyes: It's the same with Anastacia - she's unsuccessful stateside because she doesn't make R&B music and rent-a-rapper for every song she sings.

Yep, the US music scene is too turgid, which proves that the UK scene attract a wider range of different acts.

Yup, this article just goes to show how diverse the British Music Scene is...bloody amazing!

"We'll have a song about a transvestite selling her body while on acid, then put it to a melody that little girls can sing,"

 

:lol: Gotta love Filthy/Gorgeous - my fave SS song EVER! :wub: