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Their first hit, a glammed-up falsetto disco interpretation of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” was actually the second B-side track to their first 12-inch single. It ended up on a compilation in London and was soon on the air in the U.K., where it peaked at #9. In the U.S., the song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording, but was beaten by Britney Spears’s “Toxic.”

Described by the Village Voice as “a rock unit who aren’t afraid to play disco,” the Scissor Sisters have been compared to Elton John, David Bowie, the B-52s, the Bee Gees, and Queen, among others. Their eclectic style, involving a combination of dance, funk, disco, rock, and a distinctively queer sensibility, has found a more welcoming audience in the U.K. and Europe—not surprising given the current U.S. obsession with hip-hop and R&B.

Talking with American University’s The Eagle in July 2004, Del Marquis offered, “I think [the element of dance] should always be there in rock and pop music, but I think somewhere along the way people lost the idea that you can incorporate rhythm and dance into straight forward rock songs. That never really got lost on people in the U.K.”

But the band has said it never intended to make a Top 40 album. Ana Matronic told Australia’s The Age in February that “It wasn't ever about singles and filling everything up. It wasn't ever about making a number-one song. It was about making a good, consistent-sounding, quality record, and that's what we wanted to do…. For the most part, music now seems so singles-driven and so sales-driven, and it's sad to me that so much artistry has seemingly fallen by the wayside. It's pretty tragic.”

The band’s video for their next single, “Filthy/Gorgeous,” an addictive, diva-esque dancefloor anthem that happens to be about transvestite prostitutes, is certainly not going to land them on MTV’s TRL. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) and shot at New York’s Zipper Theater nightclub, the video features band members engaged in a variety of kinky sex acts. The video might be campy fun for a queer audience, but not for a mainstream one walking the delicate line between red and blue states.

“I actually think it's important for us as a band to widen the perception of gay culture,” Matronic stated in February, “because it's very narrow, and pretty much the only gay guys you see on TV are on Queer Eye or Will and Grace, which is only one kind of gay guy…. I just think we are more interested in changing people's perceptions about what it is to be a gay man or a gay person in general.”

The mainstream acceptance of Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy may indeed be part of the Scissor Sisters’ downfall. “Queer Eye is accommodating the straight world's idea of what's acceptable from homosexuals,” Boy George claims, “whereas somebody actually expressing who they are in their music is not acceptable, and that's really sad.”

Although openly gay musicians have attained mainstream success in the U.S., few have come out until that success has been well in hand. Elton John didn’t come out as bisexual until 1976, several years into his career. George Michael didn’t come out until 1998, after he was arrested for soliciting sex from a male police officer. And although Boy George himself was openly cross-dressing from the beginning of his stint with Culture Club, he did downplay his sexual orientation in the early years.

Nevertheless, Elton John and George Michael continued to be successful after they came out, as did Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Ani DiFranco, and a number of other artists. In addition, mega-stars like Prince and Madonna have titillated audiences for years by toying with the possibility of queerness. Being gay is not the killer stigma in the U.S. that it used to be.

It is true that the U.K. has a history of being more friendly to gay pop acts, particularly during the 1980s New Wave with bands including Erasure, the Pet Shop Boys, and the Smiths. But what these groups have in common—other than containing gay members—is a common musical language beloved by the British music audience. And the Scissor Sisters have much more in common musically with those British dance/pop groups than with current American Top 40 stars and their over-produced hits.

So while the Scissor Sisters’ lack of mainstream acceptance in the U.S. is likely due at least in part to the fact that several of them are openly gay, simple musical incompatibility is probably a greater cause. When seven of this week’s top ten pop singles are hip-hop/R&B tracks from MTV hitmakers like 50 Cent and Usher (and the others are straightforward rock/pop tunes), there’s little room for a group like the Scissor Sisters, which doesn’t hew closely to any genre.

While that’s unfortunate, that’s not necessarily homophobia—even if Boy George says it is.

Get the Scissor Sisters CD or read more about them at scissorsisters.com

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