o2-arena-The Scissor Sisters

The Scissor Sisters

Awards and press

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Scissor Sisters

At the 2005 BRIT Awards, the group won all the awards they were nominated for: International Group, International Breakthrough, and International Album (Ana asked Siouxsie to present this award). It was the first time in the Awards history that an act won all three International categories. They also opened the show with "Take Your Mama", on a set made by The Jim Henson Company. At the 2007 awards, the group did not win any awards, but opened the ceremony with a rendition of "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'."

In 2004, the gay members of the band, Jake Shears, Babydaddy, and Del Marquis, were honored in the Out 100, Out magazine's List of the 100 Most Intriguing Gay People of the Year. The band won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Artist on March 28, 2005. On July 2, 2005, the group performed at Live 8. Their set included the previously unheard song "Everybody Wants the Same Thing".

In November 2006, they won the German media award Bambi in the category "Shooting Star".

They have received some heavy attention in the United States by VH1 and magazines such as Out and Entertainment Weekly. They have also been interviewed on VH1's website and Del Marquis has been interviewed by the music section of IGN.com. It is a little known fact that there are several tracks recorded by the band before their eponymous debut which were never released; these tracks have entered the fan community and, although sometimes difficult to find, can be obtained freely. These songs include "Someone to Touch", "Doctor (I'm Only Seeing Dark)", "Bicycling with the Devil", "Electrobix", "Monkey Baby", a Elton John-esque cover of Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out", as well as demo versions of "Laura", and "Filthy/Gorgeous".

Visuals

The visuals for Scissor Sisters' self-titled first album and its singles featured artwork by an English illustrator named Spookytim, who has a studio in Brighton called Studiospooky. The artwork was created by a wide variety of techniques and mixed traditional paper-based processes with digital and photographic elements in order to reflect the multi-referential nature of the band's music.

Popular impact

Fans

Several fan societies have sprung up in the official forums. These include the "Jake Groupies", "Ana Matronic Appreciation Society", and the "Scissor Sisters Party Bus", the latter two having spilled over to their own sites. The band have a close relationship with the fan community, even holding a small private gig for select forum members on August 14, 2005, at which a number of new tracks were previewed, and fans had the opportunity to meet the band and give birthday cards and presents to Ana Matronic. In the fan community, those fans who hold a special affinity for Ana are known as "nuns".

Producing

In late 2004, Shears and Babydaddy co-wrote and produced the hit "I Believe in You" with Kylie Minogue, which featured on the Ultimate Kylie compilation. They also wrote the unreleased "(Everything) I Know", which leaked online in November 2004 and "Ooh (The Blues)", of which Kylie's version remains unreleased. The Scissor Sisters went on to co-write a new song for Kylie entitled "White Diamond", which was showcased in her Showgirl Homecoming Tour that kicked-off in Australia in November 2006. A stirring ballad version of "White Diamond" was featured as an exclusive pre-order bonus track from Minogue's 2007 album, X, as well as being the theme song of her 2007 tour documentary, White Diamond. The live version is available on the Showgirl Homecoming Live 2-CD release. While the studio ballad version was commercially released on the Special Edition X DVD. It can also be found on many fan-sites available for download.

In 2006, Babydaddy remixed Louisville band VHS or Beta's "You Got Me". VHS or Beta are huge fans of the Scissor Sisters and the two bands have toured together.

Appearances

• The group were one of the headlining acts at the British V Festival in 2005, where they collaborated on stage with Scottish rock group Franz Ferdinand to perform a cover version of David Bowie's "Suffragette City".
• September 10, 2006 saw them headline the Bestival festival on the Isle of Wight. They closed the three day event with the most spectacular show the island has seen for years. The band took to the stage at Robin Hill dressed as clowns, and by the encore — "Filthy/Gorgeous" — they had been joined by dancers in 10-foot-high clown costumes. Singer Jake Shears ended the set bare-chested and covered in fake blood. They succeeded in thrilling a capacity crowd, although they spectacularly failed to observe the "don't dress as clowns" advice, which had been introduced for the annual fancy dress parade, so as not to deter people with coulrophobia (fear of clowns) from attending the festival.
• The Scissor Sisters ended their first UK tour at Wembley Arena, London, from the November 24 to 26, 2006, supported by new artist Lily Allen, who performed during the three days there.
• On September 15, 2006 the group were invited to the BBCs Maida Vale studios to perform different songs on every show broadcast on BBC Radio 1.^[17] The event, dubbed "Scissor Sisters Day", culminated in them actually standing in for presenter Pete Tong and hosting his three-hour slot themselves. The show took an unexpected turn when a woman in labour telephoned the show to share her experience with the band and they played "Push It" by Salt-n-Pepa for her. Several performances, interviews, and a humorous jingle that was written in an hour, were filmed and edited into a special seven-day, looped broadcast on BBCi.
• The group was the main event during the New Year's Eve celebrations for 2007 in Berlin.
• On February 8 and February 9, 2007, the group appeared on the American daytime soap opera Passions. They performed "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" and "Land of a Thousand Words", from the album Ta-Dah.

Mash-Ups

DJ Earworm's 2005 hit mashup "No One Takes Your Freedom" combined "Take Your Mama" with The Beatles' "For No One", George Michael's "Freedom '90" and Aretha Franklin's "Think".

In early 2008, online record label bastard pop netlabel WHA!?, in association with Scissor Sister fansite idontfeellikedancin.com released a free-to-download bootleg album entitled Da-Tah. The album featured "Mash-Ups" of Scissor Sister songs with songs by artists as diverse as Beck, Peter Gabriel, Lauryn Hill and Nine Inch Nails

Soundtracks

• "Skins" was used in Season 5 of the Showtime original series "Queer As Folk", and also appeared on the physical soundtrack.
• In the Doctor Who episode "Last of the Time Lords", the song "I Can't Decide" was used in a scene of the Master singing along to it in a mocking fashion towards the Doctor. Subsequently, the song debuted at #64 on the UK Singles Chart, despite not officially being released as a single. (Only the final verse of the song was used, as the previous two verses contain swearing.)
• In the Torchwood episode "Something Borrowed", the song "Comfortably Numb" & "Filthy/Gorgeous" are playing in the club where Gwen Cooper is having her hen party before the wedding to Rhys Williams.
• "Filthy/Gorgeous" plays during a scene in the film Smiley Face (2007).
• "Filthy/Gorgeous" is also featured in a scene from Season 2, episode six of the television program Nip/Tuck.
• "Filthy/Gorgeous" serves as the theme music to the U.S. version of the sit-com Kath & Kim.
• "Take Your Mama" was featured in a scene from Season 3, Episode 4 of the television program Big Love.
• "Take Your Mama" was featured in an episode^[which?] of Heroes, in Season 1.
• "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" is featured in the Nintendo Wii video game "Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party" And is also included in the game Singstar, by Sony Computer Entertainment, on the Playstation 3.
• Also in 2005, "Filthy/Gorgeous" was licensed by Activision and appears in Neversoft's Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
• Filthy/Gorgeous" plays during the movie "It's a Boy/Girl Thing"
• "It Can't Come Quickly Enough" was featured in the film Party Monster during the end credits.
• In 2008, "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" was featured in a special DVD created by noted photographer and cinematographer Dennys Ilic as a tribute to director Michael Rymer and his wife Loretta. This video was shown at the cast and crew wrap party for Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined) and shows footage of the cast and crew during the final days of shooting. Briefly available on the Internet, bootleg versions still exist in fan collections and portions can be seen on fansites.^[21]
• In the movie "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" is featured in the costume party.
• In the movie "Shrek Forever After" "Isn't It Strange" is featured in the film. The track was created during the band's recording session for their Night Work album.

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