http://www.bbc.co.uk/radi...art/top40/

This week on the UK charts, Scissor Sisters grab their 5th big hit as Filthy/Gorgeous debuts at #5 , their highest charting song to date. The album also returns to #1 this week on the album charts , some 9 months after its UK release.

In the US , Take Your Mama Out made it to the 90's on the Airplay charts, and their current US release, Laura, is stalling out in the 120's. The album did not crack the Top 100 on the Billboard Album chart

Which brings up the question , why the huge difference in the degree of success for this band from New York City on opposite sides of the ocean? Is it the whole "lifestyle" issue that American radio/ buying public is uptight about? The sound? The way the record company choose to promote?

Your thoughts? I love the band and wish their home country would be behind them more .
[Edited 1/10/05 7:40am]

newpower99 said:

They're too campy for the currently hip-hop dominated US radio. It's a shame, of course, cuz no one seems to mind macho camp like Ludacris.
[Edited 1/10/05 9:06am]

MendesCity said:

I wonder if the record company has even tried to market them to top 40. I've never heard them on any station except the local "alterna-station"

Anyone an a"Aqua Teen Hunger Force" fan. I think Master Shake said it best when he shouted at Meatwad "Dancing is Forbidden". That's the case in the US music scene. Everytime I see them I think they are from the UK but I know better. Maybe it will take some time for dance and/or pop to come back again (I'm thinking satelitte radio might come into play) and by their next record they will get some higher sales. They seem to have a growing fan base in America and get mentions on TV every so often. I know that the US is very fickle now and if you don't hit right away, be gone but I think the record companies will support them enough for them to catch on. If not...better save up for Scissor Sister imports now.

Maybe because they are over rated

endorphin74 said:

What's sad is that even the alternative scene--altho less-testosterone fueled now than it was in the Limp Bizness era--seems to have developed a real aversion to anything remotely campy. The closest thing that seems to fly these days is the Darkness, and well, frankly, I don't think they'll be around too much longer.
[Edited 1/10/05 14:40pm]

I'm an American and I enjoy the Scissor Sisters. I have their debut. I've never seen their videos on any music video channel (Well, I don't really watch music video channels that much anyway). I found out about the group through their mix on the Pet Shop Boys' "Flamboyant" single in 2004. From there, I got a healthy interest in the group. It's not like the print media isn't properly giving them exposure since they were pumped up just like Franz Ferdinand by Spin, Time, Rolling Stone, NY Times, LA Times, etc.

Hip Hop and rap is what's popular in America right now (and has been for over a decade now); it has fully entrenched the mainstream. You can't escape rap here. The UK is different, they'll embrace something like the Scissor Sisters much more because their charts have more electronica-based/dance-based. Scissor Sisters have rock appeal, but their sound has electroclash, disco and dance based elements -- those genres haven't been rabidly embraced by mainstream U.S. audiences since the early '90s. Electroclash, electronica and dance in general have cult followings in the U.S. not mainstream. That may explain it.

twink69 said:

as opposed to the genius of, say, ashlee simpson.

Anxiety said:

Testify!