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If you're going to cover a Pink Floyd classic then you have to at least be radical about it. That's exactly what New York band Scissor Sisters did back in 2004 with their dramatic reworking of 'Comfortably Numb' – and their risk paid off. Not only did they get approval from Pink Floyd themselves, it earned them a huge breakthrough hit in the UK, climbing into the Top 10.
Before they knew it, Scissor Sisters had won themselves the biggest-selling album of the year. Of course, fantastic disco-infused pop anthems like 'Filthy/Gorgeous' and 'Take Your Mama' also helped propel them to mainstream success. Before long, the rest of Europe, Australia and Canada were on board, before they even got a Grammy nomination.
For the second album, Ta-Dah, things became as big and bold as their stage shows. For starters, they got Elton John to play piano on their chart-topping hit 'Don't Feel Like Dancin', which remains a wedding-disco staple to this day. The new album flew straight to the top of the chart and spawned a headline tour of the world. There were BBC Radio 1 takeover shows, a Coachella slot and they even had the then-little-known Lily Allen open up for them at Wembley Arena.
Naturally, with momentum that powerful, the band were eager to keep things going. In 2008 they retreated to the studio to work on their third studio collection, but it just didn't come together in the way they had hoped. "In my heart I knew it wasn't right," Jake Shears told BBC News of the album. "I didn't really know what it was trying to say. It left me a little bit cold." Lo and behold, the whole thing was scrapped and they had to start all over again.
It wouldn't be until 2010 that we'd finally get Night Work, which was led by glorious single 'Fire with Fire'. The album climbed to No.2 in the UK, but the sales weren't even a sliver of their former blockbuster releases. To put it into context, Scissor Sisters sold 2.7 million copies in the UK, while Ta-Dah achieved 1.4 million sales. Night Work, on the other hand, peaked with 157,000 sold. Yes, overall sales had declined throughout the decade, but this was one heck of a fall.
Scissor Sisters still toured the record, though, as well as opening up for Lady Gaga's The Monster Ball during select dates too. But for album number four, they needed to come back with an almighty bang. What better way than to team up with superstar DJ Calvin Harris? That's exactly what they did for 'Only the Horses', a galloping club record with lashings of shiny synths and a hypnotic music video to boot. It was a solid return, but frustratingly stalled at No.12 on the UK chart.
The band's fourth album, Magic Hour, landed at No.4. It saw them work with an array of incredible talent, including Pharrell Williams, Diplo, Azealia Banks and, of course, Calvin Harris. But for whatever the reason, it didn't make the enormous impact they must've been hoping for. In hindsight, it was possibly a little too ahead of its time. That being said, 'Let's Have A Kiki' in particular became somewhat of a viral sensation, picking up parodies from drag royalty like Lady Bunny and Bianca Del Rio. But in October 2012, Scissor Sisters announced the dreaded indefinite hiatus.
What happened next
Although frontman Jake Shears hasn't put out his own solo record, he has been incredibly busy in the recording studio for a number of different collaborations. There was his duet on Bright Light Bright Light's 'Kiss for Kiss' earlier this year, as well as Tiga's 'Make Me Fall In Love'. They both came after 2015's club-thumping anthem 'The Other Boys' with Nervo, which also included Kylie Minogue and Chic's Nile Rodgers. Now that's a superstar team-up.
Aside from the music, Jake has also made his big acting debut too. He starred as drag queen Greta in Tony-nominated musical Bent, which played at the Mark Taper Theater in Los Angeles to rave reviews last summer. What's more, he's also working on putting together his own musical with Elton John. But just what is it about? "I wish I could say," he teased the Advocate last year. "We haven't made an official announcement about it, but I'm very excited." Hopefully we'll be hearing more about that soon.
As for female lead singer Ana Matronic, she has taken up a new career in TV and radio. She first helped Jessie J out on The Voice UK back in 2012, becoming her trusted Battle Advisor on the BBC talent contest. Shortly after she was a commentator for BBC Three's coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest Semi Finals in 2013, and then a year later for Radio 2's coverage instead.
Ana also puts together theme-led playlists for her own BBC Radio 2 show on Saturday nights. And we're talking all sorts: Light vs Dark, Songs with Big String Arrangements... Hey, even Songs from Space. Moreover, she doesn't keep her DJing talents just to the radio, regularly spinning huge sets at clubs all over the world.
Oh and Ana has even turned her obsession with robots into a new career path. The singer released her own book titled Robot Takeover: 100 Iconic Robots of Myth, Popular Culture and Real Life on the subject, while also filming her own episode of BBC's Artsnight exploring how machines are taking over mainstream arts and culture.
After penning most of Scissor Sisters' biggest hits, Babydaddy has lent his songwriting talents to a number of huge popstars since the band has gone on a break. Most notably he has writing credits on Demi Lovato's 2015 album Confident, a song of Cheryl's Only Human collection, and even one of Chris Brown's album X. Oh and that's on top of the tracks he helped produce for Kylie Minogue.
As for Del Marquis, he had already put out a few solo EPs while Scissor Sisters were still together, but was pretty against going completely solo. Instead, he teamed up with handful of other artists (including Bright Light Bright Light and Bridget Barkan) to form musical project Slow Knights. They put out their first collection Cosmos in 2013, and have produced more tracks as recently as 2015.
"There was nothing I wanted to do less than put out another solo record," Del Marquis said. "I knew how I wanted it to sound, and once I got to a point where there were enough songs to qualify for a record I just felt that it was collaborative enough to not be my solo record. I just wanted to get rid of any ego."
But when will the Scissor Sisters get back together, if ever, we hear you ask? We can't imagine it being anytime soon, but Jake has assured fans the split isn't permanent. "I've been writing a lot of songs. You know, BabyDaddy from the band and I still hang out all the time," Jake said last year. "He's like my brother. We're so tight. So, you know, Scissor Sisters will ride again." We're going to hold you to that, Jakey.
