HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Night Work – Scissor Sisters

June 30, 2025 Megan Jenkins

SCISSOR SISTERS have never been a band to do things the conventional way. In their 20 year history as a band they’ve refused to do things in half measures, instead choosing to embrace the qualities outside the ‘norm’. The fact that the band is named after… well, exactly what you think they’re named after speaks true to this. Their music is deeply inspired by drag and LGBTQIA+ culture – what more would you expect?

So when an album cover, by the title of Night Work, emblazoned with a photograph of Peter Reed’s backside covered record store shelves and billboards, conservatives across the globe were scandalised. It’s absolutely no different to the display of a classic album like THE ROLLING STONES‘ Sticky Fingers, but SCISSOR SISTERS notorious unashamed attitudes preceded their reputation.

In an interview with Digital Spy shortly before the album’s release, guitarist and bass player Del Marquis would say, “the way someone reacts to it will tell you a lot about that person. People could view it with reactionary homophobia, or they could view it as camp, or high art, or something beautiful.

“People still react in a really strange way to the sexualisation of the male form. We’re much more comfortable with the sexualisation of the female form.”

There are so many more layers to this record than just the photograph that we see at first glance, but the band knows what they’re doing. The photograph was taken by equally controversial artist Robert Mapplethorpe, a photographer who would die from AIDS in his later life. They are dedicated to showing the work of the LGBTQIA+ community and producing art that they can appreciate, rather than the standard ‘radio friendly’ approach that many other artists would choose to take.

Though Night Work is the third album the band would release, it actually. would be the fourth album they would record as a unit. Two years before its release they would play two secret gigs, billed as Queef Latina and Debbie’s Hairy (you can’t say we didn’t warn you that they were ungovernable). These gigs were a chance to test out some of their newly recorded material for their third album to a willing audience before putting it out into the world, but the band would ultimately go on to scrap all of this material just a year later as they couldn’t “get behind” it.

The band would team up with producer Stuart Price, who’s previous work as a producer includes MADONNA, KYLIE MINOGUE, and PET SHOP BOYS. Price was already a friend with SCISSOR SISTERS. His own group ZOOT WOMAN had already toured with the group in 2003, before they could even release their first record. Before this point, SCISSOR SISTERS were an insular band. They produced and mixed their own records with little to no input from outside forces, but saw Price as part of their “extended family” and an exception to the rule.

Bringing Price into the fold allowed the rest of the band to focus on actually being musicians. Multi-instrumentalist and founding member Babydaddy could finally reconnect with his instruments again, instead of spending his day sitting at a computer screen. Price’s supportive nature would coax impressive performances out of the rest of the band, letting them produce the record they so desperately needed to get back on the horse.

The first single to be released from the record, Fire with Fire, would be met with critical and commercial success – a feat that is more impressive when paired with the fact that the band hadn’t released an album in four years, and had amicably parted ways with drummer Paddy Boom in this time.

The next singles Any Which Way, and its uncredited backing vocals from KYLIE MINOGUE, and Invisible Light, with guest vocals from Sir Ian McKellen, were met with the same level of adoration from fans. These tracks largely follow the pop formula that SCISSOR SISTERS had become known and loved for, but display a shift toward a more club-oriented sound that would define some of their later more iconic releases. This shift in sound would also push them toward supporting LADY GAGA on the third leg of The Monster Ball tour, who was releasing music in the same vein to the same fans.

While this record displays a significant sonic shift for SCISSOR SISTERS, it still followed the formula that had worked well for them since the early noughties. They stuck to their guns and produced the music they wanted, rather than what may go down well commercially. The controversy surrounding an album cover that’s, let’s face it, not that explicit is made easy to swallow when we realise that it fits in with the morals and values of the band and what they stand for. The shift toward filling the gap in the club scene that was popular at the time worked well for a band like this that is easy going and adaptable. To this day they continue to follow their own interests and principles, easily turning them into one of the most iconic and diverse pop-rock groups of the noughties.