Scissor Sisters, Tits on the Radio | Bangerz N Bopz 🔥

In the 2^nd edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥, we highlight “Tits on the Radio” performed by Scissor Sisters.

Bring on the bold, fierce songs! Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 serves up background info and insight into songs of various styles, especially songs that raise eyebrows and/or stir the pot.  Featured records can be classic or brand new. In the 2^nd edition of Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 (2023), we break down 🎵 “Tits on the Radio” performed by 🎙 Scissor Sisters.

“Where are the queers on the piers, heard they gave it their best.” That is a legitimate question, 🎙 Ana Matronic. The question, rather, the lyrics, hail from 🎵 “Tits on the Radio”, the groovy sixth track from  🎙 Scissor Sisters’ debut LP, 💿 Scissor Sisters.  Matronic, who takes lead duties (it’s typically 🎙 Jake Shears, who also sings key parts) responds singing, “Now they got jobs at a local fast food chain / Flippin’ tricks for the burger, since Lady M jacked their fame.” Interesting 🧐.  The lyrics require some context and decoding.  Missing queers? Lady M?  With Scissor Sisters forming in NYC, it seems feasible the lyrics are referencing the city.  In Times Square, there was a period of time that adult entertainment, sex work, and queer nightlife  was huge.  After ‘cleaning up the area’, things became too conservatized, causing many of the adult and queer entertainers to be jobless or trying to survive with underpaying jobs. Furthermore, Scissor Sisters suggests the queers lost some of their luster because 🎙 Madonna (Lady M, we’d assume) culturally appropriating their culture (🎵 “Vogue” is a prime example).

Amazingly, that’s just one verse of “Tits on the Radio” 🤯,  which features risqué lyrics. In the second verse, we learn about Dark room Danny, who “Hears police alarm,” and “Can’t see with the lights turned out.” There are multiple interpretations that can be made, but if we stay in the realm of queer performers and sex workers, the end seems to have come.  The adult theatres, clubs, and such are closed or in the case of the police alarm, being shut down. That leads us to the chorus, the catchiest part of the song, where “‘Cause you can’t see tits on the radio / I’ll give you five fingers for a one-man show / Fasten those pants for the lap dance / Take a shot now this may be your last chance.” Radio literally isn’t visual, but even metaphorically, in the 2000s, you couldn’t hear something lewd or overly sexual on mainstream radio. Furthermore, even from a visual sense, such as cable television, you also can’t see tits because its deemed inappropriate.  All told, 🎵 “Tits on the Radio” is one of the best, most under-appreciated songs from Scissor Sisters catalog.  

🎙 Scissor Sisters • 💿 Scissor Sisters • 🏷 Polydor • 🗓 2004

Scissor Sisters, Tits on the Radio: Bangerz N Bopz 🔥 No. 2 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Polydor; cottonbro studio, Harry Shelton, Kool Shooters, Lucas Pazeta, Mavluda Tashbaeva, Teddy Yang, Wesley Souza from Pexels]