Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Soft Cell were a one hit wonder in the U.S., but the group's music was interesting and influential.  In fact, "Tainted Love" played an important role in early 1980s synth pop, highlighting the soulful, human aspect of a musical style that was sometimes viewed as cold and artificial.  As was the case with so many acts, Soft Cell were much more successful in their home market.  The group had 12 top 40 hits in the UK, including a run of five consecutive top 5 singles, starting with "Tainted Love."

The band consisted of singer Marc Almond and synthesizist (is that a word?) Dave Ball.  The duo met at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds Metropolitan University) in 1978.  Soft Cell initially worked scoring music for theater, and soon came to the attention of Stevo (Steve Pearce) a DJ who launched Some Bizzare Records and become a major player in the emerging electronic scene in Britain.  Stevo would become Soft Cell's manager and help them sign a major label deal.

"Tainted Love" comes off the first Soft Cell LP, 1981's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.  The song became a monster hit, reaching #1 in many countries, including the UK, while reaching #8 in the U.S.  "Tainted Love" took an unusually long time to peak on the U.S. charts and spent a then-record 43 weeks in the Hot 100.

The original version of the song was recorded in 1965 by Gloria Jones and it was not a hit -- in fact, it failed to chart in either the U.S. or UK.  However, a British club DJ (Richard Searling) came across a copy in 1973 and began playing it, which led to a period of success as a club single.  Jones then re-recorded the song in 1976, but the new version failed to chart, as well.  [As an aside for any hardcore musicologists out there, Jones is best known as the girlfriend of Marc Bolan (T. Rex).  Jones and Bolan had a son (Rolan Bolan) together and Jones was driving the Mini when it crashed, killing Bolan in September 1977.]

Soft Cell released three additional albums after Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret before breaking up in 1984.  Both Almond and Ball have remained in the industry, and there have been periodic reunions in recent years.

The original video for "Tainted Love" features togas and a cricket player.  We don't recall seeing the video much on MTV back in the day, though.

Soft Cell also released a remixed version of the song (with a corresponding video) in 1991, which is below:

Lastly, here is the original version of the song by Gloria Jones: