“Tainted Love” is a renowned song initially composed by Ed Cobb, a former member of the American group, the Four Preps. Gloria Jones originally recorded the track in 1964. However, it gained worldwide fame when the British synthpop duo, Soft Cell, covered and reworked it in 1981. Since then, the song has been covered by various groups and artists.
Soft Cell first discovered “Tainted Love” due to its popularity as a UK “Northern soul” hit. In 2010, DJ Ian “Frank” Dewhirst claimed to be the first person to introduce the song to Marc Almond, the vocalist of Soft Cell. After incorporating the track into their live performances, Soft Cell decided to record it as their second single, succeeding “Memorabilia,” which didn’t chart.
The Soft Cell version of “Tainted Love” featured a slower tempo compared to Jones’s original and was transposed from the key of C to G to better suit Marc Almond’s lower vocal range. The band used synthesizers and rhythm machines, replacing the original instrumentation of guitars, bass, drums, and horns.
Phonogram Records released the song in 1981 as Soft Cell’s second single. It was a critical moment for the band as they were told this might be their final release on Some Bizzare if it didn’t sell well. The 12″ single version combined “Tainted Love” with a cover of the Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go,” adding a progressive dimension to the track.
Thanks to a memorable performance on the BBC’s Top of the Pops, “Tainted Love” reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the best-selling single of 1981 in the UK (until the Official Charts Company recalculated the data in 2021). In the same year, it achieved 1.05 million sales, with numbers rising to 1.35 million copies by August 2017.
During the Second British Invasion, “Tainted Love” became a significant success in the US, spending a then-record breaking 43 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. It entered the chart at number 90, eventually reaching number 8 during the summer of 1982. Soft Cell produced a music video for the song, featuring David Ball as a cricketer meeting Marc Almond in a toga on a setting reminiscent of Mount Olympus, featured in their video album, Non-Stop Exotic Video Show.
The Soft Cell rendition of “Tainted Love” earned the fifth spot on VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s list. Additionally, the track was sampled in Rihanna’s 2006 single “SOS” and the Veronicas’ 2007 single “Hook Me Up.” In 2015, a British public poll for ITV voted it as the nation’s fourth favorite 1980s number one song.
Leave a Reply