Soft Cell Version (1981)
| "Tainted Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Soft Cell | ||||
| from the album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret | ||||
| A-side | "Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go" | |||
| B-side | "Memorabilia" "Tainted Dub" | |||
| Released | July 7, 1981 (UK), January 16, 1982 (US) | |||
| Format | 12-inch single, 7-inch single | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | Synthpop, New Wave | |||
| Length | 2:34 (album version) 2:41 (single version) 8:58 (extended dance version with "Where Did Our Love Go?" cover) |
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| Label | Some Bizzare | |||
| Writer(s) | Ed Cobb | |||
| Producer | Mike Thorne | |||
| Soft Cell singles chronology | ||||
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The vocal-and-synth duo Soft Cell became aware of the song through its status as a UK "Northern Soul" hit, and recorded a drastically different arrangement in 1981. Produced by Mike Thorne, the Soft Cell track featured a slower tempo than Jones' version, and was in the key of G rather than the original C to match Marc Almond's lower voice. Synthesizers and rhythm machines replaced the original's guitars, bass, drums, and horns. Soft Cell's version was recorded in a day and a half with Almond's first vocal take being used on the record.
The band's record label chose to release "Tainted Love" on July 7, 1981 as Soft Cell's second single (their first was "Memorabilia", which did not chart). The label implied that this single would be Soft Cell's final release if the single did not sell. The 12" single version (extended dance version) was a medley, transitioning to a cover of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go" half-way through the song. Buoyed by the then-dominant Synthpop sound of the time and a memorable performance on Top of the Pops, "Tainted Love" rapidly reached #1 on the UK singles chart, eventually repeating the feat in 17 territories. "Tainted Love" was the best-selling single in the UK for 1981, and it has sold 1.27 million copies as of November 2012.
On the US chart dated January 16, 1982, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #90. It appeared to peak at #64 and fell to #100 on Feb. 27. After spending a second week at #100, it started climbing again. It took 19 weeks to crack the US Top 40. The song reached #8 and spent a then record-breaking 43 weeks on the Hot 100.
A video was recorded specially for Soft Cell's video album Non Stop Exotic Video and features a cricketer meeting band members Marc Almond and David Ball in togas on Mount Olympus.
Soft Cell issued a remixed version of the song in 1991. The video for the remix, directed by Peter Christopherson of Hipgnosis, features a man pacing at night and dancing with starry apparitions, while Almond sings amongst the stars. Christopherson's band Coil had covered "Tainted Love" in 1985, with a music video that included a cameo appearance by Almond.
Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" ranked #2 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders and #5 on VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.
The Soft Cell version of the song is used in scenes from the 1993 film Coneheads and the 2005 episode of Doctor Who titled "The End of the World."
Read more about this topic: Tainted Love
Famous quotes containing the words soft, cell and/or version:
“Bow, stubborn knees, and heart, with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Let man consider what he is in comparison with all existence; let him regard himself as lost in this remote corner of nature; and from the little cell in which he finds himself lodged, I mean the universe, let him estimate at their true value the earth, kingdoms, cities, and himself. What is a man in the infinite?”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Truth cannot be defined or tested by agreement with ‘the world’; for not only do truths differ for different worlds but the nature of agreement between a world apart from it is notoriously nebulous. Rather—speaking loosely and without trying to answer either Pilate’s question or Tarski’s—a version is to be taken to be true when it offends no unyielding beliefs and none of its own precepts.”
—Nelson Goodman (b. 1906)