# Soft Cell — " Tainted Love " ( 1982 )

The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of " Tainted Love " and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret.

The band opted to record a radically reworked cover version of " Tainted Love ", an obscure 1964 northern soul track sung originally by Gloria Jones ( the girlfriend of Marc Bolan at the time of his death ) and written by Ed Cobb of The Four Preps.

Released in 1981, Soft Cell's " Tainted Love " was a No. 1 hit in 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as a No. 8 single in the United States during 1982, and went on to set a Guinness World Record at the time for the longest consecutive stay ( 43 weeks ) on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The A-side of the 12 inch single of " Tainted Love " actually featured a two-song medley, with " Tainted Love " blending into the Motown classic " Where Did Our Love Go " ( originally recorded by The Supremes, also in 1964 ).

According to Marc Almond's book Tainted Life, Soft Cell had exited the " Tainted Love " recording sessions with only modest expectations that the track might break into the UK Top 50.

However, as Soft Cell wrote neither " Tainted Love " nor " Where Did Our Love Go " ( the 7 " B-side track ), they lost the opportunity to make a greater sum of money from songwriting royalties stemming from one of the most popular songs of the 1980s.

Soft Cell had considered recording " The Night " in place of " Tainted Love " during 1981 as their frantic attempt to score a chart success.

Due to its enduring popularity, Soft Cell's version of " Tainted Love " along with other songs from Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret have been covered and sampled a number of times, including:

* 1984 Coil covered " Tainted Love " as one half of the double A-Side Panic / Tainted Love.

* 1992 Inspiral Carpets covered " Tainted Love " for the NME's Ruby Trax 3CD Box.

* 1995 The Alternative rock group Shades Apart from New Jersey covered " Tainted Love " in the CD single of 1995 ( Revelation 40 PR1 )

* 1997 The German Heavy Metal Rock Group Atrocity covered " Tainted Love " on their full length cover album titled " Werk 80 " and also featured it on the limited deluxe edition of " Werk 80 II " released in 2008.

* 2004 German techno producer Thomas Schumacher samples " Tainted Love " on his single Tainted Schall.

* 2005 Pussycat Dolls covered the Soft Cell version with " Tainted Love " and " Where Did Our Love Go?

He is best known for his novels such as the non-narrative 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess ( 2002 ), his re-imagining of the 1960s in Tainted Love ( 2005 ), and earlier parodistic pulp fictions Pure Mania, Red London, No Pity, Cunt, and Defiant Pose that pastiche the work of 1970s British skinhead pulp novel writer Richard Allen and combine it with pornography, political agit-prop, and historical references to punk rock and avant-garde art.

* Tainted Love ( Virgin Books, London 2005 ).

* The Tainted Sword ( October 1992 ), by D. J.

* Drummond, John, Tainted by Experience: A Life in the Arts, London: Faber & Faber, 2001 ISBN 0-571-20922-X

In 1985, Proby recorded a version of Gloria Jones's " Tainted Love " for the Manchester based Savoy Records label which was followed by further covers of " Love Will Tear Us Apart ", " Anarchy in the UK ", Prince song " Sign of the Times ", " In the Air Tonight ", and " Garbageman " for the same label.

Notable examples include Tony Clarke ’ s " Landslide " ( popularised by Ian Levine at Blackpool Mecca ) and Gloria Jones ’ " Tainted Love " ( purchased by Richard Searling on a trip to the United States in 1973 and popularised at Va Va ’ s in Bolton, and later, Wigan Casino ).

* Soft Cell had chart success in the early 1980s with covers of two popular northern soul songs, " Tainted Love " ( originally recorded by Gloria Jones ) and " What?

* " N. U. M. B ", a song by Diana Vickers from Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree

She has also appeared in a number of music videos, including " The Space Between " by Dave Matthews Band, " Girls of Summer " by Aerosmith and the Marilyn Manson cover of " Tainted Love ".

The lead off single from the album was titled " Dead In Hollywood ", the promotional video featured a guest appearance by Marilyn Manson, who had previously become friends with Jordison and was returning the favour of him earlier appearing in the video for " Tainted Love ".

" Tainted Love " is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of The Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1965.

Gloria Jones recorded the original version of " Tainted Love ", which was written and produced by Ed Cobb.

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.

Christopherson's band Coil had covered " Tainted Love " in 1985, with a music video that included a cameo appearance by Almond.

Tainted by their association with the Witch King and the violent madness of Aenarion, the survivors of Nagarythe are a very different type of Asur.

Tainted by corruption charges from the very beginning, Banharn ’ s government was forced to call early elections in 1996, in which General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's New Aspiration Party managed to gain a narrow victory.

Following the tradition of recording and performing the occasional cover song throughout Tairrie ’ s career, going back as far as Tairrie ’ s days in Manhole, where she covered the song Hard Times by punk / thrash band Cro-Mags, the band covered Tainted Love and Stoopid.

For example, Barbadian dancehall / pop singer Rihanna's 2006 hit " SOS " drew directly from the song " Tainted Love " by 1980s English synth pop band Soft Cell.

* The Tainted Relic ( co-authored by Gregory ).

* 2006 Rihanna extensively samples " Tainted Love " on the single " SOS " from her album A Girl Like Me.

* 2006 Psytrance producer Bulletproof samples " Tainted Love " on the vinyl EP Tainted Love.

* 2007 DJ Richard Grey samples " Tainted Love " on " Warped Bass.

* 2009 Mexican Singer Fey used a sample of the song " Tainted Love " on her track " La Viuda Negra " included on her album Dulce Tentación

We can see a video on the homepage of the band playing a part of the song " Tainted Love ".

* With Community Trolls: " Tainted Obligation " ( 1983 ) on To Understand: The Early Recordings of Matthew Sweet ( 2002 )

Sköld's involvement with Marilyn Manson began as producer for the single " Tainted Love ", which is featured in the 2001 teen comedy / parody movie Not Another Teen Movie and appeared on the soundtrack.

In Marilyn Manson's music video for " Tainted Love ", which was featured on the movie's soundtrack, she made a cameo appearance as her character Catherine Wyler.

During this period six singles were released including the previously stated double A-side, and in addition " Tainted Love ", a live cover, was released as a radio-only single on Triple J.

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 ).

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.

1, 000 copies of the Tainted Love single was released on red vinyl and 1, 000 copies of the Terror single were released on standard vinyl.