I really don’t even know where to start with this one to be honest. There’s really not that much information to cover, but there also is just for the drastic upheval of the song. Where should we start? Well, the song was written by Ed Cobb, formerly one of the founding members of The Four Preps known mostly for their minor hit 26 Miles (Santa Catalina). After his career with them, he turned into a producer and songwriter responsible for some minor hits for mostly The Standells. He also wrote a few songs for an underage soul singer named Gloria Jones. Sadly, the soul singer never hit it big in America. It wasn’t until the mid-70s that she finally began to make a minor dent, but it was in the UK as part of the Northern Soul movement happening in the underground club circuit. It was here where two aspiring DJs heard the song a soulful expression of a failed relationship set to a bouncy melody that people could move and clap to that.

Few years later, that duo, now named Soft Cell, was now trying to make a name for themselves. After developing a reputation for great live shows, they were signed to Some Bizzare. Hoping they could do more, but unwillingly to pay studio costs for the instruments of the day, the record company asked them for a cheap, but impressive hit. Looking just to satisfy the record company so they could begin to record their next album titled Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (the band was doomed from that momemnt, let’s be honest), they decided to just do a throwaway cover, going back and forth between a Frank Sinatra or that one song. Thinking that it would be a throwaway song either way and the material on the future album would shut it down regardless, they decided to go with a song they both enjoyed and always wondered what would sound like in the synth-pop genre. To the surprise of everyone, especially the band themselves, not only did that one song end up becoming a sleeper hit in 1981, but also became a defining song for the genre and for the 80s themselves. Everyone knows the lyrics too:

“Sometimes I feel I’ve got to (insert what you think goes here) Run away I’ve got to (insert what you think goes here) Get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me”

Yep, “Tainted Love.” You would like to think that now that you know this, their version is “tainted” (I’m a witty bastard!), but nope. It still runs circles around the original, but you just have to hear it to believe how stripped down soul can be turned into dark synth-pop.

Song: Tainted Love
Artist: Gloria Jones
Album: Tainted Love (Single)
Year: 1964

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