Tainted Love

Fatal Attraction

Tainted Love by Soft Cell

"Me and my STA team, including my college roommate Jim, got in a van and traveled all over the south to play tennis. During the drives, we played a bunch of road games, and all the wile, Jim was singing this song I didn't think he was that great of a singer, but he had no shame. I mean, he wasn't bad, but yeah, he really went for it. This song is just attached to some really good memories."

This song was originally a northern soul track composed by Ed Cobb and recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964, but it didn't hit its height of international popularity until the 1981 version by Soft Cell (x).

Jones herself has said that the Soft Cell version is the best. "I loved the emotion in [Almond's] voice. Their version was far better than mine" (x). Funny enough, the vocal track used was Almond's first take. It was just just a run-through so they could "tweak the settings," but they thought the emotion he delivered was perfect (x).

They transposed the original from C to G and slowed it down. It has some sticking power, let me tell you. You'll be singing this in your head for a good minute.

In 1000 UK Number One Hits, Soft Cell's vocalist Marc Almond called the song "A mixture of cold electronics with an over-passionate, over-exuberant, slightly out of key vocal."

The song is about a toxic relationship, very clearly. But given the time during which it was released, it took on a second meaning, which had to do with the AIDS epidemic. This was never something considered by Soft Cell before the song's release, and it certainly was not the intention of Cobb, but Almond has said that he accepts the interpretation (x).

When Soft Cell first recorded this song, they expected it to be a "throwaway cover song" (x). That's uplifting somehow. If you've got an idea, just go for it, 'cause you never know.

Overview:

Genre:

Synth Pop

Favorite Lyrics:

But I'm sorry, 
I don't pray that way.