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Who Did Tainted Love Before Soft Cell?

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When Tainted Love was first released in 1964 as the B-side of a record called ‘My Bad Boy’s Comin’ Home.’ It was a total commercial failure. No, you are not experiencing a senior moment. Soft Cell’s Tainted Love, released in 1981, was a cover of a song recorded by Gloria Jones and produced and written by Ed Cobb. Why did it take 17 years for it to become a hit? It couldn’t have been, as singer Marc Almond described “a mixture of cold electronics with an over-passionate, over-exuberant, slightly out of key vocal.” As many have speculated, perhaps it was the sexual ambiguity of singer Marc Almond at the height of the aids epidemic in the gay community.

Marc Almond of Soft Cell in 2008
Marc Almond of Soft Cell in 2008, image by shiver_shi

Tainted Love: The Original

  • The Origin: Originally recorded in 1964 by Gloria Jones as a B-side, the song was a commercial flop that eventually found a second life on the UK’s Northern Soul circuit.
  • The Transformation: Soft Cell slowed the tempo down and replaced the soul instrumentation with “cold electronics,” creating the definitive sound of 1981.
  • The “Oh” Factor: While the original used “oh” as a simple background vocal, Marc Almond turned it into the song’s signature hook—the “crux” that made the cover instantly recognizable.
  • The Legacy: It spent a then-record-breaking 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, proving that some songs just need the right era to become hits.

Gloria Jones did not have success with Tainted Love but, known as the ‘Queen of Northern Soul’ in the UK, she has been a major player in the music business for decades, having written and recorded many songs, performed as a background singer, with the band T Rex, and in Broadway musicals. A pianist and composer, she was a Motown staff writer and her songs were recorded by acts such as the Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips the Four Tops, Martha Reeves & The Vandellas, The Supremes, The Commodores, and more.

Wagon Wheel: The Bob Dylan Fragment: Most fans associate this song with Darius Rucker or Old Crow Medicine Show, but its “bones” belong to Bob Dylan. He recorded the chorus and melody during the 1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid sessions, leaving it as an unfinished sketch until Ketch Secor of Old Crow added the verses 25 years later.

Read the Full History: Wagon Wheel

While the two versions of Tainted Love couldn’t be more different, you may recognize that despite the almost “scandalous” delivery of Marc Almond, the lyrics are quite banal. Yet, Almond takes one almost unnoticeable part of the original and turns it into the crux of the song, the ‘oh’ part. In the original, the oh is just an “oh,” sung by background singers. However, in the Soft Cell version, the “OH” is everything the song is about, encapsulated. It’s the ‘oh, that sells the song. It’s the oh that is instantly recognizable.

While the song’s soul roots are undeniable, its 1981 rebirth was a deliberate exercise in “cold” minimalism. Producer Mike Thorne and the duo stripped away the traditional Wall of Sound orchestration of the 1960s, replacing it with a sparse, electronic landscape that relied on a few key pieces of gear to create one of the most recognizable textures in pop history.

Tainted Love: Session & Technical Notes

  • Studio & Location: Recorded at Advision Studios, London, 1981.
  • The Signal Chain:
    • The “Snare” Sound: The iconic “doink-doink” percussion was created using a Synclavier digital synthesizer, specifically a preset that mimicked a wooden block or a very dry electronic snare.
    • Synthesizers: Dave Ball used a Roland SH-101 for the bassline and a Prophet-5 to create the darker, moody pads that underpin the verses.
    • Microphones: Marc Almond’s lead vocal—which he famously described as “slightly out of key”—was captured with a Neumann U87. The vocal was kept dry and forward in the mix to emphasize the “human” desperation against the “cold” machines.
  • Personnel: Produced by Mike Thorne; featuring Marc Almond (vocals) and Dave Ball (synthesizers).
  • Interesting Fact: The track was recorded in just two days. Soft Cell had been performing the song live for months, so they knew exactly how to strip it down. The final vocal you hear on the record was actually a composite of only two takes, as they wanted to keep the raw, emotional energy that Marc Almond brought to their live club sets.

Tainted Love from Soft Cell’s album “Non-Stop Erotic Caberet,” reached no. 1 on the singles chart and was thought to be the best-selling single in the UK in 1981 until the data was recalculated and that crown was given to Don’t You Want Me by The Human League. It spent a then record-breaking 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching no. 8 in the summer of 1982.

Soft Cell also released an extended dance version of Tainted Love that was two covers in one. The second half of the song is ‘Where Did Our Love Go,’ originally performed by The Supremes. Forged during an era of Motown devoted to hooks, it was part of the Supremes’, and then Diana Ross, who took the lead vocal, big break-out. Soft-Cell’s cover is a great blending of a virtually unknown song with a quite famous one.

Better Be Good to Me: The New Wave Original: Tina Turner turned this into a rock powerhouse in 1984, but it was originally a synth-heavy track by the band Spider. Interestingly, the song was co-written by Holly Knight, who also penned Turner’s other massive hit, “The Best.”

Read the Full Investigation: Better Be Good to Me

📊 Quick Facts: Tainted Love

  • First Recorded By: Gloria Jones (1964)
  • Most Famous Version: Soft Cell (1981)
  • Songwriter: Ed Cobb
  • Chart Milestone: Spent 43 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, a record at the time of its release.
  • The “Northern Soul” Connection: The original version’s failure in the US was countered by its massive popularity in British soul clubs during the 1970s.

📚 Further Reading