2023 April 05

“Tainted Love” [Outro]

April 5, 2023

I hope I haven’t scathed y’all too much with this. (I know the ATROCITY entry was a bit intense.) I spent far too much time thinking about why I penned this array of entries, and could only throw hands. It’s a perfect pop song! I don’t need to justify that!

So, to that: here’s the YouTube playlist I created for it:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLT6qoaS6fCh97gny-JAQXAsIxUFJhSzBY

SOFT CELL – “Tainted Love” (1981)

Granted, this week of “Tainted Love” songs has run longer than a proper week, but I couldn’t go without mentioning SOFT CELL’s cover, which is the quintessential version for Gen X’ers and always guaranteed a good turnout on the dance floor.

Featuring Marc Almond and David Ball, it’s perhaps this is what SOFT CELL is best known for. It even set a Guinness World Record for longest stay on the Billboard Hot chart.

Perfectly programmed, expertly composed, it’s an absolute earworm that will never die. The video is oddly queer phantasmagoria, even for the 80s, but also completely fascinating and compelling.