Soft Cell - Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go, 1981

After the chart failure of their previous single “Memorabilia” - actually an underground club fav produced by Mute Records founder Daniel Miller - Phonogram Records allowed Soft Cell to record a second and final single in an attempt to score a chart success. The band opted to record a radically minimalist cover version of “Tainted Love”, a northern soul classic originally sung by Gloria Jones.

Soft Cell’s version was recorded in a day and a half with singer Marc Almond’s first vocal take being the version ultimately used on the record. They left the recording sessions with only modest expectations that the track might break into the UK Top 50. Further, Almond wrote that his only significant contribution to the song’s instrumentation (besides the vocals) was the suggestion that the song begin with a characteristic “bink bink” sound which would repeat periodically throughout.