80s Jams #30: Soft Cell "Tainted Love" (1982)

Inescapable. That's the only way to describe this song's impact in the early '80s, and for Marc Almond in particular it was the burden that never quite escaped him in America, the U.K., and elsewhere. But it was ultimately the kind of problem one wanted to have, because in under three minutes Almond and Dave Ball, with the production help of Mike Thorne and the model of Gloria Jones' excellent soul cover to draw on, transformed Ed Cobb's obscure nugget into an era-defining pop monster. More than anything else, "Tainted Love" completely showed up the stereotype of passionless robot synth music as what it was -- this was alive, desperate, emotionally wracked, with nary a guitar or real drumkit in sight. -- Allmusic http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=33:knfpxxq0ldfe