Soft Cell

If you are just now tuning in, some of the members of Metro D are drawn to the darker side of the life, the underbelly, if you will. That said, anyone who writes a song titled "The Girl With the Patent-Leather Face" is alright with me. The artist behind that song, of course, is Soft Cell, an 80s synth duo most famous for the song "Tainted Love." Hanging out in the office a few weeks back I had one of those moments that we all hate. I could hum the song, but I couldn't figure out the name, artist, or any of the lyrics.

The song in question was "Tainted Love" and all I could muster up was the two-note "duhn-duhn" at the beginning. My co-worker, a product of the 80s who grew up in Britain suggested another song and then finally I yelled out "Tainted Love!" He responded with Soft Cell as the artist and brought the CD in for me the next day. The CD he let me borrow was called Memorabilia: The Singles and was credited to Soft Cell & Marc Almond.

Looking at the CD I could only think that one of the two guys won a lawsuit over the songs and subsequently released the album with both the name of the band and his. A little research on the band proves me wrong. It turns out that they split amicably and kept in touch until their reunion in 2003. The reunion proved to be more than just club gigs and they released Cruelty Without Beauty later that year. I wonder if you still write songs about S&M, transvestites, sex dwarves and sleaze when you're pushing 50. At any rate, Soft Cell is an interesting study.

"Tainted Love" was their biggest hit and was actually a reworked Gloria Jones song from 1964. The song was originally written by Ed Cobb from The Four Preps, who also wrote "Dirty Water," the Red Sox victory song...for fuck's sake, it all comes back to the Sox, I need a break from their shit...I digress. "Tainted Love" went to #1 in Australia and the UK and #8 in the States. It is probably one of the most memorable and oft-cited tracks from England's New Wave era. It has been covered and sampled a ton, most recently Rihanna's "SOS" and perhaps most notably, Marilyn's Manson's cover for the Not Another Teen Movie Soundtrack. It is another cover of Soft Cell's work that has me most intrigued, though.

"Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" is the final track on Non-stop Erotic Cabaret, Soft Cell's debut (which also featured "Tainted Love"). I first heard this song on David Gray's White Ladder and the two tracks are incredibly different. I had no idea that it was a cover until a year or so later when I read something online about David Gray mentioning that the track was a cover of a 80s hit. I never got around to listening to the 80s version, but there it was on the CD that my coworker gave me. I won't lie. I can't stand it. I don't know if it is age (I was 1 when it came out) or the fact that I heard David Gray's cover first. The lyrics are the best part of the song (both versions) and the chorus in the original is the only bearable part for me. The rest just feels really, really bad. This is crazy, right? You can't like the cover more than the original...or can you?

MP3: Soft Cell - "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye '91"
MP3: David Gray - "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye"
MP3: Soft Cell - "Tainted Love (7" Version)"
MP3: Soft Cell - "Tainted Love '91"
MP3: Marilyn Manson - "Tainted Love"