Calling themselves “New Romantics,” the wave of musicians that followed punk in the early ’80’s, seemed to subscribe to the same DIY ethos as their sneering, safety-pinned, three-chord-playing predecessors—except with synthesizers, rhythm machines, and exaggerated versions of upscale, tailored fashion and grooming. The music was moody, but catchy and often quite danceable with a near-disco beat. And by the time I got to England in the fall of 1980, it was sweeping the country along with the equally exciting post-punk movement.
Marc Almond and David Ball needed a hit in 1981. An earlier single had been a big dance club hit, but outside the discos, no one had ever heard of Soft Cell and their record label was getting antsy. The release of a radically reworked 1964 soul classic changed all that. Originally recorded by Marc Bolan’s wife, Gloria Jones, Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love” was a number-one hit in seventeen countries, including the UK. In the US, it set a Guinness World Record for the “longest consecutive stay on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (43 weeks). The Happy Medium Song of the Day is “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell. (Please use the comments box to share your thoughts.)