Soft Cell, the synth-pop duo made of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball, had a huge anniversary on Sept. 5, celebrating 43 years since their cover of “Tainted Love” hit the No. 1 spot on the UK music charts.
Almond took to social media to mark the occasion, posting some stills from a past live performance of the song as he wrote, “Tainted Love was number 1 on this day in 1981 . Yes !! The track is forever young but how old do you feel ?”
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Fans Celebrated the Special Occasion With Soft Cell
Fans shared how much “Tainted Love” influenced them in the comments on Almond’s post, with one simply writing, “Changed my life. ❤️.”
“Wow! 😍I remember this like it was yesterday. We were so young!” said another, while a third commented, “Got me through school days where I would take my radio cassette player and listen to Tainted love during my breaks.”
Others declared, “A great song from one of the best albums of the entire decade! 🔥❤️,” “Still a classic,” and “Still stands up as a great track . I Never tire of hearing it.”
Someone else boldly proclaimed this era of music “The glory days of music,” while a different fan replied, “My first single 😍 it’s stood the test of time too 👏.”
Soft Cell Released Their Cover of “Tainted Love” in 1981
The 1980s hit duo Soft Cell covered the song “Tainted Love,” which was originally performed by Gloria Jones in 1965. The musical duo put their own spin on the track, making it a major hit when it was released in 1981. Only months after the single came out, the song hit the top spot on the UK music charts, becoming the group’s first and only No. 1 hit.
In a 2017 interview with The Guardian, Ball talked about the sudden success of the song, saying, “The song was just played in clubs at first – but then it took off, reaching No 1 in 17 countries. Girls would chase us in the street.”
As for Almond, he touched on his connection to the lyrics, telling the publication, “I loved the title and the opening line: ‘Sometimes I feel I’ve got to run away.’ It summed up how I felt. It was 1981 and I was 21, already feeling world weary after some love affairs. I adored the sneering, curled-lip aspect of the song.”
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This story was originally reported by Parade on Sep 5, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com ’
