Song #15 on the Popdose Top 100 Covers list is “Tainted Love”, originally by Gloria Jones and covered by Soft Cell. Here’s the original:
I’ve covered this before, if you will. It’s still pretty mind-blowing to hear this as a Motown song, even if you can totally see the straight line from this version to the one we all know by Soft Cell:
And boy howdy, there’s nothing like a video with a strong 80s sensibility to go with that 80s remake of the sound, is there? I have no idea what that was supposed to be about, but then it wouldn’t be an 80s video if it weren’t for that. And for those of you thinking that this song used to be longer than two and a half minutes, you’re right, it did.
That little Motown coda at the end, with the electronic heartbeat underpinning it, really ties it all together nicely, doesn’t it? That’s what I’m talking about.
ay! Showing your relative yoot…I remember going into the record store and asking for “that new wave Motown album” (which I still have; it was actually a 33-1/3 EP) – the original Soft Cell cover ran to roughly nine minutes.