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"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of The Four Preps. It was originally recorded in 1964 by Gloria Jones and became a popular song and it attained worldwide fame. It has since been covered by numerous other groups.

"Tainted Love"
Single by Soft Cell
B-side(s)	Memorabilia
Released	1981
Format	12 inch single
Genre	Synthpop
Length	2:41
Writer(s)	Ed Cobb
Producer(s)	Mike Thorne
Chart positions
#1 UK #8 US

Soft Cell elected to release it as their third single in July 1981. Produced by Mike Thorne the track was recorded in a day and a half with the run through vocal being used on the released version. Buoyed by the then dominant synthpop sound of the time and a memorable performance on Top of the Pops it rapidly reached number one in the UK singles chart, eventually repeating the feat in 17 territories. The following year it charted in the US eventually reaching number 8 in a record breaking 43 week chart run.

• 1964 Gloria Jones, northern soul
• 1976 Gloria Jones with Marc Bolan, glam rock
• 1981-82 Soft Cell, synthpop
• 1985 Coil, industrial
• 1986 Boppin' Kids on the album Go Wild!, Rockabilly
• 1990s Tainted Cash, rave music
• 1991 Marc Almond (with Soft Cell)
• 1992 Flying Pickets, a cappella version
• 1995 Shades Apart, on the album "Save it", punk rock.
• 1997 Atrocity on their cover album titled "Werk 80" and on their "Tainted love" single (two different versions) and on their greatest hits double album "None plus ultra" (1999), gothic metal.
• 1998 The Living End, Triple J Hottest 100 #17 (Live)
• 1999 My Ruin, on the album "Speak and Destroy"
• 2001 Marilyn Manson, industrial metal, on album Not Another Teen Movie O.S.T. and Lest We Forget: The Best Of Marilyn Manson. Also as a bonus track on The Golden Age of Grotesque
• 2005 The Pussycat Dolls, on album PCD.
• 2006 Its beat was used as a cover in SOS, a song by Rihanna.

• Gloria Jones' original version is played on the in-car radio station Master Sounds 98.3 in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The station's track listing consists almost entirely of original versions of songs which were later covered by another musician/band and then popularly believed to be the original release of said musician/band, as with Soft Cell's version of Tainted Love.
• The song has been used in the films Coneheads, 13 Going on 30, and 200 Cigarrettes.
• The 2005 Doctor Who episode "The End of the World" featured the Soft Cell cover on a jukebox in the far future. At that time, it was supposed to be classical music.
• The TV soap opera Port Charles named one of its story arcs "Tainted Love" after the song.
• Spike Jonze featured the song in a popular 1997 television commercial for Levi's jeans, matching the synthesized beat to an EKG machine.
• It has been covered live by The Clash, and Shelly Poole, but neither version has been released.
• The character Boyce in the British TV sitcom Green Wing sang the Soft Cell version at the beginning of the eighth episode of the first series to raise money for charity.
• Dishwalla played live on radio in the late 1990's at KNRK in-studio performance.
• In the 2004 episode of Friends 10th season entitled "The One Where the Stripper Cries," Danny DeVito's character performs a striptease to the song.
• The Pussycat Dolls perform a cover of this song on an episode of the NBC show Las Vegas. There is also a recorded version of this song available.

• Producer Mike Thorne discusses Soft Cell's cover of Tainted Love