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Soft Cell
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Soft Cell is an English synthesizer duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s and come from Leeds, England. They consisted of Marc Almond (vocals) and Dave Ball (synthesizers). Their lyrics often focused on the darker side of life, with subjects such as kinky sex, transvestism, drugs and murder. They had a huge world-wide hit in 1981 with a cover version of “
Tainted Love”, a northern soul classic originally sung in 1964 by Gloria Jones (the wife of Marc Bolan). While “Tainted Love” was Soft Cell’s only Top 40 hit in the United States, the band had approximately eight Top 40 hits in the UK, including “Bedsitter”, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, “Torch”, and “What?”, each of which broke the UK Top 5. Soft Cell sold 10 millions records worldwide.
Both Marc Almond and Dave Ball grew up in seaside towns (the former, southport, and the latter, blackpool), and later met while students at the leeds Polytechnic Fine Arts University (now Leeds Metropolitan University). Almond, a performance artist, collaborated with Ball on a few avant-garde multi-media performances at the university. Although Ball’s musical background consisted of guitar, he had access to the university studio and was experimenting with the nascent synthesizer technology at the time. The two students became the prototypical synth duo and were initially associated with other new wave scenesters dubbed “new romantics” by the British Press. Other bands associated with this scene included Visage, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet.
Tainted Love”, a northern soul classic originally sung in 1964 by Gloria Jones (the wife of Marc Bolan). While “Tainted Love” was Soft Cell’s only Top 40 hit in the United States, the band had approximately eight Top 40 hits in the UK, including “Bedsitter”, “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye”, “Torch”, and “What?”, each of which broke the UK Top 5. Soft Cell sold 10 millions records worldwide.Both Marc Almond and Dave Ball grew up in seaside towns (the former, southport, and the latter, blackpool), and later met while students at the leeds Polytechnic Fine Arts University (now Leeds Metropolitan University). Almond, a performance artist, collaborated with Ball on a few avant-garde multi-media performances at the university. Although Ball’s musical background consisted of guitar, he had access to the university studio and was experimenting with the nascent synthesizer technology at the time. The two students became the prototypical synth duo and were initially associated with other new wave scenesters dubbed “new romantics” by the British Press. Other bands associated with this scene included Visage, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet.
Top Albums
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Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go
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Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
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The Very Best of Soft Cell
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The Very Best Of
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Top Tracks
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Tainted Love
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Sex Dwarf
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Bedsitter
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Seedy Films
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Frustration
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Entertain Me
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Youth
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What?
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Chips On My Shoulder
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Secret Life
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Shoutbox
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Nodisguise wrote:
One hit wonders lol -- I kind of doubt people like Fernadobrrs (below) would consider Tom Petty or Journey to be one hit wonders despite their solitary UK hits. Fact is that Soft Cell had 12 UK top 40 hits, half of which made the top five. Leave the one hit wonder tags to the likes of Fiction Factory and Phyllis Nelson.
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reihmusic wrote:
yes, because they were pioneers, they still sound great even after all the years!
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chamaleonicann wrote:
still loving them :-)
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cjkisaragi wrote:
petelawson and simplydi are 100% correct- Soft Cell so weren't one hit wonders, they were pioneers. Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret, The Art Of Falling Apart and This Last Night are great albums
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Current87 wrote:
Its nice its lovely
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SimplyDi wrote:
One hit wonders?? You gotta be kidding!! They pushed the boundries of music! Tainted Love was palatable for the minions... their later releases weren't so readily accepted. They were for us... the true evolutionists, we were ready, others weren't. Soft Cell along with Kraftwerk were at the forefront of electronic music... they ventured where others were afraid to go. They gave us the evolution we had been waiting for.
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Sappho77 wrote:
tainted love <3
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petelawson wrote:
Yeah, sorry, fernandobrrs, but that's just plain wrong. You may not have heard of any of their other songs, but they had a whole bunch of hits. I think it's a question of your lack of knowledge, rather them only being one-hit wonders.
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Dizdoc wrote:
Don't be fucking idiot.
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fernandobrrs wrote:
one hit wonder band
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sneggyuser wrote:
Hello all Cellmates/Gutterhearts out there!!!
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Glamypunk wrote:
Somehow Soft Cell's fans nerved a lot (not all, but many) around 1981-3. Now SC have only half of the plays the stranglers have, a very late satisfaction. And the best of it all is, i liked the band all the time (.O.')
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Cherrysweety wrote:
<3
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KartuliSalat wrote:
SEX DWARF!!!
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modernaire wrote:
...So
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S-Tight wrote:
crazy
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keananduffty wrote:
'Rebel Rebel Anti Style' is published Rizzoli on Sept 8th. Marc's in it. http://rebelrebelantistyle.blogspot.com/
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Engel_der_liebe wrote:
<3sex dwarf<3
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santa_bo wrote:
Dad says: probably one of world´s greatest pop bands ever. Sonds, words. everything´s perfect....... me, today no more comments.
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SuckyMcCrapband wrote:
If you had dyslexia, you'd read their most famous song as Loved Taint, which completely changes the meaning. Not that taints aren't great.
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