Top 10 Soft Cell Songs

Photo: shiver_shi, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

With our Top Ten Soft Cell songs, we look at a group who were very successful during the 1980s. Soft Cell was first formed in 1978 by singer Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. That same year, they recorded the Mutant Moments EP and then later released the “Memorabilia” single, which was popular in night clubs, but Soft Cell would remain largely unknown until 1981 when they released their cover of the Gloria Jones song “Tainted Love.” With the sucess of that song, they would release their first full-length debut album, Non Stop Erotic Cabaret.

Over the next few years, they would continue to have a string of hits until they split in 1984. They would remain defunct until their reformation in 2001, which lasted until 2003. They would remain inactive for another fifteen years until they reformed again in 2018.

Here is a list of the ten best Soft Cell songs.

# 10 – Monoculture

Kicking off our top ten Soft Cell songs list is a track taken from the group’s comeback album released in 2002 titled Cruelty Without Beauty, which so far is their final album. This is the album’s best track, with a dark sound and lyrics that bemoan the dullness and boredom of everyday life.

# 9 – Down In The Subway

Up next, we have a single taken from Soft Cell’s fourth album, The Last Night In Sodom, released in 1984, which would be their last album for eighteen years. It got to number twelve on the UK album charts. The record represented a shift in the band’s sound, fueled by a rockabilly feel.

# 8 – Where The Heart Is

This single was taken from Soft Cell’s second album, The Art of Falling Apart, released in 1983. Despite the album reaching number five on the UK album charts, the song “Where The Heart Is” peaked at number twenty-one on the singles charts.

# 7 – Where Did Our Love Go?

This song is a cover of The Supremes’ track “Where Did Our Love Go” featured on the EP Non-Stop Ecstatic Dancing, released in 1982. It is a mini-album comprising remixed versions of material the band had previously recorded. The sound is much more dance-oriented than their debut album’s.

# 6 – Soul Inside

This single was also taken from This Last Night In Sodom and reached number sixteen on the UK singles chart. The album was very well received critically but not so much commercially. It has since been out of print. A remastered version, which included the 12-inch single-mix version of this track, was later released.

# 5 – Bruises On All My Illusions

You would think it was still 1984 the first time you heard this song. This super cool, very Soft Cell sounding track was actually released recently in 2022. It’s a great song title. The song was released on the album Happiness Not Included. Remarkably it was the bands; first album in twenty years. They haven’t missed an electronic beat. The album hit number one on the UK Dance Albums Charts in 2022.

# 4 – Torch

This is one of Soft Cell’s most prominent hits, which peaked at number two in the UK when it was released in 1982. It also charted in a couple of other countries. The track features Cindy Ecstasy, who was a rapper from New York. The B side to the single was “Insecure Me,” which was initially intended to be a double A-side.

# 3 – Say Hello Wave Goodbye

At number three on our Soft Cell songs list, we have one of Soft Cell’s most well-known songs, taken from Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The song “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” was released as a single in 1982. The song peaked at number three in the UK. The song was covered by English singer/songwriter David Gray on his album White Ladder in 1998. Gray’s version features additional lines taken from two Van Morrison songs.

# 2 – Bedsitter

Just off the top spot is the single “Bedsitter,” which was also featured on the first album and was released in 1981, where it got to number four. It is about the underbelly of the club scene in London at the time. It is widely regarded as one of the most classic pop songs of the early 1980s. Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys stated that when he and bandmate Chris Lowe first met, one thing that they had in common musically was that they were both huge fans of this track.

# 1 – Tainted Love

Landing in the number one spot on our Top 10 Soft Cell songs list is the band’s signature song. The original version of Tainted Love was recorded in 1964 by Northern Soul singer Gloria Jones. At first, Soft Cell performed the song during their live concerts before they were persuaded to record it as a single. Largely thanks to the band’s memorable performance on the British chart show Top of the Pops, it sailed to number one in the UK. It became the biggest-selling British single of that year. It was also a big hit in the US, spending forty-three weeks on the Billboard 100.

In 1991, Marc Almond would re-record his own version as a tie-in to the singles compilation Memorabilia- The Singles. This version was titled “Tainted Love 91.” This version was also very successful, reaching number five in the UK in the year of its release. In 2001, gothic rock singer Marilyn Manson recorded a version of the song based on Soft Cell’s version. It was featured on the soundtrack to the film Not Another Teen Movie.