Going in a completely different direction than Lance for our first ever #CoverFriday:

“Tainted Love”
by Coil (originally by Gloria Jones/Soft Cell)
from the single Panic/Tainted Love
1985
Not sure this can be purchased anywhere digitally

Fine, so I never knew that the Soft Cell version was also a cover until just now.

I love the Soft Cell version. Who doesn’t? I don’t do it nearly enough at karaoke even though I always love it when I do. But I remember hearing and seeing this version by Coil for the first time, and was stunned. I’m not even sure I was able at the time to understand all the meaning behind the cover as it relates to AIDS, etc., but you can just feel the devastation in it. It completely changes what the “tainted love” is, and you kind of just feel the weight of it on you when you listen to it.

I’m pretty positive this was one of the first songs I downloaded in the early days of Napster, because it’s always stuck with me.

Fun wikipedia fact – it was the first music video purchased by MOMA.

To pay tribute, here’s the original:

Listen to that and tell me Fine Young Cannibals weren’t inspired by the intro music for “Good Thing”.