ONE OF THE DEFINITIVE NO.1 SINGLES OF 1981, TAINTED LOVE WAS ALSO THE MOST UNLIKELY. HOW DID A NORTHERN SOUL B-SIDE REWORKED BY “TWO BLOODY WEIRD BLOKES FROM UP NORTH” BECOME A WEDDING DISCO CLASSIC? SOFT CELL’S DAVE BALL EXPLAINS…

JOHN EARLS

DAVE BALL 

It turns out that Marc Almond is the timekeeper in Soft Cell. He and Dave Ball are making the first Soft Cell album since 2002’s recently-reissued Cruelty Without Beauty. When they last met in person in the studio shortly before the Christmas lockdown, Marc informed his bandmate: “You do realise it’s 40 years?” It takes a lot to stun the unflappable, easygoing keyboardist, but he admits: “If I have to stop and think about how long it’s been, I go ‘Bloody hell!’ It’s remarkable to still be talking about those days, and I know it’s a miracle to have made a living from this business for 40 years.”

Dave talks to Classic Pop in February, on the day the death of Mary Wilson of The Supremes is announced. The Motown greats figure large in Soft Cell history, as a cover of Where Did Our Love Go? was on the B-side of Tainted Love – a decision which cost the duo an estimated £1m in lost royalties. Dave is sanguine about the loss now, noting: “That was just the first of many classic Soft Cell business errors.”

Why didn’t they include one of their own songs and clean up? “Where Did Our Love Go? was a natural segue from Tainted Love in our shows, as it had the same feel,” explains Dave. “Nobody could have known Tainted Love would go ballistic, and none of us knew anything about business. Nobody around us really believed these two bloody weird blokes from up north would have a massive single. But our publishers should have told us ‘Put one of your own songs on the B-side instead, just in case.’” When Mary heard Soft Cell’s version of The Supremes’ classic, she enquired about working with the duo, as Dave recalls: “Mary apparently thought ‘Ooh, the future!’, and I don’t know why it never got any further. I never even got to meet her, which is sad.”