Soft cell

Soft cell
General information
Genre (s)	Pop , new wave
founding	1979, 2001
resolution	1984, 2004
Founding members
singing	Marc Almond
Instruments	David ball

Soft Cell was a British synth-pop duo founded in Leeds in 1979 and best known in 1981 with the song Tainted Love . It consisted of Marc Almond (vocals) and David Ball (keyboards).

history

The duo's first musical production was an EP called Mutant Moments ; David Ball's mother financed it with a loan. Soft Cell's EP and early appearances drew the attention of a number of labels, including Mute Records and Some Bizzare Records , which were committed to the new synthesizer music movement.

The next track (The Girl with the Patent Leather Face) was part of the compilation Some Bizzare Album , along with songs by the then unknown Depeche Mode , The The and Blancmange . The first two soft-cell singles A Man Can Get Lost and Memorabilia were produced by Daniel Miller and released on Phonogram Records. Soft Cell landed a club hit with Memorabilia , but remained largely unknown.

Phonogram Records was dissatisfied with the lack of success and gave Soft Cell another chance to produce a single with chart success. The duo opted for a cover version of the 1964 song Tainted Love , which was originally sung by Gloria Jones . The title reached number 1 on the charts in 17 countries. In their home country, Soft Cell succeeded in placing four more singles - Bedsitter , Say Hello, Wave Goodbye , Torch and What - in the top 5 the following year .

After the release of three albums, they parted ways in early 1984. While Marc Almond went on solo, Dave Ball was involved in bands and projects such as 'Other People', 'English Boy on the Loveranch', 'Jack the Tab' and 'The Grid' in addition to his work as a producer and remixer.

In 1989 they worked together again for the first time when 'The Grid' remixed the single Waifs & Strays by Marc Almond. In 1991 he worked on Marc Almond's album Tenement Symphony .

Since 1998 Almond and Ball have been writing and working on new songs, which culminated in a few concerts in London in 2001. In April 2002 the album Very Best Of ... was released with two new tracks and a European tour. In the autumn of 2002 the album Cruelty without Beauty was released and another tour took place.

Soft Cell continued to tour until 2004, after which they parted ways again. A few years later, in an interview on Marc Almond's official website, it was stated that there would be no further soft cell concerts because that would mean a step backwards for him.

In 2019, Marc Almond commented extensively for the first time on the highly controversial video for Sex Dwarf from 1981. In his opinion, the video produced by director Tim Pope should never have been made public and had harmed the band very much. He apologized for crossing borders.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1981	Non-stop erotic cabaret	DE23 (17 weeks) DE	-	-	UK5 platinum (46 weeks)UK	US22 (41 weeks) US	First published: November 23, 1981
1982	Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing	-	-	-	UK6th gold (18 weeks)UK	US57 (14 weeks) US	First published: June 1982
1983	The Art of Falling Apart	-	-	-	UK5 gold (11 weeks)UK	US84 (8 weeks) US	First published: January 1983
1984	This Last Night in Sodom	-	-	-	UK12 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1984
2003	Live (also known as: Say Hello, Wave Goodbye: Live )	-	-	-	UK95 (1 week) UK	-	First published: October 7, 2003 Chart entry in UK only in 2019

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More albums

• 2002: Cruelty without Beauty
• 2005: The Bedsit Tapes
• 2006: Demo Non Stop
• 2007: Heat - The Remixes

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1986	The Singles	DE54 (2 weeks) DE	-	-	UK58 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: December 1986
1991	Memorabilia - The Singles	-	-	-	UK8 (13 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 1991 Soft Cell and Marc Almond
2002	The very best of	-	-	-	UK37 gold (3 weeks)UK	-	First published: April 2002
2017	Hits and Pieces - The Best Of	-	-	-	UK7 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 10, 2017 Soft Cell and Marc Almond
2018	Keychains & Snowstorms - The Soft Cell Story	DE80 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK56 (1 week) UK	-	First published: September 7, 2018
	Keychains & Snowstorms - The Singles	-	-	-	UK34 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 28, 2018

More compilations

• 1982: The Twelve Inch Singles / Soft Cell Box Set
• 1990: 12 "Mixes On CD (box with 10 CDs)
• 1994: Down in the Subway
• 1996: Say Hello To
• 1998: Soft Cell
• 2002: The Hits (2 CDs)
• 2003: Soft Cell at the BBC
• 2006: The Best of Soft Cell

EPs

• 10.1980: Mutant Moments EP (4 tracks including Potential , LOVE Feelings , Metro Mr. X and Frustration )
• 2002: Sampler (promo for the album Cruelty without Beauty , incl. 5 tracks)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1981	Tainted Love Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret	DE1 (26 weeks) DE	AT2 (3½ months) AT	CH2 (9 weeks) CH	UK1 platinum (36 weeks)UK	US8 (43 weeks) US	First published: July 1981
	Bedsitter Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret	-	-	-	UK4th silver (12 weeks)UK	-	First published: October 1981
1982	Say Hello Wave Goodbye Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret	DE29 (8 weeks) DE	-	-	UK3 silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: January 1982
	Torch The Twelve Inch Singles / Soft Cell Box Set	DE75 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK2 silver (9 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 1982
	What! Non Stop Ecstatic Dancing	DE64 (1 week) DE	-	-	UK3 silver (8 weeks)UK	-	First published: August 1982
	Where the Heart Is The Art of Falling Apart	-	-	-	UK21 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1982
1983	Numbers / Barriers The Art of Falling Apart	-	-	-	UK25 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 1983
	Soul Inside This Last Night in Sodom	-	-	-	UK16 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1983
1984	Down in the Subway This Last Night in Sodom	-	-	-	UK24 (6 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 1984
1991	Say Hello Wave Goodbye '91 Memorabilia - The Singles	-	-	-	UK38 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: March 1991 with Marc Almond
	Tainted Love '91 Memorabilia - The Singles	DE22 (12 weeks) DE	-	CH22 (5 weeks) CH	UK5 (8 weeks) UK	-	First release: May 1991 feat. Marc Almond
2002	Monoculture Cruelty without Beauty	-	-	-	UK52 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 2002
2003	The Night Cruelty without Beauty	-	-	-	UK39 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: January 2003

More singles

• 1981: A Man Can Get Lost
• 1981: Memorabilia
• 1981: Sex Dwarf (Promo)
• 1982: Loving You, Hating Me
• 1982: It's a Mug's Game
• 1983: Heat / It's a Mug's Game
• 1983: Ghostrider - Live '83
• 1984: This Last Night in Sodom - Advance Promotional Radio Play Copy
• 1991: Bedsitter / Torch
• 1995: Why / Tainted Love (Split with Bronski Beat)
• 1999: Tainted Love (vs. Club 69)
• 2002: Mixes from the Very Best Of

swell

1. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Soft-Cell-Say-Hello-Wave-Goodbye/release/116635 - Maxi version with clarinet solo by Dave Tofani
2. ↑ Marc Almond finally expresses himself critically. Retrieved February 22, 2019 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US / gold / platinum database UK
4. ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7 .

Web links

• Soft Cell at Allmusic (English)
• Soft Cell at Discogs (English)
• Marc Almond's website
• BBC Top-of-the-Pops interview
• Soft Cell at laut.de
• Soft Cell at 45cat.com (English)
• Soft Cell at Rate Your Music (English)
• Data and charts