Line #19 Music/SoftCell


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soft_cell.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Left to right: Dave Ball and Marc Almond]]
3	->''"Sometimes I feel I've got to--\
4	Run away, I've got to--\
5	Get away from the pain you drive into the heart of me."''
6	-->-- '''"Tainted Love"'''
7
8	Consisting of Marc Almond (vocals) and Dave Ball (keyboards), Soft Cell were an English synthpop duo who rose to prominence in 1981 with their cover of Gloria Jones' song "Tainted Love". While their first album ''Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret'' was a success (ranked at #5 on the UK charts), the duo only lasted three more years, releasing three more albums in that time. However, the breakup was amiable, and the duo reformed in 2001, went on tour together and released one more album in 2002. Since then, they have released several compilation albums (mostly consisting of previously-unreleased songs) and a remix album. Marc Almond has also had a fairly high profile solo career including a number one hit in collaboration with Gene Pitney, "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart". The band played what is widely believed to be their farewell concert "Say Hello/Wave Goodbye" at the London O2 on the 30th of September 2018 though they have not officially broken up permanently; as of 2019 they are working on a new album but do not plan to do large-scale tours.
9
10	Albums:
11	* ''Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret'' (1981)
12	* ''The Art Of Falling Apart'' (1983)
13	* ''This Last Night In Sodom'' (1984)
14	* ''Cruelty Without Beauty'' (2002)
15	* ''The Bedsit Tapes'' (2005) (compilation of early amateur recordings)
16
17	!!Non-Stop Erotic Tropes:
18
19	* AbusiveParents: "Where The Heart Is".
20	* BerserkButton: If you ever meet Marc Almond, do NOT imitate the opening synth riff from "Tainted Love".
21	* {{Blackmail}}: "Secret Life".
22	* BreakupSong: “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” is the song of a man breaking up with a woman who, he has evidently concluded, he just doesn’t like very much. (Or maybe he’s making excuses for dumping her.)
23	-->''You and I, it had to be\
24	The standing joke of the year\
25	You were a sleep around\
26	A lost and found\
27	And not for me I fear...''
28	* ClubKid: The narrator of "Bedsitter" lives so much for the nightlife that he has no money to buy food after spending it all going clubbing.
29	* TheCoverChangesTheGender: "Tainted Love" swaps the gender from Gloria Jones' original: "I gave you all a ''boy'' could give you..."
30	* TheCorrupter: The "protagonist" in "Sex Dwarf", given his repeated lines about "Luring disco dollys to a life of vice."
31	* CoverVersion: "Tainted Love", of course, but they also covered "Where Did Our Love Go" by Music/TheSupremes, "The Night" by The Four Seasons and "What?" by Judy Street. Prior to getting a record contract they also recorded a cover of [[Music/BlackSabbath "Paranoid"]].
32	* DepravedBisexual: The protagonist in "Sex Dwarf". At one point he alludes to having a foursome with the sex dwarf, a "disco dolly", and [[RunningGag his dumb chauffeur]].
33	* FunWithHomophones: Done in the second verse of "Tainted Love". Though the official lyrics has the word as "pray" both times, the implication is that the love interest being sung to has a different spelling of "pray" in mind.[[note]][[DontExplainTheJoke As in]] "[[FemmeFatale preying]]".[[/note]]
34	-->''And you think love is to pray\
35	But I'm sorry, I don't pray that way''
36	* IntercourseWithYou: "Sex Dwarf" in spades, along with a whole bunch of other very NSFW activities.
37	* LyricalDissonance: 99% of their music is bouncy electronic pop with lyrics about failing relationships, drug abuse, and general self-destructive living.
38	* ObligatoryBondageSong: Hooh boy - "Sex Dwarf", even by modern standards, is a ''very'' no holds barred song about BDSM. In 1981 the screams of the MoralGuardians could be heard from miles away.
39	-->''I would like you on a long black leash,\
40	I will parade you down the high streets,\
41	You've got the attraction, you've got the pulling power,\
42	Walk my doggie, walk my little sex dwarf!''
43	* RedOniBlueOni: Marc Almond was the red to Dave Ball's blue, his flamboyant persona contrasting with Ball's more restrained presence.
44	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: The protagonist of "Secret Life" says that he might abandon his life and run somewhere new to start over, after being blackmailed by a former lover.
45	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Oooh boy. They loved their "substances" - if it was out there, they'd try it. The stomach-pumping story may be an urban myth, but it's not particularly outlandish considering what they ''did'' get up to. For a blow-by-blow account, check out Almond's autobiography ''Tainted Life'', which at times reads like a catalogue of which songs were produced under the influence of which drugs.
46	* SillyLoveSongs: "Torch".
47	* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: Gender-flipped in "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye": After the end of a stormy affair, Almond expresses his desire for:
48	-->''A nice little house wife,\
49	Who'll give me a steady life,\
50	And won't keep going off the rails.''

Context Music / SoftCell