^...what about "Sexdwarf"? Wasn't that popular in the UK? ??? Or was it too "offensive" (for lack of a better word)?

I know I've heard it on the radio here in the U.S.

My vote was between Tainted Love and Say Hello, Wave Goodbye, and the vote went to Tainted Love

^...what about "Sexdwarf"? Wasn't that popular in the UK? ??? Or was it too "offensive" (for lack of a better word)?

I know I've heard it on the radio here in the U.S.


I'm not sure that was even a single.  I know it appears on some compilation CDs

I'm not sure that was even a single.  I know it appears on some compilation CDs

That's odd. ::)

My vote goes to other - "Sex Dwarf".  I also dig Marc Almond's solo tracks "Tears Run Rings" and "Jacky". :)

Tainted Love - sorry but I had to (uncharacteristically) go with the mainstream on this one.

That's odd. ::)


I can tell you that if it was a single, it didn't chart in the UK or North America

The only song I'm familiar with is 'Tainted Love', though I'm sure the other songs listed here are good too.  I heard it sampled on Rihanna's 2006 single, "SOS", which is also a pretty good song.

The only one I even heard of is Tainted Love-but I REALLY LOVE the song.



Cat

Tainted Love was originally recorded in 1964 by Gloria Jones, who late became Marc Bolan's girlfriend. She was the driver of car in the fatal car crash that killed Marc Bolan.

Tainted Love

Tainted Love was originally recorded in 1964 by Gloria Jones, who late became Marc Bolan's girlfriend. She was the driver of car in the fatal car crash that killed Marc Bolan.

Written by Ed Cobb (of the group The Four Freshmen)
There's a pretty good Wikipedia on the song.  A half dozen or so other artists covered it before Soft Cell (and a dozen more after) but the Soft Cell version remains the definitive one.  They almost did not record the song at all.  It doesn't exactly define their sound.  A lot of people went out and bought Soft Cell records and were horrified by the other tracks!  Lyrically, Marc Almond is often mean-spirited.  His songs are about all those who don't get to live the good life!

My favorite?  Hard to say.  All factors weighed, I'd have to go with Soul Inside (12" version). 

2. Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
3. Torch (12" version)
4. The Girl with the Patent Leather Face
5. Tainted Love
6. Heat
7. Sex Dwarf
8. Down in the Subway
9. Where Was Your Heart (When You Needed it Most)
10. Bedsitter

Honorable mention:
Uglyhead (Marc Almond & the Willing Sinners)

8)

As much as I try to avoid a little too much schadenfreude, to watch another's fall from grace puts a big smile on my face.  How can it be resisted?  Something so deliciously twisted?  To watch you go with tears in your eyes, all because of my cruel lies. 

I've tried (as far as I can) to feel some empathy for my fellow man.  You can keep your kind of morality; it never really meant a thing to me, so express your degenerate ways - and celebrate, for these are deviant days.  Your normality fails to excite.  Don't waste your time, it'll take all night.

Perversity!  You bring out the worst in me... It's a curse to me, this perversity.
Perversity! (I love the diversity!)  I've studied at the university - of perversity.

(Sure, Tainted Love's gonna win this one.  Still, I got a big kick out of 2003's The Night, and someone had to stand up for it.  Only Soft Cell could make Sex Dwarf sound positively cute and innocent.  They were singing about sex, I was humming along thinking of the profits I'd made on defense stocks from a war I thought we'd won.  But in the Soft Cell universe, was there really any difference?)

"Sex Dwarf" got a lot of airplay on stations like KROQ and 91X, turned up in both stations' all-time 80s lists, and still gets airplay on the Sirius and XM modern rock/new wave channels.