Tainted Love

Ed Cobb, formerly of the Four Preps, wrote and produced "Tainted Love", with Lincoln Mayorga arranging and Glen Campbell on lead guitar according to Wikipedia. It was recorded in 1964, though some sources say 1965, studio unnamed, and released in May 1965 as the B-side of "My Bad Boy's Comin' Home" on Champion (14003), distributed by Vee-Jay; neither side charted in the US or UK. According to KCRW, seen only in a search result, Cobb did not like the song much and thought the beat too strong. Nick Talevski reports that Cobb offered it to the Standells first, which the Standells deny. In 1973 the DJ Richard Searling found a copy in the US and played it at Va Va in Bolton and then Wigan Casino, where the B-side became a Northern soul sensation.

Jones re-recorded it in 1976 for Vixen, co-produced by Marc Bolan, and it was issued as a single that did not chart; a third version is on Reunited (1982). Her version is certified silver by the BPI and ranked 305th in NME's 2014 list of the 500 greatest songs. Soft Cell recorded it in 1981 at Advision Studio Two in London, produced by Mike Thorne with Paul Hardiman engineering, slower than Jones's and transposed from C to G for Marc Almond; Thorne called the Jones version over-ramped and frantic. It was number one in the UK from the chart of September 5, 1981 for two weeks, with about 1.3 million UK sales, and number eight in the US. Almond has said the Soft Cell version was inspired more by Ruth Swann's 1975 recording than Jones's. Jones later joined Almond on stage for it.

Other versions include Coil's "Panic/Tainted Love" (1985) and Marilyn Manson's (2001), and it is sampled in Rihanna's "SOS" (2006) and The Veronicas' "Hook Me Up" (2007). Nothing from Jones about its lyrics was found. Whether our upload is the 1964 original, the 1976 remake or the 1982 version is not known.