Soft Cell's 1981 hit 'Tainted Love' is commonly believed to be their own composition, but the song was originally written and produced by Ed Cobb in 1965 and first recorded by soul singer Gloria Jones. The article explores how Soft Cell discovered and adapted this obscure northern soul track, transforming it into a defining new wave anthem that would become far more famous than the original version and inspire countless covers over subsequent decades.

The original 1965 Gloria Jones recording failed to chart and was released as a B-side to 'My Bad Boy's Comin' Home'. The song later found new life in the northern soul scene at venues like Bolton's Va Va's club. Soft Cell's version was based primarily on Ruth Swann's 1975 disco cover rather than Gloria Jones's original. Ed Cobb, the bassist of folk-pop group The Four Preps, earned substantial royalty payments from Soft Cell's chart success, whilst Soft Cell themselves forfeited an estimated one million pounds because the B-side 'Where Did Our Love Go' was written by Motown's Holland-Dozier-Holland production team.