<P> After the chart failure of "Memorabilia", Phonogram Records allowed Soft Cell to record a second and final single in an attempt to score a chart success . The band opted to record a cover version of "Tainted Love", an obscure 1965 northern soul track originally released by Gloria Jones, the girlfriend of Marc Bolan at the time of his death, and written by Ed Cobb of The Four Preps . </P> <P> Released in 1981, Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" was a No. 1 hit in 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, as well as a No. 8 single in the United States during 1982, and went on to set a Guinness World Record at the time for the longest consecutive stay (43 weeks) on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart . The song's popularity developed slowly, needing 19 weeks to enter the US Top 40 . The A-side of the 12 - inch single of "Tainted Love" actually featured a two - song medley, with "Tainted Love" blending into the Motown classic "Where Did Our Love Go" (originally recorded by The Supremes, in 1964). </P> <P> According to Marc Almond's book Tainted Life, Soft Cell had exited the "Tainted Love" recording sessions with only modest expectations that the track might break into the UK Top 50 . Furthermore, Almond wrote that his only significant contribution to the song's instrumentation (besides the vocals) was the suggestion that the song begin with a characteristic "bink bink" sound which would repeat periodically throughout . Almond also wrote that he dedicated this song to his sometime partner Christian Andrews . </P> <P> Usually, an artist releasing a cover version as a single would opt to write the song that appears on the B - side as this would still entitle the artist to some songwriting royalties stemming from sales of that single . However, as Soft Cell wrote neither "Tainted Love" nor "Where Did Our Love Go" (the 7" B - side track), they lost the opportunity to make a greater sum of money from songwriting royalties stemming from one of the most popular songs of the 1980s . Almond expressed regret for this in his book, and attributed the error to naïveté . </P>

Where did the name soft cell come from